Oak Ridge Today

Weekly update: Sewer rehab work for week of April 20

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Sewer rehabilitation continues for the week of April 20, with Hurst Excavating and Morgan Contracting working under contract for the city to rehabilitate the city’s sewer collection pipes within city easements in yards and in roadways.

Residents should have already received color-coded letters and door hangers (orange for Hurst Excavating and purple for Morgan Contracting) providing general information and the applicable contractor’s contact information.

Motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists are urged to use extra care and caution when traveling on the streets with sewer work areas, a press release said. Temporary road repairs will be made, and loose gravel should be expected until the patches are permanently paved. [Read more…]

Robertsville Middle Technology Student Association competes at state conference

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Robertsville Middle School Technology Student Association

Submitted photo

 

The Robertsville Middle School chapter of the Technology Student Association, or TSA, attended the 2015 Tennessee State Conference in Murfreesboro from Thursday, March 5, to Saturday, March 7. Robertsville had the largest chapter in attendance with 30 seventh- and eighth-grade students competing.

This was the second year in a row that all of the chapter’s students finalized in every event that required multiple rounds of judging, a press release said.

The RMS TSA chapter earned first place in seven events: [Read more…]

This year’s final Breakfast with Legislators is Monday, April 27

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This year’s final Breakfast with the Legislators will be held on Monday, April 27, at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. Senators Ken Yager and Randy McNally and representatives John Ragan and Kent Calfee have been invited to speak about and sum up the legislative activities of this session of the Tennessee General Assembly and to respond to questions from the audience, a press release said.

The breakfast is scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. April 27 in the Social Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center, which is at 1401 Oak Ridge Turnpike. A free continental breakfast will be served.

“The Tennessee General Assembly 2015 legislative session is winding down,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Planning Commission considers revised master plan for Main Street Oak Ridge

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The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will consider a revised master plan for Main Street Oak Ridge, the project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall, during a Thursday meeting.

It’s a planned unit development, or PUD, master plan.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.

Photos: Farmers Market, UT Arboretum Society Plant Sale

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Farmers Market Opening

The Oak Ridge Farmers Market opened on Saturday, April 18. (Photo by Julio Culiat)

 

The Oak Ridge Farmers Market opened for the season on Saturday, April 18. Its the market’s 39th season.

The market will be open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays in Historic Jackson Square. It will also be open on Wednesdays beginning May 6.

Here’s what’s new at the market this year: [Read more…]

Man charged with bribery after allegedly offering money for drug test help

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Ronald Lynn Fox

Ronald Lynn Fox

A Clinton man was charged with bribery of a public servant after he allegedly offered to pay a probation officer $40 to help him pass a court-requested drug test, authorities said.

Ronald Lynn Fox, 55, allegedly offered the money to probation officer Chad McNabb on Monday, April 13, because he was afraid he might not pass the drug screen.

“The victim (McNabb) stated that the offender told him he had taken a subelex pill and offered the victim $40 to help him pass the drug test that he was afraid he might not pass,” Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Gregory Pearmain said in an arrest warrant. “(McNabb) told (Fox) that he would not help him and then promptly contacted the sheriff’s office to respond to the courthouse.”

The alleged bribery, which is a felony, occurred on the third floor of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton, where the courtrooms and other court-related offices are located.

Pet of the Day: Sasha

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Pet of the Day: Sasha

Submitted

Sweet Sasha came into the shelter very scared and timid. She wants an adopter and is not shy about it. She demands attention, and we just can’t say no.

She is a young sweet dilute tortie with plenty of personality. She is curious and engaging and just an all-around good kitty. She’s about 10 months old, and she loves to do all the things a kitten would.

She’s available for adoption at the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter. [Read more…]

Civil rights author to speak at Haley Farm on Sunday, April 19

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While the World Watched Carolyn Maull McKinstry

The Langston Hughes Library at the Children’s Defense Fund Haley Farm in Clinton will host an author session and book-signing event with Carolyn Maull McKinstry, author of “While the World Watched.” It will start at 3 p.m. in Haley Lodge on Sunday, April 19.

