Oak Ridge Today

Another 12 hours or so to restore power, Electric Department says

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Willow Run Fallen Tree

A giant tree fell at Willow Run Apartments in Clinton and wrecked the fence at the basketball and tennis courts. (Photo courtesy Jim Harris)

 

It could take another 12-13 hours to restore power across Oak Ridge after the severe Tuesday evening storms, the Oak Ridge Electric Department said on Twitter at roughly 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

That would presumably mean that some customers might not have electricity restored until sometime Wednesday morning.

The Electric Department said the storms knocked down many trees and limbs. Crews have responded to fallen trees, power outages, dangling utility lines, and other problems across town since the short, fierce storm ripped through Oak Ridge and Anderson County at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Electric Department warned residents to stay away from power lines on the ground.

At about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Oak Ridge workers were out cutting up trees and restoring power on Jefferson Avenue.  A few miles away off Pennsylvania Avenue, Plymouth Circle was blocked to traffic, and it appeared that there was a utility line on the road blocked by orange traffic cones. [Read more…]

Storm damages buildings, knocks down trees, knocks out power

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Passtime Garage Storm Damage

Passtime Garage on South Main Street in Clinton was damaged by a fast-moving storm and severe winds early Tuesday evening. (Photo courtesy WYSH Radio/WGAP Radio)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 a.m. June 11.

There are reports of trees and power lines down throughout Anderson County, and some roads are still blocked after a fast-moving storm ripped through East Tennessee, authorities said early Tuesday evening.

There have been reports of trees that have fallen on homes, but so far no injuries have been reported.

Tractor Trailer Blown Over near Lake City

A tractor-trailer was reported to have been blown over on Lake City Highway. (Photo courtesy WYSH Radio/WGAP Radio)

The short, fierce storm whipped through Oak Ridge and Anderson County with severe winds and driving rain at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. It left a path of debris: scattered branches and limbs, broken trees, fallen power lines, and damaged buildings and homes. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said there was a semi truck and trailer that apparently was blown over by high winds on Lake City Highway at Old Lake City Highway.

“It has now been removed and the roadway is open,” the Sheriff’s Department said early Tuesday night. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

At about 8:30 p.m., the Clinton Utilities Board reported that 6,173 customers had been affected by the storm, and 4,068 were still without power. [Read more…]

In first vote this month, Council rejects schools request for tax increase

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Oak Ridge City Council Budget Meeting

The Oak Ridge City Council rejected the school system’s request for a 37-cent tax rate increase on Monday, instead voting in the first of two votes this month to keep the tax rate steady for the seventh year in a row.

Note: This story was last updated at 9:55 a.m. June 10.

In the first of two votes this month, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday rejected a request from school officials for a 37-cent tax rate increase that would, among other things, help fund a technology initiative meant to eventually provide an electronic learning device or tablet to all students.

Council member Charlie Hensley said the tax increase would be the largest in the city’s history, and it came in late in the budget process.

The property tax rate is now $2.39 per $100 of assessed value. The increase would push it to $2.76, and it could cost the owner of a $200,000 home another $15 per month.

“I was looking to support a tax increase, but the one that we got asked for is really, really high,” Hensley said.

There was a two-part vote on the budget on Monday. The first reduced the amount transferred to the schools to roughly $14.6 million, which was about $3.3 million less than the school board had requested, and it kept the tax rate steady for the seventh year in a row. The vote on that amendment was 5-2, with Hensley and Council member Chuck Hope voting no. [Read more…]

Beer Board suspends Lincoln’s beer permit for two weeks

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Allen Schwartz and Roy McKinnon at Oak Ridge Beer Board Meeting

Allen Schwartz, right, attorney for Lincoln’s Sports Grille, and restaurant consultant Roy McKinnon said Lincoln’s has made substantial changes.

Note: This story was last updated at 6:45 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Beer Board has suspended the beer permit of Lincoln’s Sports Grille for two weeks starting at midnight today (Monday).

The 14-day suspension will end just before midnight June 23. It was approved by Beer Board members in a 4-3 vote on Monday afternoon. Liquor and food sales are not affected.

