A project to improve the city’s sewer system will require a temporary closure on busy Rutgers Avenue in central Oak Ridge starting Sunday.
Rutgers Avenue connects South Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike, and it runs between the Woodland neighborhood and J.C. Penney and Walmart.
A city press release said a gravity sewer line running from east to west under the north end of Rutgers Avenue must be relocated as part of the rehabilitation work. [Read more…]
President Barack Obama
Traffic in Oak Ridge could be disrupted during the Friday afternoon visit to west Knox County and Clinton by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s wife Jill.
The City of Oak Ridge sent out the traffic advisory on Thursday morning.
“The City of Oak Ridge is advising the public that traffic may be disrupted in Oak Ridge Friday afternoon due to the president’s visit to East Tennessee,” the advisory said. “Motorists should plan accordingly to arrive at their destinations on time. [Read more…]
A former server at IHOP Restaurant in Oak Ridge is suspected of taking an unknown amount of money from customers by changing the tip amounts on several credit card and debit card receipts, authorities said.
The suspected thefts occurred between October 1 and December 28, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.
It’s not clear how much money might have been taken during a period estimated to be about two months. ORPD Officer Garrett L. Robbins reported that the IHOP regional manager who reported the suspected theft is still calculating how much might have been taken.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
The Taoist Tai Chi Society of the USA has open houses in Oak Ridge on Saturday, January 3, and Monday, January 5.
Tai chi can be used to improve health and reduce stress. New beginner classes are starting soon.
Saturday’s workshop is free and open to the public. It’s scheduled from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at 362 East Tennessee Avenue in Oak Ridge. You can watch demonstrations and learn the first few moves. [Read more…]
Randy McNally
The Tennessee and Oak Ridge chambers of commerce have awarded the Champion of Commerce award to Senator Randy McNally, a press release said.
It said the award is presented locally in coordination with the Tennessee Chamber and local chambers of commerce.
“The prestigious award recognizes individuals that exemplify outstanding achievement promoting business and free enterprise during the 2013–2014 108th General Assembly,” the release said. [Read more…]
An Oak Ridge man remained in critical condition at a Knoxville hospital on Tuesday after a Monday morning crash that killed his son, authorities said.
Joseph Eatherly, 61, of Oak Ridge, was taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to the University of Tennessee Medical Center after the crash on southbound Alcoa Highway at Airport Hilton. The two-vehicle crash killed Eatherly’s son, Eric Eatherly, 35, of Hixson, the Alcoa Police Department said.
The APD said the accident occurred at 6:37 a.m. Monday when Joseph Eatherly tried to make a U-turn from the right-hand lane of Alcoa Highway. [Read more…]
A crowd outside Walgreen Drugs at the former Downtown Shopping Center on December 2, 1955. (Photos courtesy Don Hunnicutt/Ed Westcott)
Note: This story was last updated at 8:20 a.m. Dec. 31.
After we learned that Guilford Glazer died last week, we asked Don Hunnicutt if he or Ed Westcott, the government’s official photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II, had any pictures of the former Downtown Shopping Center that we might use on Oak Ridge Today. Don sent five pictures Tuesday morning. (Thank you, Don and Ed!)
Glazer, who was born in Knoxville, died last week in Beverly Hills, California, at 93. His company built the former Downtown Shopping Center in Oak Ridge in the 1950s, and he still owns property in Oak Ridge and Knoxville. [Read more…]
Workers train to remove a type of shipping cask that would be used to transport 403 canisters of uranium-tainted waste from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas. (Photos courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)
A new group of state and federal workers that was announced Tuesday could discuss contentious waste-related issues that include concerns over shipping low-level radioactive waste from a World War II-era building in Oak Ridge to a federal landfill in Nevada.
The new group, which will include senior-level state and federal employees, was announced in a six-page agreement, a memorandum of understanding signed last week by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.
The talks started more than a year ago, after Sandoval sent a letter to Moniz expressing concerns over the proposed disposal of the radioactive waste at the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
At left is an actual 24-inch steel canister. At right is a representation of the canister interior.
The waste contains radioisotopes of uranium from the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project. It originated from a 1960s research and development test of thorium and uranium reactor fuel in New York. It is stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Building 3019—the oldest continuously operating nuclear facility in the Department of Energy complex—in 403 ceramic-like uranium oxide monoliths. Each of the monoliths is bonded to the inside of a steel canister about 3.5 inches in diameter and about two feet long. [Read more…]
Guilford Glazer and Diane Pregerson Glazer (Source: Tel Aviv University)
Guilford Glazer (Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University)
Note: This story was last updated at 12:30 p.m.
Philanthropist and developer Guilford Glazer, whose company built the former Downtown Shopping Center in Oak Ridge in the 1950s, died at his Beverly Hills home in California on Tuesday. He was 93.
Glazer, who still owns property in Oak Ridge and Knoxville, was born in Knoxville in 1921. He was one of seven children born to Eastern European immigrants, according to a story in the Beverly Hills Courier. He studied engineering at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for two years before joining the Navy during World War II, working in ship construction.
When he returned home from the war, Glazer entered the business world when he took over the family welding shop and turned it into a major steel fabrication business, Glazer Steel Corporation, the Courier said. Glazer Steel fabricated bridges and many other structures for the government of France, among many other customers.
“Glazer’s first development was a building in Knoxville that has been described as the city’s ‘first high-rise apartment building,'” the Courier said. “He entered the real estate business in 1951, when a company he led was selected by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to build a shopping center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. That shopping center opened in 1955 and not long after, Glazer picked up and moved to Los Angeles.” [Read more…]
Clinton and Oak Ridge High School Key Club Members helped move toys at the Holiday Bureau on December 9. (Submitted photos)
Key Club and Kiwanis members and friends helped with a Toy Moving Project at the Holiday Bureau on December 9, a press release said.
The Key Club members were from Clinton and Oak Ridge high schools. They joined members and friends of Oak Ridge Kiwanis. Toys were moved from storage areas, and related tasks were completed such as filling grab bags with small gifts, the press release said.
Toys and gifts were selected by family representatives for their children and youth beginning Thursday, December 11. Toy selection followed clothing and food voucher distributions to families who registered with The Holiday Bureau at 728-B Emory Valley Rd in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
By Mark S. Watson, Oak Ridge City Manager
The City of Oak Ridge is one that prides itself on the interest, knowledge, and involvement of its citizens in local government. Oak Ridgers are always willing to add a different perspective, technical information, and just darn good opinions on topics that affect them.
On January 12, 2015, the Oak Ridge City Council will appoint citizen volunteers to fill vacancies on boards and commissions that have occurred due to term expiration and attrition from the board membership.
Applications must be received in the City Clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31.
Over the past years, the City Council has found it sometimes challenging to fill the vacancies of its various boards. People are busy, and getting busier! Some feel that many governmental matters require special knowledge. Others have not thought of providing their talents to shape their community. [Read more…]
