The death of Capt. Richard "Steve" Leary, 32, in Afghanistan in June brought home a faraway war in a poignant way.
Leary was the 84th Canadian to die in the Afghan mission but he was the first from the city and the response to his fate made his death the top local news story of 2008.
Brantford showed an outpouring of grief and empathy for the Leary family. People lined up to sign a condolence book and then 2,000 people stood on Charing Cross Street as the soldier's flag-draped casket was transported to Mount Hope Cemetery.
Dignitaries mingled with school children, emergency workers, veterans and residents to salute, raise a flag or shed a tear for the hometown son who lost his life in war.
Here are the other top 10 news stories:
NO. 2: NATIVE PROTESTS
No Brantford story received more coverage -- both locally and nationally -- than the ongoing native protests.
Now in their second year, the protests, often with seniors Floyd and Ruby Montour at the helm, ranged all over town.
Natives blocked work at the new Hampton Inn, which was supposed to open in September, stopped machines at the First Gulf project on Wayne Gretzky Parkway and sent Irish firm Kingspan packing.
Protesters brought work to a stop at a housing development at Erie Avenue and Birkett Lane.
The city reacted by passing bylaws against the protests and then by launching a $110 million legal action against some of the natives.
Brantford was granted a temporary injunction against the protesters in June and the natives responded in July with a rolling blockade of development sites across the city.
In November, the Montours slowed work on a new medical centre on Garden Avenue, near Highway 403.
The city's bill for the legal fight against the protesters hit $274,000 in September and continues to climb.
NO. 3: TORY ELECTED
Despite his steady -- though unflashy -- performance over four years, Brant MP Lloyd St. Amand was unseated by Phil McColeman in October.
That made McColeman the first Conservative elected to Parliament from Brantford in more than 40 years, an achievement that makes it the No. 3 news story of the year.
McColeman has promised to lobby for solutions to the native land claim problem and elicit monetary help for communities hit by protests and blockades.
NO. 4: CITY LAWSUIT
In May, city councillors ramped up the ongoing confrontation with native protesters by hitting them with an injunction that included a demand for $110 million in damages.
Citing the need to prevent "irreparable harm", the city tried to protect landowners and developers who were complaining loudly about slowdowns and work stoppages caused by a handful of protesters.
But the temporary injunction was ignored by enough natives to be largely useless. Emotions were cranked up a notch, arrests were made and more protesters got involved.
The injunction hit the front page again in July when Coun. James Calnan backtracked on the legal action and called for a development freeze instead, a move that was seen by some councillors as backstabbing.
The court case -- with natives defending their right to protest and the city pushing for the injunction to become permanent -- began last week.
NO. 5: BCI REBORN
After months of arguing and acrimony between the school board and an alumni group, plans for a new Brantford Collegiate Institute became reality as demolition brought down parts of the 98-yearold school this summer.
Everyone knew the old building had to go but there was fierce debate after the board made a sudden shift from the idea of rebuilding on Brant Avenue to creating a new home for the school in West Brant.
Eventually, a $24-million plan was worked out that seemed to satisfy the city, the board, the province and the alumni association.
Classes are currently split between the usable parts of the old school and the nearby Victoria School on Richmond Street. Half the students attend early classes and the other half later in the day.
A grand opening for the reborn BCI is planned for 2010.
NO. 6: NICK KACZUR
At the beginning of 2008, Nick Kaczur was living the dream of many athletes.
A former construction worker, Kaczur, 28, was on his way to the Super Bowl as a member of the New England Patriots -- the first player from Brantford to hit the NFL and the first to play in the big game.
City council recognized him as a hometown hero and the American media ate up his Cinderella story.
But the story didn't have a fairy-tale ending. At the Super Bowl, the Patriots lost to the Giants. Then in June, word came out that Kaczur had been arrested and charged with the illegal possession of prescription meds.
There was speculation that Kaczur could be dumped by the Patriots. And the story was ramped up further with reports that Kaczur had co-operated with the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency in a sting operation that saw him wearing a wire and making three buys of pills.
In July, Kaczur's charges were put on hold and will be dismissed if he stays out of trouble until the end of January.
NO. 7: DANGER CITY
The news that Brantford -- an assumed paragon of middle-class, small city living -- had been named the most dangerous city in the province and Canada's 11th most dangerous came as a shock to most people.
In March, Macleans magazine compiled statistics on murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, robbery, break-ins and vehicle theft to compare cities from coast to coast.
Using rankings from the Canadian Centre for Justice, Macleans found that Brantford had a 2006 crime rate that was 68.4 per cent higher than the national average. It also had the second highest number of sexual assaults per capita in the country.
But local police hotly disputed the statistics, calling them old and not reflective of crime trends.
Mayor Mike Hancock declared the city safe and said it's getting safer. The story came in at No. 7 on our list of top news stories.
NO. 8: ALLAN CHAMPS
Local hockey team the Brantford Blast pushed hard to host the Allan Cup -- Canada's senior A hockey championship.
The excitement of the local games translated into an adrenalin high that pushed the team to become the Canadian champions in April.
It was the culmination of a dream for Blast owner Peter Ham, and he delighted in all aspects of the event, including having TSN relay the first-ever televised Allan Cup game from Brantford.
NO. 9: TASHINA KILLED
It took two months for the disappearance of a young pregnant Six Nations woman to become a major issue.
Once a large-scale search was mounted in April, a police dog found the body of 21-year-old Tashina General in a shallow grave near Chiefswood Road and Indian Townline.
The vibrant young woman had been heavily involved in longhouse culture and was about four months pregnant with a baby who was to be named Tucker.
A former boyfriend of General's, a local lacrosse star, has been charged with second-degree murder and has made several court appearances already.
NO. 10: MURDER TRIAL
The trial of the teen accused of killing 18-yearold Michael Willson at a house party on Erie Avenue is our No. 10 news story of 2008.
Teens testified about drugs, drinking and egging one another to fight at the trial, which started in October.
The 16-year-old boy who stood accused of stabbing Willson, said he was harassed and teased at the party where the victim called him a gangster. Others at the party taunted the younger teen because he didn't seem to want to fight. Earlier this month, the youth, who can't be named, was found guilty of second-degree murder.
The Crown attorney has applied to have the teen sentenced as an adult when he's dealt with in April.