Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge asks for county land on Emory Valley Road for sewer system tank

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Emory Valley Equalization Basin

Oak Ridge officials have asked Anderson County to consider donating up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road for a sewer system holding tank.

Oak Ridge officials have asked Anderson County to consider donating up to 2.05 acres on Emory Valley Road for a sewer system holding tank east of the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Oak Ridge to stop all sewer system overflows by 2015, and studies have shown that several holding tanks are required at critical locations “to equalize and detain excess flow during heavy rain events,” Public Works Director Gary Cinder said in a July 26 memo. One equalization tank would be required near the county-owned Daniel Arthur Center, which is used by satellite county offices, the Oak Ridge Senior Center, and the Emory Valley Center.

The Anderson County Operations Committee will consider the request during a Monday evening meeting. [Read more…]

Price Florist gets another 30 days for sale, repair, or demolition

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Price Florist

A city board has declared Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike a nuisance and unfit for human occupation and use, and members have given the property owner another 30 days to develop a repair plan, get a demolition permit, or reach an agreement to sell it.

The owner of the Price Florist property on Oak Ridge Turnpike has already been given two 30-day extensions to make repairs, demolish the building, or sell it.

On Thursday, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals gave property owner Patricia Warren of Crossville one last extension.

“There’s no more 30 days,” board member Joe Lee said. “We’ve burned them up.” [Read more…]

CROET recognizes TDEC, contractor performance on Impact Services cleanup

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IMPACT Services Waste

The last of more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste at the former IMPACT Services site at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge was scheduled to be shipped out at the end of June.

The board of directors of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee honored Roger Fenner, consultant to the director of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and Judy Hardt, senior project manager for Science Applications International Corp., for their leadership and success in closing out some 1.2 million pounds of radioactive waste left after Impact Services LLC declared bankruptcy in May 2012, a press release said.

Fenner and Hardt led the team of professionals that successfully closed out a performance bond required by TDEC as part of a state radiological materials license held by Impact Services, a lessee of CROET at East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), at the time of bankruptcy. TDEC contracted SAIC to return to the waste generators and clean up the waste, the press release said. [Read more…]

Schools have to report illegal activity, turn over dangerous weapons or drugs, agreement says

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Bruce Borchers and Mark Watson

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, left, and City Manager Mark Watson during a Monday evening reception for Borchers, who started working in Oak Ridge in June.

School principals have to notify the Oak Ridge school resource officer, or SRO, of suspected illegal activity, and principals or school staff members who locate dangerous weapons or drugs have to turn them over to the SRO, according to a renewable one-year agreement signed Wednesday by municipal and education officials.

School staff members must also provide the SRO with the names of people who are not allowed on school property, and the staff is required to notify the officer when they expect problems from parents of students who have been disciplined.

Meanwhile, the Oak Ridge Police Department is required to tell the school board of criminal gangs and associated criminal gang activity. It wasn’t immediately clear if—or how much—any of those requirements differed from earlier procedures.  [Read more…]

Seven arrested at alleged meth lab on Oliver Springs Highway

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Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Seven people were arrested Wednesday afternoon at an alleged methamphetamine laboratory on Oliver Springs Highway, authorities said.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the home on a drug investigation and found an active meth lab, Sheriff Paul White said in a press release. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge municipal, education officials reach agreement on school resource officer MOU

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James T. Akagi

James T. Akagi

School safety has been a high-priority issue for many people across the country since the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut in December.

It’s been an issue in Oak Ridge as well, with proposals to increase the number of school resource officers, or SROs, and a vigorous debate in July that was sparked by a controversial guest column written by Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn.

On Thursday, Oak Ridge municipal and education officials announced a cooperative effort to govern the city’s SRO program. They said an agreement has been reached between city officials and school officials on a memorandum of understanding, or MOU.

[Read more…]

Blasting begins next week at construction site for Kroger Marketplace

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Kroger Marketplace Hotels

The former Super 8 motel that is expected to be demolished to make way for a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

Blasting at the construction site for the Kroger Marketplace shopping center will begin next week, Oak Ridge officials announced Thursday.

“All blasting will happen at 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,” a city press release said. “Depending on the location of the blast, there may be temporary road closures in the area.”

The release said a blast survey was performed. “No collateral damage has been predicted,” it said. “The explosions may be heard and felt. During the blasts, it is not necessary to contact emergency dispatch services, unless an emergency has occurred. The City of Oak Ridge Fire and Police will be present for the blasting.” [Read more…]

Y-12 repairs roll-up door that failed to close during fire alarm at HEUMF

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Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility

Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (Photo courtesy of NNSA/B&W Y-12)

Workers have repaired a roll-up door that failed to close when a fire alarm system was activated at a high-security uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in May.

“The fire alarms were activated due to smoke from a belt of a fan with a failed bearing, but there was no fire,” the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a May 24 report. “The signal to the door closure device should cause a cable to release, allowing the door to close, but this did not occur because permanent deformation (kinks) in the cable caused it to knot when tension was released.” [Read more…]

Darrin Lawrence joins IIa as senior VP for strategic initiatives

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Darrin Lawrence

Darrin Lawrence

Darrin Lawrence has joined Information International Associates Inc., or IIa, as senior vice president for strategic initiatives.

In a recent announcement, Bonnie C. Carroll, IIa owner and chief executive officer, said Lawrence has more than 25 years of experience in environmental, radiological, and emergency program management for commercial companies and government agencies. In addition, he has managed large profit and loss centers for commercial companies, and supervised more than 200 personnel, 150 open contracts, and revenues in excess of $50 million per year, a press release said. [Read more…]

Lillian Virginia Tilley

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Lillian Virginia Tilley

Lillian Virginia Tilley

Lillian Virginia Tilley, age 88, of Oak Ridge, passed away on Saturday, Aug. 3, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

She was born on April 14, 1925, in Stonega, Va. She was first employed with the Stonega Coke and Coal Co. in the payroll department. Lil and her family moved to Oak Ridge in 1954. With the nickname “Busy,” that is indeed how she lived her life. She had many jobs including selling Avon and working as a store clerk at Miller’s Department Store, Proffitt’s, and the Shoe Box, all while dedicating her life to her family. Her passions were her grandchildren, cooking, sewing, gardening, and playing on Watts Bar Lake. [Read more…]

Carl William Gehrs

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Carl William Gehrs

Carl William Gehrs

Dr. Carl William Gehrs, age 72, of Oak Ridge, died Thursday, Aug. 1, at his home.

He was born May 4, 1941, in Elmhurst, Ill., the son of Carl John and Pearl Hitzke Gehrs and grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago: Westmont and Lombard, where his father was a Lutheran teacher. The first 16 years of his education were in Lutheran schools, and it was at Concordia Teacher’s College in River Forest, Ill., that he met his future wife, Judith Diane Hein.

Following graduation, they were married and taught in Chicago. He taught biology and later became dean of students at Luther High School South, where he also helped coach football. They later lived in Kansas and Oklahoma as he continued his education. After receiving his PhD, the family moved to Oak Ridge in 1972. He worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory until 1999, retiring as director of the Center for Biotechnology. [Read more…]

Would you like ammo with that? Pistol found in McDonald’s bathroom

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Clinton Police Department is trying to track down the owner of a pistol that was found in a bathroom at the McDonald’s on North Charles Seivers Boulevard Tuesday night.

Police were called to the restaurant shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday and were told that a customer had found a loaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver in a holster in the men’s room. The serial number of the pistol was run through the NCIC and did not come up as stolen, so Clinton police officers took custody of it and placed it into the evidence locker for safekeeping.