Beer Board members said they weren’t satisfied with the remediation plan presented by Lincoln’s following a May meeting after an April fight.

“There is a cultural change that is occurring, but it has to occur faster,” Beer Board Chair Randy Tedford said. [Read more…]

Red Sox draft Oak Ridge pitcher Kevin Steen

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Oak Ridge Wildcats and Dobyns-Bennett

Kevin Steen, right, played for the Oak Ridge Wildcats basketball and baseball teams, and the right-handed pitcher was drafted by the Boston Red Sox on Friday. He is pictured above with Jaylin Henderson, left, during a March basketball game in Kingsport defending Tyleke Love of Dobyns-Bennett. (Photo by Ned Jilton II/Kingsport Times News)

The Boston Red Sox picked Kevin Steen, a right-handed pitcher from Oak Ridge High School, in the ninth round of the Major League Baseball draft on Friday.

Steen, who has committed to play baseball at the University of Tennessee, was the 284th pick in the three-day, 40-round First-Year Player Draft, which had more than 1,200 selections.

He was one of of four right-handers picked by the Red Sox on Day 2 of the draft, with only one selection coming straight from high school, the team said in a press release.

Steen also played basketball for the Oak Ridge Wildcats and helped lead the team to a state championship game in March for the first time since 1963. Oak Ridge finished as state Class AAA runner-up. [Read more…]

Kroger Marketplace to open June 29

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Kroger Marketplace Storefront

The storefront of the Kroger Marketplace, which is under construction at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue. The new store is expected to open June 29.

 

The Kroger Marketplace is expected to open June 29.

The new, larger Kroger store is under construction at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue. Among other things, it will include a pharmacy, Little Clinic, Starbucks Coffee, Fred Meyer Jewelry, Sun Trust Bank, and fuel center.

The older, smaller Kroger store a few miles away on South Illinois Avenue will shut down after the Kroger Marketplace opens. The new 123,000-square-foot store is in a $33 million shopping center that is still under construction. The 25-acre site has been named the Westcott Center in honor of Ed Westcott, the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during the top-secret Manhattan Project in World War II. [Read more…]

Food Lion in Oak Ridge could close by June 20

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Food Lion

The Food Lion grocery store on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge could close by June 20, a spokesperson said Thursday.

 

The Food Lion grocery store on Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge could close by June 20 because the company is not renewing its lease on the property, a spokesperson said.

Store employees were notified of the decision on Thursday, said Christy Phillips-Brown, a corporate spokesperson for Food Lion.

She did not know the precise number of employees at the Oak Ridge store, but she said there are, on average, about 40 associates at each store. [Read more…]

Reporter cleared after investigation into mayor’s missing keys

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Chris Silcox, Rick Meredith, Jay Yeager, and Terry Frank

Clinton Courier News reporter Chris Silcox, back left, and Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, right, are pictured above at the May 19 meeting of the Anderson County Commission. Also pictured are Commissioner Rick Meredith, left, and Law Director Jay Yeager.

There was no evidence suggesting that a Clinton reporter intentionally took the county mayor’s keys after a recent Anderson County Commission meeting, and there is no evidence that a criminal violation occurred, authorities said last week.

The case is now closed, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said in a six-page supplemental report.

Clinton Courier News reporter Chris Silcox had been suspended from the county government beat at the weekly newspaper during the investigation. Courier News Publisher Allen Handley has since put Silcox back on the beat.

The missing keys report was filed by Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank after an Anderson County Commission meeting on May 19. She told investigating officer Harold J. Crowley that she was unable to find her keys after looking under benches and bench pads in Room 312 at the Anderson County Courthouse after the County Commission meeting that night. She soon learned that Silcox had her keys, and he returned them, although some were still missing, the mayor said. [Read more…]

City recommends budget with no tax increase, Council votes Monday

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above during an August 2013 meeting. (File photo)

Note: This story was updated at 7:40 p.m. June 4.

