Girls 1,600-meter run. Pictured above is Maddie Zawisza. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
The Oak Ridge Wildcats opened their track and field season at Hardin Valley on Saturday, March 26. Here are more photos by Luther Simmons.
See the story and additional photos here.
Girls 4×100-meter relay. Pictured above is Breanne Young. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
Boys 400-meter dash (Photo by Luther Simmons)
HARDIN VALLEY—The Oak Ridge Wildcats opened their track and field season at Hardin Valley on Saturday, March 26.
The boys and girls teams finished about in the middle of the pack, Wildcats Coach Allen Etheridge said. The girls team was 11th out of 29 teams, and the boys were 18th in a field of 27.
But the teams didn’t set up to “score a ton of points,” Etheridge said.
The Wildcats were missing a few athletes, and with many new students on the team, they were trying new athletes in a few events and experimenting with different combinations.
“I saw a lot to be happy about,” Etheridge said. The teams have potential to be really good, Etheridge said.
The season opener was the Hardin Valley Academy Invitational. It featured 39 teams and 896 athletes.
Here are top 10 finishes for Oak Ridge girls: [Read more…]
The Oliver Springs Fire Department responds to a kitchen fire at 506 Cedar Lane on Friday evening, April 1, 2016. (Photo by Tom Scott)
OLIVER SPRINGS—A neighbor with a fire extinguisher in his camper helped control a kitchen fire in Oliver Springs on Friday, authorities said.
The fire was reported at about 5:35 p.m. Friday at 506 Cedar Lane in Oliver Springs. A resident of the home had been cooking, getting ready to fry potatoes, and stepped away from the stove, said Jordan Alcorn, captain of the Oliver Springs Fire Department. When the resident returned to the kitchen, grease was on fire, and the flames had extended up into the cabinets above the stove, Alcorn said.
The neighbor got his fire extinguisher and used it until it ran out. Then he exited the home, shutting the front door on the way out, a move that helps control fires, Alcorn said.
“He made a difference,” Alcorn said of the neighbor. [Read more…]
Kimberly Hughes Welch
An Oak Ridge woman who lives at an apartment raided by police on Wednesday admitted that she and a man who also lives at the home were using methamphetamine laboratory components, including chemicals and pseudoephedrine powder, to make meth there, authorities said.
Besides the chemicals and pseudoephedrine, officers also found gas generators, hoses, and what they described as bi-layer liquids, according to arrest warrants. Police described those items as meth lab components. They were allegedly found inside Apartment C at 197 Tusculum Drive during a Wednesday evening search, according to the warrants, which were filed by Simon Byrne of the Seventh District Crime Task Force.
Raynell Fountaine Hopson
After she was read her Miranda rights, apartment resident Kimberly Welch, 48, told police that she and Raynell Hopson, 47, who also lives in the apartment, were using the equipment to make meth, Byrne said.
Welch and Hopson have each been charged with the initiation of meth manufacturing, possession of drug paraphernalia, and the manufacture/delivery/sale of Schedule II drugs.
The alleged meth lab was within 1,000 feet of La Petite Academy on Tulsa Road, a drug-free school zone, so there could be a school zone enhancement to the charges, which would be applied at sentencing if Welch or Hopson are convicted, said Russell Barker, director of the Seventh District Crime Task Force. [Read more…]
Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory in a home on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, March 30, 2016. Pictured above are three members of the 7th District Crime Task Force dressed in hazmat suits and using oxygen as they prepare to enter the back of the home. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 5:15 p.m.
Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, and three people were arrested, including two people who live at the home.
The Seventh District Crime Task Force determined the home was an active meth lab at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Director Russell Barker said. The alleged lab was inside a home at 197 Tusculum Drive, Apartment C.
Three members of the Crime Task Force first checked the home wearing hazardous materials suits and breathing oxygen. After they determined it was an active meth lab, they went back in to remove what Barker described as meth lab materials and trash left from cooking meth. Officers also found finished product, Barker said, although he didn’t have information on how much.
Officers collected the meth lab-related materials in front of the home on a blue tarp. Wearing gloves, boots, and sometimes using breathing masks with eye shields, they also placed some items in plastic five-gallon buckets.
A man and woman who live at the house were decontaminated and taken to jail in white Tyvek suits at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. Barker said one of them had been inside the home but was coming out when officers arrived. [Read more…]
An Oak Ridge woman has been charged with three traffic violations in the fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue near the Kroger shopping center on January 31. Authorities said the woman, who was driving the car, made an improper left turn from a right-turn-only lane and failed to yield to the motorcyclist, who died. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
An Oak Ridge woman has been charged with three traffic violations in the fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue near the Kroger shopping center on January 31.
Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge, died in the crash.
Noelle L. Patty, 29, is accused of failing to obey a traffic control device before the crash, according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. That traffic control device is on an access road that connects the Kroger shopping center to North Illinois Avenue. It indicates a right turn only, but Patty turned left, headed south, from the shopping center access road onto Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Chris Luethge said in the warrants.
That left turn put the Cadillac STS that Patty was driving into the path of northbound traffic on North Illinois Avenue, where a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle driven north by Shephard collided with the Cadillac driven by Patty, Luethge said.
Shepard was launched into the Cadillac and then over it onto the asphalt, where he died, the warrants said. [Read more…]
The Riverside Grille was closed Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, and developers and businessmen Rick and Ryan Chinn announced the property on Melton Lake Drive has been sold to the Copper Cellar restaurant family. On Wednesday, March 30, the sign announced that the restaurant will re-open soon. (February 2016 file photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 12:27 p.m.
