Note: This story was updated at 8 p.m.
Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn, who proposed closing the city’s outdoor pool two years ago, objected to spending any money on the pool on Monday. That meant the city could not, at least for now, buy more chlorine for the large, unique pool on Providence Road, near Oak Ridge High School.
Oak Ridge Public Works Director Shira McWaters died Saturday after a short illness, the city said. She was 60.
“Today we have lost a colleague and a friend,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. “Our hearts are with Shira’s husband, children, and family as we share some small measure of their grief at the loss of this vibrant woman.”
McWaters, a civil engineer who had been working for a company in Arizona, was hired by the City of Oak Ridge as public works director in 2016. She started in March that year. She replaced former Public Works Director Gary Cinder, who retired in September 2015. The Public Works Department is responsible for much of the city’s essential infrastructure, from streets to drainage to water and wastewater. The department also maintains city-owned buildings and city vehicles and equipment.
[Read more…]Jackson Square businesses are having a Papapalooza to honor fathers on Saturday.
Papapalooza is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 19.
“The Square will be hopping,” a press release said.
The United Way of Anderson County will be hosting the first cornhole tournament in the Square. Prizes will be awarded to the winners and “bragging rights secured for the year,” the release said. The tournament will begin at 12 p.m. To register online, visit the following link. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0849A4AD29AAF58-cornhole.
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Olympic athletes finished first in both the men and women’s divisions of USA Cycling time trial races in Oak Ridge on Thursday.
Olympians also won second and third place in the women’s division.
The 2021 USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships are in Oak Ridge and Knoxville this week with the Individual Time Trial races in Oak Ridge on Thursday. It featured the Elite Women’s and Elite Men’s divisions racing against the clock on a 11.6-kilometer course (about 7.2 miles) on Melton Lake Drive. Racing continues in Knoxville on Friday, with a criterium occurring downtown Friday evening. There is a road race on Sunday.
Chloé Dygert of Brownsburg, Indiana, won first place in the Elite Women’s Division in the Individual Time Trial races in Oak Ridge on Thursday. She finished two laps of the course in 30:11.22. Dygert was the 2019 Time Trial World Champion.
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Oak Ridge will have its fireworks show to celebrate Independence Day this year.
The annual display was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fireworks show will be in Alvin K. Bissell Park on Sunday, July 4, and it is scheduled to begin at dark, around 9:45 p.m.
The Oak Ridge Community Band, now in its 77th year, will perform prior to the fireworks. the press release said. The concert is free, but donations are accepted by the band to help cover the cost of equipment and other expenses. The music is expected to begin at 7:30 p.m.
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Olympic athletes will be among the competitors in USA Cycling races in Oak Ridge on Thursday.
The Olympians expected to race Thursday include Lawson Craddock, Chloé Dygert, Amber Neben, and Lily Williams, according to Explore Oak Ridge, the city’s tourism organization.
Williams is scheduled to start at 10:07 a.m. Thursday. Dygert is scheduled to start at 10:35, and Neben is scheduled to start at 10:39.
The races are the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships Time Trials. The riders will be racing against the clock to see who can complete the course along Melton Lake the fastest.
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At the conclusion of a school year during which Oak Ridge commemorated the 65th anniversary of the integration of Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High, the Scarboro Alumni Association received an $8,500 donation for their scholarship endowment.
Consolidated Nuclear Security, the managing and operating contractor of Y-12 National Security Complex made the donation at the Scarboro Community Center on May 26 in honor of the 85 Black students who integrated Oak Ridge schools in 1955, a press release said. The endowment provides scholarships to selected high school seniors who have an association with the Scarboro community and who choose to continue their education.
Little-known history
The Oak Ridge 85, as they are known, consisted of 85 students who integrated Robertsville Junior High and Oak Ridge High School on September 6, 1955. They were the first students to integrate a public school in the southeastern United States, the press release said.
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The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will commemorate the tennis court dances that occurred in Jackson Square more than 75 years ago with a dance on Friday, June 25.
The dance is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. June 25 in the Jackson Square tennis courts. It has been organized by the National Park Service and Explore Oak Ridge.
“All ages are welcome to attend, and everyone is encouraged to participate,” a press release said. “This free event will feature swing dancing music from the 1940s World War II era as well as hits from every decade since then, including current music, so that all age groups will find something to tap their toes to. Music was chosen with the help of local Oak Ridge High School students and will make you want to get on the dance floor.”
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Note: This story was updated at 8 p.m.
More than 1,000 pills of suspected controlled substances, three bags of suspected ketamine, pill presses, and unidentified precursor chemicals were found during a search of a home in northeast Oak Ridge last week, according to Anderson County law enforcement officers. Two people who live at the home, a man and a woman, were arrested after the search.
By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer
Roane State’s Thomas Herron knows first-hand the trauma that EMS personnel can experience as part of their jobs.
Twenty-four years ago, he and a partner responded to an emergency call for a nine-year-old who did not survive. “I knew it bothered me, but I never realized how deeply at first,” Herron said.
Then, in March 2019, he learned that his partner from that call had taken their own life. A note was found that “mentioned me and that call,” said Herron, a Roane State assistant professor and clinical coordinator.
The incident was seared into his psyche, prompting Herron to launch a campaign to make EMS personnel aware of the “exploding problems with mental health issues” also faced by firefighters and law enforcement personnel.
“We’ve always told ourselves we’re supposed to be tougher,” Herron said, “but there’s so much research showing we’re missing the early warning signs of mental health issues.”
[Read more…]The benefits of regular exercise in people with Alzheimer’s disease include maintenance of motor skills, decreased falls, and reduced rate of functional decline. Improved behavior, improved memory, and better communication skills are a few other benefits associated with routine exercise programs in Alzheimer’s disease.
Physical therapy plays an important role in exercise for patients with Alzheimer’s disease by tailoring routines to meet the individual needs of each patient.
Researchers have found that patients who were treated with exercise showed less depression than those in the control groups and showed marked improvements in physical functioning. Here are some examples of exercises to start:
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Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning and partners Clinch Valley Trails Alliance and Oak Ridge Greenways are sponsoring the second annual trash cleanup and hike on the East Fork Poplar Creek Greenway.
“This wonderful new trail, developed by CVTA and Greenways Oak Ridge, was recently completed along the banks of East Fork Poplar Creek in west Oak Ridge,” TCWP said. “The trail meanders through a nice riparian woodland along the creek. This trail is subject to occasional flooding, and help is needed to remove litter left behind by the water. There are also a lot of old tires and other debris that have washed from places upstream.”
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