Oak Ridge Today

Local agencies receive more than $350K in highway safety funds

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Tennessee officials last week announced $21.1 million in grants to Tennessee agencies to support highway traffic safety efforts, with more than $350,000 designated for local law enforcement agencies.

The grants include about $180,000 to the Anderson County District Attorney General’s Office for driving-under-the-influence abatement and prosecution, and roughly $40,000 to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for reducing fatalities in the county. The Oak Ridge Police Department received about $25,000 for alcohol saturation and checkpoints. [Read more…]

Oliver Springs man killed in wreck

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Information from WYSH Radio

An Oliver Springs man was killed in a single-vehicle accident Sunday night in Roane County.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported that at around 8:30 Sunday night, Otto Joseph Flachbart III, 35, had been driving north on Highway 327 near Oliver Springs when he lost control of his Dodge Ram pickup while rounding a curve. The THP said that he overcorrected twice before the truck flipped over and came to rest on its side. [Read more…]

Seven arrested in prostitution sting in Oliver Springs

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Six men and one woman were arrested during a prostitution sting in Oliver Springs last week, authorities said.

The Aug. 29 joint operation was within a half-mile of Norwood Elementary and Middle School, and the bust involved the Oliver Springs Police Department and the Seventh District Crime Task Force, OSPD Chief Kenneth Morgan said in a Thursday evening press release.

“We conducted this operation with the hope of stopping a growing issue before it became a major problem,” Morgan said. [Read more…]

First local Habitat for Humanity family celebrates mortgage payoff with mortgage burning

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Habitat for Humanity Mortgage Burning

The first family to pay off its mortgage in the traditional manner through Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County celebrates with a mortgage burning ceremony last week. Pictured from left are homeowners Becky and Ray Seiber and HFHAC Executive Director Jennifer Sheehan.

The first family to pay off its mortgage in the traditional manner through Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County, making monthly mortgage payments, celebrated with a mortgage burning ceremony last week.

Owned by Becky and Ray Seiber, the home just north of Oliver Springs in the Cove community was also the first house built by the then-new Habitat for Humanity chapter in 1992. The Seibers are considered the affiliate’s first family. [Read more…]

High school football Week Zero in the books

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Information from WYSH Radio

Wrapping up Friday night’s Week Zero high school football action, Anderson County got 310 total yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns from Tyler Hicks and 140 yards and four rushing touchdowns from Matt Fox to beat Clinton 53-13 in each team’s opener.

Maryville debuted new quarterback John Garrett and picked up a 35-15 win over Webb on Friday as Garrett accounted for 260 total yards and three scores. In other area action, William Blount gave new coach Justin Ridge his first win as the Governors pounded Loudon 40-7. Oliver Springs hammered Unaka 40-0 and Campbell County clobbered Cumberland Gap 41-6. For a complete look at last weekend’s action and this week’s schedule, visit the Local Sports Update page on our website.

Suspicious fire probed in Oliver Springs

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Information from WYSH Radio

For the second time this month, Anderson County investigators are probing a fire at a vacant, foreclosed house.

The most recent incident happened Wednesday afternoon at a home on Cove Lane in Oliver Springs. The Oliver Springs Fire Department was called to the house at around 2 p.m. Wednesday, and firefighters reported that the structure was fully engulfed by flames. No injuries were reported, and the fire is being investigated as suspicious since there was no electricity hooked up to it at the time of the blaze.

Girls softball camp in Oliver Springs on July 29-30

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A two-day softball camp for girls ages 4-13 starts Monday, July 29, at Arrowhead Park in Oliver Springs.

The camp is scheduled from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, July 29, and Tuesday, July 30. It costs $40.

The camp includes individual instruction on softball fundamentals, including throwing, catching, fielding, position play, offense, and base running, a press release said. All instruction will be age- and experience-appropriate. [Read more…]

Intoxicated, wearing only a shirt, woman tries to bite officer, police say

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Crystal Jane Wombles

Crystal Jane Wombles

She was extremely intoxicated and was outside on her porch wearing only a shirt when Oliver Springs police arrived, and neighbors said she had been completely naked a few minutes earlier, authorities said.

Crystal J. Wombles, 35, of Crystal Lane in Oliver Springs, was not wearing “bottoms or underwear…showing her bottom private parts to children and the neighbors,” Oliver Springs Police Department Patrolman Nathaniel W. Nelson said in an incident report. The neighbors had instructed their kids to go inside, the patrolman said. [Read more…]

Pictures: Flooding on Windrock Road in Oliver Springs

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Windrock Road Flooding

Flooding along Windrock Road in Oliver Springs on Sunday afternoon after days of heavy rain.

Days of heavy rain that tapered off Sunday flooded streams and roads in East Tennessee, and caused many cities to reschedule their July 4 fireworks shows.

Here are two pictures of flooding along Windrock Road in Oliver Springs on Sunday afternoon. [Read more…]

Anderson Commission unanimously approves budget with small tax cut

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Note: This story was updated at 1:12 p.m. June 18.

CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission unanimously approved a budget that cut the property tax rate by one-third of a penny on Monday.

It was a small but symbolic gesture, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said when she proposed the move, and commissioners endorsed it, during a special meeting last week.

For now, officials have resolved an impasse over whether there was enough money to cover the cost of new jailers hired in the past year by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for a jail dormitory that is already open—and to pay for more than 30 new jailers needed when a 212-bed addition opens later this year or early next. [Read more…]

Former Anderson commissioner, OS manager hired in Kingston

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Information from WYSH Radio

Former Anderson County Commissioner and Oliver Springs City Manager Dave Bolling has been hired as the new city manager in Kingston after spending the last year as the town administrator of Newcastle, Maine.

Bolling and one other finalist were interviewed on Friday, and following the interviews, the City Council voted unanimously to offer the job to Bolling. His first day on the job will be June 1, and he will earn an annual salary of $70,500 a year with a performance bonus possible after the first year and a $5,000 moving allowance. [Read more…]

Man pulled unconscious from burning truck discharged from UT hospital

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Irene Lane Crash

Jason J. West of Oliver Springs has been discharged from a Knoxville hospital after being pulled unconscious from this burning pickup truck on Irene Lane on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Oak Ridge Police Department)

The Oliver Springs man who was pulled unconscious from a burning pickup truck on Irene Lane on Friday night has been discharged from the University of Tennessee Medical Center, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Jason J. West, 25, of Old Hen Valley Road, hit two utility poles and damaged concrete curbs as his 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup truck went down an embankment on the east side of North Illinois Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. Friday.

Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Christopher W. Wallace said the pickup truck was in heavy brush about 100 feet from the entrance to Irene Lane. Reports said it had flipped, and the engine compartment was engulfed in fire, Wallace wrote in a crash report. [Read more…]