As 2012 comes to a close I find myself drawn to all sorts of lists that are circling the web reflecting the year’s best and worst moments. After browsing galleries of the top 10 fresh faces of 2012 to the lists of the year’s worst fashion trends, I knew I wanted to use my last column of 2012 to reflect on some of Selma’s best and worst of 2012.

Best Selma moments in 2012:

1. Meeting Amelia Boynton Robinson, a voting rights legend. This landed on the list because not only did I meet a legend but Robinson was reunited with Joe Jones, a man she had never met and was pictured with in a now iconic photo from Bloody Sunday. Boynton met Jones after 47 years of wondering who the man in the photo was and with tears in her eyes she was able to say what she’d been waiting so long to say — thank you.

2. Celebrating Evelyn Youngblood’s 100th birthday. Age 100 is a celebration on it’s own, but covering a birthday of a woman who has lived a beautiful life and is still as sharp as ever, asking her the secret to longevity — which she attributes to her ancestors, eating right and staying active while growing up, and learning all she could about her spiritual life, is what made Youngblood’s 100th land in a top spot this year.

Worst Selma moments in 2012:

1. Selma High School goes on lockdown after a student brought a loaded handgun to school. This was bad, but what made it land on my worst of 2012 list was not only that it happened in a school that has metal detectors set up for each student to be checked as they enter the school, but it happened one week after the most deadly, horrific school shooting in our lifetime. School officials need to take a good look at what needs to change in 2013 to help make our schools safe.

2. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the Alabama River locks would close to recreational traffic (and later announced recreational traffic would in fact be allowed through the locks — during the new hours of service). This was an issue I followed closely, contacting our local representatives as well as our state leaders in Washington. When the stakeholders cried out and fought the issue with both passion and desperation, the Corps made a compromise, creating new hours of service at the locks on the river.

3. State of the Selma Animal Shelter. Details of Selma’s animal shelter being filled to capacity because the city was not paying the veterinarian who needs to euthanize the animals with parvo, left readers furious and confused.

And while there were so many things didn’t make my best and worst list due to space, I’d say this year was a great one, and I look forward to the many adventures that 2013 is sure to bring.