Oak Ridge Today

Lady Wildcats advance to district semifinals; Clinton falls to Halls

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Courtney Ellison and Destiny Kassner of the Lady Wildcats

Sophomore point guard Courtney Ellison (10) dribbles up court ahead of freshman Destiny Kassner as the Lady Wildcats wallop Gibbs 64-36 in a quarterfinal district tournament game in Knoxville on Thursday. (Photo by Luther Simmons)

 

KNOXVILLE—The Lady Wildcats advanced to the district semifinals and guaranteed themselves at least three more playoff games in a 64-36 rout of Gibbs in a quarterfinal game on Thursday. They’ve also qualified for the Region 2 tournament.

Oak Ridge, the number three seed, will take on Powell, the number two seed, at 3 p.m. Saturday at Central High School in Knoxville.

Meanwhile, the Clinton Dragons boys’ team fell to Halls 46-32 in another quarterfinal game on Thursday. Halls, the number three seed in the District 3-AAA tournament, will take on Karns, the number two seed, at 6 p.m. Saturday.

That game will be followed by a matchup between Oak Ridge, the number one seed, and the winner of today’s elimination game between Anderson County and Central.

The game between the Mavericks and Bobcats starts at 7:30 p.m. today (Friday, February 13) at Central. [Read more…]

Clinton boys advance, girls lose; Oak Ridge girls play tonight

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Oak Ridge Wildcats Logo

WYSH Radio/Oak Ridge Today

The Clinton boys’ basketball team advanced to the second round of the District 3-AAA tournament in a 67-58 first-round win over the Gibbs Eagles at Central High School in Knoxville on Wednesday.

J’Quan Thomas led three double-digit scorers for the seventh-seeded Dragons, who will take on third-seeded Halls at 7:30 tonight (Thursday, February 12). The winner of tonight’s tilt will move on to the district semifinals Saturday at 6 p.m. against Karns and earn a berth in next week’s region tournament, while the loser’s season will be finished, WYSH Radio reported.

In the first game on Wednesday night, Gibbs’ girls closed out the Karns Lady Beavers, blowing open a close game in the third quarter on their way to a 50-37 win and a second-round matchup with the Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats that will tip off at 6 p.m. Thursday at Central.

Meanwhile, the Clinton girls’ basketball season ended in a Tuesday loss to Campbell County at Central. [Read more…]

AC task force studying animal shelter to meet Tuesday

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The new task force set up to consider the possibility of an animal shelter in Anderson County will meet on Tuesday.

The meeting has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, February 17, in Room 118A at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

See previous story about the task force and its work here.

Anderson County to consider setting up its own animal shelter

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Oak Ridge Animal Shelter

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

The Anderson County Operations Committee has endorsed setting up a task force to examine the possibility of an animal shelter in the county, a press release said.

That should be good news for Oak Ridge, where there has been at least some concern about the housing of animals from outside Oak Ridge at the city’s animal shelter and the costs of doing so.

“Anderson County has had a strong, long-standing relationship with the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter over the years and continues that solid, working partnership,” Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said in a press release. “However, as their shelter has moved more towards the housing and adoption of animals, the available contracted space for county animals has diminished. [Read more…]

National Signing Day local recruiting round-up, including Oak Ridge

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Isaac Chapman Signing Day

Senior Isaac Chapman, an offensive lineman pictured at center front, signed with the University of Tennessee-Martin on Wednesday. (Source: Isaac Chapman/Twitter)

 

Information from WYSH Radio/Oak Ridge Wildcat Football

Wednesday was national Signing Day for high school athletes, and the University of Tennessee brought in a recruiting class ranked among the top 5 by most football scouting services.

Among the student-athletes who signed with UT was Coalfield lineman Zach Stewart, a two-time Mr. Football Award winner. He was actually the first member of the class of 2015 to fax the school his signed letter of intent.

Anderson County standout running back Matt Fox signed to play at East Tennessee State University, while fellow Maverick Bronson Black is headed to the University of the Cumberlands. [Read more…]

AC Senior Center about to become reality

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Office on Aging and the Council on Aging have found a location to open up an expanded Office on Aging and create a full-blown Senior Center serving Clinton and Anderson County.

