Oak Ridge Today

OSPD, THP have sobriety checkpoint, work to reduce traffic fatalities

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Tennessee Highway Patrol and Oliver Springs Police Department

Pictured above from left to right are THP Trooper Kevin Jones, OSPD Patrolman Shannon Runyan, THP Sgt. Dennis Smith, and OSPD Sgt. Rick Hamby. (Photo courtesy OSPD)

 

The Oliver Springs Police Department has recently partnered with the Tennessee Highway Patrol in an effort to reduce traffic fatalities on Tennessee roadways.

THP started its “Drive to Zero” campaign on April 3. The goal of the campaign is to reduce traffic fatalities by 15 percent during 2014. The campaign addresses hazardous moving violations, distracted drivers, seat belt use, and driving under the influence, a press release said.

In the announcement for that campaign, THP Sgt. Dennis Smith said each state trooper and police officer in attendance were asked one question: How many traffic fatalities is acceptable on your watch, in your neighborhood, involving someone you know?

The answer was zero by everyone present, the press release said. [Read more…]

Andersonville man dies in head-on collision with tractor-trailer

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Edgemoor Road Fatal Crash Truck Cleanup

Workers clean up and the Tennessee Highway Patrol investigates after a fatal two-vehicle crash between a pickup truck and tractor-trailer rig, pictured above on Edgemoor Road in Claxton on Wednesday morning.

CLAXTON—A 39-year-old Andersonville man died on Wednesday morning when the westbound pickup truck he was driving collided head-on with an eastbound tractor-trailer rig on Edgemoor Road in Claxton.

Michael T. Utley was headed west in a 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup at about 6:11 a.m. Wednesday when he crossed the center line into the eastbound lane and hit a 2000 Freightliner semi pulling a trailer loaded with heavy steel coils, according to preliminary information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The driver of the semi, Edmund E. Wood, 57, of Madisonville, was not injured, the THP said. [Read more…]

Meth lab seizures in Tennessee down from 2013

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Federal Meth Prosecution

Flanked by local, state, and federal law enforcement officers, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian, center, announces that 42 people, including many Anderson County residents, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine. (March 2013 file photo)

Information from WYSH Radio

The Tennessee Meth Task Force says that the number of meth labs seized in the state in the first quarter of 2014 is down 52 percent from this time last year. Between January and March of 2014, 290 meth labs were seized, compared to the first quarter of 2013, when 612 meth labs were seized.

Officials attributed the decrease to several factors, including increased enforcement, like the federal indictments handed down in Anderson County last year against more than 50 people on meth-making and related charges. Officials also cite local ordinances passed by 17 communities that now require a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine, which is the key ingredient used to make meth. Last year, however, the state Attorney General opined that such laws violate the state constitution.

In 2013, Anderson County led the state in meth lab busts. First quarter numbers for 2014 show that Anderson and Roane County have had the second highest number of seizures, with 10 meth lab busts each, and that Monroe County ranked first with the highest number, 14 meth lab seizures.

Boat destroyed by fire on Norris Lake

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Norris Lake Boat Fire

A boat was destroyed by fire on Norris Lake on Monday morning. (Photo by TWRA)

ANDERSONVILLE—A wakeboard boat caught fire and burned late Monday morning on Norris Lake shortly after being launched at Anderson County Park, state officials said.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency responded to the reported boat fire at about 11 a.m. Monday. The 2012 22-foot Supra wakeboard boat was being driven by an unidentified woman, and it was completely engulfed by a fire that started near the vessel’s engine when TWRA Wildlife Officer Jason Lankford responded.

The woman’s husband informed Lankford that he had just launched the vessel when his wife took the boat down the lake for a short ride while he was parking the vehicle. The man also noted that the engine’s power ventilation system, which is designed to help prevent boat fires, was being used as the vessel was launched. [Read more…]

THP: One killed, one injured in Anderson wreck

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Powell man was killed and an Oak Ridge woman injured in a single-vehicle crash that occurred Wednesday night on Clinton Highway, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said.

The THP reported that the wreck happened shortly after 9:30 p.m. just inside the Anderson County line near the intersection with Old Clinton Pike. Troopers said a 2004 Buick Rendezvous driven by Patrick Johnson, 40, of Powell had been headed south when the SUV left the right side of the roadway and slammed into a truck legally parked by the side of the road. [Read more…]

Car, driver involved in pedestrian hit-and-run on Monday not yet identified

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The car and driver that hit and injured an Oliver Springs man on Old Batley Road on Monday night have not been identified, according to preliminary information released by state officials on Friday.

