Oak Ridge Today

Female candidates, elected officials to discuss campaigns at Monday meeting

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Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith

The Anderson County Democratic Women’s Club will present a panel discussion by a group of women who have been candidates or elected to public office at its meeting on Monday, February 27. The club will host a soup dinner at 6 p.m. Monday at the Clinton Community Center, which is at 101 South Hicks Street in Clinton.

The women will discuss campaigns—what works and what doesn’t—as they also encourage other women to become candidates for office, a press release said.

On the panel will be Ellen Smith, current Oak Ridge City Council member; JoAnn Garrett and Ann McNees, both former Oak Ridge Board of Education members; and Mary Headrick and Melody Shekari, both former Democratic Congressional candidates in the Third Congressional District. [Read more…]

UT, NOAA to collaborate on atmospheric sciences research

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Taylor Eighmy, UT vice chancellor for research and engagement, left, and Bruce Baker, director of NOAA’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, headquartered in Oak Ridge, right, sign a memorandum of agreement in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

Taylor Eighmy, left, UT vice chancellor for research and engagement, and Bruce Baker, right, director of NOAA’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, which has headquarters in Oak Ridge, sign a memorandum of agreement in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

 

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Air Resources Laboratory to advance collaborative research in atmospheric sciences. ATDD has headquarters in Oak Ridge.

The agreement was signed Wednesday, February 15, at ATDD headquarters in Oak Ridge, and it will help with joint efforts to advance understanding of air pollution, atmospheric transport processes, and weather on a regional and national level, a press release said. It also will create educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to collect scientific data, develop models and simulations, and transition research to applications and commercial use.

“The mission of the collaboration will be to train the next generation of scientists and engineers and provide the best available atmospheric data and scientific analysis to the global scientific community, to local and national decision makers, and to the general public,” said Bruce Baker, director of the ATDD. [Read more…]

Seven ‘sovereign citizens’ who filed fraudulent liens arrested in Anderson County

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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, that a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment, and 10 people were arrested, including seven Anderson County residents, on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. (Photo courtesy TBI)

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced in Nashville on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, that a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment and 10 people were arrested, including seven Anderson County residents, on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. (Photo courtesy TBI)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.

Seven “sovereign citizens” from Anderson County, including Lee Harold Cromwell, have been indicted and arrested on charges related to filing fraudulent liens against local officials, law enforcement officers, and public employees, authorities said Thursday.

The sovereign citizens were arrested Wednesday by teams that included agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to a press release from Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark in Anderson County.

The TBI said a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment, and 10 people were arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies also participated in the arrests.

Dave Clark

Dave Clark

TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. That was about the time that Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge learned that Cromwell had filed a lien against the judge, causing Elledge to recuse himself from a vehicular homicide and aggravated assault case filed against Cromwell. The judge vowed to do everything he could legally, morally, and ethically—both criminally and civilly—to prosecute Cromwell to the full extent of the law.

Elledge said he discussed the liens filed against him by Cromwell with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a federal task force, the Seventh District Attorney General’s Office (the Anderson County DA), and local legislators. [Read more…]

TBI has press conference today on fraudulent liens, arrests in East Tennessee

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The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will have a press conference this afternoon (Thursday, February 16) to discuss an investigation into fraudulent liens and arrests made in East Tennessee.

It’s not clear how many arrests were made or where, and who was arrested. But WYSH Radio in Clinton reported that local, state, and federal law enforcement officers assisted the TBI in arresting a suspect in South Clinton on Wednesday.

Oak Ridge Today received a report that the TBI and Federal Bureau of Investigation were both at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on Wednesday during the trial for Lee Harold Cromwell. Cromwell is a 67-year-old Oak Ridge man convicted Wednesday in Anderson County Criminal Court of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault for a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015. It has been alleged, including in court hearings, that Cromwell is a sovereign citizen, or someone who might not recognize certain government authorities, although neither he nor his defense attorney have acknowledged in court hearings that he is.

Officials haven’t confirmed whether the investigation into fraudulent liens by the TBI includes the $137 million in liens filed by Cromwell against local law enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, or Social Security, but they did announce after his convictions on Wednesday that Cromwell had been indicted in Davidson County, where the TBI is based. Cromwell’s bail was revoked, and he was immediately taken into custody. [Read more…]

Cromwell files $137 million in liens against law enforcement, IRS, Social Security

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Lee-Cromwell-Preliminary-Hearing-Jan-15-2016

Lee H. Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records. Cromwell, who was convicted after a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, is pictured above during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.

Lee Harold Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records.

