Information from WYSH Radio
Oak Ridge High School student Sam Kelley was one of the pages who served in the Tennessee Senate during 2013. Kelley was sponsored by Tennessee Sen. Ken Yager, a Harriman Republican.
Page duties consist of anything from making copies to running errands to distributing legislative information to members of the General Assembly. They report to the Chief Clerk of the House and Senate.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation has recently installed signs for a new “top secret” 465-mile, self-guided driving trail that stops in Oak Ridge.
The brown signs were erected to direct visitors and curious local travelers along this important tourism route, a state press release said. They lead travelers to picturesque views in the Upper Cumberland and the “inside scoop on the state’s biggest secret.”
The Top Secret trail has 111 stops within Knox, Anderson, Campbell, Overton, Fentress, Morgan, Scott, Clay, Roane, and Pickett counties, giving visitors extensive history, culture, music, and cuisine experiences. The trail is part of the 16 Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways, an initiative by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, connecting Tennessee’s 95 counties to encourage guests to travel “off the beaten path” and to explore treasures of the state.
“Start the trip off at the site of the 1982 World’s Fair at World’s Fair Park, home to the world-famous Sunsphere, one of the only two remaining original fair structures,” the press release said. “Travel through the Upper Cumberland region, where guests can find out why Oak Ridge is considered Tennessee’s ‘secret city,’ the smallest library in the United States in Coalfield, and Tanners Café, Sundries & Antiques, housed in a 1906 bank that still has the original vault. Learn the history and culture of the region by stopping off at Old Union Meeting House, which is one of the oldest in the country and the Museum of Scott County, the only one of its kind created and curated by high school students. [Read more…]
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…]
Holly M. Kirby
NASHVILLE—Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Holly M. Kirby of Memphis to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Kirby will succeed Janice M. Holder, who is retiring June 28.
Kirby, a lifelong Tennessean, has served as a member of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Western Section, since 1995. She was the first woman to serve on that court and has written more than 1,000 opinions on appeals from trial courts across the state.
“We are fortunate to have someone with Judge Kirby’s depth of experience to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court,” Haslam said. “Her impressive record of service will benefit Tennesseans in this position, and I am pleased to announce her appointment.”
Kirby’s opinions have covered a range of civil law, including business and commercial litigation, employment law, tort law and family law. Prior to her appointment to the Tennessee Court of Appeals by Gov. Don Sundquist, Kirby was a partner at the Memphis law firm Burch, Porter and Johnson. [Read more…]
An auto parts manufacturer in Clinton has announced a second major expansion, a $53.8 million investment expected to create 81 new jobs during the next two years.
The investment was announced Tuesday by Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty and executives from Aisin Holdings of America Inc.
The company’s subsidiary in Clinton is called Aisin Automotive Casting Tennessee, and it’s located along Frank L. Diggs Drive south of State Route 61 and just west of Interstate 75. It’s the company’s second major business expansion since locating in Tennessee in 2004. [Read more…]
Four additional sites are declared “shovel ready”
NASHVILLE—The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced the next four Select Tennessee Certified Sites, and a site in Clinton is among those selected.
The four newest sites are:
Dump trucks remove pet remains on Wednesday that had been excavated from Elliott Pet Services in Morgan County. (Photo courtesy WATE-TV)
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation on Wednesday provided copies of the violation notices sent to the Morgan County crematory where animal remains were excavated last week after a state investigation.
TDEC also provided the media with an event timeline for September and October at Elliott Pet Services on Grouse Ridge Road, copies of annual inspection reports, and a state response to complainants Dana and Fegan Kenny.
You can read the documents here: [Read more…]
Dump trucks remove pet remains on Wednesday that had been excavated from Elliott Pet Services in Morgan County. (Photo courtesy WATE-TV)
It will not be possible to identify animals buried at a pet crematory in Morgan County where remains were excavated this week after a state investigation, officials said Wednesday.
News of the investigation and excavations this week has left many pet owners, including in Anderson County, wondering whether animals they paid to have cremated might be among those buried at the rural wooded site near the Roane County line.
The crematory site on Grouse Ridge Road is operated by Elliott Pet Services. It was the subject of a citizen’s complaint in September that alleged animals were being dumped on the site.
In September, the business also received an open dumping violation notice from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. And in October, the company was cited for not maintaining logs.
Business owner Cameo Farr and her attorney, Kevin Angel of Oak Ridge, told several Knoxville television stations that burying animals is part of her business, and she has always cremated animals that were supposed to be cremated. [Read more…]
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…]
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that Anderson County is not liable for damages beyond medical costs after an inmate sustained injuries from an attack by cellmates.
Kenneth E. King, a Claxton resident, had spent the night in the Anderson County Detention Facility after being arrested on Oct. 27, 2009, for driving on a suspended license—a charge that ultimately was in error, according to the opinion and a press release posted on the state courts website Thursday. His release was ordered at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 28, but it took more than three hours for the pretrial release officer to process the paperwork.
During that time, King was severely beaten, causing permanent injuries to his eye. King sued the county seeking monetary damages for the attack, stating that Anderson County was negligent in not releasing him in a timely manner and should have known that there was a danger of him being attacked. [Read more…]
Randy McNally
Information from WYSH Radio
Tennessee Sen. Randy McNally and Rep. Ryan Haynes will introduce legislation that calls for drug testing all Tennessee judges, the two legislators announced Friday.
McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, made the announcement after meeting Thursday with Knox County Prosecutor Leland Price and the families of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom. Christian and Newsom were raped, tortured, and murdered by Lemaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas, and Vanessa Coleman seven years ago.
“For a family to have to go through one trial where it involves the torturous murder of their loved one is far too painful for anyone to endure,” McNally said. “But, to have to go through two trials is inconceivable and inexcusable. This legislation addresses this so that no one will have to endure this kind of lengthy and excruciatingly painful court process again due to drug abuse by a judge.” [Read more…]
Local, state, and federal officials join volunteers and nonprofit and business executives for a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Alexander Inn on Thursday.
Top military leaders and scientists once stayed at this historic two-story hotel in the heart of Oak Ridge, and now it’s being converted into an assisted living center.
The $5.5 million renovation of the Alexander Inn at Jackson Square started in July, the culmination of a years-long preservation effort. It could be complete by mid-2014, said Rick Dover, manager of Family Pride Corp., the company converting the hotel.
The Guest House Senior Living at the Alexander Inn will have 62 rooms, including a 17-room memory care wing.
The hotel was built during the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Guests who once stayed there included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]
