Our readers have voted. Here are the top stories for 2015:
Gunfire broke out Feb. 4 outside a JV basketball game at Frederick High School. Two students were injured in what authorities said was violence between rival groups. One man was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Another pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment.
2. Executive Gardner reverses many policies and practices of former Frederick County Commissioners
As Frederick County's first county executive, Democrat Jan Gardner has succeeded in undoing numerous actions by the previous Board of County Commissioners. Those include the Monrovia Town Center approval and the sale of Citizens Care and Rehabilitation Center and Montevue Assisted Living.
3. Citizens-Montevue returns to Frederick County control
The previous group of commissioners, all Republicans, agreed to sell the health care facilities to a private company, but Gardner, with County Council support, worked out a still-undisclosed tentative agreement for the county to retain control.
4. U.S. Marine killed in hit-and-run crash
On Sept. 29, U.S. Marine Cpl. William Kyle Ferrell, 21, was struck along U.S. 15 by an unknown driver, who left the scene and hasn't been found. Ferrell, who was assigned to Camp David, stopped in a downpour to help a driver stuck on the shoulder.
5. Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter
The Frederick County councilman told a Frederick News-Post reporter not to use his name without his permission. The newspaper refused that directive and wrote an editorial using Delauter's name many times. The flap went global on the Internet and on TV talk shows.
6. Lake Linganore boating accident leaves one dead
A man died and eight juveniles were rescued after their 20-foot pontoon boat capsized at the dam on rain-swollen Lake Linganore. The survivors were rescued from the raging current. Some were hoisted skyward in a harness lowered from a Maryland State Police helicopter.
7. School construction costs and prevailing wage woes
Officials were working to find enough money to start construction on both Butterfly Ridge and Sugarloaf elementary schools at the same time. Butterfly Ridge, in west Frederick, and Sugarloaf, in Urbana, are both planned to open in August 2018.
8. Mourning Claire Knight
Middletown High School senior Claire Knight, 17, was killed on Feb. 11 when an SUV she was driving collided with a Frederick County Public Schools bus. About 1,800 people gathered at the International Community Church to mourn her deat
9. Flash flooding strikes Frederick
Heavy September rain left residents and business owners in and around Frederick bailing out water. The YMCA of Frederick County on North Market Street sustained an estimated $1.9 million in damage. The U.S. Small Business Administration declared that property owners may apply for low-interest loans for repairs.
10. Downtown hotel project moves forward
A developer and local officials put together plans for financing a hotel and conference center in downtown Frederick. The proposed $82.47 million project would have a mix of state, county and city funding. About $44 million would be paid by the developer, Plamondon Hospitality Partners.
