Reminder: The Oak Ridge Community Thanksgiving Dinner is Thursday.
The dinner is scheduled from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday, November 24, at High Places Community Church/Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge.
You can learn more by visiting OakRidgeCommunityThanksgiving.com or Facebook.com/OakRidgeCommunityThanksgiving, or by sending an email to OakRidgeCommunityThanksgiving@gmail.com.
[Read more…]
Submitted
The busy holiday season is almost upon us and many people can become victims of burglary, theft, and other crime. Protecting yourself and your home from crime is the easiest way to have a safe, happy holiday season.
To help ensure everyone has safe and fun holidays, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department would like to offer the following tips for holiday crime prevention.
Shopping:
Design of the Peace Pavilion for the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell by Demian\Wilbur\Architects, Washington, D.C.
Note: This story was updated at 8:45 p.m.
The project to build a new pavilion for the International Friendship Bell and relocate it in Alvin K. Bissell Park could cost $750,000, and volunteers and officials have already raised more than half of that, or just over $400,000, through paid donations and pledges.
Volunteers had a public kickoff for the project at Oak Ridge Associated Universities on Thursday. At that kickoff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory donated $150,000 to the project, and Oak Ridge Rotary Clubs contributed $10,000.
The exact amount paid or pledged is about $416,579, according to a kickoff presentation.
Here are some highlights of that presentation: [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Rotary Clubs announced on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, a $10,000 donation to the project to rebuild the pavilion for the International Friendship Bell and relocate it at Alvin K. Bissell Park. From left are Devrin Kuipers, president of Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary Club; Jennifer Campbell, president of Oak Ridge Rotary Club; Emily Jernigan, president of Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club; and Pat Postma and Alan Tatum, co-chairs of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee. (Photo by D. Ray Smith)
Oak Ridge Rotary Clubs announced Thursday that they are donating $10,000 to the project to build a new Peace Pavilion to house the International Friendship Bell at a new location in Oak Ridge’s Alvin K. Bissell Park.
The donation was announced by Devrin Kuipers, president of Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary Club; Jennifer Campbell, president of Oak Ridge Rotary Club; and Emily Jernigan, president of Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club. It was accepted by Pat Postma and Alan Tatum, co-chairs of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee.
The check presentation was the start of a public campaign to raise $750,000 for the project. A total of $416,000, or more than half the money, has either already been raised or pledged.
Also Thursday, UT-Battelle announced a $150,000 donation to the project. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, center, presented a check to Pat Postma, right, and Alan Tatum, co-chairs of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee, during a ceremony at Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ Pollard Auditorium on Thursday, Nov 17, 2016. (Photo by ORNL)
UT-Battelle has announced a $150,000 gift toward construction of a new Peace Pavilion to house the International Friendship Bell located in Oak Ridge’s Alvin K. Bissell Park.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason presented a check to Pat Postma and Alan Tatum, co-chairs of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee, during a Thursday evening ceremony at Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ Pollard Auditorium.
The check presentation was the start of a public campaign to raise $750,000 for the project. A total of $416,000 has either already been raised or pledged.
“The International Friendship Bell is an important symbol of the heritage and future of Oak Ridge,” Mason said. “UT-Battelle is proud to support the construction of a new Peace Pavilion that will make the bell a focal point for the city and for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park.” [Read more…]
Preservationists are concerned as federal officials seek public comment on the possibility of moving out of a historic building that is one of the few World War II-era buildings remaining on main roads in Oak Ridge—and possibly the only one left on Illinois Avenue. It was once an emergency hospital and then a health department. It now houses the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, at 456 South Illinois Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Preservationists are concerned as federal officials seek public comment on the possibility of moving out of a historic building that is one of the few World War II-era buildings remaining on main roads in Oak Ridge—and possibly the only one left on Illinois Avenue.
The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, of the Air Resources Laboratory, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is now at 456 South Illinois Avenue. It’s just north of Ole Ben Franklin Motors and across from new shopping centers on the other side of South Illinois Avenue.
During World War II, the single-story white building was an emergency hospital to serve federal plants. Oak Ridge was built in the mid-1940s, during the war, to help make the world’s first nuclear weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, and it enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime.
After the war, the building, which is now owned by NOAA, was used as the city’s health department, said Mick Wiest of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, or ORHPA.
Wiest said the building is well-maintained, and it’s received a historic preservation award from ORHPA. [Read more…]
Danny Brian
By Dale Gedcke
The Friday and Saturday concerts by the Oak Ridge Philharmonia will feature two of the most enjoyable compositions by Tchaikovsky. Danny Brian will play the exhilarating “Piano Concerto No. 1,” and the orchestra will perform selections from the enchanting “Nutcracker Suite.” For more information, continue to read below.
