Teen Loss, Football Champs Mark December News

Can you believe it’s 2013? Wasn’t the world supposed to end a couple weeks ago? Obviously that didn’t pan out. Anyway, December was another wild month, and one that capped off a roller-coaster year. Let’s take a look at the month’s top stories.

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Brain Cancer Claims Life of Long Valley Teen

Glenn Lightner, 14, succumbed to the five-year battle he fought with brain cancer on Dec. 12, saddening a community at large. Lightner became Long Valley’s most popular teen in 2012 when efforts were made in a variety of fundraisers to help him and his family seek treatments to battle his disease.

Subsequently, Lightner was later named by Long Valley Patch’s readers as their Person of the Year.

73-Yard TD Pass Ignites West Morris to State Title

After two consecutive years of semifinal playoff losses to teams they beat during the regular season, the West Morris Central Wolfpack football team finally captured the ever-elusive championship. The team blew out Warren Hills Regional High School in the North II, Group IV title game at Rutgers University, it’s first championship since the 2009 season.

Top Dog Honor Awarded to ‘Wonder’ Dog

In Patch’s first-ever “Top Dog” contest, one of Long Valley’s favorite pooches beat out contestants from nine other Patch sites around the state to win a gift certificate to the Morris Animal Inn. . Congrats Wendel!

Just next door in Hackettstown, James Bayliss and his family are still searching for answers. Those answers stem from a beating the then-21-year-old suffered at the hands of a New Jersey State Trooper in 2009. Four years before the incident, Bayliss was in a car crash that left him mentally disabled.

Cell Tower Almost Ready on Schooley’s Mountain

Everyone knows about the “dead” cellular service spot on Schooley’s Mountain–which basically encompasses most of the area. But, according to workers from N.M.C.I., a new cellular service tower being erected behind the police station should cure all those ills, and bring usable, 4G cellular service to the top of town.