Oak Ridge Today

Manhattan Project: Walk through Wheat with park ranger on Sept. 14

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Wheat Community Before the Manhattan Project
The Wheat community before the Manhattan Project during World War II in the area that is now west Oak Ridge. (Photo submitted by National Park Service)

Join a park ranger for a walk through the pre-Manhattan Project community of Wheat on Saturday, September 14.

Wheat was in what is now west Oak Ridge, around the area of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. It was one of several local communities displaced by the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

Oak Ridge and two other sites involved in the Manhattan Project—Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico—are now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

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Tour Freels cabin—oldest structure in Oak Ridge—on Saturday

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historic-freels-band-cabin
The Historic Freels Bend Cabin is pictured above. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association)

The last Oak Ridge Reservation Nature Walk of 2019 will be held at the historic Freels cabin—the oldest structure in Oak Ridge—on Saturday.

The cabin is on Freels Bend near Melton Hill Lake in south Oak Ridge, east of Clark Center Park. It was built in 1844, and it’s been reported to be on the National Historic Register.

The opportunities to see the cabin are rare because it’s on restricted U.S. Department of Energy land.

Saturday’s walk is titled “History of the Oak Ridge Reservation—Freels Bend.” Registered walkers will meet at 1 p.m. in the parking lot behind the ORISE building at the corner of Bethel Valley and Pumphouse roads, a press release said.

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Free expungement, driver’s license clinic on Saturday

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The Anderson County Bar Association and NAACP are hosting a free Expungement and Driver’s License Assistance Clinic in Clinton on Saturday.

An expungement is a court order removing an eligible criminal charge or conviction from a person’s record.

The expungement clinic is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, August 24, at the First Baptist Church at 225 North Main Street in Clinton.

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Lady Wildcats start regular season with 2-1 win over Catholic

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The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats started the regular soccer season with a 2-1 win at Knoxville Catholic on Tuesday.

The game was tied 1-1 at the half, with the Oak Ridge goal scored by junior Taylor Del Toro.

The Lady Wildcats scored again in the second half on a pass from senior Katie O’Brien to senior Maddie Peters, who scored the goal, giving Oak Ridge a 2-1 lead, according to Oak Ridge Lady Soccercats.

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Football: Wildcats start regular season Friday

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Blankenship-Field-James-Mitchell-Aug-2019
The renovated Blankenship Field—the city’s football field—and its walking track are now open for public use. The main change is that the grass field has been replaced with synthetic turf, but there are other changes as well. The field is pictured above in August 2019. (Photo by James Mitchell via City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Wildcats will start the regular football season at home on Blankenship Field on Friday, August 23.

The Wildcats will open the season in a game against Hardin Valley. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

It will be the first time the Wildcats have played a regular-season game on the new synthetic turf on Blankenship Field.

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Eagles Homecoming is tonight, visitors welcome

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The Fraternal Order of Eagles in Oak Ridge has its homecoming tonight (Friday, August 23), and visitors are welcome.

The Eagles have rebuilt after a fire on Oak Ridge Turnpike in 2016 and are now doing a membership drive.

“Our building may have burned three years ago, but our new building is done and we are ready for more members,” an announcement said.

The Homecoming tonight will feature food starting at 6:30 p.m. until it’s gone. There will be an auction at 7:30 p.m. with bars signs, mirrors, and other items.

A band, Downtown Claxton, will perform after the auction, the announcement said.

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Roane County man dies in SR 95 crash

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Oak Ridge Police Vehicles
A Roane County man died in a single-vehicle crash on State Route 95 Wednesday night, Aug. 22, 2019, police said. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Police Department)

A Roane County man died in a single-vehicle crash on State Route 95 Wednesday night, police said.

The fatal crash was reported at about 9:40 p.m. Wednesday about one-tenth of a mile south of Bethel Valley Road, west of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.

Dylan Young, 28, was driving the sport utility vehicle that crashed, and he was driving north on SR 95, the ORPD said. The SUV left the roadway and hit a tree, police said.

