Parishwide and a city election in Covington took the headlines in the parish for much of the year. The race for St. Tammany Parish President was won by a landslide 72.92 percent of the vote, 31,206 votes by Pat Brister. Her nearest competitor was Karen Champagne with 13.04 percent and 5,578. Due to be sworn in officially Jan. 9, she took office at a special meeting of the parish council Dec. 8 as interim parish president when Kevin Davis left to become new director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, effective Dec. 9.

In Covington, Mike Cooper also won the election handily with 54.37 percent of the vote, 1,712 votes, in a three person field on the first ballot. He had faced Community activist and former Habitat for Humanity West chair Moe Clary and Charlie Maestri for the seat. Upon winning the election, he said, “Everything I have done helped build support and has been very rewarding. I have done a lot of volunteer work for the city. I know these neighborhoods inside and out.” He has a degree in city and regional planning and has already implemented changed in code enforcement and revitalization of downtown for the coming year.

In a hotly contested race, Abita Springs Mayor Louis Fitzmorris beat Assessor Patricia Schwartz Core by a narrow margin in a runoff held in November. Only 122 votes separated the pair by night’s end with Fitzmorris garnering 50.2 or 15,401 votes and Core receiving 15,279 or 49.08 percent of the votes. Core’s term of office will end January 2013, giving Fitzmorris will have a year to prepare for office, including obtaining an assessor’s certification. He plans to work hard at his transitions, including handing over the mayorship of Abita Springs to an interim mayor later this year in a special election. He is finishing the first year of his third four-year term as mayor. Six candidates ran for the office.

2. Teens plan shooting rampage at Lakeshore High

Three Lakeshore High School students were arrested days before the new school year was slated to begin after their plot to bring weapons to school with them on the first day of class and to shoot and kill anyone who got in their way, naming out specifically students, teachers and law enforcement officials was brought to the attention of law enforcement officers.

Sheriff Jack Strain said his detectives were made aware of the plot, which he said was planned out in great detail using a Facebook page dubbed Day Zero, on July 17 when they were notified by school officials. The school officials were notified by students, who got wind of the plans.

Jacob Keller, Todd Singleton and Daniel Hopkins, all 15, were arrested on charges of solicitation for murder and criminal conspiracy to commit terrorizing.

Singleton and Keller have both since pleaded true, the juvenile equivalent to guilty.

Singleton was given a three-year sentence, with 20 months of that suspended.

Keller was sentenced to two years in juvenile detention, with one of those years suspended.

Hopkins has not entered a plea and is set to go to trial in February.

3. A whole bunch of dead fish in the Pearl River

The Temple-Inland paper mill in Bogalusa took responsibility for causing the Aug. 13 spill that caused the death of thousands of fish, turtles, mussels and other marine life in the Pearl River from Washington Parish down to the Rigolets in St. Tammany.

The kill was caused by their release of “black liquor” that exceeded the maximum amount of biochemical oxygen demand allowed by their Department of Environmental Quality discharge permit.

The paper plant released 116,000 pounds per day for three days of biochemical oxygen demand into the Pearl River. The plant’s permit only allows them to discharge 37,000 pounds of BOD per day.

Jeff Dauzat, a scientist with the Department of Environmental Quality, said the large amount of BOD sucked up all the oxygen in the water making it inhabitable for aquatic wildlife. “Basically, lack of oxygen killed the fish,” Dauzat said.

Residents coming in contact with the tainted water in August and experiencing illness such as skin irritation or infection, upset stomach or sore throat, or breathing difficulties were told to seek immediate medical assistance according to DHH.

In September, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries presented preliminary numbers on the number and kind of fish that were killed in the Pearl River. Paul Cinar of the DWF said that they estimate 151,000 fish were killed that included the 26 of the rare Gulf sturgeon. In all, 26 different species were affected including 139 paddlefish. Also, 4,000 mussels were killed.

At the same meeting, it was announced that International Paper had just purchased Temple-Island in early September for $3.7 billion after months of less-than-cordial negotiations.

The paper plant now faces fines and penalties for not only the spill, but for killing the fish that included species that were on the Endangered Species List.

The plant is operating again, but under strict rules. They and the DEQ are doing daily monitoring of the Pearl River both up and down stream.

They also must stick to a new reorganization plan that will put checks and balances.

4. District attorney cracks down on sale of ‘bath salts’; Reed, Strain urge shops to take it off shelves

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain and District Attorney Walter Reed lead the charge that resulted in making a series of chemicals marketed as bath salts and plant food illegal to possess in Louisiana after a local young man committed suicide after ingesting the substance days prior.

Following that incident, representatives from Strain and Reed’s offices visited local convenience stores where the product had been sold and asked for the item to be taken off the shelves.

These fake bath salts, commonly manufactured in China and India, are being marketed as bath salts and are being sold in individual bags on the Internet and in convenience stores and on the street by the brand names Ivory Wave, Ocean, Charge +, White Lightening, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie, Red Dove, Cloud-9 and White Dove and were being sold in gas stations around the parish. Two Slidell men were arrested days later, one for purchasing a pack of the now-illegal substance and one for selling it to him.