Top 10 Most Popular Stories Of 2011

Yesterday, we shared what our picks were for the . Then we checked which stories had the most visitors. There was a bit of overlap, but readers were interested in quite a range of stories as well. Just missing this list were the stories on , , and the .

10.

This accident in June was tragic for all involved. According to a police report, the driver—since —lost control of his vehicle while driving on Vauxhall Street and collided with a tree. Two passengers in the car died of their injuries.

Even before the names of those involved were officially released, there was a massive outpouring of grief both at the scene of the accident and online. Some of the most touching remembrances were shared by friends on Facebook.

9.

This pleasant community event got quite a bit of traffic. We suspect some of it may have had to do with the, ahem, this past year. Even if that’s the case, though, it means a lot of people who heard about the Parade Plaza fountain in one aspect got another look at it. The water flow finally started with the push of a few symbolic buttons after a parade from into downtown.

8.

On the day before the election, we offered a plethora of information to voters with this article. In addition to the polling times and places, we linked to several pages on and off the site to provide information on the topics and candidates appearing on the ballot.

Hopefully most of this traffic was actually derived from people looking over the information before heading off to earn their “I voted” sticker. Some of it likely came from our abortive attempt to have a straw poll on how people were voting, however. After it became clear that people were tampering with the poll (because hey, how else are you going to vote for a candidate multiple times?), we had to shut it down.

7.

This update on the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene got quite a few visits from people curious about what effect the storm had on New London. Although we certainly missed the shorefront devastation on the scale of that in the New Haven area, the beaches along Long Island Sound and the Thames River certainly had much of their sand displaced or washed away.

The private beaches along Pequot Ave. were indeed hit pretty hard, with visible damage to staircases and decks and other structures on the shore. Fortunately, they were still usable. In fact, people were back on the sand on the beautiful sunny day that followed the storm.

6.

A set of executive orders signed by Mayor Daryl Finizio on his first day in office included orders a number of guidelines for the , but the one that gained the most attention involved marijuana crimes. One order said police were not to pursue decriminalized marijuana possession infractions under certain circumstances, while another prohibited punishment of municipal employees testing positive for marijuana use.

The former order lasted only a brief time, until the state’s attorney said the mayor . It also brought about a flurry of criticism, support, and debate on the issue.

5.

It all started with a pair of Facebook posts by Finizio’s treasurer and partner, and this site played host to a prolonged skirmish as the discussion turned more to an ongoing debate between Finizio and Buscetto supporters. Many of the reactions to this story fell into one of two opinions. Either a) this incident was a poor reflection on the character of then candidate Finizio or b) Buscetto should learn to take a joke.

Of course, people’s thoughts on the public vs. private nature of Facebook and other ideas were usually a bit more varied and in-depth. This story garnered over 220 comments by the time discussion petered out.

4.

Well here’s one we can agree on; this made our top stories of the year as well. We visited after the momentous news that Osama bin Laden had been killed, intending to get the reactions of a few early morning caffeine seekers, and found this story instead. As a celebration of the news, the shop was giving away free coffee. The story made a bit of a viral circuit, appearing on numerous news sites.

3. New London Election Results

For this year’s historic election, it’s no surprise that one of the stories eyeballed the most was this article giving updates from different campaign headquarters on how the races were turning out. From the close of the polls until about midnight, we put up the unofficial results, a few quotes, and finally the outcomes.

By the end of the evening, it was clear that , the Democrats had taken and , and that the . Well, maybe that last one

2.

This is probably another one that deserves an asterisk by it. After Daryl Finizio defeated Michael Buscetto III in a September primary for the Democratic nomination for mayor, we spotted a sign in urging voters to write Buscetto in for mayor. Buscetto said he was considering such a run, but had not yet decided whether to do it. We put up a poll seeing what your opinions were.

When the poll garnered more votes than the number that showed up in the primary, we suspected there may have been a little misuse going on. Still, it was a topic that generated a lot of discussion, especially after Buscetto that he would be a write-in candidate.

1.

When the news came in November that a 25-year-old man had been shot and killed at a Montauk Ave. apartment, it became an unexpected flashpoint on a number of issues. Two young men were charged with the homicide. One, the , was arrested on the same day as the shooting; the other remains at large.

The story had a couple of updates throughout the day, but the comments held a lot of debate over whether there was any additional culpability in the incident. Readers vented about everything from housing to the police department to youth violence, keeping the discussion going for several days.