The Best of Patch: February

As 2011 comes to a close, Sussex Patch looks back at the top stories of the year, month by month. Here’s a recap of the news that made headlines in Sussex.

• Read the entire Sussex Year in Review series

Now officially known as , the building used to belong to Nels Anderson Sr. and his restaurant Seigo's Steakhouse. The hibachi-style steakhouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February after offering to sell the building to the village for over a million dollars. 

Walker Declares State of Emergency

In the wake of one of the worst blizzards anyone can remember seeing, Gov. Scott Walker declared a State of Emergency for 29 counties as a major winter storm continued to impact Wisconsin. That was on top of the snow emergency already announced by the Village of Sussex.

In lieu of the Green Bay Packers making it all the way to the Super Bowl, Sussex's  was struggling to keep its green and gold baked goods on the shelves. In this video, Cheryl Holsten, bakery manager at Sussex Piggly Wiggly, shows us what residents were grabbing in preparation for the epic showdown. 

The had to take disciplinary action against one teacher who allegedly went to Madison to protest Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill. Although it wasn't during a time where teachers were with students, the district still took action and kept the details under wraps. 

Something was in the air in Feb. 2011, because for the first time ever Sussex surpassed 300 voters in a Feb. primary election. In fact, a staggering 730 voters came out to cast their ballot at the , a trend that could be seen across Milwaukee.

Much like the voters, Sussex bar and restaurant owners came out in packs, angry with the state's smoking ban taking effect. The business owners complained about competition from bars who didn't care if they received the $100 fine each night for smoking patrons and how the ban was driving customers away. However, obviously this didn't matter as Sussex remains smoke-free.