Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge celebrates 70th birthday on Sept. 19

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Oak Ridge will celebrate its 70th birthday on Sept. 19 with historic displays and talks in Jackson Square, special games and activities, a preservation award, and a special free showing of “Fat Man and Little Boy.”

A press release said Gen. Leslie R. Groves selected the area that is now Oak Ridge—it was then 90 square miles of East Tennessee farmland—as the first site for Manhattan Project facilities on Sept. 19, 1942. The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

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Street resurfacing work starts today

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Resurfacing work begins today on eight streets in Oak Ridge.

The eight streets are Outer and West Outer drives; Administration, Alger, and East Tulsa roads; and Arkansas, Jefferson, and New York avenues.

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Guest column: Faith community helps residents

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House of Worship Vaction Bible School

Children attend Vacation Bible School at the House of Worship in Oak Ridge in July. (Photo submitted by Myra Mansfield)

The faith community in Oak Ridge, an often overlooked influence and support structure, is comprised of about 50 churches and another dozen nonprofit organizations through which people come together on a regular basis for spiritual encouragement, acts of service, and relationship development. People spend both their time and their finances to build strength in their personal lives, within their families, and for the Oak Ridge community at large. This translates into greater overall health for the entire community.

Despite the economic slump, churches and helping organizations have continued to serve the community, and organizational growth has taken place over the last several years. New helping organizations have developed. Churches have constructed new facilities, remodeled existing facilities, and relocated in ways that caused vacated church buildings to become occupied again.

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Guest column: Oak Ridge needs debt policy, debt ceiling

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Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

At under 45 minutes, this month’s City Council meeting may have been the shortest meeting they’ve ever held. While it was a nice change from the normal three-hour meetings, I wonder why council didn’t take the opportunity to discuss anything of significance given our city’s various, not to mention serious, problems. After all, they are limited in how often they meet to accomplish anything. Yet, they were perfectly content to accomplish nothing.

Nearly a year ago, I wrote about our city’s debt—a bill that is quickly approaching $200 million. I implored the city to develop a debt policy that would establish a debt ceiling, a debt reduction plan, and parameters for borrowing.

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Candidates qualify for November election in Oak Ridge, Lake City, Norris

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Note: This story was last updated at 4:17 p.m. Sept. 16.

Five candidates are competing for three seats on Oak Ridge City Council in the Nov. 6 election, while three candidates could battle for two seats on the Oak Ridge Board of Education.

The three Council candidates include the three incumbents, L.C. “Charlie” Hensley, Charles J. “Chuck” Hope Jr., and Ellen D. Smith. Hensley and Smith were elected in June 2007, and Hope was appointed last summer after former Council member Tom Hayes resigned.

It also includes two challengers, Trina Baughn and Kelly Callison.

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Roane State presents philanthropy awards to Oak Ridge, Anderson County

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Oak Ridge Roane State Philanthropy Award

From left, Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and City Council member Charlie Hensley accept the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy from Roane State President Gary Goff. (Photo submitted by RSCC)

The Oak Ridge and Anderson County governments recently received state philanthropy awards for their support of an expansion of the local Roane State Community College branch campus.

Both governments contributed $500,000 to a new Health Sciences and Technology Building at the college’s Oak Ridge campus. Roane State said those contributions were key to reaching a $2.5 million fundraising goal.

Recognizing those contributions, Roane State President Gary Goff recently presented Oak Ridge and Anderson County officials with Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Philanthropy.

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Oak Ridge plans for Manhattan Project’s 70th anniversary

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Organizers in Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash., are having special events today to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Manhattan Project, the top-secret national effort to create the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

Although nothing is planned in Oak Ridge, local volunteers are considering whether to have a celebration on Sept. 19, the 70th anniversary of the decision to select Oak Ridge for the first Manhattan Project site, newspaper columnist and Y-12 National Security Complex Historian D. Ray Smith said in an e-mail.

The volunteers plan to begin discussing the possible celebration during a 4 p.m. Tuesday meeting in the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau conference room.

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Final signature clears way for demolition of K-25 North Tower

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K-25 Demolition

Demolition is almost complete on most of the K-25 Building’s East Wing, and work on the North Tower, pictured in the background at left, could start in September. (Photo submitted by UCOR)

Historic preservationists lobbied for years to save the North Tower of the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge, but an agreement that received a final signature on Tuesday clears the way for demolition work to begin there in late September or early October.

“It allows us to proceed with our cleanup activities … without delay,” said Mike Koentop, U.S. Department of Energy spokesman in the Oak Ridge Office.

However, officials plan to pay homage to the site, built during World War II to enrich uranium for atomic bombs, with a replica equipment building, viewing tower, and nearby history center, as well as a Web-based virtual museum and a $500,000 grant to buy and stabilize the dilapidated, historic Alexander Inn in central Oak Ridge.

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Government wants to lease space for displaced Federal Building workers

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Oak Ridge Federal Building

The General Services Administration, which owns the Federal Building in Oak Ridge, wants to lease commercial space for 150 to 175 employees displaced after the Federal Building shut down in June.

About 150 to 175 employees could move into commercial office space while the U.S. General Services Administration removes asbestos-containing insulation from the Federal Building in Oak Ridge.

The GSA posted a notice last week on FedBizOpps.gov that it wants to lease about 30,000 square feet of temporary space in Oak Ridge, potentially for up to six months, with a second six-month term possible. Leasing proposals were due by Tuesday.

Officials said they are moving quickly to find space for employees displaced after a mid-June inspection found asbestos-containing insulation had fallen into heating and cooling ducts at the Federal Building.

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Sewer lines being tested in Oak Ridge

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As the city sewer lines are smoke tested, the crews will start handing out notices of damaged sewer lateral clean-out assemblies. This assembly is where the drainage system exits the building, then turns into the city sewer line.

The clean-out gives access to the private sewer line so that it is able to be cleaned.

Sewer laterals are the responsibility of the property owner and damaged clean-out assemblies can allow unwanted water and/or debris into the sewer system that can cause the sewer system to back up and overflow in private lines, as well as the city’s main sewer lines. Damaged clean-out assemblies are also a violation of the Sewer Use Ordinance.

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U.S. House committee approves Manhattan Project park bill

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Doc Hastings

Doc Hastings

A U.S. House committee approved a bill today to set up a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include Oak Ridge.

In the works for years, the park would also include facilities in Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M.

The legislation, H.R. 5987, can now be considered by the full House.

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House committee to vote on Manhattan Project historical park Wednesday

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Manhattan Project National Historical Park House Hearing

Pictured above at a June 28 U.S. House hearing on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act are, from front left, Cindy Kelly, Atomic Heritage Foundation president; Heather McClenahan, executive director of the Los Alamos Historical Society; and D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian. Gary Petersen, Tri-City Development Council vice president, is pictured in the background. (Photo courtesy of Atomic Heritage Foundation)

A U.S. House committee will vote Wednesday on a bill to create a Manhattan Project historical park that would include Oak Ridge, Rep. Doc Hastings announced Friday.

The legislation will be considered by the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Hastings is chair of that committee and sponsor of the bill, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act. He represents the Hanford site in Washington, which would also be part of the national park.

“I expect the Committee will vote to favorably advance the bill to the full House for consideration,” Hastings said in a news release. “A great many volunteers have been working for years to bring this idea into reality, and I’m pleased that progress is being made in the law-making process to preserve this amazing and important piece of our nation’s history.”

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