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Community Corner

2011: A 'Stormy' Year For Norwalk

2011 was a year marked by triumph, tragedy, and two storms that paralyzed Norwalk.

Who had the biggest impact on Norwalk in 2011? If you said Mother Nature, not many in the city would argue with that answer. Major snowfalls throughout the winter, in the summer, and the freak produced a lot of problems for residents. The last two storms paralyzed much of the city with power outages that seemed to last for months. CL&P was heavily criticized by local and state officials for its preparation and slow response, resulting in wholesale changes atop the utility company.

 was the point man in response to the storms and he did it while gearing up for his re-election campaign. He beat out Andy Garfunkel to earn a fourth term as mayor of Norwalk. Moccia admitted that 2011 was a difficult year as the city was shaken by a double-murder in August.  Iroquois Alston, 27, and Rickita Smalls, 22, were shot to death on Avenue B.

case garnered a lot of attention, both locally and nationally. McDowell, who claimed to be homeless, was arrested in April for allegedly using a false address to enroll her son in Brookside Elementary School. She didn't help her image or case when she was arrested in

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The pride returned to the  as first-year head coach, Sean Ireland, engineered a magical season for the Bears. They rolled to an 8-1 record to earn a birth in the post-season. In the Class LL quarterfinals, Norwalk  beat Conard 21-15 to capture its first state playoff victory in the 109-year history of the school. The magic carpet ride ended the following week against top-ranked Xavier.

The last three months of the 2011 saw a famous curmudgeon pass away and two lives cut down too early. In October, , a Norwalk High School graduate was killed in a one-car accident a few hundred feet from his home. In November,  who had been a longtime resident of Rowayton and staple of "60 Minutes" on CBS, died from complications from surgery. He was 92.  And on Dec. 23, a wildly-popular and talented three-sport athlete of Brien McMahon where he graduated from in 2008, was killed after being hit by two cars on the Route 7 connector. 

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