Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge Today adds subscription option, upcoming events

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Today has added a voluntary subscription option at the end of posts and an upcoming events widget on the home page.

You don’t have to subscribe to read our stories. But please consider subscribing voluntarily if you like what we are doing on Oak Ridge Today. We do our best to deliver the news quickly and comprehensively, and to keep the community informed, posting news, obituaries, opinions, faith columns, event information, and entertainment and sports stories.

Thank you to those who have already subscribed.

[Read more…]

Council approves $18 million in borrowing for sewer system repairs

Posted at
By 28 Comments

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

After more than an hour of discussion, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved the borrowing of $18 million in low-interest state loans to help pay for a $23 million project to fix the municipal sewer system.

Council voted 6-1 to borrow the money at a 1.23 percent interest rate through the State Revolving Fund program, which is administered by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The work is being done to comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order that requires Oak Ridge to repair all sewer system overflows by Sept. 28, 2015.

[Read more…]

Commission chair: Mayor needs to choose between travel supplement, vehicle

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Chuck Fritts

Chuck Fritts

Anderson County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts continued to insist Monday that Mayor Terry Frank should either accept a $400-per-month travel supplement or use a county car—but not do both, as he alleges she has.

The $4,800-per-year salary supplement is offered in place of the mayor using a county car, a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria, Fritts said in an e-mail after Frank’s Monday morning press conference.

[Read more…]

KPD arrests suspect in theft of school bus found in Anderson County

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Knoxville Police Department on Friday arrested a Knoxville man suspected of stealing a school bus in Knox County that was later found in Anderson County.

The suspect, Hillman Greenlee, 61, “sold” the 1998 Blue Ribbon Coach Bus for $1,200 to another person while the owner of the bus was out of town, according to a statement from KPD spokesman Darrell DeBusk. The value of the bus is about $2,000.

[Read more…]

Travel accusations forced press conference, county mayor says

Posted at
By 24 Comments

Terry Frank Press Conference

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank says the county commission chairman has made accusations against her related to county travel and vehicle policy, but she has violated no laws.

CLINTON—Her honesty has been questioned, and she has been the subject of a politically motivated smear campaign, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said.

Anderson County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts has accused her of taking advantage of taxpayers by using a county car and accepting travel payments, Frank during a Monday morning press conference at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

[Read more…]

Jack C. ‘Pappy’ Ethridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Jack C. "Pappy" Ethridge

Jack C. “Pappy” Ethridge

Jack C. “Pappy” Ethridge, age 76, a resident of Clinton, passed away Thursday, Feb. 21, at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

Mr. Ethridge was born May 19, 1936, in Birmingham, Ala. He has lived in Clinton since 1965. Pappy was an avid outdoorsman and ATV Rider and the founder of the Windrock ATV Club. He was also a member of Atomic Lodge F&AM #756 in Oak Ridge.

Jack is preceded in death by his wife, Joanna Louise Ethridge; by a son, Jack Keith Ethridge; by parents, Charles and Jackie Gilham Ethridge; and by a brother, Frank Ethridge.

[Read more…]

Margaret Ann Watson

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Margaret Ann Watson

Margaret Ann Watson

Margaret Ann (Mallas) Watson, 93, passed away in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, Feb. 20.

Raised in Wisconsin, Mrs. Watson spent most of her adult life in Coconut Grove in (Miami) Florida, where she worked and raised her children. She loved music and crafts, was independent, health-conscious, and a free spirit who kept warm and devoted ties with her siblings.

She moved to Tennessee in 2006 to enjoy her final years living among four generations of her loving family.

[Read more…]

Roane Alliance: 2012 the ‘busiest and most productive ever’

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Roane Alliance has released its most recent annual report, and it called 2012 the “busiest and most productive year ever.”

Roane Alliance officials said they will remember 2012 as the year of the Volkswagen Distribution Center project.

But it was also a year of many other accomplishments, said Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Henderson.

[Read more…]

Clinton woman dies after Friday crash in Oliver Springs

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oliver Springs Accident

A Clinton woman died after her car veered off East Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Friday morning, went down an embankment, and flipped. (Photo by Tom Scott)

A Clinton woman died after her car veered off East Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Friday morning and flipped, authorities said.

Wanda Currier, 67, who lived on Marlow Road in Anderson County, died shortly after the crash at Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs Police Department Sgt. Kevin Armes said.

[Read more…]

City asked to strike balance between businesses, community over electronic signs

Posted at
By 10 Comments

Misty Robbins at Electronic Signs Public Hearing

Misty Robbins, right, of Snappy Tomato Pizza, said the restaurant could buy an electronic sign but wants to see what new regulations might be issued to govern them.

Business owners call them effective, a great way to get out their messages.

But a few residents call them distracting and offensive, at least in some cases.

Caught in the middle are Oak Ridge officials. They are trying to write new regulations for the electronic signs, considering how to govern brightness, display times, and transitions between messages.

[Read more…]

Soccer Club of Oak Ridge has soccer academy in March

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Girls Soccer Academy

The Soccer Club of Oak Ridge is offering a soccer academy in March for boys and girls between 5 and 8 years old.

The academy includes eight weeks of training that starts March 19 at Katie Hunter Field in Oak Ridge.

[Read more…]

One taken to hospital after car goes down embankment, overturns

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Oliver Springs Accident

One person was taken to the hospital after a car went down a 15-foot embankment on East Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Friday morning. (Photo by Tom Scott)

One person was taken to an Oak Ridge hospital after a westbound car went down a 15-foot embankment and landed on its roof in heavy brush next to East Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Friday morning, authorities said.

Authorities aren’t releasing the name of the female driver or her condition, Oliver Springs Police Department Sgt. Kevin Armes said. She was taken to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.

[Read more…]