The start of a new year is always an appropriate time to sit and reflect on what has happened in our community during the past year. Recalling the “top” news of the past 365 days is always an interesting mental exercise, and Cazenovia certainly had its share of interesting stories in 2017.
Every year at Eagle News, all of our editors take time to review all 52 weekly issues to choose the most important items for the year-in-review issue. Here at the Cazenovia Republican, we looked at both what we felt were the most important and/or interesting stories of the year for us, as well as at what our social media readers made the most popular stories by the number of views and shares. There was a great diversity of events in 2017, as in most every year, with headlines in community news, business, agriculture, crime, politics and education. There were new beginnings, personal triumphs, academic and athletic challenges and victories, and, unfortunately, crimes, losses and death. It often does not seem that our little town can possibly have so much news that occurs in one 365-day cycle — and yet it does. We have reviewed some of these stories in this week’s issue.
For the Republican, we have had a few changes in our staff. Our staff writer of three years, Hayleigh Gowans, has moved on to a new job in the Albany area, and last week we welcomed our new reporter, Lauren Young, to the team. We also said goodbye to our cartoonist Caitlin Clonan, producer of “Teen Tales,” who graduated high school in May, but gained a new cartoonist in Emmy Luna, who creates “Luna Toons.” We are pleased to say writer Erica Barnes, who compiles the Years Ago in History columns and writes book reviews, continues to be a vital part of our organization. We thank them all for being a part of the Republican family, and helping to make our paper a weekly (and hopefully important and anticipated) part of the community.
Cazenovia is rife with stories — with people, places and events that dare to dream big, that sometimes fail, that challenge our typical conceptions and strive for new accomplishments. As individuals, we all have our own conceptions of what Cazenovia is, how it should change or stay the same and who we are as a community. While we often disagree and even criticize each other on occasion, the caring and camaraderie of this village and town far outweigh the strife, even after going through such contentious issues as the lawsuits and disagreements of the Cazenovia Market/Aldi project like we did this year.
Taken together, the happy and sad news, the positive and negative, the compassion, caring and interpersonal squabbling all continue to make up the fabric of our community; all of these things are the story of Cazenovia. And there is no other place in America that we would rather be.