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson on Monday recommended a budget that does not raise the property tax rate, setting up a potential conflict with school officials, who have requested a 37-cent tax increase to avoid cuts.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education already approved its budget in in two meetings last week. That budget, which was scaled back from an earlier proposal, could include an extra $3.3 million to start implementing a technology initiative known as 1:1 that would provide electronic learning devices to all students over three years, add five technology positions, and give 2 percent pay raises to staff.

But the budget is still subject to the amount appropriated to the schools by the city. Oak Ridge provides a little less than one-third of the school system’s funding.

While the schools have approved a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, the city has not. The Oak Ridge City Council will consider the municipal budget in two separate meetings this month, one on June 9 and the second on June 16. The city budget also includes a 2 percent pay raise for employees.

It’s not clear that Oak Ridge City Council members will agree to raise taxes to accommodate the school system’s request. In his budget presentation to Council on Monday, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said Council members have endorsed keeping the tax rate unchanged for the seventh year in a row.

[Read more…]

Since Saturday, three crashes in Oliver Springs area required Lifestar response

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Oliver Springs Crash Tri County Boulevard

An Oneida woman driving the car above was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville after a collision with a truck on Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Monday afternoon. (Photo by Oliver Springs Police Department/Kenneth Morgan)

For the third time since about noon Saturday, a Lifestar medical helicopter on Monday afternoon picked up a patient injured in a car crash in Oliver Springs.

The 1 p.m. Monday crash involved an Old Dominion truck driven by Steven Mayfield and a car driven by Lyndsay Phillips of Oneida. The truck was turning from eastbound Tri County Boulevard onto Knoxville Highway, or State Highway 62, headed toward Morgan County, Oliver Springs Police Chief Kenneth Morgan said. He said the car was traveling west toward Harriman on the Boulevard.

Phillips was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by Lifestar, Morgan said. [Read more…]

Council to consider DOE wastewater billing; lobbying, economic development contracts

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above during an August 2013 meeting. (File photo)

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday night will consider adding a facilities charge to the U.S. Department of Energy’s monthly wastewater bill for costs related to the construction of a holding tank, or equalization basin, near the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The equalization basin on Scarboro Lane, near the intersection of Scarboro Road and South Illinois Avenue, will service wastewater coming out of the federal reservation, city officials said. Wastewater flows from DOE facilities are estimated to be 67 percent of the total wastewater flow coming into that equalization basin, which will replace a now-demolished car wash near the intersection.

Assuming a 67 percent-33 percent split between DOE and the city, DOE’s share of the cost for construction of the Scarboro Lane equalization basin is estimated at $1.4 million, city officials said. DOE could pay another $24,190 per month as part of its wastewater bill for 60 months starting in July, Oak Ridge Finance Director Janice E. McGinnis said. [Read more…]

U.S. judge denies request to stop Lake City’s name change to Rocky Top

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Tim Isbel at Hearing on Lake City Name Change to Rocky Top

Tim Isbel, president of the Rocky Top Marketing and Manufacturing Co., at a federal court hearing in May on Lake City’s proposed name change to Rocky Top.

A federal judge on Wednesday denied for now a request to stop Lake City from changing its name to Rocky Top.

The preliminary injunction had been requested by House of Bryant Publications LLC, the Gatlinburg publisher of “Rocky Top,” a well-known bluegrass song closely identified with the University of Tennessee and its Volunteers athletics program.

The Lake City Council could reconsider the name change as early as June. The council endorsed the name change in November, and it was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly this year in a bill that has already been signed by Gov. Bill Haslam. Anderson County Commissioner Tim Isbel has said Lake City could become Rocky Top on July 3 under the new state law.

Isbel is president of Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing and Manufacturing Co. That company has proposed a development that could be worth up to $450 million over six years and include an indoor and outdoor water park, coal miners theater, children’s museum, train rides, restaurant, and a candy company on some 300 acres near two exits off Interstate 75. Officials have said it could bring 200 new jobs to Lake City and generate another $6 million in sales tax per year. But the project hinges on the name change. [Read more…]