We are joining in the year-end trend of picking the top stories. We will leave the poll up through the first week of January. You can choose up to five stories.

Here’s our list of who and what we think had the biggest impact on the Big Island in the last 12 months. Narrowing it down to just 10 was tough.

Rat lung worm was a big concern in early 2009 but that was a carry-over from 2008 when at least six people were sickened and two resulted in comas. We also saw crime stories with the deaths of Hans Christian Randrup, Kaycee M. Smith and infant Iyanla Kuamo’o-Andrews. We also had a few tsunami scares and the drought in West Hawaii. Also the mid-level road in Kona was approved.

If you see something we missed, go ahead and add your comments below.

We always love to hear from you!

You might be interested in:

1. Big Island Top Sports Stories for 2009, readers get to vote
2. 2009 Big Island High School Graduation Dates
3. 2009 Big Island High School Graduation Dates
4. Professor exposes E.T. policies at Kona Stories
5. Big Island Women’s Hall of Fame, Class of 2009