We at the Paxton Record have been wondering for four years when we could name a story about the construction of Ford County’s first wind farm as our top story of the year.

That day is finally here. It was a long time coming, but looking back, it seems like just yesterday when we first found out in spring 2008 that E.On Climate & Renewables was planning its Pioneer Trail Wind Farm near Paxton. Back then, on an almost daily basis, we learned of more and more developers, including E.On, that were looking at Ford County for the site of a wind farm. But only E.On has followed through with its plans, so far.

Last year, the “progress” of E.On’s wind farm and others proposed in Ford County gained the No. 4 ranking on our end-of-the-year list. Also last year, we predicted – with a bit of caution – that if any wind farm was built in the county in the upcoming year, it would become No. 1 on the 2011 list.

True to our word.

“Not only is there great community interest, there is a lot of community impact with wind farms,” we explained in a column about our top 10 list a year ago. “These massive structures will not only dominate the landscape, they will generate millions in tax revenue and provide some needed jobs.”

We couldn’t have said it better today. And we couldn’t find a story today that better fits the criteria we use when choosing our list of top 10 stories: (1) community impact and (2) community interest.

So the Pioneer Trail Wind Farm was the easy choice for our No. 1 story of the year. In this column, we’ll break down the reasoning behind our choices for No. 1 and the other nine stories that made the list, if you’ll hear us out …

Please read this week's Paxton Record for the rest of the story.