Our Year in Review: Counting Down the Top 10 Stories on Cerritos-Artesia Patch

As we proudly complete our first full year of local news coverage in the Cerritos and Artesia community, we take a look back at the year that was 2011. From Wednesday through Saturday, we'll count down the Top 10 Stories read on Cerritos-Artesia Patch this year.

• Wednesday: 
• Thursday: Stories 7, 6, 5
• Friday: Stories 4, 3, 2
• Saturday: The No. 1 Story of the Year

TODAY WE FEATURE STORIES 2-4:

Story No. 2:  (Also see original story: .)

The tragic death of Franz Harris Husges, 23 of Artesia left the community stunned for weeks. Husges leaped to his death off a fifth floor parking structure at the Cerritos Towne Center on the morning of Aug. 3. The . Community members mourned the loss of a young man who grew up in the area and was raised in schools. Cerritos-Artesia Patch .

Story No. 3: (Also see: .)

Several area residents were kept up late on the evening of Oct. 5 when an off-duty sheriff's sergeant shot and wounded two men in the Greenbook neighborhood of Cerritos after he caught the pair and a third man breaking into his home, which was being tented for fumigation. The confrontation occurred in the 12900 block of Glenda Street near Alatha Street just before 11 p.m. and the investigation kept the neighborhood on lockdown until daybreak while a multi-agency investigation took place. 

Story No. 4:

Flames gutted a multi-unit structure at Cerritos' Fountain Plaza during the early morning hours of Oct. 23, leaving both Artesia and Cerritos residents stunned, especially over the loss of the restaurant once known as Imperial Mandarin Palace. At the time of the blaze, the eatery was known under new ownership as Marhaba Chinese Palace, but longtime locals will always remember the fixture as the former chinese restaurant -- a place where people celebrated special events, birthdays and weddings. Aside from the restaurant, the fire also destroyed several other small businesses, including , , Hallelujah Driving & Amen Traffic School, Baby Visit Ultrasound, , and . (* Patch was the only media outlet in the Southland who had live video footage and photographs of the devastating overnight fire.)

* Check back tomorrow for top read story of 2011.

** to read Stories No. 5, 6, and 7.

***  to read Stories No. 8, 9 and 10.