Danny Brian may be best known locally for serving as organist/pianist for 30 years at Cokesbury United Methodist Church. He has also been the accompanist for the Knoxville Choral Society and Knoxville Chamber Chorale for many years. Brian is an active local artist playing solo recitals and chamber music in the Knoxville area. He has been on the faculty at Knoxville College, and was staff accompanist at the University of Tennessee for several years. Brian won first place in the Mid-South Piano Competition, and has played with many orchestras throughout the Southeast. He began his musical studies at Blair School of music in Nashville, and he received his undergraduate degree in piano performance from Middle Tennessee State University, where he studied with Jerry Perkins. He also studied with David Northington at the University of Tennessee while he worked on his master’s degree. [Read more…]
Friendship Bell (Submitted photo)
The community is invited to view striking new plans for the International Friendship Bell Peace Pavilion and to learn of its new location in Bissell Park at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, November 17, at Oak Ridge Associated Universities’ Pollard Auditorium, which is at 1000 ORAU Way.
The International Friendship Bell Advisory Committee will host the community gathering to unveil the Peace Pavilion and plaza design for the bell’s new location in Bissell Park. The bell, an Oak Ridge icon now sitting in silence, will bring its message of peace to the tens of thousands of visitors expected to visit the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a press release said. Next steps are being taken to position the bell to ring again.
Ziad Demian, architect who designed the new Peace Pavilion and its surrounding plaza, will bring to life, in images and narrative, the real and symbolic importance of the bell that has become an important icon of Oak Ridge. The new pavilion will immediately become a community landmark and contribute to Bissell Park’s “sense of place,” the press release said. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Woman’s Club and the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will sponsor the annual Christmas tree lighting and reception on Dec. 2, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge Woman’s Club and the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will sponsor the annual Christmas tree lighting and reception at 6:30 p.m. December 2.
Participants should gather at the Secret City Commemorative Walk on the east side of the Oak Ridge Public Library parking lot for a brief ceremony, a press release said. A reception with seasonal music and entertainment will be held in the Oak Ridge Civic Center gymnasium immediately following the tree lighting. Light refreshments will be served.
Visit the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks website at orrecparks.org for information about other city events and programs.
A float by Second Baptist Church featuring a large sleigh and reindeer won first place in the Dec. 1, 2012, Christmas parade in Clinton. (File photo courtesy of Janet Hawkins)
Deadline to register is Dec. 12
Clinton’s traditional Christmas Parade of bands, floats, and many other processional entries will begin at 6 p.m. December 17, a press release said. This year’s theme is “Once Upon A Christmas.”
Businesses, churches, schools, and other marching groups are encouraged to register and participate in the parade. There is no parade entry fee this year. The deadline to register is 4:30 p.m. Monday, December 12. There will be no late entries, the press release said.
Entry forms may be picked up at the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce office located at 245 North Main Street, Suite 200, in Clinton. You can also receive a form by mail, fax, or email by calling the Chamber at (865) 457-2559. You may also obtain a registration form and instructions at www.andersoncountychamber.org. [Read more…]
Bogdan Vacaliuc
The Wednesday meeting of ORION, an amateur science and astronomy club based in Oak Ridge, will feature Bogdan Vacaliuc of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a discussion of citizen science and radio astronomy.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 16, at the historic Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge.
ORION was founded in April 1974 by a group of scientists at the United States Department of Energy facility in Oak Ridge. Its purpose is to promote learning and inquiry throughout the cities of Oak Ridge and Knoxville, and the counties of Anderson, Knox, and Roane, a press release said.
The group meets monthly at the Grove Theater at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, starting with coffee and conversation with the program beginning 15 minutes thereafter. For directions, please visit the website at www.orioninc.org. Programs are free and open to the public. [Read more…]
John Orban making a bowl on the lathe. (Submitted photo)
The Pilot Club’s annual Arts and Crafts Fair is scheduled for next weekend. The fair is from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, November 18, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, November 19, at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.
The craft fair will include 84 booths, with a variety of arts and crafts such as silk and burlap wreaths, jewelry, scarfs, handbags, glass etching, crocheted items, repurposed furniture, stained glass, wind chimes, personalized polymer clay ornaments, lotions, scrubs, sand art, wooden jigsaw puzzles, wood chimes, Christmas crafts…and the list goes on and on, a press release said.
There will also be food for sale from the kitchen and a table of homemade baked items. Admission is free. [Read more…]
