Barnegat Patch's Top Stories of 2011: Part Two

Our roundup of Barnegat Patch's top stories of the year continues. Check out our first five picks , and tell us what you think about the stories we're linking to in the comments section below. 

6. Exelon announces Oyster Creek will close 10 years early. The announcement by power company Exelon to close the country's oldest operating nuclear power plant a decade ahead of schedule actually came a little over a year ago, before Barnegat Patch lauched (you can read the story on Brick Patch ). But the closure has been big news in 2011, with local and state leaders raising concerns over job losses and . In Barnegat, leaders have supported the formation of a committee to oversee the closure and plans for the future.

7. Barnegat plans affordable housing complex. Barnegat Township sold off a parcel of Route 9 land to developer Walters Group this year, saying Walters would fulfill the township's state-mandated – and then some. The township's zoning board has since , a 94-unit complex on a 6.3-acre plot of land. The issue has among some residents who say the plan goes overboard and will result in the construction of more units than the township is currently legally required to see built.

8. Prescription drug ring based in Barnegat busted. In May, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced the , including the man investigators said was the ringleader in the scheme, which involved two doctors and more than 20 operatives. Neighbors , whom police say orchestrated the writing of 6,000 illegitimate prescriptions by the doctors for hundreds of thousands of pills between January 2009 and December 2010.

9. "Hurricane" Irene hits the Jersey Shore. When a storm brewing in the Caribbean in late August began to look like a threat to the east coast, experts at first warned against premature assumptions of impending doom. But cautions against overexcitement soon turned to . As it turned out, , and fears of devastating flooding from a Category 2 storm thankfully weren't fulfilled. But many of us , and watched as the system wreaked havoc further north. Ocean County's tab for  less than $1.5 million.