Five Top April Stories: Sports Attic Fire and Brentwood Politics

1.

The owner and much of his family woke to the news on April 13 that the was burning. Many of them lived nearby, and gathered across Manchester Road as firefighters from almost a dozen departments fought the blaze. They entered the building when they arrived but retreated when they realized the floor was going to give way. The building couldn't be saved.

2.

Sports Attic owner, Joe Droege, on the day of the fire, said he hoped to rebuild the business. Friend of the family, Jim Beck said they had watched world championships there. He said he was at the Sports Attic on its last night with manager Kevin Gallagher to watch a Blues game. Beck said he and Gallagher were the last to leave the building the night before the fire.

3.

Mary Engelhard Van Cleave was born in the second floor of the Sports Attic in 1927, a year after her parents bought it and started up Engelhard's. Van Cleave and her husband, John, bought the business from her parents and ran it after that. Van Cleave and two of her four daughters were there on the day of the fire. The daughters said growing up above a bar was fun.

4.

An article about newcomers taking aldermanic seats in Brentwood's April 3 election was popular, but this one about anonymous campaign robocalls and mailings that hit Ward 1 passed it up. It also brought to light, Glenn Jamboretz, the CEO of Glennon Company, and questioned what his role might have been in the campaign.

5.

Following the scandals Brentwood went through in 2011, Maureen Saunders made herself known at board of aldermen meetings. She hadn't planned on running at first, but ended up winning big, in a big turnout. She said she enjoyed the day she spent with challenger, Jim Bischoff, at the polling place.