Oak Ridge Today

ORAU Employees Club to host parking lot Trunk or Treat on Oct. 31

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The ORAU Employees Club will host a free Trunk or Treat event for the community on Thursday, October 31, from 7 to 9 p.m. ORAU employee volunteers will be handing out candy to trick or treaters at the ORAU main campus parking lot, located at 100 ORAU Way, a press release said.

“This is the first year we’ve done an event like this. Our Employees Club members are embracing Trunk or Treat, and we hope a lot of families bring their children to participate,” said Krista Seaton, the ORAU employee who is organizing the event.

Oak Ridge closes on $20 million loan for new water plant

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An aerial view of the Oak Ridge Water Treatment Plant on Pine Ridge above the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo courtesy Y-12 National Security Complex)

The City of Oak Ridge closed on a $20.7 million federal loan on Thursday for a new water treatment plant in south Oak Ridge.

It’s a Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or WIFIA, loan. The funds provided by the federal loan program will be used to design and build the new water plant, which will replace an aging facility on Pine Ridge that has served the community since the 1940s.

The total cost for replacement of the water treatment plant is estimated to be $42.2 million, the city said in a press release on Friday. WIFIA will provide about 49 percent of that cost, with the city using the Tennessee State Revolving Fund Loan Program to cover the balance, the press release said.

“After three years of application and planning, the City of Oak Ridge has reached a significant milestone in the funding needed for a new replacement water plant,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said in the press release. “WIFIA has helped Oak Ridge with a low-interest federal loan, allowing us to avoid potential failures in a system originally designed for a different Oak Ridge. The financial terms will allow Oak Ridge to afford these much-needed improvements to serve not only our residents, but the national security and U.S. Department of Energy facilities located here.”

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Opportunity to view and discuss PBS series on six 20th century dictators

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As part of its Community Education and Development Ministry, the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church will offer a series of viewings and discussions of the PBS series, “The Dictator’s Playbook.”

You can join them on Sunday afternoons from 3-5 p.m. from October 20 through November 24. A final discussion and reception will be held on Sunday, December 8, a press release said.

The group will meet in the Social Hall at ORUUC, which is at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Six moderator-led sessions will focus on the rise of a particular dictator who arose to infamy in the 20th century, the press release said: Kim II Sung (October 20), Saddam Hussein (October 27), Benito Mussolini (November 3), Manuel Noriega (November 10), Francisco Franco (November 17), and Idi Amin (November 24). The seventh session will be a discussion of common themes and lessons to be learned from the rise, rule, and fall of these modern dictators (December 8), the press release said.

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Energy Secretary Rick Perry resigning

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Rick Perry

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will resign sometime later this year.

The resignation was announced in a letter from Perry to President Donald Trump on Thursday. The U.S. Department of Energy provided a brief statement about Perry’s resignation in a press release on Thursday and included a copy of his resignation letter.

The Thursday letter didn’t give a specific date for Perry’s resignation, except to say that he plans to “resign at a date later this year.”

“The secretary is immensely grateful to President Trump and the American people for this opportunity to serve and looks forward to continuing to support the president’s agenda after he returns home to Texas later this year,” the DOE statement said.

During a visit to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in May, Perry dismissed a news story that he planned to leave DOE, and he suggested the story was the product of a “rumor factory.”

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TVA says Claxton material that caused concern is consistent with soil

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Note: This story was last updated at 4:50 p.m.

The Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday that the material that caused concern in Claxton, near the Bull Run Fossil Plant, is consistent with surface soil.

The material had reportedly fallen on vehicles, houses, mailboxes, and driveways in Claxton near Bull Run, a coal-fired TVA power plant. That raised concerns that the material might be coming from Bull Run.

On Thursday, TVA said it collected 11 samples and received three samples from a home owner and sent them to an independent laboratory for testing. That was in response to the concerns about the airborne materials found on vehicles and property around Bull Run, TVA said.

“Results show the material is not coming from air emissions at Bull Run and is consistent with surface soil in the area,” TVA said. “TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) also sampled material at several locations, and their results affirm that the material is consistent with surface soil.”

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City to present ideas for mixed-use development on Wilson Street on Wednesday

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Wilson Street is pictured above. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

The City of Oak Ridge and its Community Development Department will present possibilities for the mixed-use redevelopment of the Wilson Street corridor at a public meeting on Wednesday, October 23.

The meeting will be held at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, located at 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., a press release said. The community is invited to view the presentation, which uses data compiled over several years of study and public engagement focused on the needs of Oak Ridge residents, business owners, and visitors, the release said.