The unidentified vehicle and driver were traveling north on Old Batley Road near State Highway 62 in Anderson County at about 7:07 p.m. Monday when they hit Derek Jones, 23, of Oliver Springs.

“Vehicle 1 was exiting a left hand curve heading north on Old Batley Road when it hit pedestrian Derek Jones,” state officials said. “Mr. Jones was walking on the right hand side of the roadway heading north. The vehicle struck Mr. Jones, causing him to enter a ditch and then left the scene. Mr. Jones was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.” [Read more…]

THP investigating hit-and-run involving car, pedestrian on Old Batley Road

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating a hit and run accident that occurred Monday evening in Oliver Springs and sent a man to the hospital.

Derek Jones, 23, said he was jogging on Old Batley Road at around 6:45 p.m. Monday when a small, black car hit him from behind. Jones landed on the hood of the car and struck the windshield, but the driver fled the scene without stopping. [Read more…]

Appeals court upholds murder verdict, life sentence

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals last week upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a man who killed his mother-in-law with a hatchet while his infant daughter was in a nearby room nearly seven years ago.

Robert Fritts was convicted in the March 2007 death of Teresa Busler, who died from multiple blows to the head from a hatchet and had a white paint-like substance sprayed on her face. Fritts and his wife—the victim’s daughter—and their infant daughter had been living at the family’s Andersonville home at the time of the murder. The baby was found unharmed in another bedroom when Busler’s husband returned home and discovered the grisly crime scene.

The case was somewhat noteworthy as prosecutors introduced evidence that Fritts was part of a group of so-called “jugalos,” or fans of rap group Insane Clown Posse. Insane Clown Posse band members often wear white, clown-style face makeup and their record label—Psychopathic Records—uses a picture of a hatchet-wielding man as its logo. In his appeal, Fritts’ attorneys argued that it was “improper for prosecutors to submit evidence of his affiliation with the rap group or suggesting that the band or its followers were a gang.” He also argued there was not sufficient evidence to establish that Busler’s murder was premeditated. [Read more…]

State: Sprinkler system saves lives in Oak Ridge assisted living fire

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Patriot Park Assisted Living Fire

Firefighters remove water from Patriot Park Assisted Living on Gum Hollow Road after putting out a small bed fire Friday evening. The fire was kept in check by a sprinkler system before Oak Ridge firefighters arrived and extinguished the flames.

An Oak Ridge assisted living center is thankful for its sprinkler system after a fire broke out on the premises Friday, state officials said Wednesday. All residents were safely evacuated and property damage contained to one room because of the sprinkler system.

This news comes at the same time as investigators comb through the fire-devastated ruins of an assisted living community in L’isle Verte, Quebec. where 25 residents lost their lives. The major difference between the two fires is that the assisted living building in Oak Ridge was equipped with a working sprinkler system, a press release said.

“The damage to the building was minimal, and no residents were displaced,” Oak Ridge Fire Department Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said of the Friday evening fire at Patriot Park Assisted Living on Gum Hollow Road. “Without the sprinkler system, we believe the outcome would be very different.” [Read more…]

Greenback man dies after hunting accident with crossbow

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A Greenback man died early Thursday morning after he was accidentally shot in the head by a crossbow during a deer hunting trip in Loudon County on Wednesday, authorities said.

William Nathan Norris, 37, from Greenback at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said.

Norris and an unnamed partner were deer hunting on private property off South Highway 411 in Greenback when the incident occurred, the TWRA said. Greenback is south of Lenoir City. [Read more…]

THP IDs man found on I-40 in Roane County near Hwy 95, seeks help

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Brian William Taylor

Brian William Taylor

Authorities have identified the man found dead early Christmas morning on Interstate 40 in Roane County, and they said he appears to have either jumped or fallen from a moving vehicle before being struck by another vehicle.

The body of Brian William Taylor, 42, of Heath Springs, S.C., was found on the eastbound lanes of I-40 at mile marker 364, which is near Highway 95 and south of Melton Hill Dam, at about 2:30 a.m. Dec. 25, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said in a press release.

Taylor is a white man, and when he was found, he was wearing blue jeans, a blue and white checked flannel type shirt, and tan work boots, the THP said. [Read more…]

Roane wreck kills one

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Kingston man died in a single-vehicle crash early Friday morning in Harriman.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reports that Patrick E. Fly of Kingston, 22, had been headed south on Swan Pond Road at around 1:30 a.m. in a Nissan Altima when he failed to negotiate a curve. His car skidded and left the roadway, flipping several times and ejecting Fly, who was not wearing a seatbelt. [Read more…]