Oak Ridge Today

Council, school board to discuss school issues, airport, Y-12 substation

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The Oak Ridge City Council and Oak Ridge Board of Education will discuss school issues and receive a briefing and update on the proposed general aviation airport and electrical substation project at the Y-12 National Security Complex during a joint work session on Tuesday, January 16.

The work session will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the school library at Robertsville Middle School. Those who attend should use the main front entrance of the building, located at 245 Robertsville Road, to access the library, a press release said.

“A number of school issues will be discussed by City Council and the Board of Education during the work session,” the press release said. “The agenda also includes a briefing on the proposed general aviation airport in Oak Ridge and an update on the Y-12 electrical substation project public meeting. There will be time for an informal neighborhood discussion with City Council members during the meeting as well.” [Read more…]

Public Works director: Shifting soils can cause water line breaks

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An Oak Ridge Public Works Department crew repairs a broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at lunchtime Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The crew here is supervised by Oak Ridge Public Works Department Utility Line Maintenance Crew Chief Michael Brown. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

An Oak Ridge Public Works Department crew repairs a broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at lunchtime Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The crew here is supervised by Oak Ridge Public Works Department Utility Line Maintenance Crew Chief Michael Brown, left. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Soils can shift during extended periods of cold weather, which can cause water lines to break, Oak Ridge Public Works Director Shira McWaters said Tuesday.

On Monday, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told City Council members that crews had responded to 35 water main breaks since January 1, an average of about five per day.

“It is not unusual for water systems (nationwide) to experience above-average breaks during extended cold weather periods when the ground starts to freeze and the subsequent thawing when warm weather returns,” McWaters said when asked about the water line breaks on Tuesday. “This is due to the shifting of soils that can cause the breaks.”

In Oak Ridge, the age of the municipal water system is a factor in the frequency of the breaks because many of the lines are older and reaching the end of their useful life, McWaters said. [Read more…]

NASA recognizes Robertsville Middle School’s satellite work on website home page

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Robertsville Middle School students participating in the NASA Project-Based Learning course visit Marshall to present their CubeSat project to a panel of engineers. Marshall developed curriculum and trained teachers for the elective course while Marshall engineers served as mentors to the students. (Photo credit: NASA/Oak Ridge Schools)

Robertsville Middle School students participating in the NASA Project-Based Learning course visit Marshall to present their CubeSat project to a panel of engineers. Marshall developed curriculum and trained teachers for the elective course while Marshall engineers served as mentors to the students.
(Photo credit: NASA/Oak Ridge Schools)

 

NASA has recognized the satellite work of Robertsville Middle School on the home page of its website. The project is part of an effort by NASA to encourage learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM.

The partnership that was recognized involves Robertsville Middle School and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and work on a small one-unit cube satellite, or 1U CubeSat.

Patrick Hull, technical assistant for the Structural and Mechanical Design Branch of the Engineering Directorate at Marshall, helped with this collaboration, which is in the community where he grew up. He partnered with Robertsville Middle School STEM teacher Todd Livesay. They created a project that had students design and 3-D print a small one-unit cube satellite, or 1U CubeSat.

Once completed, the students presented their project at Marshall in front of Hull and a panel of fellow engineers.

For the 2017 class mission, students chose a cause that is near to their hearts, NASA said. In 2016, wildfires ravaged communities in Gatlinburg, in the mountains about 1.5 hours southeast of Oak Ridge, taking the lives of 14 residents and leaving more than 2,500 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. To help Gatlinburg and other communities affected by the wildfires, the Robertsville students set out to develop a CubeSat capable of deploying a camera and radio in space to observe and communicate the regrowth pattern of vegetation after a widespread fire. This information can be used to help communities regrow after destruction, NASA said. [Read more…]

Death-penalty defendant to be taken to psychiatric hospital

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Valerie Stenson

Valerie Stenson

 

The Oak Ridge grandmother facing the death penalty in a first-degree murder case will be taken to a psychiatric hospital where her competency and mental health can be evaluated, according to Anderson County court records.

The defendant, Valerie Stenson, 53, is currently being held at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. She will be taken to Moccasin Bend Psychiatric Hospital in Chattanooga for an intake scheduled for 1:30 p.m. January 17, according to an order filed in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Wednesday, January 3.

