Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge Land Bank has news conference about downtown development

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The Oak Ridge Land Bank will host a gathering on Friday, August 6, at 5 p.m. on Wilson Street near Rice Road. At 5:30 p.m., there will be a news conference regarding the land bank’s Request For Proposals to develop Downtown Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The Land Bank, representing the community interest with respect to the development of a downtown district, is releasing a RFP for the purchase and development of property in accordance with the adopted “vision” for this district, the press release said.

Over the decades, multiple plans have called for creating a place where Oak Ridgers can live, work, and play, the press release said. The Wilson Street corridor borders Main Street shopping near the new American Museum of Science and Energy and planned conference center, and it is easily accessible from Oak Ridge Turnpike and Alvin K. Bissell Park, the press release said. It provides a “great opportunity to finally have a distinctive, uniquely Oak Ridge place for people to gather,” the release said. “The existence of a more urban, densely-developed environment, featuring apartments, condos, restaurants, local shops, offices, and beautiful green space, will attract new and different businesses to Oak Ridge.”

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Pellissippi State to require masks indoors

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Pellissippi State Community College will require face masks be worn in all indoor spaces effective Monday, August 9.

The college said its emergency management team based the decision on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID data tracker, which shows both Knox and Blount counties to have “high” levels of community transmission, as well as numbers of active COVID-19 cases from the Knox County and Blount County health departments. In Knox County alone, the number of active COVID-19 cases jumped from 198 on July 14 to 1,240 on August 4, a press release said. Case numbers are updated each Wednesday.

Fall classes begin Monday, August 23, and the college will have some masks available on each of its five campuses for those who arrive without one. Face shields are not sufficient, the press release said.

“We know this is frustrating and stressful and that we’re all tired of it,” said Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr. “There are exciting weeks ahead as we welcome faculty and students back for the fall semester, many for the first time in months. We are going to take the challenges as they come and do the best we can to set a good example for our peers and our students by providing a safe environment for teaching and learning.”

Pellissippi State’s main campus is in Hardin Valley.

Pellissippi State said it will re-evaluate its mask policy at the end of September, using a return to “moderate” community transmission – sustained over 10 days to two weeks – as the metric for deciding when to relax the mask requirement. By waiting until the end of September to re-evaluate, the team will be able to see if Labor Day travel impacts local numbers, the press release said.

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Events to mark Hiroshima, Nagasaki anniversaries, call for nuclear abolition

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OREPA Peace Cranes at Y-12
Sharon O’Hara-Bruce of Lake Orion, Mich., ties a peace crane to a fence set up in front of the Y-12 National Security during a previous ceremony recalling the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. (File photo)

Events planned in Oak Ridge and Knoxville on Friday and Saturday will commemorate the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, near the end of World War II, as organizers call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

“There is a new energy for abolition,” said Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. “Here and around the globe, actions and events will echo the demand of the international community in the Ban Treaty: nuclear weapons states give up their weapons.”

A press release from OREPA cited the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Under that treaty, the international community outlawed nuclear weapons, organizers said. The treaty was passed by 122 nations in June 2017 and entered into this past January, the press release said.

“There are only two possible endings to the story of nuclear weapons,” said Beatrice Fihn, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 2017 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. “Either we end nuclear weapons, or they will us. There is no other possible ending.”

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ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

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Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We are seeking licensed and insured general contractors to construct five, single-family homes on scattered sites in Anderson and Morgan County. The goal is to provide first-time homeowners with safe, quality, and energy-efficient new housing for economically disadvantaged residents.

Contractors will be required to provide documentation of contractor’s license, current liability, and workers compensation insurance. Contractors must be eligible to participate in state or federally funded projects. Each home constructed must meet ENERGY STAR standards and will be HERS rated for energy efficiency.

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Roane State recommends face masks indoors

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Roane State Community College has updated its COVID-19 response plan to include the recommendation that all students, faculty, staff and visitors wear face masks when indoors on campus.

This change is in response to a number of factors, including a recent surge in COVID-19 cases locally, the new Delta variant, and new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Tennessee Department of Health, and the Tennessee Board of Regents, a press release said.

