Hundreds of children hunt about 15,000 eggs during the annual Egg Hunt at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge on Saturday.
Hundreds of children hunted about 15,000 eggs during the annual Egg Hunt at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge on Saturday. Here are a half-dozen pictures.
Randy Myers
Note: This story was updated at 3:48 p.m. April 11.
Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Randy Myers is resigning so he can focus on campaigning full-time for sheriff.
His last day on the job will officially be Tuesday, April 15.
“We’re campaigning full-steam,” Myers said Thursday. “We’re fully committed.”
Myers, 48, started with the ORPD in 2007. He is a Republican candidate for Anderson County sheriff in the May 6 primary election, where he has one opponent, Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper Anthony Lay. The primary winner will face the incumbent, Sheriff Paul White, a Democrat, in the Aug. 7 county general election.
A city board on Thursday declared this home at 117 Wade Lane to be unfit for human habitation and ordered it demolished within 90 days.
Note: This story was updated at 11:40 p.m.
From the outside, the homes look they’re in decent shape and not the worst in the neighborhood.
But inside and underneath, problems range from collapsing floors and settling foundations to leaking roofs and tens of thousands worth of mold damage.
On Thursday, a city board declared the five vacant homes to be unfit for human habitation, and members ordered them demolished within 90 days. The city could use federal money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to buy and demolish the homes. [Read more…]
Retired Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz of the U.S. Air Force is pictured above in a Sept. 16, 2009, speech. (U.S. Air Force photo/Scott M. Ash)
Acting Administrator Bruce Held returns to associate deputy secretary position
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed a retired U.S. Air Force general as the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nuclear weapons work at the Y-12 National Security Complex and other federal sites.
Retired Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz is also the Energy Department’s under secretary for nuclear security.
Acting NNSA Administrator Bruce Held will return to his position as associate deputy secretary, a press release said.
“Lt. Gen. Klotz’s confirmation comes at a critical point for the National Nuclear Security Administration,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. “His breadth of military and national security leadership experience makes him uniquely suited to lead the NNSA, fulfilling its commitments to the management and security of the nation’s nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation, naval reactor programs, and nuclear and radiological emergency preparedness efforts. [Read more…]
Kick Butts Day is a national day of activism that empowers youth to stand out, speak up, and seize control against tobacco. This year, national Kick Butts Day was March 19, which Anderson County students celebrated the week of March 24 due to Spring Break.
Through partnerships between Anderson County Coordinated School Health, Clinton City Coordinated School Health, Oak Ridge Coordinated School Health, the Anderson County Health Department, and Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Anderson County, this Kick Butts Day was an amazing success, a press release said.
“We were very excited to partner with other school systems and organizations for Kick Butts Day,” said Kim Guinn, ACS coordinated school health director. “By working together, we were able to make a larger impact on our community. We all want to accomplish the same goal and see our students choose not to use tobacco.” [Read more…]
Hardin Valley won the trophy in the Battle of the Solway Bridge with Oak Ridge on Tuesday, but Oak Ridge Coach Allen Etheridge is already planning a victory next year.
Oak Ridge coach vows victory next year; Tuesday’s results posted below
Hardin Valley Academy won the trophy at the first Battle of the Solway Bridge track meet in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, but Wildcats Coach Allen Etheridge is already planning a victory at the second annual event.
“We’re planning two victory laps at HVA next year!” Etheridge joked in a Wednesday morning e-mail.
The Battle of the Solway Bridge at Ben Martin Track on Tuesday pitted two track powers against each other one-on-one.
“We will line up our best people in our best events against theirs,” Etheridge said before the meet. On Tuesday, Etheridge said dual meets like the Battle of the Solway Bridge are unusual. Most track meets feature five to 25 teams and sometimes more. [Read more…]
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, center, gives an opening statement during a Tuesday night candidate forum for Republican Party candidates. Also pictured are Anderson County Commissioner Zach Bates, left, who is challenging Frank in the May 6 GOP primary, and Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Randy Myers, one of two Republican candidates for sheriff.
Note: This story was last updated at 11:45 a.m.
The starkest differences between any candidates at a Tuesday night Republican Party forum might have emerged in the race for Anderson County chancellor, where candidates Michael Farley and Nicki Cantrell clashed on questions of trial experience and whether the Chancery Court should ever be used to hear criminal cases.
In the race for sheriff, Republican candidates Anthony Lay and Randy Myers agreed on one key question: No federal inmates should be housed at the Anderson County jail.
