Published: December 31, 2008 08:02 am      

Top stories will last beyond ’08

Some years, the biggest stories leap off the page, their effects so great and compelling that people remember where they were when they happened.

This year, though, our area’s biggest story _ the Marcellus Shale formation and the natural gas beneath it _ was one with great longterm regional impact that traveled under the radar. The issue is still evolving, its effects uncertain.

There are the promoted positives: untold millions in leasing and royalty fees, a state and local tax bonanza, and jobs in drilling and related industries. Then there are the fears: a marred landscape, a region stripped of its richest natural resource for the profit of outsiders, and polluted land and water.

The other familiar type of gas, gasoline, is also an unfinished story. Despite the recent drop below $2 a gallon, we suspect gas prices and related energy issues are a permanent part of our reality.

There was some closure brought, however, with regards to two of the most controversial deaths this region has seen in many years. Peter Wlasiuk was convicted and sentenced for the second time in the 2002 murder of his wife, Patricia. And back in January, Corbin Douglas Sr. was sentenced to 30 years for federal crimes related to the death of his toddler namesake son. Those are two felons whose presence in these pages will likely be missed by few.

As we look forward to 2009, too, we look at new eras.

Minor league baseball has a long-standing, proud tradition in Oneonta. The Oneonta Tigers, formerly the Yankees and Red Sox, had known but one parent since 1966: The Oneonta Athletic Corp. But the torch has been passed to E. Miles Prentice.

The franchise’s direction _ indeed, its future here _ remains to be seen.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame remains strong, but it has undergone a change in president and in its second-biggest event, the Hall of Fame Game. That decadeslong tradition is no more, despite vocal and organized opposition, though 2009 is expected to bring a new tradition of having retired players compete.

And at the college level, two titans of recent years have retired from the State University College at Oneonta and Hartwick College. Their successors came highly recommended and looking to build upon the foundations left them. As higher education grows in importance and cost, their success will impact thousands of students, the local economy and the reputation of this region.

2008 here had its stories. But it may be remembered most for what it produced in later years.