It’s been a busy year for news stories — internationally, nationally and, of course, in the Maritimes.
While it’s difficult to single out any one as the top story of the year, there are definitely some that we won’t soon forget.
Below are some of the stories we think people will continue to talk about into next year.
You’ve had your say about what you think are the most important stories of 2012.
Here are the results of our “Year in Review” poll and a look back at the stories we’ve covered in the past 366 days.
What was the biggest story in the Maritimes in 2012?
January
Navy spy arrested – The year started off with a Halifax navy officer becoming the first person to ever be charged under the Security of Information Act. RCMP accused Jeffrey Paul Delisle, 40-years-old at the time, of espionage.
Delisle sold classified information to Russian officials, between 2007 and the start of 2012.
He pleaded guilty to the charges in October.
Read:
Navy intelligence officer Jeffrey Paul Delisle charged with espionage
Navy officer guilty of espionage paid $3,000 a month to leak info to Russia
February
Halifax Metro Transit strike – Halifax’s first transit worker strike in 14 years started early Feb. 2. Groundhog’s Day was an appropriate day for it to begin because, much like Shubenacadie Sam predicting another six more weeks of winter, the labour dispute dragged on for just that long.
The strike officially ended on March 11.
Read:
Halifax Metro Transit workers on strike for first time in 14 years
Halifax Metro Transit strike: Interactive ride share map and commuting options
Halifax transit strike – Rostering still the issue for ATU; HRM won’t go to arbitration
Halifax transit strike – Metro Transit strike over, free rides offered to win back commuters
March
Perth-Andover, N.B. floods – Temperatures in the Maritimes soared to record highs for the month of March. When people should have still been wearing parkas and gloves, the winter weary had on shorts and T-shirts.
But the warmer temperatures brought a rapid ice melt in western New Brunswick, causing the St. John River to spill its banks and inundate Perth-Andover. The river rose to its highest point in 25 years. Houses, businesses and even part of the community’s hospital were damaged beyond repair. Overall there flood caused about $25 million in damage.
It wasn’t until late fall, and a bitter fight from residents and local politicians, the provincial government agreed to move homes out of the flood zone.
Read:
N.B. flood watch – Rising rivers force evacuations, state of emergency in Perth-Andover
N.B. gov’t begins moving houses from Perth-Andover flood zone
April
Raymond Taavel murder – A prominent gay rights and community activist, Raymond Taavel, died outside a Halifax nightclub early Apr. 17. Taavel was leaving Menz when he was brutally assaulted, after he tried to stop his friend from being attacked.
Police arrested Andre Denny, then 32-years-old, a short distance away and charged him with second-degree murder. Denny had failed to return to the East Coast Forensic Hospital after being released on a one-hour pass.
His alleged involvement in Taavel’s murder led to a review of the hospital’s policies, regarding the public access privileges of psychiatric patients.
People in Halifax reacted to the news of Taavel’s death by turning out for a vigil, outside Menz Bar, the evening after he died. He was later posthumously honoured with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.
Read:
Halifax activist Raymond Taavel victim of fatal Gottingen St. assault: source
Vigil for slain Halifax activist Raymond Taavel draws hundreds
Suspect in Raymond Taavel murder to have preliminary inquiry in Feb.
May
Jesus T-shirt controversy – A teenager got into a war of words with his Nova Scotia high school over a T-shirt, leading to debate on freedom of expression. William Swinimer, a Grade 12 student, was suspended for repeatedly refusing to stop wearing a shirt that read “Life is wasted without Jesus.”
The story caught the attention of people around the world. Even though the school eventually tried to reason with Swinimer, the 19-year-old’s father pulled him out of school.
Read:
‘Jesus’ T-shirt banned from N.S. school
Nova Scotia’s ‘Jesus’ T-shirt controversy gets animated
N.S. student returns to class wearing Jesus shirt, father pulls him out
July
Arrests in Melissa Dawn Peacock murder – Nearly nine months after Melissa Dawn Peacock, disappeared, Nova Scotia RCMP arrested two brothers and charged them with her murder.
She hadn’t been seen since leaving her home on Nov.7, 2011.
Police arrested Dustan Joseph Preeper, 24, and Joshua Michael Preeper, 20, on July 4. Dustan Preeper was also charged, for the second time, with the 2010 murder of Ben Hare.
It was the first time a tip made to Nova Scotia’s Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes Program had led to arrests.
The Preepers won’t be in court again until Dec. 2, 2013.
Read:
Interactive: Melissa Peacock and Ben Hare murders
August
Harry Doyle murdered in the Philippines – News came from the other side the world that Fredericton businessman Harry Doyle had been gunned down in the Philippines on Aug. 12. The 63-year-old lived there with his wife, Jane Doyle, and their 12-year-old son.
Two men were accused of killing him, outside a beach resort, but police also accused his wife and their driver, Jerome Devocion, of being involved in his murder.
By that time, Jane Doyle had come to Canada. She was about six-months pregnant at the time. Police allege she was having an affair with Devocion and there are suspicions the baby, born in November, is not her husband’s.
No arrests have been made in the investigation, as the charges are still in the process of being filed. Jane Doyle remains in Fredericton.
