Oak Ridge Today

Three years after break-in, protesters return to Y-12

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Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed at Y-12

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday. The three protesters—from left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed—object to nuclear weapons and the planned Uranium Processing Facility. Here they are pictured on Scarboro Road across from Y-12. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. August 9.

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

The march and rally were organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance as part of a series of events that commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, near the end of World War II. Uranium for the first bomb, the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was enriched at Y-12.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—were convicted on two felony charges on May 8, 2013, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. But their conviction on the more serious felony sabotage charge was overturned two years later, on May 8, 2015, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli were released on May 16 and have a re-sentencing hearing on September 15 in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Three Y-12 protesters will discuss Oak Ridge action in first public reunion since prison

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, and vandalized a uranium storage building. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex three years ago and vandalized the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility will discuss their Oak Ridge action in their first public reunion since they were released from prison in May.

Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli will speak at the Church of the Savior (UCC) in Knoxville at 7 p.m. today (Friday, August 7).

Their sabotage conviction from the July 28, 2012, incident was overturned earlier this year. Since their release from prison in May, the three protesters, who are described as nonviolent peace activists, have appeared on national and international news programs, organizers said. [Read more…]

Wildcats scrimmage changed, will play Morristown West at home tonight

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Oak Ridge Wildcats Logo

Oak Ridge’s scrimmage against South-Doyle at South-Doyle tonight has been canceled, and the Wildcats will instead scrimmage against Morristown West at home.

South-Doyle has apparently had some injuries, and another team canceled on Morristown West, Oak Ridge Coach Joe Gaddis said Friday morning.

So, Oak Ridge and Morristown West will scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. today (Friday, August 7) at the practice field, Ben Martin Track at Oak Ridge High School. There will be no admission and no concessions.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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Demolition permit applied for at Main Street Oak Ridge, site plan approved

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Main Street Oak Ridge Site Plan Work Session

Barry James, Crosland Southeast senior vice president, standing, explains part of the Main Street Oak Ridge site plan to the Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday, August 6, 2015. Seated from left are planning commissioners Terry Domm, Jane Shelton, Claudia Lever, and Charlie Hensley. At left in the background is Steve Arnsdorff, chief manager of Oak Ridge City Center LLC, the current owner of the property, the former Oak Ridge Mall. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:10 p.m.

The demolition permit has been applied for and the site plan approved, two crucial steps in the proposal to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall as Main Street Oak Ridge, a 60-acre site that could include retailers, restaurants, residential units, and a hotel.

Developers applied for the demolition permit last week, Oak Ridge Community Development Director Kathryn Baldwin said Thursday. It will now be reviewed by the city staff. The demolition could include the existing space between the two remaining anchors, Belk and JCPenney, although those two stores would remain.

The site plan is for the construction of the first phase “building footprints” and the infrastructure to serve them, Baldwin said. Construction drawings for the buildings themselves will come later.

The site plan for the core retail area was approved unanimously by the 10-member Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday evening. It incorporated comments by the city staff. It does not require approval by the Oak Ridge City Council. [Read more…]

After closing day early, city pool tests negative for cryptosporidium

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Oak Ridge Outdoor Swimming Pool

Hundreds of swimmers enjoy the Oak Ridge Outdoor Pool on Providence Road on Memorial Day 2012. (File photo)

 

As a precaution, the Oak Ridge Outdoor Swimming Pool closed for the season a day early this year after a parent reported that their child had been diagnosed with cryptosporidium, a germ that causes intestinal tract problems.

But a test for cryptosporidium in water samples taken from the pool on Monday came back negative on Wednesday, Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Director Jon Hetrick said. The results were negative both on the pool itself and on the spring that feeds it.

Hetrick said cryptosporidium occurs naturally in bodies of water, and it is chlorine-resistant. The child who was diagnosed with it had been at the Oak Ridge pool a few days earlier, Hetrick said.

“So, as a precaution, we chose to close the pool on Sunday just to make sure no one else was exposed if that was the source,” he said. [Read more…]

Property transfer for Oak Ridge airport to be discussed during info session on Aug. 19

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Oak Ridge Airport Development Plan

The Heritage Center airport development plan is pictured above. The airport site is the area pictured in yellow. The main entrance to Heritage Center off Oak Ridge Turnpike is at bottom left, in the area of the ponds. (Cropped image from DOE Draft Environmental Assessment)

 

About 170 acres of land at a federal site in west Oak Ridge could be transferred to a nonprofit organization for a new general aviation airport that would feature a 5,000-foot runway and accommodate airplanes and helicopters.

The airport would be built on the south side of Heritage Center, which is also known as East Tennessee Technology Park and the former K-25 site. The runway would be close to and run roughly parallel to Oak Ridge Turnpike/State Route 58.

A draft environmental assessment, or EA, has been prepared for the property transfer. It evaluates the potential impacts of transferring the ETTP land from the U.S. Department of Energy to the nonprofit Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. DOE and MKAA representatives will be available to discuss the proposed action during a public information session from 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 19, at the DOE Information Center. The Information Center is on the west end of the building that houses the Office of Scientific and Technical Information in east Oak Ridge.

No formal presentation is planned, and the public may stop by at any time during the session. [Read more…]

County to consider budget, tax rate again on Aug. 13

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Anderson County Teachers at County Commission

Roughly three-quarters of those attending the budget deliberations at Anderson County Commission wore red—”Red for Public Ed”—on Monday, July 20, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Anderson County commissioners have called another special meeting—this one on Thursday, August 13—to consider the county budget and tax rate. At stake are pay raises for county employees and educators and more than $1 million in new money for schools in Anderson County, Clinton, and Oak Ridge.

