Year in Review: Thumbs Down To…

To the brazenly undemocratic method of enacting sweeping policy change by inserting it into the biennial state budget instead of doing the hard work of submitting a bill for public hearings. The legislators who practice this devious form of legislating apparently think they know what is best for the state, to the detriment of the rest of us.

To the geniuses who decided to conduct sea trials of the littoral combat ship USS Milwaukee during the busy Labor Day weekend off Chambers Island, where dozens of boats were damaged and at least one woman was injured by the twin wakes of the powerful combat vessel.

To the powerful thunderstorms and high winds that left much of Door County in the dark on Aug. 2. Gusts up to 70 mph were reported that day, and many trees were toppled, taking down power lines with them. More than 20,000 power outages were reported to Wisconsin Public Service, with most of those in Door County. Crews worked throughout the night to restore power.

To social media for all the speculation surrounding the disappearance of Fox Valley doctor Jeffrey Whiteside, who disappeared in June from the Ephraim harbor after an argument with his wife. Whiteside’s body was found about a month later, and it was determined he had committed suicide, but social media users presented many other theories of their own, including the bizarre notion that Whiteside was another victim of a doctor serial killer.