Oak Ridge Today

Neighborhood Watch open house to include tour of renovated ORPD

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Neighborhood Watch Award Carol Barnette

Carol Barnette, Neighborhood Watch District Leader, accepts an award from ORNWP President Brad Stephenson, left, for the Scarboro community’s outstanding community service in supporting neighborhood crime prevention programs. With them are, from left, Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi, Deputy Chief of Police Alan Massengill, and Community Resource Officer Brandan Sharp, at the Neighborhood Watch annual banquet for block captains.

The Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program invites the community to come learn more about the crime prevention program at a Neighborhood Watch Open House from 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, March 18, at the Municipal Courtroom in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.

Neighborhood Watch encourages residents to watch for and report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods, in partnership with the local police department. The program also encourages neighbors to get to know each other better. By working together to prevent crime, Neighborhood Watch participants contribute to improved safety and quality of life in their communities.

The open house will feature a presentation by David Gordon, crime analyst with the Oak Ridge Police Department, and tours of the newly renovated Oak Ridge Police Department.

Gordon will explain how residents can track crime in their neighborhood through RAIDS Online, www.raidsonline.com, a Web-based crime mapping program. RAIDS Online offers information about local crime activity and trends. It empowers the public, according to Gordon, by giving them the same technology used by law enforcement to analyze and interpret crime patterns in their area. Anyone may subscribe to customized e-mail alerts about crime in their neighborhood. [Read more…]

Animal Shelter closed until Tuesday to prevent spread of canine distemper

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Oak Ridge Animal Shelter

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter on Belgrade Road is pictured above.

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter will be closed until Tuesday, March 11, as a precaution to prevent the spread of canine distemper, authorities said.

Several dogs in the shelter are being tested after exhibiting symptoms of the disease, the Oak Ridge Police Department said in a press release. No cats have shown signs of distemper and are not susceptible to canine distemper.  The virus can be passed from dog to dog through sneezing, coughing, and sharing food and water bowls.  Wild animals can also spread the disease.  Pet owners are encouraged to ensure their animals have been vaccinated.

Although all animals recently admitted to the shelter have been vaccinated, this will not benefit those infected prior to arrival, the release said. Pet owners recently adopting dogs from the shelter should contact the shelter if signs of canine distemper appear.  Symptoms may include sneezing, coughing, discharge from the eyes and nose, depression, and loss of appetite. [Read more…]

No students injured when car hits school bus

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No students were injured when a car crashed into the front of a school bus that had stopped to pick up students at Hillside Road and Highland Avenue on Wednesday morning, officials said.

Diane Gibson, transportation director for Oak Ridge Schools, said the driver was picking up two students when she heard a crash and then watched as a car hit the front of Bus 1937 from Willow Brook Elementary School.

“There was nothing she could have done differently,” the schools said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. [Read more…]

Charges pending against ORHS student who assaulted officer, police say

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Charges are pending against an Oak Ridge High School student accused of assaulting an officer and classmate on Monday, authorities said.

An Oak Ridge Police Department press release said School Resource Officer Michael Swigert saw the 17-year-old male involved in a disturbance with a high school staff member at about 2:13 p.m. Monday. The staff member said the unruly boy had just assaulted a 17-year-old female classmate, the release said.

“Officer Swigert attempted to contact the student, who refused to comply with the officer’s commands and continued to create a disturbance, yelling, slamming doors, and knocking over a floor sign,” the press release said. “When Officer Swigert ordered the student to cease his actions, the student again refused to comply and assaulted the officer.” [Read more…]

With new ISO rating, ORFD among top in nation

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Darryl Kerley

ORFD Chief Darryl Kerley

Improvement could lower commercial rates in particular, help recruitment

The Oak Ridge Fire Department has been notified by the Insurance Service Office that the fire protection rating for the department will be improving to a Class 2, a press release said.

ISO has been evaluating and assigning fire protection ratings to fire departments since 1971. Insurance companies use the fire protection ratings to determine home owners and business insurance premiums. ISO evaluates fire department equipment, station locations, training, fire prevention efforts, and many other factors to assign a protection rating.

The ORFD has held a Class 3 rating for nearly 15 years but will now be a Class 2 department effective June 1, 2014. According to information from ISO, of the 47,250 fire departments across the country, less than 650 obtain a rating of Class 2 rating or better. [Read more…]

Council postpones traffic camera vote

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Red-light Camera at Oak Ridge Turnpike and New York Avenue

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday postponed a decision on whether to extend or terminate a five-year contract with its traffic camera vendor.

Note: This story was last updated at 11:40 a.m. March 4.

The Oak Ridge City Council postponed a vote on traffic cameras on Monday. Council had been expected to either extend the five-year contract with the camera vendor, Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Arizona, or terminate it.

But council member Chuck Hope had to leave unexpectedly, and it wasn’t clear that there would be a majority to either extend the contract for two years or end it. That meant that both resolutions could have failed in 3-3 votes.

