Oak Ridge Today

Myers announces Republican candidacy for Anderson County sheriff

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Randy Myers

Randy Myers

Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Randy Myers has announced he will run for Anderson County sheriff in the May 6 Republican primary.

Myers is the second Republican candidate to announce he is running for the seat now held by Sheriff Paul White, a Democrat, in the 2014 election.

In a press release, Myers said he has been a law enforcement officer for 24 years and has worked as a patrol officer, criminal investigator, domestic violence officer, hostage negotiator, Crisis Intervention Team officer, and public relations officer. [Read more…]

AC jail: To house federal prisoners or not?

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Anderson County Detention Facility Construction

At right, the main entrance of the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton is being remodeled as part of a roughly $10 million jail expansion project. A new 212-bed jail pod is in the background at left.

Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County Commissioner Dusty Irwin has proposed placing a non-binding referendum on the August ballot asking voters whether or not they want the county to house what have been described as low-risk state and federal prisoners awaiting trial in the soon-to-be-expanded county jail.

The proposal will be considered Thursday by the Anderson County Commission’s Legislative Committee and could be considered by the full Commission later this month. [Read more…]

Hunt running for juvenile court judge

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Brian Hunt

Brian Hunt

Attorney Brian Hunt has announced that he is running for Anderson County Juvenile Court judge.

Hunt now serves as a judge advocate general at the rank of captain in the U.S. Army Reserves and has served as Lake City municipal judge since 2006, a press release said.

Hunt grew up in Clinton, attending Clinton Elementary School and Clinton Middle School, and he graduated from Clinton High School in 1996. He later received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2000 from The University of the South-Sewanee in Tennessee. He graduated from Ohio Northern University Law School in 2003 and began practicing law in 2003. [Read more…]

Clement will seek juvenile judge seat

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Michael Clement

Michael Clement

Attorney J. Michael Clement has announced that he will be a candidate for Anderson County Juvenile Court judge in the 2014 election.

Clement opened his general law practice in Clinton 27 years ago, and he has represented clients in Juvenile Court since he first began practicing law. He is seeking the judgeship now held by Judge Brandon Fisher, who has announced that he will be a candidate for Anderson County chancellor.

Clement, who lives in Clinton, has experience on the bench as a special Juvenile Court judge and as a special General Sessions Court judge, appointed by judges to sit in those positions. He has served as a guardian ad litem in Juvenile Court.

“I bring a wealth of knowledge and a depth of feeling for the Juvenile Court system, having practiced in the system for 27 years,” Clement said. “I have done some of the most gratifying work of my career in Juvenile Court, and I have also had my heart broken in Juvenile Court. I have experienced the whole gamut of emotions.”
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Parents receiving info on online safety in mail

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Information from WYSH Radio

As part of a joint effort between the Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Department, and the three school systems within the county’s borders, parents of students in fifth through 10th grades are receiving information in the mail on how to keep their children safe online.

Letters have been sent to parents of students in the county school system as well as the city systems in Clinton and Oak Ridge over the past couple of weeks and more are also being sent. Included in the mailing is information for parents on how to talk to their kids about being safe online and avoiding sexual predators. [Read more…]

Report: AC money spent on part-time fiscal analyst was unauthorized

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

The money spent on a part-time fiscal analyst hired one year ago by Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank was an unauthorized expenditure, a new state report said.

The Anderson County Commission had twice denied funding for the position, and the budget account for the position contained no money, said the annual financial report, which was prepared by the county’s Accounts and Budget Office and independent state auditors.

The report said the use of county revenues from such sources as taxes, county aid funds, and fines must be approved by county legislative bodies.

“Management failed to hold spending to the limits authorized by the County Commission, which resulted in unauthorized expenditures,” said the report, which is available on the Tennessee Comptroller’s website. [Read more…]

New citizens group will serve as county government watchdog, spokesman says

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Anderson County General Sessions Flagpole

Lynn Byrge, back left, spokesman for a new political study group in Anderson County, watches above as Brad Heun, right, commander of Oak Ridge Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Leon Jaquet, director of Anderson County Veterans Office, raise the flag on a new flagpole at the General Sessions Courthouse in Oak Ridge in September.

A new community organization formed to study contentious political issues in Anderson County will be modeled after the PolitiFact fact-checking website, a spokesman said Monday.

The group of Anderson County residents is called Friends of Anderson County Taxpayers, or FACTs, spokesman Lynn Byrge said in a press release. The release said members are concerned about county spending, debt, and the threat of property tax increases.