The City of Oak Ridge secured grant funding for this project under an agreement with the State of Tennessee Department of Transportation and coordinated through the regional Transportation Planning Organization for the purposes of envisioning a new “Downtown Oak Ridge,” the press release said. The goal of the study is to explore what could be along the Wilson Street corridor, including multi-story, mixed-use development adjacent to the ongoing retail redevelopment of Main Street Oak Ridge.

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Volunteers to learn karesansui raking techniques for Friendship Bell Garden

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Gene Patterson, center, of CNS Y-12, watches as volunteers rake designs in the karesansui garden at the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

 

Volunteers who are designing and maintaining the new Japanese dry landscape garden at the International Friendship Bell Peace Pavilion received special rakes for the garden earlier this summer from Consolidated Nuclear Security, the contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

CNS-Y12 presented the volunteers with rakes featuring stainless steel blades, made by craftspeople at Y-12 especially for the karesansui garden, which features patterns in fine gravel raked around boulders or stones, a press release said.

“We believe these are the first stainless steel rakes to be used in these traditional karesansui gardens, a centuries-old garden tradition,” said Pat Postma, co-chair of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee. “The rakes have traditionally been made from wood, but I find the weight of the stainless steel rakes makes deeper furrows and longer-lasting designs. CNS and Y-12 continued Oak Ridge’s tradition of innovation by creating these rakes with stainless steel blades. We are glad that CNS offered to make these for us.” [Read more…]

TDEC: Most material tested in Claxton, after residents expressed concern, was soil

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Note: This story was last updated at 4:50 p.m.

The vast majority of the material tested in Claxton, after residents raised concerns about an unidentified substance falling around the Bull Run Fossil Plant, was soil, a state official said Thursday.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said it sampled material in the area, and TDEC Deputy Communications Director Kim Schofinski released a short statement Thursday.

“TDEC takes the concerns of citizens very seriously, and in response to their direct requests, we independently conducted sampling of the material in the area,” the statement said. “We also reviewed lab results from samples taken by TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) and citizens…All results indicated the vast majority of the material was soil. As it relates to coal ash, sampling results ranged from non-detectable amounts, amounts too low to quantify, or trace amounts.

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For members: AC man accused of trying to kill deputy also faces federal charges

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Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019
One count of attempted first-degree murder and five aggravated assault charges filed against Charles Edward Mason, 52, of Anderson County, were sent to the grand jury after a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Thursday, July 25, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

KNOXVILLE—An Anderson County man who has two previous homicide convictions and has been accused in state court of trying to kill a deputy this year now faces federal gun and drug charges that could result, depending upon the circumstances, in a lifelong prison sentence.

Charles Edward Mason, 52, was charged last month with three federal felonies: felon in possession of firearms and ammunition; possession of, with intent to distribute, methamphetamine; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The federal charges were filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on September 17.

 
Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019

One count of attempted first-degree murder and five aggravated assault charges filed against Charles Edward Mason, 52, of Anderson County, were sent to the grand jury after a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on Thursday, July 25, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KNOXVILLE—An Anderson County man who has two previous homicide convictions and has been accused in state court of trying to kill a deputy this year now faces federal drug and gun charges that could result, depending upon the circumstances, in a lifelong prison sentence.

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New at Street Painting Festival: Take the STEAM challenge

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Artists turned Jackson Square into a work of art last year at the annual Rotary Club of Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, at Jackson Square. (Submitted photo)

The 20th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival at Jackson Square on Saturday will offer a new challenge this year, a press release said.

The October 19 event will be held in historic Jackson Square, and it will offer the first STEAM Challenge. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

The festival will, as always, offer prizes for artists in each category, the press release said. But this year, artists in any category can win an all-ages, all-categories bonus prize as part of the STEAM challenge.

The Street Painting Festival is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. It’s a fundraiser for Roane State Community College scholarships.

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Blockhouse Valley Recycling Center now open 6 days per week

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The Blockhouse Valley Recycling Center, on Blockhouse Valley Road in South Clinton, has expanded the hours that it is open to the public, a press release said.

The recycling center, once open to the public only on Wednesdays and a few Saturdays each month, is now open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, the press release said.

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AC Animal Shelter has new hours

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The Anderson County Animal Shelter has new hours, a press release said. The Shelter, located at 1480 Blockhouse Valley Road in South Clinton, is now open to the public six days a week.

The new public hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

“Since the small shelter first opened in 2016, due to staffing restrictions, the facility was only open to the public for limited hours on Wednesdays,” the press release said.

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