Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge Kiwanis collecting toys for Holiday Bureau through Friday

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Kiwanis Club Toy Drive

Oak Ridge Kiwanis Toy Drive Project Chair Felicia Langley, right, and Kiwanis President Mark Hembree collect toys at the Enrichment Federal Credit Union. (Submitted photo)

The Kiwanis Club of Oak Ridge is collecting toys, games, books, stuffed animals, and movies through Friday to give to the Holiday Bureau.

The Holiday Bureau distributes them to families  with children before Christmas, selecting recipients based on household income.

The Holiday Bureau will start distributing the toys on Dec. 6. Parents may select one new and some used items for each child. These are usually the only presents the children will receive, a Kiwanis press release said.

Oak Ridge Kiwanis Toy Drive Project Chair Felicia Langley will be collecting toys through Friday, Nov. 30, at the Enrichment Federal Credit Union, 201 S. Illinois Avenue, the release said. Toys will be taken to the Holiday Bureau before a Tuesday, Dec. 4, Kiwanis toy moving project. Checks can be made payable to the Holiday Bureau and could be marked Kiwanis Toy Drive.

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Jack Russell

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Jack Russell

Jack Russell

Jack Russell, age 93, a resident of the Blair community in Roane County, died Thursday, Nov. 22, at the Life Care Center of Morgan County.

Mr. Russell was born May 27, 1919, in Roane County. Jack was a former construction laborer for Rust Engineering, Hicks Construction at the Oak Ridge nuclear plants and the Southern Railroad.

He was a trusted member of the entire Roane and Morgan County communities. His past included being a waterboy at the old Dyllis Peach Orchard, working the quarry mine on Blair Road, and being a farmer and moonshiner (to help support his family).

Jack was of the Baptist faith and professed his salvation often in his elder years. He gave God the glory for his lengthy life and the wonderful family bestowed unto him.

Mr. Russell was a honorably discharged veteran of World War II, where he earned the rank of corporal being a cook and orderly. While enlisted, he received a medal for being a expert marksman, and he also received the American Theater Ribbon.

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Police ID Clinton man who died after car rolled onto railroad tracks

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The Clinton Police Department has identified the man killed after his car rolled down an embankment and onto railroad tracks early Saturday morning.

Chris Vann, 39, of Clinton had been driving a 1992 Mitsubishi on Carden Road, which runs parallel to the train tracks, when his car left the road, rolled down the embankment, and came to rest on the tracks.

A CPD press release said it wasn’t clear if Vann died during the first accident or when his car was hit by a Norfolk Southern train. Police said it also wasn’t clear how long the vehicle had been on the tracks before it was hit by the train.

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New River fire mostly out, Walden Ridge blaze breaks out again

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The large mountaintop fire near New River Highway west of Briceville was mostly out Saturday afternoon, but flames are flaring again on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County, a state official said.

Meanwhile, firefighters were battling a 1,000-acre blaze in Campbell County. Despite fires across several counties in upper East Tennessee in the past week, though, no structures or homes have been damaged, according to the Tennessee Division of Forestry in Knoxville.

Assistant District Forester Nathan M. Waters said it wasn’t clear what caused the new fire at Walden Ridge. There were several possibilities. The fire had been considered mostly out on Friday, but it could have restarted, jumped control lines, or been reset. State officials suspect arson as the original cause of the 225-acre fire, which started Tuesday at Walden Ridge Road. That’s just north of Dutch Valley Road at Sulphur Springs Road.

Arson was also suspected at the fire near New River Highway at Graves Gap. It was first reported as a 100-acre blaze on Thursday but, fueled by winds, grew to 375 acres on Friday. It’s on a mountain east of New River Highway, also known as Highway 116, between Briceville and Rosedale.

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WYSH: One killed in Saturday car-train accident in Clinton

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One person died in a collision between a car and train in Clinton early Saturday morning, according to WYSH Radio.

WYSH said police are investigating the 3:30 a.m. accident and will not release the driver’s name until family members have been notified.

WYSH said the accident occurred when the driver’s car left the side of Carden Road and came to rest on the train tracks. An approaching train was unable to stop in time and struck the vehicle, WYSH said.

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Arson also suspected in New River mountaintop fire

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New River Highway Fire

State and local firefighters used “back fires” to control a mountaintop blaze near New River Highway on Friday. State officials suspect the fire, which grew to 375 acres, was started by arson.

GRAVES GAP—Driven by wind, a mountaintop fire that started as a 100-acre blaze in northern Anderson County on Thursday grew to 375 acres Friday, authorities said.

