The Top 10 Stories of 2010
The Brookfield Patch team puts together our Top 10 favorite stories from 2010.
As we say goodbye to 2010 and welcome the hope and endless promise of a new year, our Best of Brookfield year in review comes to a close with our picks for the Top 10 Stories of 2010.
The 10 articles that made this list were not necessarily the stories with the most views or the most shocking breaking news events of the year, but the stories that warmed our hearts, taught us something about the community we live and work in and together paint a fuller picture of what it meant to be a Brookfielder in 2010.
Easily the most-read news story on Brookfield Patch this year was less about the words on the page and more about the photo album that accompanied it.
As the Brookfield High School (BHS) class of 2010 received their diplomas in June, Patch photographer Alicia Craybas was there to capture the moment in photos.
The story quickly jumped to the top of our most popular list as the village-cum-parents of Brookfield looked with pride as another exceptional group of young adults came out from under their wing.
One of the personal favorites from the editorial team was a profile of A.J. Tuck Co., a Brookfield business with nearly a century of history in town. The Tuck tradition goes back four generations, to when Alvin Tuck, Sr., bought the old Lenox Shear building along the Still River in the 1920s to manufacture lamps in his "Art Nouveau style."
Today, Alvin Tuck, IV, still lives and works in Brookfield, however the company has taken a turn toward the modern, producing everything from capacitors for MRI and CT scanners to the microchips used in GPS systems and Predator drones.
Despite the years and the fact that he "could do this from anywhere," Tuck's love of Brookfield have kept him and the A.J. Tuck Co. here in town.
There were a number of great heartwarming stories in town this year, as well, beginning with the ultimate Feel-Good Story of the Day, the first post from columnist Chris Goodrich back in March.
Chris was on his way to help his wife fix a flat tire, in a mood from the normal pressures of mid-March, when he was met with a pleasant surprise: good Samaritan Chip Shaw, who already had the van jacked up and was working his way through the lug nuts. As an early introduction to caliber of people in Brookfield, Chip's chivalrous act deserves a second mention and to make it into our Top 10 list.
Not to be outdone, a mother-daughter team from New Fairfield saved a man's life while working as servers at a wedding at Fox Hill Inn in August. When the bride's uncle, Charles Williams, began to choke, Fox Hill employees Patty Neal-Petrillo and her daughter Samantha Petrillo sprang into action, saving not only a man's life, but doing so discretely enough to save the wedding as well.
The two received a special commendation from the Brookfield Police Department and Police Commission in October, as well as hearty thanks from the Williams'.
Back to Brookfielders, we also took a retrospective look at the volunteers who built the Kid's Kingdom playground 21 years ago. Much can be said about this heartwarming story, but you're better off just reading about it.
And the last feel-good story to hit our Top 10 was a group effort between Brookfield Patch, the Police Department and a few more good Samaritans in town.
When Gordon Markiewicz lost his 10-year-old golden retriever, Frida, on the last day of November, he reached out to us for help, leaving a comment in the shout box on the homepage. The next morning, police found Frida while responding to a call of a stray dog. A police dispatcher who had seen her picture on Brookfield Patch that morning was able to identify the dog and reunite her with her owner.
Gordon sent along a thank you note the next day:
Thank you for putting Frida's picture in The Patch. Before 7 a.m. I had a call from a fellow whose wife saw the dog yesterday, and by 7 a.m. this morning, I had a call from the Brookfield PD dispatcher to say they found her, responding to a call. The dispatcher had just seen her picture in The Patch, and called me immediately.
We at Brookfield Patch don't take credit for the good outcome, as we merely provided a place for Gordon to get the word out, but thank the dispatcher and citizens who reached out and made a difference in one family's life.
With the budget passing smoothly on the first ballot, two other referendum issues came to the fore as major news stories in 2010: the split decision on the Davidson administration's Brookfield Reinvestment Program and the controversy over whether advisory questions can be included in the budget vote.
The first round of the Reinvestment referendum had two questions: whether to spend $10 million to improve and repave the roads in town over five years and $5.3 million for renovations to Town Beach, Cadigan Fields and Kids Kingdom. The roads package passed (1,656-934) but the parks referendum failed by 178 votes.
The proposal was down but not out, as First Selectman Bill Davidson plans to bring what he has termed Parks Round II to the Board of Selectmen (BOS), Board of Finance (BOF) and eventually, if approved by those bodies, back to the residents for another vote.
The other important ballot story to come out of 2010 was the controversy over whether to allow advisory questions in the budget referendum. The questions, which were ultimately deemed not in line with the town charter, gave dissenting voters the option of stating whether they thought the proposed budget was too high or too low.
And finally, probably the most involved series of stories this year revolved around water issues, from the Silvermine main going online after six years (though not for everyone at first) to the delays in getting potable water to the residents of the Greenridge subdivision, to the passing of the town's Water Ordinance, this complicated process has kept us busy all year.
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From all of our families to yours, Brookfield Patch and Patch.com want to wish you and yours a safe and happy New Year. Cheers!