The formation of the new group comes just before the start of what is expected to be a busy election year in Anderson County, with candidates already announcing they’re running for election or re-election on county commission and for various seats ranging from juvenile court judge to chancellor to sheriff.

Byrge, who helped lead the effort to install “In God We Trust” signs on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton, said FACTs has already organized study groups around specific areas of concern, including county commission’s legislative process, the sheriff’s department’s burgeoning budget, the role of the county law director, and the responsibilities of the county mayor. [Read more…]

State trooper, former marshal running for Anderson County sheriff

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Anthony Lay

Anthony Lay

An Anderson County man who is a state highway patrolman and former federal deputy U.S. marshal has announced he is running for sheriff.

Anthony Lay is seeking the Republican nomination for Anderson County sheriff in May 2014.

Lay is an officer with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, a press release said. He has served as Scott County sheriff, and when he was 33, was appointed as a federal U.S. marshal in Atlanta.

Lay returned to Anderson County to help his parents after his father suffered a health event, the release said.

“I am announcing my candidacy out of my love for public service and the people who live here,” Lay said in the press release. “Anderson County is a wonderful place to live and work, and the people of Anderson County deserve a safe community and leadership they can trust.” [Read more…]

Anderson mayor used lawsuit agreement to settle scores, sheriff says

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Anderson County Detention Facility Expansion

The salary dispute between the Anderson County mayor and sheriff focused on the spending to hire up to 36 new jailers to staff a 212-bed expansion that is still under construction at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

CLINTON—He had reserved comment until a judge signed an order resolving a staffing dispute, but then Anderson County Sheriff Paul White accused Mayor Terry Frank of using a lawsuit agreement to try to settle perceived political scores—and he came to the defense of the two county officials that Frank attacked Friday.

“Sheriff White regrets that Mayor Frank has used the settlement of the salary suit, which (she) could have used as an event to set a more civil tone in Anderson County politics, as an opportunity to attempt to settle perceived political scores with Law Director Jay Yeager and Anderson County Commissioner Myron Iwanski,” the sheriff said in a Monday afternoon press release, after the lawsuit order had been signed by Knox County Circuit Court Judge Dale Workman. “Sheriff White cannot express how much he believes that Director Yeager and Commissioner Iwanski are decent and selfless public servants and that the people of Anderson County are lucky to have such competent and dedicated individuals working for the efficient operation of their government. [Read more…]

Mayor, sheriff reach agreement on salary suit, but war of words follows

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Anderson County Detention Facility Expansion

The salary dispute between the Anderson County mayor and sheriff focused on the spending to hire up to 36 new jailers to staff a 212-bed expansion that is still under construction at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

CLINTON—The Anderson County mayor and sheriff reached an agreement Friday that could end their five-month-old legal dispute over an annual salary agreement, possibly closing one expensive and contentious chapter in local government even as it opened a new war of words between top officials.

Knox County Circuit Court Judge Dale C. Workman could sign the agreement Monday morning.

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and Sheriff Paul White said the agreement allows the sheriff to hire 15 full-time permanent deputies and additional temporary deputies when the sheriff deems appropriate as he prepares to open a 212-bed jail expansion. But the hiring must stay within the spending limit approved by the Anderson County Commission this year, and the temporary employees cannot work more than six months.

Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Frank and White announced the agreement in a one-page press release distributed Friday. The case had been scheduled to be heard in Knox County Circuit Court on Monday morning. [Read more…]

County, school officials start campaign to protect children from online predators

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Officials in Anderson County and at local schools have announced an educational campaign designed to protect children from online sexual predators.

Among the concerns are sexting, or the exchange of explicit photos, usually using smart phones, District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release.

Clark is working with Anderson County Sheriff Paul White and the Anderson County, Clinton, and Oak Ridge school systems. He said a letter is being sent out to the parents of every child in grades five through 10 in those three systems.

“We want to make parents aware of the dangers posed by online predators and provide them with some strategies to help keep their families safe,” Clark said. [Read more…]

Fisher to run for Anderson County chancellor in 2014

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Brandon FIsher

Brandon FIsher

He’s been the juvenile court judge for close to four years, and now Brandon Fisher is running for Anderson County chancellor in the 2014 election.

Fisher was appointed Anderson County juvenile court judge in January 2010, replacing April Meldrum after she resigned, and he was elected in August 2010.

Fisher will seek to fill the seat now held by Chancellor William Lantrip, who has announced he will retire at the end of this eight-year term. [Read more…]