Oak Ridge Today

Artists ‘chalk the walks’ Saturday for scholarships for Roane State students

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Blue Phantom

A sidewalk chalk painting from the 2014 Street Painting Festival. (Submitted photo)

 

The 16th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival is drawing near—it will be held from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, October 3 (rain day on Sunday), at the Oak Ridge Campus, Roane State Community College.

Dozens of artists will be brushing up on their skills as they bring colorful faces and scenes to concrete sidewalk squares using free art supplies. Would-be Rembrandts will “paint” with chalk the squares that sponsors “purchase” by writing checks.

You, too, can write a check to the Roane State Foundation to fund scholarships for RSCC students. These students have been out of high school for a few years and are not eligible for Tennessee Promise scholarships.

The public is invited to this free festival organized by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge in conjunction with Roane State. [Read more…]

Street Painting Festival on Oct. 3 at Roane State in Oak Ridge

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Love Reject

In 2014, Ouita Northcutt received the People’s Choice Award and first-place award in the professional artists category for her chalk painting on love and rejection at the Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival. (Submitted photo)

 

Artists of all ages and abilities, it’s time to “talk the talk, then chalk the walk.”

And you folks who wish to help people in their 20s who otherwise cannot afford to go to college without a scholarship are encouraged to “write checks for chalk art” as sponsors to make our workforce smarter.

Artists are encouraged to invite your artist friends to the Roane State Community College campus in Oak Ridge to showcase your talents for free while helping others get an education.

Artists and sponsors are needed for the 16th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival, which will be held on Saturday, October 3, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the sidewalks of the RSCC Oak Ridge campus on Briarcliff Road. The rain date is October 4. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Rotary Club helps hometown, the world

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Elaine Bunick and Adolf King and Ghanaians

Elaine Bunick and Adolf King, members of Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, are pictured with Ghanaians in the village where they led the medical and educational missions. (Submitted photo)

 

The Rotary Club of Oak Ridge is helping its hometown and communities in the world.

The club contributed $2,500, which was matched by a Rotary District 6780 grant, yielding $5,000 that financed the renovation of a room in the Oak Ridge Boys and Girls Club building. Anne Dunthorn, the club secretary and grant writer, helped Jennifer Pettyjohn, the chief and special officer of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Clinch Valley, identify a District 6780 matching grant and prepare and submit the winning application.

Elaine Bunick, club member and endocrinologist in Oak Ridge, spearheaded the successful medical and educational mission in late July in the eastern African nation of Ghana. More than 1,800 patients in the village of Nkonya-Wurupong received medical treatment and used, or will use when needed, $250,000 worth of anti-malarial and other medications. [Read more…]

Free Medical Clinic Bash on Saturday features dance contest, auctions

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Hit Men

Performers in the Hit Men band are, from left, Mark Akers, Bob Andres, Alan Keck, Pat Andres, and Uwe Lueth. They will perform at the Free Medical Clinic Bash on Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Parish Life Center of St. Mary’s Church. (Submitted photo) 

 

Tickets are still available for the FMC Bash, the annual fundraiser for the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge, which will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, August 8, in the Parish Life Center of St. Mary’s Church.

It will include a catered dinner, music by the Hit Men (a Knoxville rock and pop dance band), a Celebrity Dance Contest, silent auction (80 items), and live auction conducted by the entertaining Bear Stephenson.

Live auction items include a four-day vacation in a beach condo near St. Augustine, Florida; North Carolina barbecue dinner for 12; an Indian dinner for eight; a walnut jewelry box, hand-made earrings (sterling and mother of pearl) by Frederick Duclos; a fly-fishing package; a wine cooler; and Cajun dinner.

Couples who have entered the Celebrity Dance Contest are Sharon and Brian Annis, Naomi Asher and Jim Dodson, Tom Beehan and Kay Brookshire, David and Sandy Bradshaw, Gene Caldwell and Dottie Thompson, Keys Fillauer and Scott Hinton, Judy Gooch and Michael Shrader, and Austin Keathley and an amazing “secret” dancer. [Read more…]

It’s not too late to sign up a dragon boat team

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Penny Behling Dragon Boat Steering

Penny Behling, CEO of Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing, steers a dragon boat during a race at last year’s inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival. (Submitted photo)

 

It’s not too late to register a team for the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival. You don’t have to worry about getting a boat, paddles, or life vests. Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing LLC will supply those for you, plus training, a practice session for your team and a skilled person to steer the boat, a press release said.

All you need to do is recruit 21 people who are 15 years or older; you need 20 paddlers, eight of whom are women, and one drummer. The cost for a team is $850, or slightly less than $41 per person. The money raised goes to a variety of charities.

To register a team, sponsor a team, or sponsor the festival, visit Dynamic’s website at http://oakridge.racedragonboats.com/,and click on REGISTER, as well as the festival’s Facebook page for the latest news. [Read more…]

Free Medical Clinic’s FMC Bash: Auctions, dinner, dance contest

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Michael Burns and Sumner Byrne

Michael Burns and Sumner Byrne placed first in the dance contest at the Free Medical Clinic fundraiser last year, bringing in the most money for this crowd-pleasing event. (Submitted photo)

Save the date: Volunteers and staff at the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge will present their annual “fun” fundraiser, the FMC Bash, on Saturday, August 8.

You can wear a neon T-shirt and jeans—dress is casual. An excellent dinner will be provided by Morrison Catering.

You can hear and dance to Second Opinion, the band of a few rockin’ doctors associated with Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.

You can “vote” on the amazing and amusing Oak Ridge couples as they compete in the Celebrity Dance Contest.