Calhoun’s is opening a restaurant on the Oak Ridge waterfront. The restaurant will be on Melton Lake Peninsula, where Riverside Grille and Flatwater Grill used to be.
Calhoun’s has applied for a beer permit from the Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board, which will consider the application on Wednesday, April 6.
The restaurant will be owned by the Copper Cellar Corporation, which purchased the property from businessmen and developers Rick and Ryan Chinn in February.
It’s not clear when Calhoun’s will open. The beer permit application said the restaurant will open in April. Restaurant executives were not available for comment Wednesday. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Water Treatment Plant is pictured on Pine Ridge above the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)
Note: This story was last updated at 9 a.m. March 30.
The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday approved a one-year, $2.1 million contract extension for water supplied to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, but a few members questioned whether the U.S. Department of Energy is paying a fair rate.
The one-year extension is expected to give the city time to have a qualified third-party engineering firm study the city’s aging water plant on Pine Ridge above Y-12, consider what is needed, and develop options that could help Oak Ridge decide whether to renovate the 70-year-old facility—or build a new one at a new site.
City officials said bringing the existing plant up to code could cost $16 million or more. It was transferred to the city from DOE in 2000, more than 15 years ago. Officials declined to estimate how much it could cost to build a new one, although it’s also said to be in the multi-million-dollar range.
Among the challenges at the water plant now are a leak of 3,000 gallons per day. The city staff is not sure where the leak originates or whether the water that is leaking has already been treated, and so far they haven’t been able to stop the leak. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge-William Blount baseball game at home on March 26, 2016, when the Wildcats lost 7-5. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge Wildcats went 3-2 in the Kevin Calia Tournament at home on Friday and Saturday.
The Wildcats beat Cookeville 5-4 and Kingston 11-4 on Friday, but lost to Webb 6-4 that day. Oak Ridge defeated Union County 8-7 on Saturday afternoon, but lost to William Blount 7-5 that evening.
See more photos of the Oak Ridge-William Blount game below.
The Wildcats (9-4, 3-2 District 3-AAA) were defeated 7-2 at Gibbs on Monday, and will play the Eagles (6-4, 4-3) again at home this evening (Tuesday, March 29). That game starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Baseball Complex.
The Wildcats will play at Rhea County (4-7, 2-1 District 6-AAA) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Here’s a look at the season results before the Kevin Calia Tournament: [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge-Union County baseball game at home on March 26, 2016, when the Wildcats won 8-7. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge Wildcats went 3-2 in the Kevin Calia Tournament at home on Friday and Saturday.
The Wildcats beat Cookeville 5-4 and Kingston 11-4 on Friday, but lost to Webb 6-4 that day. Oak Ridge defeated Union County 8-7 on Saturday afternoon, but lost to William Blount 7-5 that evening.
See more photos of the Oak Ridge-Union County game below.
The Wildcats (9-4, 3-2 District 3-AAA) were defeated 7-2 at Gibbs on Monday, and will play the Eagles (6-4, 4-3) again at home this evening (Tuesday, March 29). That game starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Baseball Complex.
The Wildcats will play at Rhea County (4-7, 2-1 District 6-AAA) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Here’s a look at the season results before the Kevin Calia Tournament: [Read more…]
Arts agencies will showcase their talents during a Tribute to the Arts in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, March 29, 2016, and local artists and arts supporters will be recognized. (Submitted image)
Arts agencies will showcase their talents during a Tribute to the Arts in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, and local artists and arts supporters will be recognized.
This is the second time that the Arts Council of Oak Ridge has offered this unique gala giving members of the community a chance to recognize local artists and arts supporters for their wonderful work promoting the arts in Anderson County, a press release said.
Tribute to the Arts is scheduled from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, at the Saint Mary’s Family Life Center in Oak Ridge.
“Each of the arts agencies will be showcasing their talents, so it’s the perfect time to sample an appetizer of arts in our community,” the press release said.
The event is being co-promoted by Arts Council of Oak Ridge and the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge Sunset, with proceeds from ticket sales and a silent auction benefiting both organizations and their philanthropies. Tickets may be purchased by contacting the Arts Council of Oak office at (865) 482-4432 or contacting any representative from the eight member organizations. Those groups are Oak Ridge Art Center, Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association, Tennessee Mountain Writers, Oak Ridge Playhouse, Oak Ridge Community Orchestra, Oak Ridge Community Band, and the Music Arts School. [Read more…]
The small nuclear reactors that could be built along the Clinch River could provide enough electricity to power several cities the size of Oak Ridge. The Bear Creek Road entrance to the Clinch River Site, where the reactors could be built by the Tennessee Valley Authority, is pictured above on Sunday, March 27, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The small nuclear reactors that could be built along the Clinch River could provide enough electricity to power several cities the size of Oak Ridge. They could also be, depending upon the timing, the first commercial reactors of their type in the United States.
They’re known as small modular reactors, or SMRs. They could generate 80 to 200 megawatts each. One hundred megawatts is enough to power about 60,000 homes. Oak Ridge has about 12,000 homes.
Several companies are working on SMR designs, but so far none have been certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Jim Hopson, public relations manager for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
By May 12, TVA plans to submit an application to the NRC for what is known as an early site permit to build SMRs on the Clinch River Site in west Oak Ridge. Hopson likened an early site permit, or ESP, to a pre-approval for a home loan, although he said that is an oversimplification.
“It’s similar to pre-approving yourself for a loan,” Hopson said Friday. “You get the preliminaries out of the way.” [Read more…]
