Editor’s note: The Times is counting down 2020’s most noteworthy stories as determined by The Times editorial staff.

The civil unrest that erupted in larger cities nationwide in late May never found its way to Cullman County. But its real-time ripple effects did place local law enforcement in a state of heightened alert during the week following the much-publicized, police-involved death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, in Minnesota.

Floyd’s May 25 death while in the custody of Minneapolis police precipitated riots in major U.S. cities, as well as calmer protests that spread nationwide in the days and weeks following the incident. Unrest came within an hour of Cullman when some protests in Birmingham turned violent and destructive beginning May 31, prompting mayor Randall Woodfin to declare a state of emergency and imposing a temporary nightly curfew.

Those events gave rise to local anxieties that images of windows being smashed, property burned, and angry crowds squaring off against law enforcement might spread to rural areas and smaller cities like Cullman, home to many commuters already concerned about how the unrest might affect their daily trips to Birmingham for work.

None of those things happened here — though the larger social issues illuminated by Floyd’s death did generate a number of smaller, entirely peaceful protests in Cullman County. In early June, a small number of protestors staged daily demonstrations at Cullman’s Depot Park — all done in communication with law enforcement — and a small cookout in support of the Black Lives Matter movement was held at Hanceville’s Veterans Park.

Regardless of how the unrest did or didn’t affect local residents, unease about brewing tensions appeared to influence their approach to self-protection. In the weeks following Floyd’s death and the ensuing protests nationwide, the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office began receiving an unprecedented number of requests for pistol permits. At the height of the unrest, the sheriff’s office reported that it had received approximately 250 permit applications in a single day in early June — more than double the previous single-day high for Cullman County.