A two-week trial for Stenson had been scheduled for December 2017, but it was canceled and a mental health evaluation was ordered. It’s not clear if or when the trial will be rescheduled.

Court orders filed in August and October called for a psychiatric evaluation of Stenson and a referral to Moccasin Bend, where experts can determine her competency to stand trial and her mental condition at the time of the crime (the insanity defense). [Read more…]

Fire destroys Briceville house

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A fire destroyed a home on Andy’s Ridge Road between Briceville and Rocky Top on Friday evening, authorities said.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to the call at about 6:51 p.m. Friday.

When Deputy Gregory Hoyt Stanley arrived, he found the house fully engulfed in flames, according to an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department incident report. The Briceville Volunteer Fire Department was already there trying to extinguish the blaze.

The resident of the home told deputies that he had been across the street at his mother’s house for a few minutes when he realized that his house was on fire, according to the incident report. [Read more…]

AMSE could move into new location in June

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An artist's rendering of the entrance at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge/U.S. Department of Energy)

An artist’s rendering of the entrance to the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge/U.S. Department of Energy)

 

The American Museum of Science and Energy could move into its new location at Main Street Oak Ridge in June, officials said Tuesday.

Crews began work on Friday and “increased activity can be expected in the area over the coming weeks as construction progresses,” a press release said.

RealtyLink, the South Carolina company developing Main Street Oak Ridge, selected Oak Ridge-based Summit Construction as the contractor for the project, the press release said.

The start of construction was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office and the City of Oak Ridge.

The new space for AMSE is located between the current JCPenney store and a future Marriott hotel, which is also under construction. The museum entrance will be on Main Street East. AMSE will be all on one floor, occupying approximately 18,000 square feet. [Read more…]

City crews work on 35 water line breaks this month

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An Oak Ridge Public Works Department crew repairs a broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at lunchtime Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The crew here is supervised by Oak Ridge Public Works Department Utility Line Maintenance Crew Chief Michael Brown. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

An Oak Ridge Public Works Department crew repairs a broken water line underneath Northwestern Avenue near Nevada Circle at lunchtime Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. The crew here is supervised by Oak Ridge Public Works Department Utility Line Maintenance Crew Chief Michael Brown. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge crews have responded to 35 water main breaks since January 1, an average of about five per day, City Manager Mark Watson told City Council members on Monday.

There could be more water line breaks as the temperature warms, Watson said.

The city is plotting the water line breaks on a map for more comprehensive repairs.

Cast-iron water pipes can break when the ground shifts as it freezes and then thaws in cold winter weather. [Read more…]

Council approves rezoning at site where Taco Bell could be built

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A Taco Bell restaurant could be built on the property that now houses Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, at the intersection of Bus Terminal Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike. A rezoning has been requested for the 1.1-acre site by Tacala TN Corporation of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The rezoning request will be considered by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.

A Taco Bell restaurant could be built on the property that now houses Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, at the intersection of Bus Terminal Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike. A rezoning has been requested for the 1.1-acre site by Tacala TN Corporation of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The rezoning request was approved by Oak Ridge City Council in the first of two monthly readings, or meetings, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018.

 

Although they didn’t approve a specific development, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved a rezoning that could allow a Taco Bell restaurant with a drive-through on property that now houses a courthouse at the intersection of Bus Terminal Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Council was approving a rezoning only. Any specific proposal to develop the property would undergo the city’s normal site review.

The 1.1-acre site is now home to Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, which is expected to move soon to a county-owned building that once housed the Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center on Emory Valley Road.

The rezoning has been requested by Tacala TN Corporation of Vestavia Hills, Alabama. The rezoning would change the property from an O-2 Office District to a B-2 General Business District. Restaurants are allowed as special exceptions in the O-2 district, as long as there is no drive-through, Oak Ridge Community Development Senior Planner Kelly Duggan said in a December 18 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. B-2 districts allow drive-through restaurants “by right,” Duggan said. [Read more…]

Construction starts at new AMSE location

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Construction work has started at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. Interior demolition work is under way, and exterior demolition work could start Wednesday. A crew was working at the new AMSE location on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Construction work has started at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. Interior demolition work is under way, and exterior demolition work could start Wednesday. A crew was working at the new AMSE location on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Construction work has started at the new American Museum of Science and Energy at Main Street Oak Ridge. Interior demolition work is under way, and exterior demolition work could start Wednesday.

