Oak Ridge Today

Reminder: Oak Ridge to celebrate new national park on Thursday

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National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis shares a story about the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which became the 409th park in the National Park System on November 10, 2015, after Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement on operation of the park during a ceremony at the South Interior Building in downtown Washington, D.C. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

Reminder: Two events in Oak Ridge on Thursday will celebrate the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

The park was formally established in a federal signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, November 10. That signing followed more than a decade of work by historic preservation groups, local leaders and governments, and federal officials and federal legislators representing communities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Hanford, Washington.

The Manhattan Project, which included the city that became Oak Ridge, was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. It is considered one of the top scientific achievements of the 20th century, and it credited with helping to end the war. The new park, the nation’s 409th, is the first of its type to commemorate the Manhattan Project. [Read more…]

No injuries in minor school bus crash on Northwestern

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School Bus Crash on Northwestern Avenue on Nov. 10, 2015

No one was injured in a minor crash involving an Oak Ridge school bus and a pickup truck on Northwestern Avenue near West Gettysburg Avenue after 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015. Pictured above from left are bus driver Walter Erbaugh, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Nathan Stinnett, and First Student Location Manager Diane Gibson. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

No one was injured in a minor crash involving an Oak Ridge school bus and a pickup truck on Northwestern Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.

The sideswipe collision occurred near West Gettysburg Avenue at about 4 p.m. Tuesday. It involved Bus 1950 from Woodland Elementary School.

There was only one student on the bus at the time, and another bus picked her up.

It’s been 20 months since an Oak Ridge school bus was last involved in a crash. On March 5, 2014, a car crashed into the front of a school bus that had stopped to pick up students at Hillside Road and Highland Avenue. No students were injured in that crash either.

Tuesday’s collision was two houses down from the site of a June 3, 2013, crash between a school bus and car at the intersection of Northwestern and West Gettysburg avenues. No children were reported to be injured in that crash either.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Bank robbery alert, traffic stop lead to arrest of suspect

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Home Federal Bank Robbery Stop Oct. 20, 2015

A suspect in a bank robbery in Powell on October 20, 2015, was arrested just a few hours later in the eastbound lanes of North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard at Interstate 75. The suspect was stopped by the Clinton Police Department with help from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. (Photo by Lisa Kincaid)

 

An alert sent to local law enforcement combined with a traffic stop in Clinton led to the arrest of a suspect in a Powell bank robbery in October, federal officials said.

Christopher Michael Miller, 36, is accused of a bank robbery at Home Federal Bank at 105 East Emory Road in Powell on Tuesday afternoon, October 20.

He was arrested just a few hours later on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard at Interstate 75 in Clinton.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville alleged Miller entered the Home Federal Bank at about 1:38 p.m. that Tuesday, approached a teller, and passed a handwritten note that read: “I Have 2 Guns! I need all the 50’s, 100’s out of your drawer! No FAKE Blue Bills. NOW!”

The teller complied with the demand for money and provided an undisclosed amount of cash to Miller, the complaint said. [Read more…]

Alexander statement on Manhattan Project Park

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee addresses a gathering of park supporters and the news media at the South Interior Building in downtown Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015, where Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement which created the 409th park in the National Park System, The Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. It will have three sites in Hanford, Washington, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung.

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Tuesday was among those celebrating the formal establishment of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Alexander said the Manhattan Project paved the way for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge Corridor, which now attracts “good-paying jobs to the area.”

“Today, we celebrate the Manhattan Project as a unique period in our history,” Alexander said. “But it’s also part of our future because from that effort arose many of the country’s great national laboratories—our secret weapon as we look to the future of keeping our country competitive in the world. I thank Secretary Sally Jewell and Secretary Ernest Moniz and the National Park Service for their work to establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.”

Alexander continued: “Almost everyone in the Knoxville area knows something about the Manhattan Project. I was a little boy growing up in Maryville at the time, and I knew people who worked at Oak Ridge—what we called ‘the secret city.’ I didn’t know what they were doing, but today we can see what has come of their work—the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, home to one of the world’s fastest computers and additive manufacturing. The ‘Oak Ridge Corridor’ now symbolizes some of the greatest scientific brainpower in the world. So, for us in the Knoxville area, it is our history—and it is our future.” [Read more…]

Read Manhattan Project Park agreement here

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And with a handshake, there’s a new national park. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shake hands immediately after signing a memorandum of agreement that created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Hanford, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.

The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

Read the memorandum of agreement signed Tuesday here. See a story on the park and Tuesday’s signing ceremony here. See photos by the National Park Service here.

Photos: Manhattan Project National Historical Park signing ceremony

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Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shortly after they signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.

The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Here are photos from Tuesday’s signing ceremony, taken by the National Park Service and used with their permission.

See a story on the park and the signing ceremony here.

Vic-Knox-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Nov-10-2015

National Park Service Associate Director Victor Knox welcomed visitors from Hanford, Washington, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, to a ceremony at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015, where Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

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Manhattan Project Park formally established in DC ceremony

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Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shortly after they signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung.)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9 a.m. Nov. 11.

After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.

The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II—before Germany could. It was an unprecedented national program, a world-changing event that harnessed the atom, and the largest industrial project ever, employing 130,000 people at just the three park sites. Whole cities and gigantic industrial plants were built in just a few short years, and Oak Ridge quickly swelled to a population of 75,000. Plants like the B Reactor at Hanford, the world’s first large-scale plutonium production reactor, were built in 11 months, still considered a marvelous feat today. The Manhattan Project is credited with helping to end World War II through its creation of the two atomic bombs dropped over Japan in August 1945.