Cromwell has been indicted by a grand jury in Davidson County in Nashville on Class A and Class E felonies. Officials announced those indictments after Cromwell was convicted at the end of his vehicular homicide trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation elaborated, saying that Cromwell was one of 11 people indicted in a 320-count indictment after a one-year investigation into fraudulent liens in East Tennessee that was conducted with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So far, 10 of the 11 people have been arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records, the TBI said. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the arrests on Wednesday.

Seven of those arrested, or more than half of them, are from Anderson County. They claim to be “sovereign citizens,” or people who do not typically “believe that they have to abide by the rules everyone else follows because they have declared their personal independence from government,” said Dave Clark, Anderson County district attorney general.

TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. They were helped by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. [Read more…]

‘Handful’ of ORNL scientists from countries included in travel ban, but no effect so far

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 12.

A “handful of scientists” working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are citizens of the seven countries that were barred from entering the United States for up to 90 days under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month, but so far, the travel ban hasn’t had an effect at the lab, officials said Friday.

ORNL is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. It’s DOE’s largest science and energy laboratory, and it has foreign nationals working there as well as visiting scientists.

The seven countries included in the president’s travel ban, which was issued January 27, were Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

“Only a handful of scientists working at ORNL are citizens of those seven countries,” the lab said in response to questions. “We’re not aware of any effects of the order here to date.” [Read more…]

Oliver Springs receives sewer grant, loan

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Information from WYSH Radio

Oliver Springs got a big assist last week on several, much-needed sewer system repairs in the form of a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant of $2.99 million and loan of $4.47 million.

The money will help the town to meet the system requirements of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and operate its water and sewer systems properly.

The new money will go toward improvements in the sewer system.

A press release from Rural Development said the corrections will improve the water quality of Poplar Creek and eliminate the numerous overflows that occur in the drainage area of the creek when heavy rainfall takes place. [Read more…]

Get update on Manhattan Project National Park on Thursday

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Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson

 

You can hear an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a Thursday evening meeting.

The meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 9, at the Midtown Community Center’s Wildcat Den at 102 Robertsville Road. It’s open to the public.

Robert Johnson will present an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge. He will discuss the status of the park and announce upcoming events, a press release said.

Here are some links to website pages on the park, which also includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico: [Read more…]

Reader photos: 500 attend ‘Standing in Solidarity’ event hosted by AC Democratic Party

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About 500 people attended the "Standing in Solidarity" event hosted by the Anderson County Democratic Party at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Jan. 21, 2017. (Photo by Ellen Smith)

About 500 people attended the “Standing in Solidarity” event hosted by the Anderson County Democratic Party at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. (Photo by Ellen Smith)

 

Organizers said they expected about 70 people. Instead, roughly 500 people showed up.

It was the “Standing in Solidarity” event hosted by the Anderson County Democratic Party at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, January 21.

The purpose was to show support with the worldwide protests of President Donald Trump, said Scott Julius of the Anderson County Democratic Party. He said there were tables from 20 different progressive organizations at the January 21 event.

Several readers have sent photos from the event. Here are some of them. [Read more…]

Manhattan Project National Historical Park to be discussed at Feb. 11 meeting

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The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will be discussed at a February 11 meeting. It’s a meeting of the Clinch Bend Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

The guest speaker will be Frank Graham from the National Park Service.

The meeting starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, February 11, at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Oak Ridge.

Call (865) 567-8250 if you are interested in DAR or have questions.

TVA to lower Melton Hill Reservoir for annual shoreline maintenance

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Melton Hill Dam is pictured above. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Melton Hill Dam is pictured above. (Photo courtesy TVA)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority will temporarily lower the water level of Melton Hill Reservoir from Friday, February 17, through Monday, March 6, to allow property owners to repair docks, stabilize the shoreline, and pick up litter.

The reservoir’s water level will be held between 790 and 792 feet above sea level—approximately two to four feet below its current level – during this period. Melton Hill will be returned to its normal winter elevation of 794 feet beginning on March 7, a press release said.

Information on the river system and specific reservoirs is available on TVA’s website at http://www.tva.com/Environment/Lake-Levels and on TVA’s free app for the iPad, iPhone and Android devices. Links to download the apps are available on the Lake Level webpage.

Alexander to chair subcommittee that oversees funding for ORNL, Y-12, DOE cleanup work

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Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

The Senate Appropriations Committee announced Wednesday that U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, will serve as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development for the 115th Congress.

That subcommittee oversees funding for national priorities such as energy research, nuclear weapons modernization, and waterways infrastructure that are funded through the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a press release said. It also oversees funding for Tennessee priorities, including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex, cleanup in Oak Ridge, and Chickamauga Lock. [Read more…]