The value of the improvements is estimated at roughly $1.5 million. A building permit was issued December 29.

AMSE will be relocated from its current home on South Tulane Avenue, where it’s been since the mid-1970s, to about 18,000 square feet of renovated space at Main Street Oak Ridge. That’s the 58-acre project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall. The move is part of an agreement that was signed by the City of Oak Ridge and U.S. Department of Energy in December 2016.

AMSE will have about 15,000 square feet of space in the former Sears Roebuck store near JCPenney and roughly 2,700 square feet in the former Cole’s Drug Store. Inside, there will be about 7,200 square feet of exhibit space, two 800-square-foot classrooms, and a large theater with a stage, consultant Ray Evans told Oak Ridge City Council members during a December 19 work session.

Evans said construction could take 4.5 to five months. An opening date had not been set as of the December work session. [Read more…]

ORPD: Roads slippery, crashes reported, Key Springs closed

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Slow down, and use caution, the Oak Ridge Police Department said Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018. "Roads are very slick. Stay home if you don’t need to be out." Several crashes have already been reported this morning, and Key Springs Road, which goes down into Marlow, has been closed. (Photo courtesy ORPD)

Slow down, and use caution, the Oak Ridge Police Department said Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018. “Roads are very slick. Stay home if you don’t need to be out.” Several crashes have already been reported this morning, and Key Springs Road, which goes down into Marlow, has been closed. (Photo courtesy ORPD)

 

Roads are slippery, several crashes have been reported, and Key Springs Road, which goes down into Marlow, has been closed, the Oak Ridge Police Department said Monday morning.

“Roads are very slick in Oak Ridge,” the ORPD said. “If you must drive, slow down and use caution! Stay home if you don’t need to be out.”

The icy conditions had led school systems to close—including in Oak Ridge, Anderson County, Clinton, and Roane County—and some organization opened late, including the City of Oak Ridge and Roane County Courthouse. The Anderson County Courthouse is closed, and so is Roane State Community College. [Read more…]

Roads icy: Oak Ridge Schools, Roane State closed today

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A tractor-trailer jack-knifed on Interstate 40 West at mile marker 349 in Roane County. That roadway is closed, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said. I-40 East at MM 349 has one lane open. Roads are very icy in this area, TDOT said Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018. The Oak Ridge/Gallaher Road exit is Exit 356. (Photo courtesy TDOT)

A tractor-trailer jack-knifed on Interstate 40 West at mile marker 349 in Roane County. That roadway is closed, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said. I-40 East at MM 349 has one lane open. Roads are very icy in this area, TDOT said Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018. The Oak Ridge/Gallaher Road exit is Exit 356. (Photo courtesy TDOT)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10 a.m.

Oak Ridge Schools are closed today as a layer of ice coated the ground in Oak Ridge, making roads and sidewalks slippery.

The schools had originally planned to open two hours late.

Other local school systems are also closed today (Monday, January 8) as the forecast had called for freezing rain or a wintry mix of precipitation around school arrival time this morning. Among the other school systems closed are Anderson County, Clinton, and Roane County. Roane State Community College is closed today as well (see here for more information). [Read more…]

Updated: Oak Ridge government, schools delayed; Anderson County Schools closed

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Light ice accumulations are possible late tonight and into Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. The main problems are expected to be patches of ice on roads. During the day Monday, temperatures will warm, and the precipitation should eventually turn to all rain. (Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown)

Light ice accumulations are possible late tonight and into Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. The main problems are expected to be patches of ice on roads. During the day Monday, temperatures will warm, and the precipitation should eventually turn to all rain. (Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:45 p.m.

Light icing and freezing rain are possible tonight (Sunday, January 7), and Oak Ridge government offices will open two hours late on Monday, Oak Ridge Schools will start two hours late, and Anderson County Schools will be closed.

Oak Ridge Schools said the two-hour delay is weather-related.

Anderson County Schools Director Tim Parrott said the county school closure is due to the predicted forecast of ice and the safety of students and staff. [Read more…]