Kyzer the North Andover police dog

NORTH ANDOVER - Kyzer has been promoted from detention to dog treats over the past year.

The German shepherd and canine partner of North Andover police Sgt. Charles Gray was suspended in May for biting a dispatcher, but was found fit to return to the force.

Six months later he was the star of an arrest that brought down an armed man who shot an employee of nearby Independent Tire. When police confronted the suspect, Robert Hassam, Gray let Kyzer go and the dog got Hassam to the ground.

The dog was commended by selectmen and police Chief Richard Stanley for his role in the arrest.

"It was business as usual for Kyzer," Gray said after the arrest. "He was happy to get out and work. That's a great day for him."

Jim Sereigo-Wareing

METHUEN - When Lawrence Army Spc. Alex Jimenez was kidnapped in Iraq on May 12, Jim Sereigo-Wareing went into action.

He launched a massive collection effort to send items to soldiers overseas, he decorated a bridge in honor of Jimenez and he brought two distraught fathers together to find solace in their son's uncertain fate.

Pvt. Byron Fouty of Michigan was kidnapped along with Jimenez.

Through his nonprofit, New England Caring for Our Military, Sereigo-Wareing helped Jimenez's father, Andy, and Fouty's father, Mick, meet. Sereigo-Wareing and Andy Jimenez flew to Detroit to see Fouty's family, and a few months later, Sereigo-Wareing paid for Mick Fouty to come to Lawrence.

"This is the best thing that has happened since they disappeared," Fouty said of the support he received when visiting the Merrimack Valley in November. "The love in this town for the soldiers is incredible."

Sereigo-Wareing's commitment to the troops continues. A few weeks ago, he joined Andy Jimenez on a trip to Alex Jimenez's base in Fort Drum, N.Y., for an emotional meeting with soldiers in his unit. And he's been fighting state officials to make sure his patriotic tributes to Alex Jimenez - and all soldiers - is allowed to remain on highway overpasses.

"Everyone has an opportunity to help others, and this is how I feel I can help them," Sereigo-Wareing said. "No parent should have to go through this type of ordeal, and anything I can contribute to help them is an honor for me on behalf of what their sons do for our country by serving in the Army."

Luther McIlwain

Methuen's famed Tuskegee Airman finally went to Washington in 2007 to collect his Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor.

Luther McIlwain, 86, a second lieutenant with the Alabama-based Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, wasn't sure the U.S. government was going to follow through with its plans to honor the all-black pilots. Tuskegee pilots faced racism and discrimination in a then-segregated military, but broke those racial barriers for heroically escorting Allied bombers over Europe.

President Bush signed a bill in 2006 awarding the medal to the Tuskegees, but the ceremony was delayed while government agencies approved a design for the medal.

Thanks to support from Tuskegee associations and lobbying by senators and congressmen, McIlwain and 200 other Tuskegee veterans made a special trip to Washington, D.C., in March. Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were at ceremony, held at the U.S. Capitol.

Joining McIlwain on the emotional trip were his sister, Glendora McIlwain Putnam of Boston, and good friend Methuen Councilor Kathleen Corey Rahme.

Kathe Tuttman

A presidential hopeful and a convicted murderer vaulted Superior Court Judge and Andover resident Kathe Tuttman into the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Mitt Romney, who appointed Tuttman to the bench when he was governor, called for her resignation in November after the man she released from prison - Daniel Tavares Jr. - murdered a young couple in Washington state over a $50 debt. Tuttman released Tavares without bail in July, after prosecutors tried to keep him incarcerated for assaulting two guards while he was serving a 16-year manslaughter sentence for stabbing his mother to death.

"I think that the judge showed an inexplicable lack of good judgment in a hearing that decided to put someone on the street who had, not only in the past been convicted of manslaughter, but had threatened the lives of other individuals and was a flight risk," Romney said during a campaign stop in Derry, N.H.

Through it all, Tuttman has maintained her silence on the issue, saying she can't discuss the case because it's pending. She remains on the bench. Several in the legal community, including Margaret Marshall, chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court, and Barbara Rouse, chief justice of the state Superior Court, defended Tuttman's decision.

"She is living every judge's nightmare - that a principled decision based on the law and the information provided to her was followed by tragic events over which she had no control," Rouse said.

Thuan Tran

Thuan Tran spent weeks working on a mural showing Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X on a wall at Lawrence High.

In a controversial move, school Superintendent Wilfredo T. Laboy had it painted over. Tran had permission from Principal Michael Fiato, but school policy states permission to paint on the walls must come from the superintendent's office.

The move outraged students, who organized a petition. In the end, Tran was asked to submit a sketch for a new mural to be painted at the school.

Five girls going to top schools

The Lawrence High School Class of 2007 made history when two sets of twins were accepted to Ivy League schools and a fifth senior was accepted to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but opted for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.

Christina and Karina Ovalles are studying at Harvard University, while twins Tu and Van Le are students at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

The five young women are daughters of immigrants who had to overcome language and cultural barriers to succeed.

The Ovalles twins are daughters of Dominican immigrants, and did not speak English until the third grade. The Le twins were held back in first grade because they did not know enough English and were placed in a bilingual class with other Southeast Asians to help them. Merkeley Sanon is the daughter of Haitian immigrants.

Sandy Gleed

Sandy Gleed is a soft-spoken mother who emerged as a leader of the people in North Andover this year.