McKinstry is a survivor of the civil rights struggle and an eyewitness to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 16, 1963. The bombing resulted in the deaths of four young girls, all of whom McKinstry knew well. As a teenager, McKinstry marched under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and bravely faced Bull Connor’s German shepherds and stinging fire hoses during the battle for equal rights in her hometown of Birmingham.

Now, nearly 50 years after the bombing, McKinstry is still an active member of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, serves as president of the Sixteenth Street Foundation, and works full time spreading her message of racial reconciliation.

A highly sought-after speaker, McKinstry has appeared on Oprah, 20/20, CNN, and MSNBC, and portions of her story have been featured in Life magazine and USA Today. She has made numerous television and documentary appearances, including Spike Lee’s documentary “Four Little Girls,” Soledad O’Brien’s “Black in America,” Brian Williams’s “Shades of Progress, Shadows of Hate,” the Poverty Law Center’s documentary “The Children’s March,” and Family Network’s “We Shall Not Be Moved.” [Read more…]

Free Mental Health workshop at Grace Lutheran on Saturday

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“Art Therapy and Mental Health” is an interactive and hands-on workshop that will be hosted by the Grace Lutheran Church Mental Health Ministry on Saturday, April 18, at 10:30 a.m.  The church is located at 131 West Gettysburg Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The workshop is free and open to the public.

The program will be presented by community counselors Emma C. Burgin and Amanda DeDiego, both of whom are doctoral students in counselor education at the University of Tennessee. [Read more…]

UT Arboretum society to showcase redbud at plant sale on Saturday

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The University of Arboretum Society will celebrate its 50th anniversary by featuring “The Rising Sun™” Redbud at its Annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 18.

This plant was found and introduced into the trade by Ray and Cindy Jackson of Jackson Nursery in Belvidere, Tennessee. This brand-new Redbud displays heart-shaped foliage of deep apricot-orange in the spring, maturing to yellow and then speckled lime-green in summer, only to return to its rich golden tones for autumn. It has rosy-orchid sweet pea-like blooms in early spring which are attractive to bees and butterflies. It is a vigorous grower reaching eight to 12 feet tall and about eight feet wide, and is cold-hardy to Zone 5. This compact native is ideally suited as a specimen in small yards or gardens.  [Read more…]

No injuries, but four units damaged in apartment fire on West Outer

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West Outer Drive Apartment Fire

No one was injured, but four units were damaged in an early morning apartment fire on West Outer Drive on Friday, April 17. (Submitted photo)

 

No one was injured, but four units were damaged in an apartment fire on West Outer Drive early Friday morning.

The fire was reported at about 2:58 a.m. Friday, April 17. The occupant of the quad-plex apartment building at 337 West Outer Drive was sleeping at the time of the fire. He was awakened by the fire and attempted to extinguish it before exiting the apartment, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

He then woke up the other occupants in units 331 and 333, who then called 911. ORPD arrived on the scene three minutes after receiving the emergency call and reported fire coming from the rear of the structure and windows, Kerley said. [Read more…]

UT Arboretum Society to have plant sale Saturday, April 18

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UT Arboretum Society Spring Plant Sale 2015

A wide variety of plants, blacksmith demonstration, and food will be featured

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will have its 48th annual Spring Plant Sale on Saturday, April 18. The sale is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the UT Arboretum at 901 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The “Members Only” sale will be on Friday evening, April 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. Memberships may be purchased at that time for this “early bird” shopping opportunity. Checks and credit cards will be accepted.

This year, the Arboretum Society will gather the best of four local nurseries in one location. Beaver Creek and Riverdale Nurseries from Knoxville, Sunlight Gardens from Andersonville, and East Fork Nursery from Sevierville will be offering a large and varied selection of shrubs, trees, wildflowers, perennials, annuals, and edibles. [Read more…]