Read:
Fredericton businessman Harry Doyle killed in the Philippines
Wife of Fredericton man murdered in Philippines innocent until proven guilty: family
Exclusive: Philippine lawyer for Harry Doyle’s widow speaks about murder allegations
September
Truro flood – Weather again became the big story in the Maritimes. As people along the Atlantic Coast were waiting to see how Hurricane Leslie would affect them, the storm interacted with a low pressure system that dumped heavy rain on central Nova Scotia.
The rising waters of two rivers were pushed over their banks when the tidal bore from the Bay of Fundy rushed in, the morning of Sept. 10. The river waters broke through dikes and washed over several areas of the town.
Read:
Dikes burst as rain ahead of tropical storm Leslie swamps N.S. rivers
Social media coverage of flooding in Truro, N.S.
Teen confinement case – One of the most shocking stories of the year came out of the rural community of Upper Chelsea, N.S. A 16-year-old boy escaped from a ramshackle cottage, the evening of Sept. 24, running barely clothed to nearby homes for help. The boy had chains shackled around his wrists and ankles and claimed he had been held for almost two weeks and repeatedly sexually assaulted.
Within days of his escape from confinement, a manhunt began for two men accused in the horrific abuse case — 47-year-old David James Leblanc and 31-year-old Wayne Allan Cunningham. The pair, who had been romantically involved for years, fled the province.
Leblanc was arrested Sept. 30 on an old logging road in northern Ontario. He was in poor condition and separated from Cunninham. Cunningham was found dead two days later. Police said his death was not suspicious.
RCMP laid several charges against Leblanc, who was also charged two years earlier in a child porn and sex abuse investigation. He won’t be back in court until January.
A third man was arrested in November. John Leonard MacKean was arrested at a Fredericton hotel on Nov. 19. He’s facing charges of sexual assault and communication for the purposes of obtaining the sexual services of a person under the age of 18.
- Crashed B.C. school bus was filled with grade 6s, 7s, superintendent says
- Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi named Alberta NDP leader in landslide victory
- Ontario Road Trips: Elora is home to gorgeous gorges — and a bit of Hollywood glam
- Trying to time the housing market after the rate cut? What experts advise
Read:
Full coverage: Nova Scotia teen confinement case
Mother of teen confinement victim says son ‘robbed of innocence’
Teen confinement case suspect John Leonard MacKean released on bail
October
Internet Black Widow arrested – A woman who became notorious for marrying men and trying (in one case successfully) to kill them, was once again arrested and charged with attempted murder. Police arrested Melissa Dawn Shephard, 77, at her home in New Glasgow on Oct. 1.
She married Fred Weeks, 75, nearly a week earlier. He took ill at a Cape Breton bed and breakfast, while they were supposedly on their honeymoon. His illness was deemed suspicious and upon further investigation, authorities believed she was once again trying to kill.
Shephard spent time in prison for manslaughter following the death of her second husband, who she drugged and ran over with her car in 1992. She was later sentenced to time in a U.S. penitentiary after she was convicted of siphoning money from her live-in boyfriend, a man she met online.
Her attempted murder trial will begin next June.
Read:
‘Internet Black Widow’ Melissa Ann Weeks charged with attempted murder in N.S.
Cape Breton inn owner recounts experience with ‘Internet Black Widow’
HMS Bounty sinks – While the U.S. east coast suffered incredible damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy, one story that has become synonymous with the storm is the sinking of the tall ship HMS Bounty. The replica of the famed 18th century vessel, of the same name, had weathered storm seas before.
It had been sailing the seas for 50 years. But the ship went down off North Carolina on Monday, Oct. 29 , after losing the use of its water pump and taking on water since the night before. The crew abandoned ship, but only 14 of the 16 people onboard made it to lifeboats.
Captain Robin Wallbridge and deckhand Claudene Christian did not. Christian’s body was found later that day, while a search for Wallbridge was called off on Nov. 1
Read:
Search continues off North Carolina for captain of HMS Bounty: Coast Guard
Search halted for missing HMS Bounty captain; ship sank during Hurricane Sandy
Swordfishermen survive Sandy – Another vessel had a close call riding out Sandy at sea. The Deesie, a swordfishing boat out of Massachusetts, managed to make it to Shelburne, N.S. after the storm battered the vessel so badly it was left without a mast and gouges out of the side.
The four men on board rode out 10-metre waves, while cutting off steel outriggers that were punching holes in the boat.
Read:
Exclusive: Swordfishermen survive Sandy’s wrath at sea, make it safely to N.S.
November
Guilty verdict in Hilary Bonnell murder – After almost three years, the family of 16-year-old Hilary Bonnell got justice for her murder. The Burnt Church, N.B. girl disappeared in Sept. 2009.
Her cousin Curtis Bonnell, now 32, killed her and buried her body. He took police to the spot where he buried her after he was arrested in November of that year.
A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder on Nov. 3 of this year.
Read:
Bonnell found guilty of first degree murder in death of 16-year-old cousin
Guilty verdict in Sabrina Patterson murder – A jury in Moncton, N.B. found Fred Prosser guilty of first-degree murder and on two counts of sexual assault in the 2009 death of his former partner, Sabrina Patterson.
Patterson was found in a wooded area near her Riverview, N.B. home on Nov. 6, 2010 — a week after she was reported missing.
Prosser got life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Read:
Timeline: Sabrina Patterson murder and trial of Fred Prosser
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