And you can bid on hand-crafted items and services in the silent auction. At the live auction, Bear Stephenson, member of the FMCOR board, will auction dinners, a vacation cabin, and services such as interior decorating advice and computer repairs. [Read more…]

Three ORHS seniors win Brad Sturm scholarships

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Brad Sturm Scholarship Winners

Two Rotarians and the winners of the Bradley Sturm Memorial Scholarships are, from left, Barry Stephenson, chair of the Brad Sturm scholarship selection committee, Rotary Club of Oak Ridge; Diane “Grace” Malone; Megan Pitz; Holly Gubanc; and Mel Sturm, scholarship sponsor. (Submitted photo)

 

The three Oak Ridge High School seniors who won the Bradley Sturm Memorial Scholarships for 2015 are Holly Gubanc, Diane “Grace” Malone, and Megan Pitz.

Mel Sturm, a local businessman for years, said he started the endowment for the scholarship fund in 1976 for two reasons. He wanted to give back to the community that had supported his businesses. And he was determined to combat the tendency of Oak Ridge students, many of whom have parents who work for the federal government or government contractors, to view “free enterprise” and the “profit motive” with suspicion.

The scholarship program is administered by a Rotary Club of Oak Ridge committee consisting of Barry Stephenson, chair, and Jim Sumner, Larry Beeman, Jim Charles, Hal Schmitt, and Mel Sturm. ORHS economics teachers Beverly Baumann and Teresa Seals play key roles in the program. [Read more…]

From cotton picker to college president

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Shirley Raines

Shirley Raines

Shirley Raines of Oak Ridge has an amazing and inspiring story to tell.

Now president emeritus of the University of Memphis, she will describe her career and provide advice on leadership at the third in a series of Roane State Community College–Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Education Intergenerational Lectures.

Her talk begins at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 30, in the large lecture hall (Room 107) in the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building on Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus at 701 Briarcliff Avenue. Raines will speak on “How a Kindergarten Teacher Became a University President.”

Born in Jackson in West Tennessee, she grew up on a cotton farm outside Bells, where she picked cotton by hand for the family business. She recalled that her mother was very smart and could have been a teacher or lawyer but lacked the opportunity to get a higher education. [Read more…]

Tickets going fast for Weinberg film

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Alvin Weinberg Poster

If Alvin Weinberg, the most famous of Oak Ridgers, were alive today, he would be celebrating his 100th birthday.

This Thursday evening, as many as 600 people will celebrate his centenary by watching for free “Alvin Weinberg,” a documentary film by Oak Ridge’s Keith McDaniel.

The one-hour film, which is of PBS quality, will be shown at 6:30 and 8 p.m. Thursday, April 23, at the American Museum of Science and Energy.

The first showing is “sold out,” but a few seats are left for the second free showing at 8 p.m. To reserve a seat, you must call Connor Matthews at (865) 705-5890 or Tom Row at (865) 705-5174.

Oak Ridge dragon boat festival expected to grow

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Mark Watson and Penny Behling at Dragon Boat Festival

Penny Behling, CEO of Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing, makes an announcement before the races begin at the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival last May. Looking on is City Manager Mark Watson, then president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, which initiated the festival. (Submitted photo)

 

Submitted

Penny Behling wants you to have fun on Saturday, May 30, at the Oak Ridge waterfront, and help raise funds to support the good works of the people of Oak Ridge.

She wants you to be safe as a member of a dragon boat team, and she is sure that you will meet new people, make new friends, build self-confidence, and contribute to your team and the community’s well-being.

Behling is the chief executive officer and owner (with her husband Chris) of Dynamic Dragon Boat Racing LLC of Knoxville. She will be the race director of the second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival, which is again being launched by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.

Dynamic was the race director of last year’s inaugural festival, which attracted an estimated 5,000 people and a media team that broadcast the Oak Ridge races to a television network in Beijing, China, which has an audience of a billion people. [Read more…]

Social benefit or Frankenfood? UT scientist cites value of genetically modified crops

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Tessa Burch-Smith and Mike Laman

Tessa Burch-Smith speaks with Michael Laman, dean of health sciences at Roane State Community College. He introduced her talk on genetically modified foods. (Submitted photo)

 

In developing countries where white rice is the dominant food, a half million pregnant women and young children become blind and two million die every year because of a Vitamin A deficiency.

On a mission to use genetic engineering to benefit humankind, scientists have genetically modified one type of rice so the grain, not just its leaves, makes Vitamin A. One published study showed that the improved nutritional content of “golden rice” could save sight and lives.

Golden rice was ready to be marketed in 2002, but critics have been calling it a Frankenfood. Golden rice is still not commercially adopted, even though in 2013, Pope Francis personally blessed its use.

This is one of the examples that Tessa Burch-Smith gave in her recent talk as part of the new Roane State Community College–Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning Intergenerational Lecture Series. An assistant professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, she teaches and conducts research in UT’s Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology. [Read more…]

Genetically modified food the topic of RSCC-ORICL lecture on March 26

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Tessa Burch-Smith

Tessa Burch-Smith

Golden rice is a genetically modified food that could save the eyesight and the lives of many young children in countries where plain rice is the dominant food.

Yet, in many nations it has been called a Frankenfood. Even so, Pope Francis has blessed golden rice. Why?

This question and other issues regarding genetically modified foods will be addressed in the second in a series of lectures sponsored by Roane State Community College, Oak Ridge Branch Campus, and the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning.

The lecture, which is open to the public, will be delivered at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in the Large Lecture Room (Room 107) of the Goff Health Science and Technology Building at Roane State in Oak Ridge. Refreshments will be available after the lecture. [Read more…]