Workers are repairing a 13-foot sinkhole under the soccer field at Oak Ridge High School.
Workers are repairing a 13-foot sinkhole under the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.
It started as an 18-inch hole two weeks ago, said Allen Thacker, Oak Ridge Schools maintenance and operations supervisor. A section of the field “fell out,” and water was observed at the bottom.
Workers dug down about eight feet and found water running in, Thacker said. [Read more…]
Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.
A federal judge will allow a former U.S. attorney general and civil rights sit-in participant to testify at a Tuesday motions hearing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July.
The two witnesses are former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and civil rights sit-in participant Robert Booker.
The three anti-nuclear weapons activists are accused of cutting through three fences in the high-security Protected Area at Y-12 on July 28 and splashing human blood and spray-painting messages on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
The city manager will present his proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 during a work session at 7 p.m. today in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.
The budget presentation had earlier been scheduled for May 6, but it has been changed due to scheduling conflicts, a city press release said. [Read more…]
Janelle Arthur
Oliver Springs singer Janelle Arthur was eliminated from “American Idol” on Thursday.
Arthur, 23, had been part of the first-ever all-female Top 5 on the popular televised singing competition.
She became the first Top 10 female finalist to be eliminated this season after she performed Vince Gill’s “When I Call Your Name” and Dolly Parton’s “Dumb Blonde.”
Arthur had auditioned for the show three times.
Alex, a Weimaraner skilled at long distance jumping and speed retrieval, catches a football during a DockDogs competition in Oak Ridge during the 2012 Earth Day Festival.
The Sixth Annual Earth Day Festival in Oak Ridge this weekend will feature a jumping competition for dogs, a kids’ race and bicycle rodeo, and shoe collection and recycling drives.
It will also feature more than 60 exhibitors and live music. It’s scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.
The popular dog jumping competition debuted in Oak Ridge last year. It’s the Smoky Mountain Dock Dogs “Spare the Big Air Challenge,” and it features a 26,000-gallon swimming pool and four events: Big Air, Extreme Vertical, Speed Retrieve, and Iron Dog. It starts at 4 p.m. Friday at A.K. Bissell Park and ends at 5 p.m. Sunday. [Read more…]
An unidentified suspect fired on a security officer at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City early Sunday morning, and the officer fired back. No one was injured, and the suspect fled. (Photo courtesy of TVA)
An unidentified suspect fired multiple rounds at a security officer on patrol at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant early Sunday morning, and at least one round hit the security officer’s vehicle, an official said.
The Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear security officer fired back, also shooting multiple rounds.
The suspect appeared to have initially been on the ground but may have fled in a boat, TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said.
The shots were fired just after 2 a.m. this morning on the east side of the 1,700-acre plant, near the Tennessee River, toward the plant’s southern boundary, TVA said. The officer was several hundred yards outside the protected area where the reactor and power equipment are located. [Read more…]
Lula Athyne “Granny” Baker
Lula Athyne “Granny” Baker, age 101, a resident of Sparta, Tenn., and formerly of Oliver Springs, passed away Friday, April 12, at the Life Care Center of Sparta.
Mrs. Baker was born on Sept. 2, 1911, in Van Buren County, Tenn.
Granny Baker was a faithful Christian and a member of the First Baptist Church in Spencer, Tenn. However, when her health allowed, she attended the First Baptist Church in Oliver Springs.
She was a homemaker, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother. Mrs. Baker was “Granny” to all, a lady who loved her family and friends, and with a calm and gentle spirit, she inspired all who came her way. Mrs. Baker enjoyed sewing and quilting. [Read more…]
New principals will start this summer at Robertsville Middle School and the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool, officials announced Friday.
The new RMS principal is James Hundertmark, Oak Ridge school officials said in a press release. Hundertmark is now lead associate principal of Klein High School in Klein, Texas.
The new preschool principal is Melinda White. She has been interim principal at Oak Ridge Schools Preschool since May 2012. [Read more…]
Tom Hilton, 2012-2013 campaign chair, left, with outgoing United Way of Anderson County Board President Jimmy Stone, who accepted the No. 1 Company Campaign Award on behalf of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy of D. Ray Smith)
Donations to the United Way of Anderson County were down this year, and on Thursday, officials cited challenges in the federal contracting community, including the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex and the later departure of security contractor WSI.
There was also an end to federal stimulus money, a freeze in federal budgets and salaries, and a new consolidated contract to manage Y-12 and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, which could result in the departure of B&W Y-12, said Rick Morrow, UWAC executive director.
The United Way of Anderson County had hoped to raise $1.4 million in the fiscal year that ended March 31, but volunteers and staff members fell short of that, collecting $1,277,771. [Read more…]
Mary Imogene Murrah
Mary Imogene Murrah, 86, of Knoxville, went home to be with her Heavenly Father on April 11.
She was born to parents W.B. and Cecil Lowery Casteel in Knoxville on March 9, 1927. Mrs. Murrah retired as the supervisor of housekeeping at Shannondale Retirement Home, and was a member of Royce Baptist Church in Oak Ridge.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Elbert Murrah, on Sept. 1, 2012. [Read more…]
Mary Ruth Webb
Mary Ruth Webb, age 71, of Clinton, passed away on Saturday, April 13, at Fort Sanders Hospital.
Mary was a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and enjoyed her great-grandchildren. She enjoyed traveling and her dog Nikki. Mary was of the Baptist faith.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Dowell and Margaret Williams, and her husband of 52 years, Herbert Webb. [Read more…]
Grace Elaine Hickman Standridge
Grace Elaine Hickman Standridge, age 32, of Powell, passed away on Thursday, April 11, in Knoxville.
Grace is survived by her mother, Sheryl Hamrick, of Powell; father, David Hickman; sons, Alex and Jeremy Standridge, of LaFollette; and sisters, Danielle O’Gorman, of Powell, and Abigail Hamrick, of Powell. Graces’ services will be private.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Knox Area Rescue Ministries. [Read more…]
