It was an ordinary day. The last week of December and our newspaper has its traditional article listing the 10 top stories of the past year. Do you live in an area where you have a local newspaper and they do much the same as our newspaper does? I'll give you an idea of what type of news we have had in 2021 that has been newsworthy enough to make the top 10 list. (1) The top newspaper story of the year told of a few Lancaster County men who were charged in the January 6 insurrection in our Nation's Capitol. The Lancaster, Pennsylvania insurrectionists supposedly went to Washington at the invitation of then-President Donald Trump. He allegedly asked them to come to stop the widespread voter fraud and overturn the election results. One fellow who was arrested was from our Manheim Township area where I live. He was eventually arrested at his home and charged with repeatedly punching one police officer in the head outside the Capitol and ripping the body camera off a second officer and later throwing it away. As of today, there is no trial date. Others from nearby Ephrata and East Colalico Townhip were also arrested. (2) Next in line was a story about a young man by the name of Justo Smoker who admitted kidnapping and killing a young Amish teenager in the nearby Amish community of Upper Leacock Township. He strangled and stabbed her. A few months later he pleaded guilty to abducting her and driving her to an area where he choked, stabbed and eventually buried her on Amtrak property. (3) A group of white nationalists staged a political rally in an historic Lancaster County barn. They announced the establishment of a political party whose platform is to preserve and protect the white European majority in the U.S. (4) A school mask mandate debate roils school districts and courts. COVID-19 cases were rising as school was to begin in the fall of 2021. A mask mandate was instituted by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf for school buildings and child-care facilities. The mandate led to parents demonstrating at schools and facing off with school boards. Ultimately the state Supreme Court threw out the mandate. (5-tie) Lancaster's mass vaccination center opens at Lancaster's Park City Center where they could vaccinate 6,000 people daily. The site averaged 2,400 doses a day. (5-tie) Workers Fight Vaccine Mandate. Vaccine mandates at local hospitals pitted unvaccinated employees against their employers as Lancaster County Penn Medicine required their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with the policy going into effect September 1. (6) There was Panic and Chaos During Park City Shooting. Gunshots rang out turning Lancaster's largest shopping mall into a battleground. One 16 year old was accused of shooting three people. He was proven guilty and was held in Lancaster County Jail. An unidentified, armed, 50-year-old civilian hurried to the scene and struck the 16-year-old and held him on the ground until police arrived. (7) Ransomware hits LNP Media Group. Some foreign extortionists targeted Steiinman Communications in an attack that disrupted the production of LNP Newspaper. They demanded the 227-year-old news organization pay to have their files unlocked. (8) Lancaster County businesses return, but many employees don't. The worst labor shortage in memory gripped the local economy despite efforts by employers to draw potential workers off the sidelines. (9) Census Data Shows County' Growth Slows and Population Diversifies. The 2020 census showed that there was a 6.5% increase in Lancaster County's growth which was the slowest in more than 100 years. The fastest growth was among outlying townships. (10) Manheim Mom Mourned After Fatal N.C. Shooting was the final headline. The story told of a young mother of six who was fatally shot in a North Carolina road-rage incident as she and her husband were on their way to vacation in South Carolina. A local NC man was charged with first-degree murder. Well, these are the 10 (plus one tie) top stories in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for the year that is about to end. Do they sound like the news in your community, town or city? Seems that the majority of the news is bad news, but perhaps the good news in the community never makes the newspaper. Hope we have a better news-worthy year in 2022. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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