The updated face mask recommendation applies to anyone who enters a building on a Roane State campus, regardless of vaccination status. New signs are being posted on campuses to reflect this information, and the entire campus community has been notified of the request, the press release said.

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Battery research to be discussed Tuesday, Aug. 10

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John Bates, independent consultant for battery development and former researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will speak about solid-state lithium and lithium-ion batteries on Tuesday, Aug. 10, at 12 noon to Friends of ORNL. The lecture is open to the public. To view the virtual lecture, click on the talk title on the homepage of the www.fornl.org website and click on the Zoom link on the page describing the lecture.

“I will give a brief history of the development of intercalation cathode materials such as lithium cobalt oxide and a review of some of the research on thin-film batteries at ORNL and other organizations,” Bates said. “I will list a few of the perceived applications of these batteries for powering small devices. Successful commercialization of thin-film batteries encourages the view that the daunting problems facing large-scale solid-state batteries are solvable but perhaps not as soon as advertised.” [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Community Band has Back to School concert Sunday

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Oak Ridge Community Band (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Community Band will have a Back to School concert in Alvin K. Bissell Park on Sunday evening.

Oak Ridge schools started a new school year this week.

Sunday evening will feature casual, relaxing music performed by the Oak Ridge Community Band, a press release said. The concert is free, and it will start at 7 p.m. It is a great opportunity for family and friends to enjoy an entertaining program of music featuring popular selections that children and students know and love but that also appeal to listeners of all ages, the press release said.

Sunday evening’s performance directed by conductor Shaun Salem is focusing on familiar and well-liked numbers including “Young Person’s Guide to John Williams” with “Raiders March,” “Prologue from Hook,” “Theme from E.T.,” “Hedwig’s Theme,” and Disney movie favorites “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Incredibles.”

Other compositions on Sunday’s program will be band director Shaun Salem’s mysterious “Ghost Ship” and John Powell’s “How to Train Your Dragon” featuring “This is Berk,” “Move Ahead,” and “Coming Back Around.” The band will also perform Rossano Galante’s “Mt. Everest” and Percy Grainger’s “Children’s March: Over the Hills and Far Away.” [Read more…]

Jamie Stalker joins ORAU as physician and co-lead for NSSP

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Jamie Stalker, M.D., has joined ORAU as physician and co-principal investigator for the National Supplemental Screening Program. She will be located in ORAU’s Arvada, Colorado, office and work with John McInerney, M.D., who currently leads the program and is beginning his transition to retirement, a press release said.

“Dr. Stalker brings extensive experience in the Department of Energy occupational medicine arena, including a deep familiarity with the DOE Former Worker Programs as a former NSSP Advisory Committee member,” said Andy Page, ORAU President and chief executive officer. “We are excited to welcome her to our team and have her lead this outstanding group.”

ORAU has managed the program since its inception in 2005, and McInerney has led this program since 2006. It provides free medical screening, nationwide, for former energy workers who may have been exposed to hazardous substances at work. The screenings are designed to identify occupational diseases such as chronic respiratory illnesses, hearing loss, kidney or liver disease, and some forms of cancer. More than 22,000 enrollees have signed up for free health screening. [Read more…]

Arts Council of Oak Ridge closes

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For the past 63 years, the Arts Council of Oak Ridge has been more than just a nonprofit organization. It has forged friendships, worked with some of the best community leaders, fostered new arts organizations, and proudly supported a region rich in arts and culture, a press release said.

But now it is time to start a new phase for the arts in Oak Ridge, the press release said.

The Council has decided to close its doors. [Read more…]

ORPD: Two arrested after crashing stolen truck

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Two people were arrested after allegedly crashing a stolen pickup truck in Oak Ridge and trying to run from police Monday afternoon, officers said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department tried to stop the pickup truck on South Illinois Avenue at Tulsa Road at about 1 p.m. Monday, a press release said.

“The driver of the pickup truck began to flee, and officers discontinued the attempted traffic stop,” the press release said.

The pickup truck continued driving at a high rate of speed and crashed into a vehicle at the intersection of South Illinois Avenue at South Rutgers Avenue, the press release said. One tire blew out, and the pickup truck continued driving on the remaining three tires toward Edgemoor Road, the release said.

