By Staff
What do Mike Haveard and William Lee Golden have in common? Not a lot other than gray facial hair and local roots - and the fact that both were newsmakers in Brewton in 2008.
The past year has been an interesting one in Brewton, with local arts and community events drawing both attention and visitors, including the Brewton Music Festival in March headlined by Golden and his fellow Oak Ridge Boys. That concert brought the “Boys” back to Brewton for the first time in many years.
Mike Haveard's arrest and trial on drug charges in the spring and summer also attracted attention and made headlines for months, with his supporters and detractors following his fate.
As usual, the past year was filled with interesting characters and news stories that made us gasp, smile and sometimes scratch our heads.
Local families have lost loved ones, lost homes to fire, lost jobs.
But we have also seen local residents step up to help each other in countless ways, from raising money for cancer research to volunteering for Habitat for Humanity houses.
As we look back on a year that saw a historic national election - and some new faces on local city councils - as well as tough times for all of us economically, we do realize that we have much to be thankful for and much to look forward to in the new year.
We are entering even more uncertain economic times, but we do have much to look forward to in the coming year.