The Niles Daily Star’s look back at 2014 continues with stories rated seventh through fifth on the top 10 list.

Tomorrow, the list concludes with the top four stories of the year, as voted upon by staff at Leader Publications, as well as with Niles Daily Star readers’ top five stories of the year.

The Niles community faced a number of challenges in 2014, including the closure of the Main Street Bridge and a number of summer storms that caused significant destruction to homes and businesses. Several residents witnessed a number of scary situations, including a fire set inside the Walmart on South 11th Street at the beginning of the year.

 

7: Thunderstorms cause destruction across region

Two separate waves of powerful thunderstorms blew through Michiana in early July, causing widespread power outages and damage throughout the area.

Two people were reported dead in Indiana, while, thankfully, no one was reported killed in Berrien and Cass counties in Michigan.

Area residents weren’t spared from the damage, however.

The home of Leslie Johnson, a teacher at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niles, was one of the hardest hit.

A tree that split during one of the storms sent a large branch onto the roof of her home on Lewis Drive, creating a gash in the ceiling over her kitchen.

Another branch lopped off a corner of her garage, damaging the vehicle inside.

Johnson was sitting on her living room couch when the second storm hit shortly before midnight. She described hearing a “sickening crack and crunch” as the tree branches snapped and fell around her.

“The whole house shook. I thought the whole house was coming down,” she said.

Despite the frightening scene, Johnson said she felt extremely lucky to come away with no injuries.

“I feel extremely lucky. The house can be fixed, the garage can be fixed, the car can be fixed,” she said. “Those are all material possessions. I’m just glad I made it out safely.”

 

6: Arsonist sets fire in Niles Walmart, commits suicide

In mid-January, Walmart employees experienced a scare when a fire was set inside the building.

Sergeant Trent Babcock with the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department reported that James Erik Turns entered the department store, walked to the clothing department and set a fire. Once the blaze was set, he smashed a display case in the electronics department and stole numerous electronic items.

After releasing images from the store’s surveillance camera and conducting an investigation, police concluded that Turns had set the fire. Turns confessed that he committed the acts and had attempted to commit the same offenses on the Saturday prior, but became scared and fled before he set the fire, according to a release from the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.

After making the admission, Turns fled from the officers into the surrounding Granger neighborhood. During the chase, officers discovered that Turns had a handgun. The man attempted to enter a home, but a canine officer latched onto his torso.

Police told Turns to drop the handgun, but instead he put the gun to his head and took his own life.

 

5: Main Street Bridge closes

After years of planning, work to replace the 90-year-old Main Street Bridge in Niles finally got underway in the middle of October.

The $10.6 million Michigan Department of Transportation project was originally scheduled to begin in the fall of 2013, but was delayed because bids came back higher than originally anticipated.

The new bridge is being designed with community input to maintain historic aesthetics, while improving safety for both motorists and pedestrians. It will most closely resemble the bowstring-style bridge that spanned the St. Joseph River from 1868 to 1919.

In addition to wider lanes, the bridge will have sidewalks and lookout areas on both sides.

Traffic has been rerouted to the Broadway Bridge to the south.

Some downtown Niles business owners expressed concern about how the project would affect their bottom line while work continues through the anticipated completion date of November 2015.

However, it remains to be seen just how much the work will affect local store owners.

The bridge was slated for replacement because MDOT was concerned about the amount of erosion seen on the pillars, or columns, that extend into the St. Joseph River.