The new location will be in the old Food Stamp building on Charles Seivers Boulevard, just west of the intersection of Clinch Avenue and Seivers. [Read more…]

IRS scam reported in Anderson County

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An IRS scam making its way across East Tennessee has now made it to Anderson County, authorities said. During the scam, residents receive telephone calls threatening them with arrest for not paying their taxes.

Here is information from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department regarding the scam: [Read more…]

NAACP has general membership meeting Tuesday, Jan. 27

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The general membership meeting for the Oak Ridge/Anderson County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will be held Tuesday, January 27, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Scarboro Community Center at 148 Carver Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The agenda is listed below: [Read more…]

Updated: KPD pursuit passes through Anderson, ends in Union

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Jeremy Shane Howard

Jeremy Shane Howard

The police chase that passed through Anderson County on Thursday night started at a Weigel’s store in Knoxville and ended with an arrest in Union County.

The Knoxville Police Department said officers observed a suspicious man at Weigel’s on Callahan and Central Avenue Pike on Thursday night. The man was observed by officers on special assignment for recent robberies in north Knoxville.

The suspect, who was wearing surgical gloves, had been in the store for an extended period of time acting suspiciously before leaving without purchasing any items, the KPD said. [Read more…]

Reports: Man drags constable while fleeing, crashes into deputy’s cruiser

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Larry Eugene Ward

Larry Eugene Ward

An Anderson County man suspected of fleeing a crash on Clinton Highway last week was found slumped over with blood on his face in a damaged car that reeked inside of alcohol, authorities said. The suspect, Larry Eugene Ward, fled from officers, and he dragged three emergency responders with him and almost ran over a constable’s legs before crashing into three other vehicles on Bull Run Road, including a deputy’s patrol car, authorities said.

The constable, Jennings F. Foust, 64, was dragged almost 50 feet before Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Robert J. Collins was able to pull him from the vehicle, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said.

While trying to flee, Ward crashed into three more vehicles, including Collins’ patrol car and Foust’s car, and hit or nearly hit an ambulance, authorities said.

Ward, 34, of Clinton, remained jailed Wednesday at the Anderson County Detention Facility on a slew of charges including aggravated assault, evading arrest, reckless driving, public intoxication, and driving under the influence. [Read more…]

Wildcats, Lady Wildcats edge Halls, set sights on first place

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Oak Ridge Wildcats Logo

The Lady Wildcats and Wildcats of Oak Ridge traveled to Halls on Tuesday to take on the Lady Red Devils and Red Devils. The crowd at Halls is always loud and troublesome for visiting teams, but both sets of Wildcats came out unscathed against their opponents. The victories helped solidify each team’s place at the top of the district leaderboard.

Girls’ Team

A strong first half defensively for the Lady Wildcats proved to be the difference-maker in the end. Oak Ridge would squeak by the Lady Red Devils of Halls by a score of 50-42.

The Lady Wildcats opened the game up with a 13-4 run before going on to finish the first quarter ahead 18-6. The second quarter was a low-scoring quarter for both teams, as the Lady Wildcats only put up 10 points compared to eight by Halls. The score was 28-14 at the half. [Read more…]

Guest column: Next six-month challenges in Roane County

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Ron Woody

Ron Woody

By Ron Woody, writing in the January 2015 “County Executive’s Newsletter to the County Commission”

“Next Six Month Challenges”

As we begin the next calendar year, we thought it would be appropriate to identify some challenges which will come before commission in the next six months. As always, the beginning of the calendar year starts the annual budget process. Commission has made many major steps over the last number of years in establishing a more formal budget development process as budget focus has been divided into operating budgets and capital budget. We are not to the point we should be yet in both funding and understanding, but much as been accomplished and that I call a success.

Now to our six-month challenges:

  1. More deployment of capital budget. We plan on working on this in February and March. The questions to be answered are: Are we setting aside enough funds for replacement of our assets? Where do these set-aside funds come from and how do we protect these funds from competing services?
  2. Insuring that the county has a successful reappraisal program which includes not only accurate value but an understanding of the reappraisal impact.
  3. Funding of operational budgets which are either strained (general government) or suffering major loses (schools).
  4. Educational plans of capital improvements and related funding whether consolidation of schools are considered or not.

[Read more…]