Top 10 Melrose Headlines—October 2011

Here's a look at the top headlines from Melrose Patch for the month of July.

In order, these were the 10 most-read stories last month:

1) : A 76-year-old Bow Street man died when the back porch he was working on collapsed, pinning him underneath. Carroll was transported to and pronounced dead in the emergency department.

2) : A customer fought an alleged knife-wielding robber who was holding employees of a Main Street insurance company against their will.

3) :Melrose firefighters battled what was at least a two-alarm fire on a Saturday night at 150 Green St., an office building at the corner of Howard Street.

4) : A 38-year-old Melrose man faces a conspiracy to distribute cocaine charge, and is one of 10 people indicted in connection with allegedly trafficking, possessing and distributing narcotics in Massachusetts, Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office announced.

5) : The man arrested after he allegedly broke into a Main Street insurance company's office and held two employees against their will was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery and five other charges stemming from the incident.

6) : Five people were arrested during the first full week of October.

7) ? For our weekly Patch Picks article, we asked for your favorite spots to get this Boston area staple. (And .)

8) ? News reports and videos taken of the overnight Occupy Boston arrests document police engaging in what some have called excessive force. Boston Police said they used a proportional response. We asked you what you thought (and .)

9) : Our weekly roundup of home sales in Melrose and nearby now allows realtors to add their own photos of recently sold homes.

10) : The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced the first confirmed human case of West Nile Virus in Melrose this year. The middle-aged woman became ill on Sept. 13 and was briefly hospitalized but had been discharged and was expected to recover.