The past 12 months have been an exciting and tumultuous time for the U.S. and the world at large — and Dowagiac has not been excluded from that trend.
The year 2016 marked the changing of the guard for many crucial Cass County leadership positions. The Dowagiac area also experienced important growth, and loss, as well was the epicenter of events that captured headlines, both locally and nationally.
Over the next several issues, the editorial staff with the Dowagiac Daily News will countdown its list of the top 10 stories of the year. Stories were selected based on several factors, including newsworthiness, reader interest and community impact, both short- and long-term.
Kicking off the list are stories 10 through eight:

10. Dowagiac voters shoot down proposed city charter amendment
In spite of the changes experienced during elections later in the year, during March’s presidential primary election, Dowagiac voters sided in favor of the status quo.
Residents voted against a proposed amendment to the city charter, which would have changed the position of city clerk from an elected position to an appointed one, at the ballot box during the March 8 election. Around 55 percent of voters rejected the proposal, with 393 voting “yes” and 489 voting “no” to the amendment.
The proposed amendment saw both support and denouncement from members of the public in the weeks leading up to the election, with residents sounding off about the issue during public hearings and through several letters to the editors sent to the Daily News.
Initially passed by Dowagiac City Council in the summer of 2015, the proposed amendment would have changed the city clerk position, currently filled by Jane Phillipson Wilson, from one that is elected by voters to one that is appointed by the city manager and approved by the council. Per the charter, city voters must pass any amendments before they can be enacted.
Slated to go before the public during the November 2015 election, the city decided to move the decision to the March primary in order to reduce confusion, as the clerk position was up for election during November.
City officials had to deal with a major issue before the primary election, though, as a recently passed state law initially forbid them from sending out information about the proposal several weeks before the election. However, this so-called gag order was rescinded after Dowagiac Mayor Don Lyons and other municipality leaders across Michigan campaigned against the new law.
The city had planned to draft several additional proposed charter amendments for coming elections, although with the failure of the first one in March those plans are now up in the air.

9. Young Americans return to Dowagiac
After a three-year hiatus, one of Dowagiac’s most popular musical acts returned to the stage of the Dowagiac Middle School performing arts center.
Performers with the Young Americans made another stop in Dowagiac in November, as part of its tour of schools across the Midwest. The group of more than 40 professionals spent three-days working with nearly 200 Dowagiac students, teaching them more about singing, dancing and other performing arts.
As with previous years, the visit was capped off with a massive show in the middle school auditorium, with hundreds in attendance. The show began with a performance by the musical group, before students joined the professionals on stage for a series of song and dance routines.

8. Shooting, thefts, drug activity rattle community
Area law enforcement officers were kept on their toes throughout 2016, as the city was impacted by several major crimes throughout the past year.
During the early morning hours of April 11, residents with the city’s Eagle’s Trace Apartments were given an unwelcome interruption when a man fired several shots into a glass door of an occupied apartment following a dispute between the shooter and another individual living at the complex at the time. The apartment the suspect shot into, though, was occupied by a family that had nothing to do with the earlier altercation.
No one was injured in the shooting.
The suspect in the incident, 29-year-old Karl Kelvin Ross Jr., of Benton Harbor, was apprehended by authorities on April 22. He has since been convicted on several charges, including discharging a firearm toward a building and assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder, and is awaiting sentencing in Cass County Court.
Drug production and selling continued to plague police throughout the year as well.
During the winter and early spring, officials with the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team shut down a number of residential methamphetamine labs. Thanks to new police K-9 Tole, police were also able to locate suspects throughout the year possessing and trafficking drugs in the community, including one suspect who was found with more than 30 packages of methamphetamine as well as several deadly weapons during a traffic stop in July.
Finally, a spree of local home invasions put the community on alert in September. A man broke into three city homes over the course of several weeks that month, stealing guns, electronics and other valuables while the owners were away.
The suspect in the break-ins, 20-year-old Brett Adam Gibson, was sentenced in December to nine years in prison for the crimes.