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Register Aug. 3 for in-person and online ORICL courses 

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“Great Monsters of the 20th Century” such as Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. “Outsiders’ Effects on Native Americans.” “Outline of the MexicanPast.” “The Story of the 1958 National Championship Oak Ridge Football Team.”  
These are a few of the history classes being offered in person for the fall term of the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL). Most of the smorgasbord of 59 courses will be presented in person but a few will be online via Zoom or as hybrid classes (in person and online). ORICL’s in-person and hybrid classes will be held mostly in the Coffey-McNally building on Roane State Community College’s Oak RidgeBranch Campus, 701 Briarcliff Ave.  
The fall catalog is posted on ORICL’s www.roanestate.edu/oricl website. The registration form and calendar are also posted there. Online registration opens Tuesday, Aug. 3.  
The fall term runs from Monday, Sept. 13, through Dec. 3. The registration fee for three terms (fall, winter-spring and summer) is $125; by paying it online or by a check included with the mailed paper form, you will become an ORICL member for a year. Mail your form and check to ORICL, RSCC, 701Briarcliff Avenue, Oak Ridge, TN  37830. For more information, contact the ORICL office at 865-481-8222 or at oricl@roanestate.edu.  
Science classes will include a pontoon boat tour of the Watts Bar Reservoir, a review of the Tellico Archaeological Project and an evening Zoom course on potential solutions to the climate crisis proposed by Project Drawdown.  
In-person medical classes will deal with aging, becoming a medical advocate, traumatic brain injury, esophageal disorders and the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge.  
In-person religion classes address descriptions of the Jesus of history, the Biblical books of Amos and Hosea and spiritual practices. The Lovingkindness class will be online.  
If you enjoy participating in book groups, ORICL has online courses on nonfiction, mystery and classical literature books. The technical books group will meet in-person. The fiction book group will be hybrid (in-person and online).   
Other literature classes are devoted to reading Shakespeare plays and “The Aeneid” out loud (Zoom), memoir writing (hybrid), children’s books and George Singleton’s short stories (both in person).  
Another history course of interest is the first in a series of a three-part course on “The History of Home,” which focuses on residential architecture, interior design and decoration, as well as furniture of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Additional history courses address the American experience and Oak Ridge’s Secret City stories.  
If you want to strengthen body and mind, consider taking courses such as Body Menders (fitness class costs $5 and meets at the Children’s Museum) and cryptic varietal crossword puzzles (Zoom), sign language for beginners (in person, $6) and tarot (Zoom).  
If you wish to make money and pay less tax, you might want to sign up for the “stock investing for income” course or classes on “taxes after the pandemic.” If you want to keep peace in the family, consider taking the class on mediation.  
For music lovers, Great Courses videos featuring the “30 greatest orchestral works” will be presented. And Elza Gate(Bob Cushman and Pat Parr) will play and sing the bluegrass music of The Country Gentlemen.    
ORICL offers art classes for a fee at theOak Ridge Art Center on jewelry making, loom weaving, creative journaling and the Art a la Carte film series. Art classes at Roane State include the world’s greatest paintings (Teaching Company), bookmaking and the Zentangle® method, a meditational art form.  
Students can attend in-person classes on how to speak Russian and how to improve their Latin translation skills.  
The traditional Friday Lecture series, which often addresses scientific topics for a lay audience, will be in person. 

CUTLINE: An ORICL course this fall will explore Zentangle®, a fun, easy-to-learn,relaxing method of drawing beautiful images with structured patterns. As ameditational art form, every Zentangle stroke is mindful rather than mindless,like doodling.

Blackwell to oversee courthouse security

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Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Corporal Marty Blackwell, left, is pictured above receiving his new rank with Anderson County General Sessions Court Judge Don Layton. (Submitted photo)

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has promoted Marty Blackwell to the rank of corporal, and he will oversee courthouse security, a press release said.

Blackwell has been in law enforcement for 33 years, the press release said. He most recently served as court officer for General Sessions Judge Don A. Layton.

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