Editor’s note: With another memorable year winding down, the Bulletin chose to reflect on those stories that kept the community talking. Over the next several issues, we’ll present highlights of those stories.

DECEMBER
• White Oak Development Partners, LLC were sued by a property owner while still facing a lawsuit filed by Polk County for failure to make payments for a water line. White Oak negotiated with possible development partners in hopes of settling debts and re-launching the development, according to Phillip Feagan, who represents White Oak.
• Polk County reduced its fund balance last year by $370,609, but paid off about $2 million in debt and each department came in under budget.
• Saluda residents who attended a Polk County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) committee meeting said they want the county’s mountain and ridge line protection ordinance to be based on slope, not elevation. The UDO committee met and discussed possible revisions to its mountain and ridge line protection ordinance (MRPO).
• The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Monday, Dec. 5 and heard an update from Ron Walters, executive director of PANGAEA. They currently has 81 customers at more than 120 locations, with plans to connect many more in the next 12 to 18 months.
• A tractor-trailer ran into a Columbus police car and a passenger van early  Dec. 5 along I-26.
• Jack Frost took his first nip at the area Wednesday, Dec. 7 as a storm brought rapidly dropping temperatures and high winds that caused power outages for about 1,250 Polk County residents.
• Donations toward the Nina Simone Plaza in downtown Tryon slowed to the point that Frudakis Studio, Inc. is still owed $55,000. Frudakis Studio prepared the statue for the plaza dedication on Feb. 21, 2010.
• Henry Huntsinger, a notable public figure in Polk County, died Friday, Dec. 9 at the age of 92. Huntsinger was a Polk County commissioner for 12 years, beginning in 1982 when he served along with Earl Foy and Ted Owens on the last three-member board of commissioners.
• Saluda residents witnessed the swearing in of new members of the city’s board of commissioners Dec. 12.
• The South Carolina Department of Revenue said wording of the alcohol referendum passed by Landrum voters Nov. 8 should have matched wording of the state statute but it did not. Therefore the department placed limitations on the on-premise sale of alcohol in the city on Sundays.
• County magistrate Lionel Gilbert of Commissioners updated the Polk County Board of Commissioners on Monday, Dec. 5 about The Polk County Mental Health Task Force force and how it has helped communications.
• Ashley Meadows at White Oak did not become a part of the Town of Columbus despite pleas from residents who said they need lower water bills. Columbus Town Council met Dec. 15 and denied a request to voluntarily annex the low-income housing development located just outside town off Hwy. 108. Councilman Richard Hall made a motion to annex the property, but the motion died for lack of a second.
• Gov. Bev Perdue Thursday, Dec. 15 announced the appointment of Rep. David Guice as director of Community Corrections under a new North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Guice’s new position will be effective Jan. 1, 2012 as he leaves his post as representative for District 113, which includes Polk County.
• Columbus Town Council met Thursday, Dec. 15 and approved an amendment to the town’s temporary sign ordinance. Columbus residents can now display up to four signs for yard, garage or estate sales.
• Tryon Town Council approved an ordinance on Dec. 20 to reduce the speed limit around Tryon Elementary School from 35 mph to 25 mph.
• Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lane of Tryon and Charleston, S.C., gifted Sunnydale, the venerable log cabin building on South Trade Street in Tryon, to the Tryon Little Theater (TLT).
• After receiving two upset bids on a 0.47-acre parcel a local dentist offered to purchase for $8,000, the Town of Tryon approved selling the property by sealed bids.

In Memoriam
James Howard Burnett
Vayda Jean French
Robert Peterson
Lesley Shank
John Bear Streat
Aloysius W. Corcoran
Ralph Oswald Grubel
Lula Cowart Blackwell
Catherine Coxe Page
Eric Alan Gass
Henry Huntsinger
Glenn P. Morgan
Rachel Pittman Williams
Lloyd F. McFalls
Brank Proffitt
Dorothy Ann McGill
Robert Paul Crow
Jessie Turney Rogers
Betty Thompson
Amy Murphy Greene
Aileen Jackson
Coinell Calvin Carson
Richard A. Fink
Richard Neff Horne
Raymond Miller
Dorothy Oakes McGill