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Renovated Blankenship Field open for public use

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Blankenship-Field-James-Mitchell-Aug-2019
The renovated Blankenship Field—the city’s football field—and its walking track are now open for public use. The main change is that the grass field has been replaced with synthetic turf, but there are other changes as well. The field is pictured above in August 2019. (Photo by James Mitchell via City of Oak Ridge)

The renovated Blankenship Field—the city’s football field—and its walking track are now open for public use.

The main change is that the grass field has been replaced with synthetic turf, but there are other changes as well, including to scoreboards and end zone areas.

The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department and Oak Ridge Schools announced the opening of the renovated field on Tuesday.

The field and track are accessible through a gate adjacent to the lower concession stand, a press release said. Like other public park facilities, public use is permitted from sunup to sundown, except when the field is reserved for special events, the press release said.

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Advisory Board to discuss petition that could help Y-12 workers

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A Wednesday meeting could be of interest to workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex, as well as former workers and survivors of former employees, because it will discuss a petition that could benefit them.

The Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health will meet from 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton at 215 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

There will be a public comment period from 6-7 p.m. (The public comment period will conclude at 7 p.m. or following the final call for public comment, whichever comes first. If you plan to comment, please be prepared to comment at 6 p.m.)

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Council to consider vet services contract, changes to property transfer agreement

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The Oak Ridge City Council will consider a contract with a veterinarian at the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter and potential changes to the property transfer agreement with TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC during a special meeting this evening (Tuesday, August 20).

The veterinary services contract would be with Matt Jinks of Maryville.

TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC is the company helping to lead the redevelopment of the former American Museum of Science and Energy site, and it is affiliated with the company developing Main Street Oak Ridge at the former Oak Ridge Mall. The changes to the property transfer agreement could include extending the first tax revenue condition by one year and requiring a letter of credit for the community-oriented amenities, according to Council’s meeting agenda.

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Small RMS satellite to launch into space Oct. 2020

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Robertsville Middle School RamSat CubeSat
The small cube satellite built by Robertsville Middle School students with help from teachers, mentors, and NASA is scheduled to launch in October 2020, and it will be deployed from the International Space Station, Oak Ridge Schools announced Monday, Aug. 29, 2019. (Photo courtesy Todd Livesay)

Note: This story was last updated at 1 p.m. Aug. 20.

The small cube satellite built by Robertsville Middle School students with help from teachers, mentors, and NASA is scheduled to launch in October 2020, and it will be deployed from the International Space Station, Oak Ridge Schools announced Monday.

The school system said it has received notification of the launch date from NASA.

“We received the official word from Scott Higginbotham at Kennedy Space Center,” Oak Ridge Schools said in a press release. “His letter stated, ‘RamSat is currently manifested to fly on the ELaNa-31 mission aboard the NG-14 Commercial Resupply Services mission to the ISS. Launch is currently scheduled for October of 2020. NanoRacks will be facilitating the deployment of your spacecraft from the International Space Station.’”

Students have determined the mission of the cube satellite, or CubeSat, will be to circle the Earth and capture images to help them study the regrowth of vegetation in Gatlinburg, as the city recovers from the forest fires of November 2016, the press release said. The satellite has been named RamSat.

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Dairy Queen coming to Oak Ridge

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Dairy-Queen-Site-Aug-19-2019
A Dairy Queen restaurant will be located at the corner of Rutgers Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike, where a Taco Bell restaurant used to be. Workers were at the site on Monday morning, Aug. 19, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 5 p.m. Aug. 20.

Dairy Queen is coming to Oak Ridge.

The Dairy Queen will be located at the corner of Rutgers Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike, where a Taco Bell restaurant used to be. A new Taco Bell has been built east on the Turnpike, at the intersection with Bus Terminal Road.

Workers were at the Dairy Queen restaurant site on Monday, putting up a “DQ Coming Soon!” sign and unloading construction equipment.

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