Oak Ridge Today

Officials to offer update on Alexander Inn project tonight

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Guest House

The Guest House in Oak Ridge, now known as the Alexander Inn, as it looked during the top-secret Manhattan Project in World War II. (Photo by Ed Westcott)

Rick Dover, general manager of the company converting the historic Alexander Inn into an assisted living center, will provide an update on the project during an Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association meeting this evening.

Also present will be Knox Heritage’s Ethiel Garlington, director of preservation field services for the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today (Thursday, July 11) in the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road at the corner of Robertsville Road and Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

Woman struck by car in Clinton parking lot

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton woman was injured Wednesday night when she was struck by a car while leaving Walmart.

The Clinton Police Department reported that 42-year-old Stephanie Meadows told them that she had walked out of the middle section of doors at the front entrance of Walmart and was almost across the road in the pedestrian crosswalk when she was hit by a white Volvo sedan. She was hit on her left side and was knocked across the hood and on to the asphalt. [Read more…]

New soccer coach hired at Oak Ridge High School

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Jason Schmieg has been hired as girls head soccer coach at Oak Ridge High School, according to Athletic Director Mike Mullins.

Schmieg replaces Tom Gorman, who compiled a three-year record of 43-10-8, which includes a 2012 District Championship with the Lady Wildcats. Coach Gorman resigned in early June to become the fitness manager for the Rush in Oak Ridge.

Most recently, Schmieg served as head coach of a competitive travel soccer team and assistant boys and girls soccer coach at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, N.C. [Read more…]

In unusual move, Council removes Beer Board member

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The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday took the unusual step of removing a member of the city’s beer board after two members said he had been disruptive and argumentative, and turned what had been smooth-running and efficient meetings into “veritable circuses.”

The disruptive behavior of Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board member Pedro Otaduy had caused at least two board members to consider resigning, which would cripple the board’s ability to act, City Manager Mark Watson said. [Read more…]

ORCVB budget cut: No layoffs, focusing on more events, weekend stays

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Secret City Festival Kickoff 2012

The Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau is one of three organizations that present the annual Secret City Festival. ORCVB President Katy Brown is pictured above, fifth from right, at the opening ceremonies for the 2012 festival along with other state and local officials.

Its budget has been cut 25 percent, but there will be no layoffs at the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Instead, the four-person staff will focus on attracting more weekend visitors to the Secret City and bringing in more events, possibly including those that generate fees. The organization could “own more events,” ORCVB President Katy Brown said, and rely on more grassroots efforts. That could include using more social media and travel writers.

“It’s going to be a shift,” Brown said Monday after the Oak Ridge City Council approved—in a voice vote with no opposition—a new one-year $300,000 contract for the ORCVB, the city’s main tourism organization. The funding is down from $410,000 last year. [Read more…]

Clinton Police Department touts anti-meth successes

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Information from WYSH Radio

For nearly two years, Clinton Police Department officers and investigators, with the cooperation of local drug stores, have taken a proactive stance in the battle against drug activity and “would be” meth manufacturers in and around our community, and now they are sharing some of their successes with the community.

According to a release from the CPD, the continuing operation has resulted in hundreds of charges as well as numerous vehicle seizures, as in Tennessee it is against the law to use your car to facilitate the transaction of narcotics. Police have confiscated nearly 150 boxes of medicine that might have, otherwise, been used to make meth that would sell on the streets for nearly $40,000. [Read more…]

Roane County Jail in danger of decertification

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Roane County Jail is in danger of being decertified due to overcrowding issues.

During an inspection in May, state jail inspectors warned the Roane County Sheriff’s Office that they could face decertification if the overcrowding problem was not addressed, and during a follow-up visit last week, inspectors found the same problems still lingering. [Read more…]

Baughn criticizes school officials, school supporters fire back

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Oak Ridge Schools Press Conference Crowd

Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn, third from right, and Oak Ridge High School Acting Principal David Bryant, left, and Superintendent Bruce Borchers, second from left, attend a Monday afternoon press conference at the high school where education officials rebutted Baughn’s allegations that there is a “culture of terror” in the schools, drugs are rampant, and students are at risk of being assaulted.

Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn fired the first shot, writing a letter critical of education officials and alleging that the city’s schools have a “culture of terror,” drugs are rampant, and students are at risk of being assaulted.

On Monday, school supporters and students fired back in a barrage that started with an afternoon press conference at Oak Ridge High School and ended at a City Council meeting.

During the Council meeting, Chuck Agle, who serves on the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission and is the husband of school board member Angi Agle, asked council members to express their disapproval by censuring Baughn. To imply that Oak Ridge Schools widely tolerate wrongdoing is wrong, Agle said. [Read more…]

Man injured after burglars push him out of loft

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Information from WYSH Radio

An Anderson County man was seriously injured Thursday night when he was pushed out of his barn loft by a pair of alleged burglars.

Jack Archer, 55, spent Thursday night lying in the rain and the cold after the incident, which he says happened shortly before midnight on Thursday at a barn off of Norris Freeway in Heiskell. [Read more…]

WYSH: Burglars pose as utility workers to get into home

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Clinton Police Department is investigating a theft from a home on Eagle Bend Road in which the perpetrators posed as utility workers to get inside.

The incident happened Friday morning, and the victim told officers that a man and a woman had come to her house and told her that the “utility company” was going to be doing some work in her yard and they wanted her to come outside to discuss it. [Read more…]

Roane County Commission approves no-tax-hike budget

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Roane County Commission approved its budget Monday night with no tax increase. School officials had been seeking a 14-cent property tax increase to help make up a $1.5 million shortfall in the system’s budget for this year. Without the tax hike, school leaders say that deep cuts will be necessary to balance the budget.

The school board is scheduled to meet next Monday to begin making those cuts.

Pedestrian struck by vehicle on South Illinois Avenue on Monday

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An Oak Ridge woman was hit by a vehicle driven by an Oak Ridge man on South Illinois Avenue on Monday, authorities said.

Elaine Emerson, 41, was struck near Badger Avenue at 6:12 p.m. Monday by a vehicle driven south by Brandon Luke, 42, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.

Emerson was transported by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where she was listed as being in critical but stable condition, ORPD Lt. Robin Smith said. No charges are expected to be filed against the driver of the vehicle.