Like every other year, 2012 saw the media spotlight shine on Nelson and West Kootenay for many reasons — some positive, some tragic and some just plain odd.
In today’s issue we begin recounting the major events of the past 12 months. The year’s top news story should come as no surprise: the landslide that literally cut Johnsons Landing in half was the deadliest event in our region this year and riveted national attention on the tiny Kootenay Lake community for several days as searchers looked for four people buried in the rubble.
That leads directly to our second-biggest story, which is actually an umbrella for many others — no pun intended. Mother Nature did a real number on us this year, pelting us with record rainfall. The consequences were widespread: the tailings pond at the old HB mine near Salmo sprung a leak, Kootenay Lake reached its highest level in almost 40 years, basements flooded, sewers collapsed, roads washed out, and a man drowned.
The Star’s choice for the No. 3 story of the year was the debate around the Civic Theatre. Appropriately, it has the promise of a movie-like happy ending. The theatre beat the odds to come back from the brink this year, thanks to a lot of devoted volunteers.
No. 4 is Nelson city council’s debate over a certain illegal substance and No. 5 is a sad event that occurred on Shambhala’s otherwise happy grounds.
The next batch of top stories will appear in print next week, but you can satisfy your curiosity sooner by heading to nelsonstar.com.
In the coming days we’ll also post several honourable mentions, our picks for the most interesting people of 2012, five people trying to make the world a better place, our choice for the year’s strangest story, and a list of some of the prominent people we lost over the last 12 months.
Agree or disagree with our picks? Think we missed something? Let us know.