The Top 10 Stories Of 2011

Just over a year ago, the New London Patch started reporting the news, events, and other happenings in our fair city. We probably couldn't have picked a better first year than 2011. A historic election, a number of big anniversaries, a visit from the President...we certainly had a lot on our plate! Here are our picks for the top 10 stories of the year. Check in tomorrow morning for the 10 most read stories of 2011.

10. Connecticut College hits the century mark

We always like a big round number, and this was a pretty big milestone for . The celebration of the school’s 100th year in town were pretty low-key, but they were also sure to spread the celebration out over a year. Amid the numerous smaller centennial events was a get-together , a , and a .

9. NLHS gets state honors in basketball

The boy’s basketball team’s longstanding winning streak finally snapped on Dec. 17 with a 64-61 loss to Hillhouse. The team is still in pretty good shape to retain bragging rights after an outstanding 2010-2011 season, however, and that Hillhouse loss is the only one so far this season. In March, the Whalers won a 63-55 game against Northwest Catholic to earn their 27th consecutive win—and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference .

8. Hurricane (or is it Tropical Storm?) Irene

The Connecticut coast is no stranger to hurricanes, and in August we got walloped by another one. Hurricane Irene carved a path up the East Coast and weakened to a strong tropical storm just before making landfall in the New Haven area. New London suffered some damage and power outages, including a number of fallen trees and eroded beaches. One sailboat became quite the post-tempest image after .

Irene dominated the weather stories in a year full of them. New England was pummeled by a series of snowstorms last winter, and southeastern Connecticut was fortunate to miss a . That led to even more power outages across the state - few of which affected us, fortunately - and a new round of criticism against the restoration efforts of Connecticut Light & Power.

7. Hung jury in murder of storekeeper

Several years after 46-year-old storekeeper Jared Silva was shot and killed in a botched 2007 robbery, the case against a man suspected of being the gunman came before the court. The trial of 24-year-old Gary Clarke in January after his attorney suggested several witnesses against him—including Cosmo Frieson, who pleaded guilty to robbery in exchange for the dismissal of a murder charge in the same case—may have committed the murder.

When the jury announced they were at a deadlock, a single holdout prevented Clarke’s acquittal on the murder charge but nine of the 12 jurors were in favor of convicting him of robbery. The case remains before the .

6. The Whale Tail gets international attention (for the wrong reasons)

In May, the Whale Tail sculpture in Parade Plaza finally became the fountain it was intended to be when the . Unfortunately, this was shut off within a few weeks when unforeseen problems arose. Namely, possible sanitary issues arising from the .

The issue led to a regarding the fountain and an unexpected surge in international interest, as the item appeared on news sites around the world. A thank you may be in order for Portland, Oregon, which made our story look quaint when they decided in June to spend thousands of dollars to drain an eight million gallon reservoir after a man urinated in it.

5. The Eagle’s grand tour

One of New London’s best-known pieces of scenery is also its most mobile. Some of you are no doubt missing the Coast Guard barque Eagle, which typically docks near Fort Trumbull and is now in a Baltimore shipyard for restoration work. Earlier this year, however, the tall ship—taken as a prize of war from Germany at the end of World War II and home ported in New London ever since—made a grand celebration of its 75th anniversary with a .

Departing in May, the Eagle , where the first Coast Guard cutter was lost in World War II, made a number of stops in Europe and the United States, and finally .

4. “Bin Laden is dead! Free coffee!”

2011 marked in New York City and Washington, D.C. Southeastern Connecticut residents were among the thousands lost on that day, with aboard the second plane to hit the World Trade Center. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks, was killed in a raid by Navy Seals in May.

The reaction was one of both celebration and cautious optimism, a mood perhaps expressed best the morning after the news broke at . The shop’s owner, Barry Niestat, announced that because of bin Laden's death . Visitors were similarly happy and hoped the terrorist leader's death would lead to a better future. The story made a bit of a viral run, making a number of appearances across the web.

3. President Obama visits New London

As one of only a handful of federal service academies in the United States, the is no stranger to visits by the President. This year marked the first time that President Barack Obama has visited the campus, for graduating cadets and praising the Coast Guard’s mission.

2. Daryl Finizio is elected mayor

The election of the first strong mayor in New London in 90 years was about as unpredictable and exciting as you could have asked for. By the time the field of candidates for the office settled on six people, the race had already had a major development: Daryl Finizio’s upset of the with .

Those paying attention to the election may have been to this , or this , or …the candidates sparred a lot, basically. There were , , , , , and generally a lot to keep me busy in the lead-up to the vote. When the count was in, with a healthy margin over the next top vote getters, Buscetto and City Councilor Rob Pero.

1. Riverside Park is sold and unsold

The election of the mayor may have attracted the most voters to the polls, but perhaps nothing on the ballot raised passions more than the referendum question about . The debate over whether to to the Coast Guard Academy for an expansion of their campus led to some pretty heated debates on this site.

No one could have imagined how close the final tally would be, or the twists and turns it went through in the subsequent days. The first reported total had voters . Then Mayor Daryl Finizio challenged the ability of the sale to continue since the . Finally, a recount determined that an error in the absentee ballot count was . It still came down to only a handful of voters, but the clerks announced that the official total now turned down the sale.