Over the past twenty-five years the Observer has covered many stories about local people, events and businesses. We thought it might be interesting each month to highlight some of the front-page news to remind us what was happening in town. The following are some of the headline stories from our December/January issues over the past 25 years.
There were several issues that highlighted seasonal holiday events both Christmas and Hanukkah as well as election results from November’s elections. Other front page stories included the disclosure of the new high school site (1999), the recommendation of the Bradley Connector Road (2001), the dedication of the Veterans Memorial (2003), the SHS Giraffe Club (2004), the boys and girls soccer teams who become state champs (2006), planners for the library took public comment (2007), Suffield named a Preserve America Town (2008), SMS and SHS cross country teams do well (2008), a vote recount supported Tom Frenaye’s win as First Selectman (2009), bullying in schools was an issue (2010), SHS celebrates their Best Buddies group (2010), an October snow storm slams the town (2011) and new power lines went up in West Suffield (2012). The SHS boys’ soccer team became state champs (2013), SHS Agriscience students sold poinsettias (2015), SHS varsity girls soccer team had an exceptional season (2015), Suffield’s 350th anniversary house tour is held (2019), MIS students study journalism (2020), Suffield Alight celebrated the holidays (2020) and Hilltop hosts its first public event in the barn (2022).
The Observer often highlighted people as well on the front page. Some people reported on over the past 25 years included Observer volunteer Ruth Zimmerman (2002), Paul Hryniewicz (2003), Billy Kuras of the Suffield Police Department (2005), Steve Sorrow’s Connecticut River cleanup (2005) and retirement from the Suffield Fire Department (2009), runner-up in a state-wide writing contest, 6th grader Ben Gee (2007), State Representative Ruth Fahrbach retired( 2008), Observer managing editor Anne Mainolfi (2010), Ed McAnaney’s First Selectman election win (2011), White House florist Ruth Loiseau (2012), Kent Memorial Library director Jim McShane (2013), Melissa Mack’s First Selectman election win (2015), the Observer remembers founder Sam Fuller (2016) and Town Historian and King House curator Lester Smith (2017 and 2023). Other Suffield people included Suffield Pride’s professional baseball player Jack Patterson (2018), SHS teacher Justin Kaput headed for Antarctica (2018), KML director Jackie Hemond retired (2019), firefighter Ron Carlson celebrated 50 years with SFD (2021) and CT Public radio Lucy Nalpathanchil (2022).
We hope to provide a look into the past years, month by month, as we remember some of the front-page highlights.