In the race for mayor, Terry Frank, the incumbent, said she had presided over one of the few—and possibly the only—tax cut in Anderson County history, while her opponent, Commissioner Zach Bates, said the county’s biggest economic challenge is “retail leakage.” [Read more…]
Mike Haygood, left, co-president of the Oak Ridge Education Association, tells Oak Ridge school board members during a March 24 meeting that teachers are requesting a 2.5 percent salary increase.
Oak Ridge teachers, staff members, and principals have requested a 2.5 percent salary increase in the next school year.
The requests could be considered as part of the budget discussions for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The Oak Ridge Education Association said the consumer price index has increased 2.38 percent on average each year during the past decade. Meanwhile, the annual salary increase for school staff members has averaged 1.5 percent.
Teachers have not had a pay increase for several years, said Mike Haygood, OREA co-president.
“Some type of salary increase is long overdue,” he told members of the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a March 24 meeting. [Read more…]
Cheryl Ann Freels
Note: This story was updated at 3:10 p.m.
A Clinton woman has been charged with attempted first-degree murder after she allegedly shot at her husband with a 9mm handgun Sunday night, authorities said.
Cheryl Ann Freels, 32, of 226 North Slope Lane, allegedly tried to fire a second time, but the gun jammed, according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. Freels’ husband was able to take the gun from his wife after it jammed and leave the home with his juvenile son.
Her husband told Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Samuel Ogburn that he had been watching television in the upstairs living room when he saw his wife standing with the handgun pointed at him. He said his wife fired at him after he stood up. He said he was able to move out of the way of the gun, and the round hit the wall behind him, according to the warrants. [Read more…]
Pictured above, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider removing housing board member Joe Lee, not pictured, because of a critical e-mail he wrote after a 4-3 vote on the controversial traffic camera contract in March.
Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 p.m.
An Oak Ridge official wants the City Council to consider removing Joseph Lee from a city housing board because of his criticism—she called it contempt—for the council members who voted against renewing the controversial traffic camera contract in March.
The City Council will consider removing Lee, who serves on the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, during a Monday, April 14, meeting.
“I was not at all surprised by the 4-3 vote,” Lee wrote in a March 28 e-mail to Council member Anne Garcia Garland, who made the request to consider removing him on Monday. “After all, it was not about safety or the money, it is about the votes. Take the fact that your entire campaign to be elected to city council and combine that with the nut jobs that you are aligned with and cater to, it has been obvious for a very long time that we were never going to hear the end of your whining until you got another shot at this issue. [Read more…]
An Oak Ridge board on Thursday will consider ordering the demolition of five homes that could be bought by the city. The homes are at 105 Waddell Place, 101 and 117 Wade Lane, and 335 and 363 West Outer Drive.
The homes on Wade Lane and West Outer Drive are owned by Carden Rentals Limited Partnership. The Waddell Place house is owned by Rex Gass. The owners are interested in selling the properties to the city, the municipal staff said.
The Gass property is a vacant single-family dwelling, and the Carden homes are vacant multi-family residential units.
The city staff has recommended that the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals declare the homes unfit for human occupation or use, and order them demolished within 90 days to possibly allow the city to acquire them. The board meets at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Municipal Building Training Room. [Read more…]
The Anderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Clinton is pictured above.
There are six candidates running for Anderson County Commission in District 7 in Oak Ridge in August, and a Democrat has joined the race for Tennessee House of Representatives in the 33rd District.
Meanwhile, an Independent, Bradley S. Rickett, has joined the race for Anderson County mayor, competing against Democrat Jim Hackworth and the winner of the May 6 Republican primary, either the incumbent, Terry Frank, or her challenger, Commissioner Zach Bates.
Fourteen of the 16 Anderson County commissioners are seeking re-election to a four-year term. But Bates, from District 4 in the Lake City area, is not. And neither is Commissioner John Shuey. Shuey is one of two commissioners in District 7, which includes the Glenwood, Highland View, and Pine Valley precincts in Oak Ridge.
District 7 is the most competitive in terms of number of candidates. In addition to the incumbent, Jerry Creasey, other candidates include Jimmy Bouchard, Michael Marsh, Denny Phillips, Kevin Rice, and Theresa Scott.
District 3—which includes Andersonville, Fairview, Glen Alpine, and Norris—has five candidates, including the two incumbents, Steve Emert and Dusty Irwin. The other three candidates are Josh Anderson, David Farmer, and Philip Warfield. [Read more…]
