Discussions

As promised, beginning today and running over the next five days I will feature the top 25 most-viewed eBrandon threads of 2009....culminating with the top five of the year on December 31. Within you will find a wide variety of topics started by a variety of members throughout the year. As this thread progresses, please feel free to add your thoughts on any of the topics mentioned.  
 
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#25. Major emergency response to jail  
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=208891&cat_id=3  
Started by Adam, October 4  
 
Information began to trickle out on this Sunday afternoon that a major event was occuring at the Brandon Correctional Institute. Pictures of police surrounding the premises and a fire department presense fuelled speculation. As the day wore on, it would be confirmed that a riot had occurred.  
 
Happening just two days after the closure of CKX TV, this incident was the first to cause us to reflect on what we were missing without their presence in our community. eBrandon was able to help fill some of the void, posting a raw video of the dramatic scene. The video would become the site's most-viewed of the year with 2000+, while also being picked up for use by CBC Winnipeg for their evening news.  
 
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#24. Major Thunderstorm around Westman  
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=192150&cat_id=3  
Started by xxxxx, August 14  
 
Brandon storm watchers had what could be best described as a quiet season in the summer of 2009.... that was until the early morning hours of August 14 when a major hail storm struck Westman and Brandon, doing the worst of its damage on the city's North Hill.  
 
The ensuing eBrandon discussion had 16 replies before it was even 8 AM and would proceed to have three pages of reaction from around Westman as eBrandonners pieced together what areas were the hardest hit. The discussion thread also featured a dozen pictures showing the size of the hailstones and extend of the damage caused.  
 
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#23. Accident on 1st street  
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=178162&cat_id=3  
Started by ianandmandy, June 22  
 
Threads involving accidents are often viewed a lot of times as folks try to find out what happened. In this particular incident, a semi struck a  
cyclist on first street just as the working day was coming to a close.  
 
Information was limited that evening, resulting in many people coming to eBrandon to try to piece together what may have occurred. More information was released in the morning (luckily injuries were non-life threatening), and the discussion progressed into an exchange on ideas on who many have been at fault and how such accidents can be prevented in the future.  
 
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#22. Britney Spears spotted at Tim Hortons  
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=156943&cat_id=3  
Started by ScottyS, April 4  
 
One of the more unique threads of 2009, this discussion began to gain steam as multiple accounts of sightings of Britney Spears' tour busses on Brandon's portion of the Trans Canada Highway began to come in. Would be featured prominently by the folks at Star FM, adding fuel to the fire.  
 
While it got a little crazy at times, the ensuing thread involved people trying to figure out whether the controversial pop star herself had passed through the city. While I would later have it on good authority that Ms. Spears would've flown to their next tour destination, to my knowledge it was never confirmed either way.  
 
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#21. Suspicious death on Cherry Cres  
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=155635&cat_id=3  
Started by Adam, March 31  
 
This thread began with a re-post of a brief Brandon Police Service press release relating to the suspicious death of two individuals. Because details were few and far between at the time while the investigation was carried out, people became naturally curious and naturally came to this thread to hopefully find out more information.  
 
Out of the top 25 threads, this one may have had the least replies with only 27.. but clearly a lot of people were reading.  
 
It would be later concluded that foul play was not involved.  
 
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Check back tomorrow when I'll unveil threads 16-20....