Our top story tonight

By Rick Yencer

MUNCIE, IN - The top story of the year in Muncie is about tragedy and loss felt by a wife and three young children.

 There's no question that the death of Scott Davis, 40, trying to fight the fire at Tabernacle of Praise on June 15 impacted more people, besides his wife, Raeanne, and three children, Jake, Emma and Myron, more than any other story in Muncie 2011.

 More than 1,500 people showed up to mourn his death and his service as a Muncie firefighter and former Yorktown fire chief. The fire was tragedy in other ways since no one was inside at the time, and the structure was still lost. There are still investigations into the procedure and lack of fire protection in the church, but the loss will continue for Davis' family for a lifetime.

 That top story also brought public safety together after recent years of layoffs, fire station closings and other cutbacks. Firefighters also were instrumental in the second biggest story, a Muncie fire captain and state representative who won the Muncie Mayor's race and put Democrats back in city hall for the first time in 20 years. 

 Mayor-elect Dennis Tyler left the state as an Indiana House Democrat to fight that Right to Work law, but came back gto defeat Republican Mayor Sharon McShurley in a landslide, compared to recent elections. Tyler pledged to run a clean campaign, and McShurley found her reform minded agenda, including filing lawsuits and pushing for criminal investigations of those who opposed her found her little support at the polls. 

 McShurley's steps to deal with limited money from property tax caps by closing south Muncie fire stations and later causing problems for Black Expo found voters in south and east Muncie  ready to oust her.

 However, McShurley did help improve the economy despite a constant 8 percent unemployment rate by helping bring a major manufacturer to Muncie, which rates the third top story.

 Progress Rail actually builds locomotives in the old Westinghouse plant on Cowan Road and opened its doors to the community last October with about 180 people, the subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. built a locomotive for Mexico and another for the African nation of Gabon with more on the way. It's was McShurley's greatest day as she stood with Republican Congressman Mike Pence to welcome the $50 million investment in the facility. That's probably why there's speculation that McShurley will be Pence's running mate when he wins the Republican primary for governor on May 8.

 The fourth biggest story is another tragedy, just recently about  a boy who committed crime all his life, ending with the murder of Tonia Ingram, 40, on Dec. 2. Terry D. "T Rose" Rutledge, 24, not only is accused of suffocating the victim, but with a little help from his friends, taking her body along Bunch Boulevard and setting it on fire. 

 It did not take long to learn that the justice system failed repeatedly to deal with Rutledge who was found beyond rehabilitation at 17 years old and sent to the Indiana State Prison for eight years. Well, Rutledge got out and then was accused of raping a woman but the charges were dropped. Now he is accused of murder and complains he cannot get a fair trial with all the publicity about his criminal pass.

 He does not have much education, and that's been a problem with lots of youth in the community. And  Muncie Community Schools had its share of problems too, like not reporting an alleged rape that happened at Central High School. The MSC board of trustees did change direction in 2011 which makes it the fifth biggest story. The outsider Supt. Eric King from Chicago was replaced by a career administrator at MCS, Tim Heller, which some believed was the return of the good old boy system in schools.

 Heller, 66, was named superintendent on April 4 and took over last summer. He was a former Southside principal and assistant superintendent for Muncie schools, until he did a superintendent shuffle and was superintendent for McCracken County Schools, Paducah, Ky., to earn those two coveted school pensions in two states. 

 His return here brought more access and more direct action to education. It also brought his daughter, Jackie Samuels, as the Northside Middle School principal. Actually Samuels was at MCS before her dad came back and as school board member Tony Costello said he was not concerned about the relationship as long as she had the ability. 

 Don't look for a top 10 list  like David Letterman or big media because people only care about the top story like Time's The Protester, or the Huffington Post's top story of the year.Chevy Chase always said, "Our top story tonight."  These five stories  represent  the events that impacted Muncie the most, even if people don't believe or only think that Ball State University or IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital are the only things the community has to offer.