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said the contract could now be discussed during a March 24 special meeting or during the regular April meeting. But the current contract expires April 21. [Read more…]

Clarksville woman taken to UT hospital after driver falls asleep, car rolls

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A Clarksville woman was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville early Sunday after the driver of a car in which she was riding fell asleep, and the vehicle rolled, went airborne, and struck a series of objects on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge, including a tree and utility pole, authorities said.

The 2011 Toyota Camry four-door sedan was headed north in the right-hand lane of South Illinois Avenue at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday when it first struck a right-hand curb at Centrifuge Way, the former Boeing Road, an Oak Ridge Police Department crash report said. The car then entered a median, rolled over onto its passenger side, struck a utility pole and an embankment, and became airborne, the report said. The vehicle then struck a second curb, became airborne again, struck a tree and embankment at the same time, and came to rest at the bottom of a second embankment. [Read more…]

Traffic camera revenues top $6 million, city keeps $2.6 million

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Traffic Camera at Oak Ridge Turnpike

The traffic camera for the westbound lanes of Oak Ridge Turnpike in front of Oak Ridge High School. More than half of the speeding violations issued in 2013 were at the camera systems near the high school.

The four traffic camera systems in Oak Ridge have generated more than $6 million in ticket revenues during a roughly five-year period. The city has kept $2.6 million of that, while the camera vendor has collected the other $3.6 million.

The amount of money generated each year has fallen from about $2 million in fiscal year 2010 to roughly $1 million today. That could be at least in part because drivers have grown more accustomed to the cameras.

The automated devices issue $50 citations to drivers who speed or run red lights, and the proceeds are split between the city and camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz. So far, the city has collected about 42 percent of the total revenues while Redflex has kept 58 percent.

The city revenues were originally put into a general fund, but starting in Fiscal Year 2011, they were deposited into a special fund that has been used to pay for pedestrian safety projects. That fund now has a cash balance of $778,305. [Read more…]

One Anderson man gets life, second 30 years in meth conspiracy

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Jeffery Scott Braden

Jeffery Scott Braden

Two Anderson County men convicted of conspiring to manufacture 50 grams or more of methamphetamine were sentenced to lengthy prison terms this week, federal officials said Friday.

Officials estimate that the conspiracy resulted in the production of about 1,500 grams of methamphetamine.

Jeffrey Scott Braden, 37, of Vowell Mountain—the only one of 42 people indicted in the conspiracy to go to trial—received a mandatory life sentence on Thursday in a hearing before Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan in Knoxville, officials said.

Then, on Friday, Varlan sentenced conspiracy leader Lawrence “Stoney” Scriver, 46, of Lake City, to serve 30 years, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a press release. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Council asked to extend, or terminate, red-light camera contract

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Red-light Camera at Oak Ridge Turnpike and New York Avenue

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider terminating a five-year contract for traffic enforcement cameras—or extending it for two years.

Note: This story was last updated at 3:25 p.m.

For some people, traffic cameras in Oak Ridge have been an irritant since they were installed, a detriment to visitors and businesses, an undesirable surveillance tool, and an unwelcome outsourcing of a police function.

But for others, the four systems erected on busy roadways in April 2009 have helped slow down traffic, reduced car crashes, and provided extra revenues to the city, including for community safety projects.

On Monday night, the seven members of the Oak Ridge City Council will have to take a side. They have been presented two options: extend the contract with camera vendor Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz.—or terminate it.

If Council continues the program, the five-year contract with Redflex could be extended for two years, through April 21, 2016. If members end it, they have been asked to consider installing a traffic signal on Oak Ridge Turnpike at Oak Ridge High School. The stoplight could cost between $150,000 to $200,000, and it would have to be approved by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. [Read more…]

Crashes, vehicle speeds down near red-light cameras, reports say

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Red-light Camera at Oak Ridge Turnpike and New York Avenue

The largest crash reduction near red-light cameras occurred near the system at Oak Ridge Turnpike and New York Avenue/Lafayette Drive.

There has been an overall decrease in the number of car crashes near red-light camera systems installed at four locations in Oak Ridge five years ago, and vehicle speeds have dropped near two schools, officials said.

Council members had requested information about crash frequency and history as the controversial five-year red-light camera contract, approved in August 2008, comes up for renewal in April. The crash information, as well as data on vehicle speeds, is included in the agenda packet for a Monday night Oak Ridge City Council work session.

The information said the largest crash reduction occurred at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Lafayette Drive/New York Avenue. Accidents there fell from 86 to 58, or roughly 33 percent, and injuries fell from 25 to 13, about a 50 percent reduction.

The totals compared the number of crashes from one four-year period starting March 2005 and ending March 2009, and a second period starting April 2009 and ending in November 2013, or a little more than four years. [Read more…]

Get rid of your unused medicines on Saturday morning

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You can get rid of your unused medicines in a Saturday morning drop-off at the Oak Ridge Police Department.

Operation Medicine Cabinet is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon at the Oak Ridge Police Department at the Municipal Building at 200 S. Tulane Ave.

“Come and drop off your old and expired drugs,” organizers said. “No names given.”

It’s being promoted by the ORPD and Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County, or ASAP. For more information, call ORPD Officer Brandan Sharp at (865) 556-6696 or visit www.asapofanderson.org.