Information from WYSH Radio
Anderson County Road Superintendent Gary Long announced Friday that the railroad bridge on Johnson Gap Road will be closed until further notice while railroad crews make safety-related repairs. Johnson Gap Road is between Sulphur Springs and Dutch Valley roads northeast of Oak Ridge.
Toby Graham, a student at Fairview Elementary School, was named the winner of a recent contest to create a new logo for the Anderson County Solid Waste Department. Graham, second from right, is pictured with, from left, County Mayor’s Assistant Leean Tupper, County Mayor Terry Frank, and Anderson County Solid Waste Supervisor Geoff Trabalka. (Photo by Anderson County Government)
CLINTON—The Anderson County Solid Waste Department recently honored the nine-year-old winner of the contest to create a new logo for the department.
Toby Graham, a student at Anderson County’s Fairview Elementary School, was deemed the winner of the recent contest. His logo design, which the county plans to digitally convert for use on the Internet, features a drawing of the Earth, surrounded by various phrases and symbols related to litter and “being green.” [Read more…]
Pictured above from left are David Vudragovich; Rhiana Prince, a runner-up in a poster contest sponsored by Elder Watch of Anderson County; Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank; Ethan Onstott, holding a proclamation from Anderson County Government; and Heather Emert, membership development director for the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce. (Submitted photo)
Submitted
Elder Watch of Anderson County recently recognized winners of a student poster contest promoting care and support for senior citizens.
Rhiana Prince, who attends school in Oak Ridge, was one of the many students who participated in the local organization’s contest. Prince recently visited the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton to be recognized by Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank.
During her visit, Prince and Elder Watch of Anderson County board member David Vudragovich also received a proclamation from the county mayor on behalf of Elder Watch of Anderson County. The document proclaimed June 15, 2013, as Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Anderson County. On the night of June 15, Elder Watch of Anderson County “painted” the Anderson County Courthouse in purple light to mark the importance of the day. [Read more…]
Terry Frank
Note: This story was updated at 1:12 p.m. June 18.
CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission unanimously approved a budget that cut the property tax rate by one-third of a penny on Monday.
It was a small but symbolic gesture, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said when she proposed the move, and commissioners endorsed it, during a special meeting last week.
For now, officials have resolved an impasse over whether there was enough money to cover the cost of new jailers hired in the past year by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for a jail dormitory that is already open—and to pay for more than 30 new jailers needed when a 212-bed addition opens later this year or early next. [Read more…]
CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission could officially approve a budget tonight that lowers the property tax rate by one-third of a penny, and commissioners will consider re-establishing the Alternatives to Incarceration program under the direction and control of the Sheriff’s Department.
Commission will also consider selling 22.4 acres in the David Jones Industrial Park, with a 4.27-acre swap. The land would be sold for $13,500 per acre, with 2.9 acres removed from the original parcel to be retained by Anderson County.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Room 312 at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. [Read more…]
CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission endorsed a budget Thursday that lowers the property tax rate, gives employees a day off, and is supposed to provide enough money to pay for jailers hired in the past year while allowing the sheriff to hire new ones for a jail addition that could open later this year.
The budget would also restore some funding for the relatively new Alternatives to Incarceration program, which Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank had proposed cutting by 80 percent, and add money to cover the cost of increased health insurance premiums for county employees.
The budget was endorsed in a 12-1-1 vote during a special meeting Thursday, the second this week. It could officially be adopted during the County Commission’s regular meeting on Monday. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
The Anderson County Commission will hold a special-called meeting on Monday, June 10, at 6 p.m. in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton to continue their discussions of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1.
The main hurdles to passing a budget so far have been finding funds for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department to hire enough jailers to adequately staff the jail expansion scheduled for completion later this year and what to do with a program aimed at keeping the chronically overcrowded jail’s population down. The Sheriff’s Office has requested money to hire 34 jailers but so far funds for only 15 have been found. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
Last week, the Anderson County Commission held a public hearing on the budget, and the biggest obstacles to having a fiscal plan in place for the new fiscal year are finding funding for the Sheriff’s Department to adequately staff the soon-to-be-completed jail expansion and what to do about the embattled alternatives to incarceration program.
The Sheriff’s Office has requested funding for 34 jailers but as it stands now, the budget contains money for 15 jailers. [Read more…]
Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)
There are some “world-class engineering problems” to work through, but site preparation work has started on the giant new Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a project official said Thursday.
“We’re finally starting to make some traction,” UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg told several hundred people at the two-day Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit at Y-12’s New Hope Center.
Eschenberg said the site prep work could last 18 months, and it will include work on power distribution and underground water lines as well as moving a section of Bear Creek Road to the north. Three contracts have already been awarded to East Tennessee small businesses. [Read more…]
Eric Cantor
Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.
In his first visit to Oak Ridge, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor paid tribute to the national security and science work that has occurred here dating back to World War II, called for a continued emphasis on research and discovery, and touched on political topics including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, unemployment, and the nation’s social safety net.
A Virginia Republican, Cantor said the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Northern Route Approval Act, allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be completed. The bill declares that a presidential permit is not required to approve the section of the pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska, which crosses a national border. [Read more…]
Lamar Alexander
It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.
The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.
The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]
Joyce Ward, mother of Staff Sgt. Christopher M. Ward, who died in Afghanistan on April 6, and Leon Jaquet, Anderson County veterans service officer, unveil a new plaque honoring Ward at the Veterans Memorial at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on Monday.
CLINTON—He had volunteered to replace another soldier on his last tour, and he paid with his life.
Christopher Michael Ward, 24, died in southern Afghanistan on April 6, the victim of a suicide car bombing. The explosion also killed two other soldiers, a U.S. diplomat, and a Department of Defense civilian. They had been delivering donated books to children in Zabul province.
On Monday, Ward was honored when his name was added to the Veterans Memorial at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton during a Memorial Day ceremony.
“It’s very heartwarming,” said his mother Joyce Ward of Oak Ridge, who is moving to Hinesville, Ga., on Tuesday. “His death was not in vain.” [Read more…]
