2011 was a year when many stories became the focus of viewer interest and debate.
Several Green Country stories made national headlines.
The click counter doesn’t lie.
When viewers find a story interesting they come to FOX23.com by the thousands, clicking to see the story again or to learn more.
Here are the stories that received the most clicks this year:
#10-The Weleetka Murders and Ashley Taylor murder. Kevin Sweat, 25, now faces three First-Degree murder charges and the death penalty for the shooting deaths of Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, and Skyla Whitaker, 11, and the murder of his fiancée Ashley Taylor.
#9- A deadly summer for the soldiers who made the greatest sacrifice from Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry Brigade. There have been 14 dignified transfers.
In June, 2011, Oklahoma National Guard troops deployed in Afghanistan.
Nearly three dozen members from the 45th infantry returned this month and 2,000 more will be home by spring.
#8-On May 31st, Billy Hamons, 31, kidnapped a man in Osage County, drove to the area near 21st and Yale, fired shots inside a Neighborhood Walmart, them shot and killed a University of Tulsa graduate student during an attempted car-jacking.
Hamons then turned the gun on himself after he stole another truck and led police on a chase.
Two others face federal charges.
#7-On June 7th, pregnant mother, Amber Hilberling, is suspected of pushing her husband, Joshua Hilberling out the window of their University Club Apartment. The former Airman fell 17 floors.
Ms. Hilberling is out of jail again on $250,000 bond and had a baby boy named Levi.
In August, 2012, she will face trial for Second-Degree Murder.
#6-In September, Lottie Williams closely watched the sky as a satellite hurtled toward earth.
Williams is the only person in America to be hit with space junk. She says it happened in Tulsa’s O’Brien Park in 1997.
The government documented a piece of Delta 2 Rocket.
#5-On September 18th, a young couple was shot to death in East Tulsa’s Hick’s Park.
Ethan Nichols, 21 and Carissa Horton, 18 both from the same town in Iowa but didn’t meet until they moved to Tulsa this year.
Police say they were ambushed, robbed and executed while jogging in the park.
The accused killers texted Ethan’s parents from their son’s stolen cell phone.
Suspect Darren Price even showed up at the park and talked to reporters.
Hours later Price, 19, and Jerard Davis, 21 were booked for murder.
A judge will decide on January 10th, 2012 if there is enough evidence for a trial.
#4-Right before the 4th of July weekend at Grand Lake Army Corps of Engineers warned of Blue-Green Algae.
The scare then spread throughout lakes in Oklahoma.
#3-On November 5th, Oklahomans were awakened by the rumbling of a 47 magnitude earthquake.
Nearly 40,000 viewers clicked on FOX23.com. However, the shaking didn’t stop there, later that night a 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook the state again from Lincoln County.
This is the largest earthquake ever to hit Oklahoma.
#2-On August 11th, William Sturdivant was the man who refused to come down from the Clear Channel Communications tower in FOX23’s parking lot who captured the attention of Tulsa, the nation and the world.
The 25-year-old
More than 100,000 viewers clicked on the store as Sturdivant climbed the tower after being chased out of the Clear Channel building.
He told police he was working out some problems.
He survived sweltering temperatures, pepper balls, a rain storm and 120 hours without food and water.
The parking lot was closed off but gawkers couldn’t take their eyes off the man who was dubbed “Tower Man”.
Six days later, close call after close calm, former Tulsa Police negotiator Tyrone Lynn did what no one else could do and brought Sturdivant down from the tower.
#1-On December 8th, Tulsa police arrested a woman for trying to make meth inside a South Tulsa Walmart.
More than 350,000 viewers clicked on the story and continue to make it in the top four most popular stories on FOX23.com
Police arrested Alisha Halfmoon, 45, inside the 81st and S. Lewis Walmart after they saw her mixing meth ingredients inside the store.
Security called police after they watched surveillance video and became suspicious.
When police arrived they found her mixing ingredients. When she was arrested police say she told them she was too broke to buy the ingredients and wasn’t good at making the drug.
An officer was burned while disposing the meth bottle.
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FOX23 News is looking forward to another interesting year of news in 2012.