County commissioners approved a budget supported by a 10-cent property tax rate increase during a regular meeting on Monday, July 20. Eight cents of that increase was meant to provide most of the money needed for 2 percent pay raises for teachers and staff in Anderson County Schools. Anderson County Schools expected to receive another $700,000 or so from the tax rate increase, while Oak Ridge Schools anticipated an extra $423,000 and Clinton City Schools were projected to get another $134,000.

The other two cents approved during the July 20 meeting was for 2 percent pay raises for Anderson County employees, with the exception of county commissioners and other elected officials.

But in a follow-up special meeting on Thursday, July 30, the Anderson County Commission rejected the tax increase when it came time to officially adopt the new tax rate for the fiscal year that began July 1. For now, county and school officials are continuing to operate under last year’s spending levels. [Read more…]

Two JMS students competing in Junior Olympics this week

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Josie Fellers, Muskaan Vohra, and Zoe Marczak with Coach Sam Roberts

Zoe Marczak of Jefferson Middle School, second from right, was one of three Oak Ridge seventh-grade girls who competed in the state middle school cross country championships in Knoxville in October 2014. Zoe and her twin sister Maxine are competing in the Junior Olympics from Aug. 3-8, 2015, in Norfolk. Va. Also pictured above are Josie Fellers of Robertsville Middle School and Muskaan Vohra of Jefferson. At right is Coach Sam Roberts. (File photo by Shellie Fellers)

 

Maxine and Zoe Marczak, two students from Jefferson Middle School, are running in the Junior Olympics in Norfolk, Virginia, this week.

They are the daughters of Oak Ridge Schools Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak and his wife Sheila. Maxine and Zoe compete in cross country and track, and they are eighth-grade students at Jefferson.

The identical twins are running the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter runs in the Junior Olympics this week. That’s about one and two miles each.

Chris Marczak said the two ran the 1,500-meter on Tuesday morning. Maxine, or “Max,” placed 37th in the country in the 14-year-old category with a time of 5:34.24, while Zoe finished 60th with a time of 6:11.06. [Read more…]

ORPD in second day of Operation Safe Start, helping to keep schools safe

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Operation Safe Start at Oak Ridge Schools

Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi is pictured with a mother and daughter at Woodland Elementary School on Tuesday, August 5, 2015, during Operation Safe Start. (Photo by Oak Ridge Police Department) 

 

Oak Ridge students returned to school on Monday, August 3, and the Oak Ridge Police Department kicked off Operation Safe Start, an effort to keep schools zones safe during arrival and dismissal.

“It’s back to school time and ORPD reminds the community that when it comes to the safety of our youth, there can be no margin for error,” Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said. “Motorists are urged to drive safely in all school zones, especially during arrival and dismissal times. The beginning of the school year is a time when there is a greater risk of transportation-related injuries to children.”

Operation Safe Start continued on Tuesday morning. Akagi said it includes participation from every division of the Police Department. [Read more…]

Warrants: Robbery suspect allegedly hit worker on head with gun before taking cash

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Kianna D. Hill

Kianna D. Hill

The two Georgia residents accused of robbing a check cashing store in Oak Ridge in June allegedly ordered employees to the rear of the store at gunpoint and demanded that a male manager open the safe, authorities said. When the manager didn’t move fast enough, authorities said, the male suspect allegedly hit the employee on the head several times with the handgun while the female suspect yelled at the male suspect, “Just shoot him!”

One of the two suspects, Kianna Denise Hill, 21, of East Point, Georgia, was brought to the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Friday. She faces three counts of aggravated robbery and one count of especially aggravated kidnapping.

The other suspect is Arvenzio Clyde Miles, 22, of Riverdale, Georgia. He apparently hasn’t been extradited yet; he is not listed as an inmate at the Anderson County jail.

Hill and Miles are accused in an armed robbery at Check Into Cash at 361 South Illinois Avenue at about 3:15 p.m. Friday, June 26. Authorities said the store was allegedly robbed by two suspects armed with handguns. Hill and Miles were arrested in East Point, Georgia, southwest of Atlanta, on Wednesday, July 8. [Read more…]

Edgemoor Road closed, Lifestar lands as rescuers work to save woman

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Oak Ridge Police Department Logo

Edgemoor Road was briefly closed and a University of Tennessee Lifestar medical helicopter landed at a boat launch after police and fire units responded to a reported shooting at Centennial Village Apartments in east Oak Ridge on Friday evening.

It wasn’t immediately clear to emergency workers whether the shooting was self-inflicted or whether there was a shooter involved, and they didn’t have information on where the weapon was located. But they were able to determine that the area was clear, and patrol officers concluded that it was an attempted suicide, Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said Saturday.

Police recovered a firearm at the scene, the City of Oak Ridge said in a press release on Monday.

The shooting was reported around 7:42 p.m. Friday behind a building on Waterview Drive, and a Lifestar helicopter landed at a boat launch across from the apartment complex a little after 8 p.m. [Read more…]

Wildcats scrimmages under way; stats from Friday night at Halls

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Oak Ridge Wildcats Logo

Note: This story was updated at 8:54 a.m. August 5.

The Oak Ridge Wildcats had a scrimmage at Halls on Friday, and the football team has a scrimmage with South-Doyle at South-Doyle at 7 p.m. Friday, August 7.

The Wildcats then will have a scrimmage at Heritage on Thursday, August 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Heritage. The freshman start at 6 p.m.

Saturday, August 15, is the Third Annual Wildcat Day. That’s a community pep rally that includes food, fireworks, and fun. It starts at 7 p.m. August 15 at Ben Martin Track at Oak Ridge High School. [Read more…]