She led the campaign that persuaded voters to raise their own property taxes and pass a $1.65 million Proposition 21/2 tax override in June, mostly to help the schools.

But she didn't stop there. Gleed is the leader of the citizens group North Andover United, which organized a fall forum in which residents asked officials about the town's budget.

North Andover United hopes to become a force around the state, taking on the costly issue of special education funding.

Niki Tsongas

The state had not elected a woman to Congress since 1970, and 5th District residents hadn't had a Tsongas representing them since 1984.

But that all changed in October when Lowell Democrat Niki Tsongas came along. Tsongas, a political newcomer and widow of former Fifth District Congressman and presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, narrowly defeated Dracut Republican Jim Ogonowski in a special 5th District election to fill the last year of Martin Meehan's term.

Meehan left office to become the chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Since taking office, Tsongas has gone on a fact-finding mission to the U.S.-Mexican border, started a "Congress on Your Corner" program - bringing her office hours to supermarkets - and plans to visit Iraq in January or February before filing her first bill, which she hopes will bring the troops home from Iraq.

"It's a changed Congress," Tsongas said of how the atmosphere is different from when her husband served. "It's a divided Congress, very adversarial. It was different in the '70s, when Democrats were a large majority."

Tsongas will have to run for re-election in 2008.



James Kartell

The man who murdered his estranged-wife's lover in a Methuen hospital room eight years ago got out of prison in October. Former plastic surgeon James Kartell, 68, then moved back to the Andover home he and Dr. Suzan Kamm once shared. He continued to pay his taxes on the Brady Loop home from prison.

Kartell shot Janos Vajda, 56, in the stomach and execution-style in the back of the head on Feb. 23, 1999. Vajda was visiting Kamm in Room 440 at Caritas Holy Family Hospital, where she was being treated for pneumonia, and the two men got into a fight.

Kamm has a restraining order against her former husband, which states Kartell has "a lack of remorse or insight (regarding) the homicide."

Amber Abreu

Lawrence teenager Amber Abreu will go on trial sometime next year after being accused of trying to abort her six-month pregnancy by taking misoprostol, a prescription ulcer drug contained in the abortion pill RU-486.

Instead of aborting the child, Abreu, 18, gave birth to a 11/4 pound girl, whom she named Ashley. The baby only lived four days.

"This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I pray that one day she can forgive me for making this decision," she said.

Abreu pleaded not guilty to charges of procuring a miscarriage. Prosecutors decided not to pursue murder or manslaughter charges against her because the district attorney's office said it would have been difficult to prove that the baby would have been expected to live.

James Marini

James Marini took over as superintendent of the North Andover School District this year after the School Committee embarked on a search with plenty of twists and turns.

The search first led to three finalists, but no superintendent. Marini was the superintendent in Winchester until the end of June. Search committee members met him because they were interested in hiring his subordinate.

They courted Marini and he signed a one-year, $180,000 contract. School Committee members have said they hope to keep him in North Andover for two years.

Bob Ansin

Developer Bob Ansin came to Lawrence with a vision of redevelopment that so many wanted to see. But 2007 brought some tough times for Ansin, billed as the mastermind behind the redevelopment of a massive city mill into 600 trendy loft apartments.

Late in the fall, after spending $25 million of his own money, Ansin ran short on funds and was unable to complete the first of three phases planned for Monarch on the Merrimack. He tried to borrow more money. Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan even stumped for Ansin, meeting with a collection of investors from the United Commercial Bank of California whom Ansin hoped to borrow $40 million from.

His loan was denied. And around the same time, the state's Department of Environmental Protection stepped in to check on asbestos issues inside and outside the Monarch building.

As 2007 closes, the future of the project remains uncertain. A Monarch newsletter, however, says the condos will be finished in 2008.

The Rev. Lyndon Myers

Five years ago, Andover Baptist Church was on the verge of closing, with just a dozen members and two children in its religious education classes.

Then came the Rev. Lyndon Myers, who, members said, revitalized the church with new programs, $75,000 in external renovations and his personal preaching style.

Today, the church has 150 members on its roster and 50 youngsters enrolled in Sunday school. In the last three years, 30 more members have been baptized.

"I am honored and privileged to stand here and celebrate the anniversary because there were many questions of whether we would get to 175 years," said Myers, who served in the Air Force for 14 years, reaching the rank of major, and worked for Lotus Development IBM for 11 years.

He entered seminary after feeling something was missing.

"I felt I needed more, and I became convinced that I could make more of a contribution by going into mission work," Myers said.

Kyle Wilcox

When Lawrence's Hispanic community raised questions about police brutality throughout the spring, Officer Kyle Wilcox's name surfaced more than any other.

And it was Wilcox who eventually became the only officer disciplined for assaulting a prisoner. Now he is fighting to keep his job. He also faces two criminal assault and battery charges.

Two brothers, Moises and Rubenito Fernandez, were the first to accuse Wilcox, saying he beat them after arresting them in December 2006. Wilcox was hit with a 30-day suspension for failing to protect Moises Fernandez while in custody, but internal investigators stopped short of accusing him of violence. Still, an assistant clerk magistrate found sufficient evidence to try Wilcox criminally on charges that he beat the brothers.

Eusebio Alicea, meanwhile, claims Wilcox beat him and washed his eyes with hot water after a January arrest. Another police internal investigation resulted in Wilcox's firing. He is fighting that decision in a civil service hearing.