Top Stories of 2011, By The Numbers

As the year nears its end, many take time to sit and reflect on the previous 12 months.

Over the next few days, I'll be compiling a variety of Glen Burnie Patch "best of" lists.

Up first, here's a look at what stories you read the most during the past year. And I'll just say this—it's a lot of doom and gloom.

5. —and the whole community—was rocked by the news of the arrest of English teacher Jeffrey Sears, 29, in December after he was accused of having sex with three students.

4.
The Glen Burnie area was on edge in November after Derontay Simms, 20, an inmate at Ordnance Road Correctional Facility, walked off of his work detail at the . Police located Simms in Baltimore more than 12 hours later.

3.
A Brooklyn Park neighborhood was left reeling in August when police told them that Kelly Brian Thompson, 33, apparently shot and killed his twin 15-year-old step-children, Taishawn and Treshawn Pugh, and his wife Nina Thompson, 34, before turning the gun on himself.

2.
A man, who later was identified as Glen Burnie resident Brian L. McNutt, 50, led Maryland State Police on an erratic car chase along eastbound Route 100 in October before he crashed into a tree in Pasadena and was pronounced dead on the scene.

1.
And in some strange Google-search "perfect storm," a short article written after the U.S. Congress finally reached a deal on the debt-ceiling debate in August drew the most visitors to Glen Burnie Patch in 2011.

What do you think? Do these stories sum up the year in Glen Burnie for you?