During Tuesday’s ceremony, officials said the Manhattan Project was a groundbreaking scientific and engineering achievement that helped end the war, ushered in the nuclear age and new discoveries, and determined how the Cold War would be fought. But it also raised important moral questions about the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons. Officials vowed to tell all sides of the story during the signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning.

“You can trust us with this story,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said. “We will be fair to all.” [Read more…]

Interior, Energy to sign agreement establishing Manhattan Project Park

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Building 9204-3 at Y-12

Building 9204-3 at the Y-12 National Security Complex could be among those included in a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Also known as Beta 3, Building 9204-3 has beta calutrons that produced stable isotopes until 1998 and are still on standby. (Photo courtesy of Y-12 National Security Complex.)

 

Note: This story was updated at 7 p.m.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will sign a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C., to establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which will include Oak Ridge.

The new park will be the first of its type to commemorate the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. The park will have three locations: Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Hanford, Washington.

National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis will attend the Tuesday morning ceremony along with U.S. senators Lamar Alexander, Maria Cantwell, Martin Heinrich, and Tom Udall, who represent each of the park’s locations. Leaders of the communities that will host the park, including Oak Ridge, will attend the ceremony. [Read more…]

Photos: Oak Ridge cross country runners, coaches, team

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Oak Ridge Thomas Colburn and Tyler Boullie at State Cross Country Nov. 7, 2015

Oak Ridge senior Tyler Boullie (492) was 16th in the state Class AAA cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, crossing the finish line at Percy Warner Park Steeplechase Course at 16:36.85. At left is senior Thomas Colburn (493), who finished 20th at 16:40.94. Boullie was the second-fastest runner for the Wildcats, and Colburn was third. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

NASHVILLE—The Oak Ridge High School boys team finished second in Tennessee during the 2015 state cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday. Brentwood finished first.

See more photos of the runners, coaches, and team from Saturday’s race below. See a story on the race here.

Senior Gashaw Duhamel was the top runner for Oak Ridge, the runner-up in the Division I Class AAA boys race. It was a 5,000-meter, or 5k, race. Duhamel finished 10th, with a time of 16:20.01 on the muddy course on a chilly, overcast Saturday morning.

Brentwood had two of the top three runners: sophomore Brodey Hasty, who was first with a time of 15:35.09, and junior Taylor Vroon, who finished third with a time of 15:50.85.

Oak Ridge senior Tyler Boullie was 16th, crossing the finish line at Percy Warner Park Steeplechase Course at 16:36.85.

See the results here.

Oak Ridge Gashaw Duhamel and Farragut Louis Morris at State Cross Country Nov. 7, 2015

Oak Ridge senior Gashaw Duhamel (494), the top runner for the Wildcats, finished 10th at 16:20.01, and Farragut senior Louis Morris (443) finished 14th at 16:33.48 in the state Class AAA cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

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AC committee to consider mayor’s request to sit with, participate in Commission meetings

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

The Anderson County Operations Committee on Monday will consider proposals from County Mayor Terry Frank to sit with County Commission and participate in meetings.

Frank has said she wants to serve as chair of the County Commission, and she’s asked to be considered as a candidate in September 2016. In an October 14 letter, Frank also asked commissioners to sit with them during meetings.

If she were commission chair, Frank said, she would have to surrender her veto power. She would have a non-voting position, but she would be able to cast a vote to break a tie. See previous story here.

The Anderson County Operations Committee meeting starts at 6 p.m. Monday, November 9, in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. [Read more…]

Photos: Wildcats finish second at state cross country meet

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Gashaw Duhamel State Cross Country Meet Nov. 7, 2015

Senior Gashaw Duhamel was the top runner for Oak Ridge in the 5,000-meter state Class AAA boys race in Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, when the Wildcats finished second as a team. Duhamel finished 10th among individual runners, with a time of 16:20.01 on the muddy course on a chilly, overcast Saturday morning. (Photo by Steve Martin)

 

NASHVILLE—The Oak Ridge High School boys team finished second in Tennessee during the 2015 state cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday. Brentwood finished first.

Senior Gashaw Duhamel was the top runner for Oak Ridge in the 5,000-meter, or 5k, Class AAA boys race. Duhamel finished 10th, with a time of 16:20.01 on the muddy course on a chilly, overcast Saturday morning.

Here are pictures by Adrian Etheridge and Steve Martin. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge boys cross country finishes second in state

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Oak Ridge Boys Cross Country 2015 State Runner-Up

The Oak Ridge High School boys cross country team finished second in Tennessee during the 2015 state Class AAA meet in Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015. (Photo by Adrian Etheridge)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:34 p.m.

NASHVILLE—The Oak Ridge High School boys team finished second in Tennessee during the 2015 state cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday. Brentwood finished first.

Senior Gashaw Duhamel was the top runner for Oak Ridge, the runner-up in the Division I Class AAA boys race. It was a 5,000-meter, or 5k, race. Duhamel finished 10th, with a time of 16:20.01 on the muddy course on a chilly, overcast Saturday morning.

Brentwood had two of the top three runners: sophomore Brodey Hasty, who was first with a time of 15:35.09, and junior Taylor Vroon, who finished third with a time of 15:50.85.

Oak Ridge senior Tyler Boullie was 16th, crossing the finish line at Percy Warner Park Steeplechase Course at 16:36.85.

Also in the top five for the Wildcats, meaning their scores were included in the team total, were senior Thomas Colburn, who finished 20th at 16:40.94; junior Jacob “Jake” Etheridge, who was 22nd with a time of 16:43.07; and sophomore Jose Villegas, who finished 27th at 16:45.09. [Read more…]