It wasn’t hard for us to choose the 2011 newsmaker of the year for Thunder Bay.
Love him or hate him, no one made the headlines more than our first-term Mayor Keith Hobbs.
Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was bad for the ex-police officer, who stormed into office a month before 2010 came to a close and spent the next 13 months polarizing the community with his comments and actions.
Viciously opposed to Horizon Wind Inc.’s planned turbine farms on the Nor’Wester Mountain Range, he made his biggest splash when he was kicked off the Thunder Bay Police Services Board for breaching confidential information arising out of a closed-door meeting.
Hobbs a former cop who openly feuded with then Thunder Bay police chief and one-time boss Robert Herman, accused Herman of intercepting private calls between himself and another officer under suspension and looking to go back to work.
The accusations led Herman to file a $700,000 lawsuit against the mayor, as well as threats of lawsuits laid against several media outlets in the city, including this one. A public apology later in the year ended the suit.
He’ll also return to the police services board on Tuesday, after being counseled by the Civilian Police Commission about how to treat fellow board members.
Sanctions include automatically excusing himself from meetings where personnel and labour relations are being discussed, due to conflict of interest.
It was by no means Hobbs’s only public confrontation of 2011.
Early in the year he publicly feuded with then Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry Michael Gravelle, accusing the beloved longtime MPP of not fighting hard enough for a ferrochrome processing plant for the city.
Cliffs Natural Resources, the American company planning to build the facility to process chromite mined in the Ring of Fire, labeled Sudbury as its best-case scenario.
Hobbs also went on the record with musicians Hollerado, telling them in an interview that he believes marijuana should be legalized.
Ironically enough he also tried to chase down a suspected drug dealer in Victoriaville Mall, after witnessing what he alleged to be a narcotics transaction going down.
Then there was also a threat from an Edmonton man, reacting to Hobbs’s call to make Thunder Bay the 50th Nishnawbe Aski Nation territory under his watch.
It wasn’t all bad. Hobbs, a man of the people unafraid to speak his mind, took to the streets regularly, his Walkabout Wednesdays taking him to all corners of the city and signed an agreement with Fort William First Nation to work together on social and economic issues.
He also got to raise the flag of his beloved Boston Bruins at City Hall, after the Beantowners captured their first Stanley Cup since 1972, a 39-year drought.
If Hobbs polarized the community, Jordan Wabasse, our No. 2 newsmaker of 2011, managed to rally the city and surrounding community behind him.
Sadly there was no happy ending for the 15-year-old Webequie First Nation youngster, who was in Thunder Bay for education.
The teen went missing on Feb. 7, launching a massive search along the Kaministiquia River and on Fort William First Nation. Friends and family held out hope for three months, but in May his body was found floating in the river.
Jordan’s death led to an inquiry about the number of First Nations youth who’ve died after coming to Thunder Bay in recent years, led to national coverage by CBC’s The Fifth Estate, and reignited the conversation about how best to ensure First Nation youth stay safe while getting the education they need to survive in an urban environment.
Our No. 3 newsmaker of the year isn’t an actual person, but a collection of people who seemingly hit the news every few days.
Yes, the Mac’s robbers were certainly a topic of conversation throughout the year, with nearly 30 incidents in the first 11.5 months.
The frequency led company officials to heighten security measures and meet with local police on at least two occasions. They also caused plenty of discussion about safety in the community.
There you have it - the good, the sad and the bad that made the most noise in Thunder Bay in 2011.