State firefighters suspect the fire at Graves Gap on New River Highway west of Briceville was started by arson, spokesman Nathan M. Waters said. Waters is assistant district forester for the Tennessee Division of Forestry in Knoxville.

Local and state firefighters battled the mountaintop blaze by setting up control lines, using hand tools and two bulldozers to clear away brush and set “back fires,” essentially fighting “fire with fire.”

Early Friday night, Waters said firefighters had left and plan to return to the blaze on Saturday. Firefighters from the Tennessee Division of Forestry have been assisted by volunteers from Marlow, Briceville, and Sevier County.

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Man rescued from lift after tree limb falls onto power line

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Culver Road Rescue

The Oak Ridge Electric Department, left, cut the power to a Culver Road home after a tree limb fell onto a line, knocking it to the ground and onto a boom lift, right, used by the homeowner trimming the tree. The man was stranded in the lift until city workers could turn off the power.

A Culver Road man trimming trees at his home was stranded in a boom lift Friday night after a tree limb fell onto a power line, knocking it to the ground and onto the lift, authorities said.

The man was able to be lowered to the ground after the Oak Ridge Electric Department disconnected the power. The man was not injured, but he was a little cold, Oak Ridge Police Officer Christopher Wallace said.

The man appeared to have been trapped about 20-30 feet in the air for about an hour on a chilly Friday night.

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Sewer line construction starts Monday on Warehouse Road

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A city contractor will start work on Monday to relocate and install a larger sanitary sewer line that runs underneath Warehouse Road in east Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The road will be closed just east of Science.gov Way while the excavation work is being done. The work could take three days, although the scheduled could be affected by weather, the release said.

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B&W Y-12 awards scholarships to two Roane State students

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B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarships

B&W Y-12 Commercialization Manager Jeremy Benton, left, chats with STEM Scholarship winners Sara Lemmonds and Wes Jenkins, two Roane State Community College students who will split $5,000 in scholarships. (Photo courtesy of B&W Y-12)

B&W Y-12 recently awarded $5,000 in scholarships split between Roane State Community College freshmen Wes Jenkins and Sara Lemmonds, a press release said.

B&W Y-12 operates and manages the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The contractor said the scholarships are part of its effort to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, education.

Recipients of the B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarship must be full-time students at Roane State pursuing a degree in one of the STEM fields of study.

Jenkins is a Harriman High School graduate and plans to major in biology. Lemmonds graduated from Oak Ridge High School and is enrolled in the college’s pre-med program.

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Anderson County Sheriff releases holiday crime prevention tips

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Many people can can become victims of burglary, theft, and other crime during the holidays, and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has released tips to help prevent those crimes.

“Protecting yourself and home from crime is one way to be safe and happy this holiday season,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said.

Here are the tips:

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State firefighters suspect arson in Walden Ridge blaze

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Walden Ridge Fire

State officials suspect arson was the cause of a 225-acre fire that started on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County on Tuesday night. Firefighters battled the blaze by building control lines around it—”fighting fire with fire.”

WALDEN RIDGE—State officials suspect arson as the cause of a 225-acre fire that started on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County on Tuesday.

State and local firefighters have used hand tools and two bulldozers to remove fuel from around the fire, and they started a “back fire” to control the blaze. It’s “fighting fire with fire,” said Charles Via, Tennessee Division of Forestry fire resources coordinator in Knoxville.

He said the blaze appears to have started at a dump and spread into the woods. It was on Walden Ridge Road, but officials did not have to close the narrow, gravel road.

Although it’s now a controlled burn, flames are still flaring inside the control lines. Those control lines form what look like a giant ring of fire on Walden Ridge.

“This thing is large, and there is no way to put it out without the help of Mother Nature,” Via said Thursday.

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American Centrifuge Manufacturing donates $60,000 to United Way

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United Way of Anderson County Donation

Ronnie Gardner and a team representing American Centrifuge Manufacturing LLC, a joint company between B&W and USEC, present Tom Hilton, United Way of Anderson County’s 2012 Campaign Chairman, with a check for $60, 554 from a recently completed 2012 United Way Campaign. (Submitted photo)

American Centrifuge Manufacturing LLC recently donated $60,554 to United Way of Anderson County, a press release said.

American Centrifuge Manufacturing is a joint company between B&W and USEC, the release said.

The money was raised during the company’s recently completed 2012 United Way Campaign on behalf of the 136 employees of B&W and USEC who work for American Centrifuge Manufacturing, the release said.

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