Oak Ridge Today

Free screening of ‘Chasing Ice,’ global warming discussion on Wednesday

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Chasing Ice

Volunteers will show an award-winning movie on global warming and its effects on the world’s glaciers in Oak Ridge on Wednesday evening.

The movie “Chasing Ice” was filmed by Jeff Balog, a photojournalist working for National Geographic, a press release said. It will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

Balog filmed the movie in the “stunningly beautiful and dangerously challenging Artic landscape, in search of the truth about global warming and its effects on the world’s glaciers,” the press release said. Released in 2012, “Chasing Ice” received the Excellence in Cinematography Award from the Sundance Film Festival.

“Ninety seven percent of scientists agree that manmade climate change is real, and is happening now,” the release said. “A majority of Americans accept the science of climate change, but many do not fully understand its impacts. Jeff Balog himself was once a skeptic, until he saw firsthand how the warming planet is losing ice, even in the planet’s most brutally cold lands.” [Read more…]

Comfort Inn holiday events benefit CASA of the Tennessee Heartland

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Breakfast with Santa

Proceeds from a “Breakfast with Santa” at Comfort Inn Oak Ridge on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. will benefit CASA of the Tennessee Heartland. (Photo courtesy T. Whigham Photography)

Families can kick off the Christmas season with Santa and help a local nonprofit volunteer organization at the same time by visiting the Comfort Inn Oak Ridge during December. The hotel is offering several different activities for the community to get in the holiday spirit with a portion of the proceeds from each event going to CASA of the Tennessee Heartland.

“We are so thankful to Comfort Inn for contacting us with this opportunity,” said Naomi Asher, executive director of CASA of the Tennessee Heartland. “Every dollar raised will help provide a voice in court for an abused and neglected child right here in our community.”

The Comfort Inn Oak Ridge will serve as the official site for “Pictures with Santa” throughout the holidays. T. Whigham Photography will be taking professional photos with Santa at the hotel from Friday, Nov. 29, through Saturday, Dec. 21. The hours are as follows: Monday through Friday from 4 p.m.-7:30 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sundays from noon-6 p.m. One dollar from every photo taken will benefit CASA and will be matched by Enrichment Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

County, school officials start campaign to protect children from online predators

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Officials in Anderson County and at local schools have announced an educational campaign designed to protect children from online sexual predators.

Among the concerns are sexting, or the exchange of explicit photos, usually using smart phones, District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release.

Clark is working with Anderson County Sheriff Paul White and the Anderson County, Clinton, and Oak Ridge school systems. He said a letter is being sent out to the parents of every child in grades five through 10 in those three systems.

“We want to make parents aware of the dangers posed by online predators and provide them with some strategies to help keep their families safe,” Clark said. [Read more…]

Learn more about Roane State’s AMTEC job training program Dec. 2, Dec. 10

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Anyone interested in Roane State Community College’s Advanced Materials Training and Education Center, or AMTEC—a no-cost, high-tech job training program for those who are unemployed or underemployed—is invited to upcoming meetings at the college’s Clinton location and at the Oak Ridge campus.

The meeting at the Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility, 214 Nave St, will be held Monday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. The meeting at the Oak Ridge campus, 701 Briarcliff Ave., will be held Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 6 p.m. in the back room inside Anderson’s Grille.

Please call (865) 481-5436 to reserve your seat. [Read more…]

ORHS basketball clinic for Boys, Girls Club league on Monday

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Coach Aaron Green and the Oak Ridge High School basketball staff are hosting a free basketball skills camp on Monday for the Boys and Girls Club league.

The clinic is for children from kindergarten to seventh grade, and it’s from 6-7 p.m. Monday at the Oak Ridge High School Wildcat Arena. There is a coaches’ question-and-answer session from 7 to 7:30 p.m.

Call (865) 482-4433 for more information, or visit the Boys and Girls Club on Facebook.

A service of lessons, carols at First United Methodist Church

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Tis the Season! Tis the season when Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and what better way than through a traditional service of lessons and carols? Come to this festive service, comprised of the stories and songs of Christmas, on Sunday, Dec. 1, at 6:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church at 1350 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The Service of Lessons and Carols was first held on Christmas Eve 1918 at King’s College in Cambridge, England. Since then, it has been celebrated throughout the world, sometimes still on Christmas Eve, otherwise sometime during the season of Advent, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. While the backbone of the service, the lessons, has remained virtually unchanged, there is much beautiful and moving Christmas music to choose from when organizing such a service. [Read more…]

Forum on homelessness in Anderson County on Tuesday

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Experts from social service agencies and faith-based groups will discuss homelessness in Anderson County during a Tuesday evening forum.

The forum starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. It’s been organized by the Trinity Out-Reach Center of Hope, or TORCH, and ORUUC.

The experts and community members will also discuss factors that contribute to homelessness in the county, explore potential solutions, and consider how to begin a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, a press release said. The discussion will also outline ways that people can be involved in the upcoming “Point In Time Count.”
 [Read more…]

‘Messiah’ sing-along at ORUUC on Sunday, Dec. 8

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The Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church is having its annual “Messiah” sing-along on Sunday, Dec. 8.

Under the direction of Sandy Wells, the sing-along will begin at 5 p.m. Dec. 8 in the church sanctuary, and it will last about one hour, a press release said. The concert will be presented by 30 area singers accompanied by a 20-piece orchestra.

Everyone is welcome, and music will be provided for early-arriving audience members. Admission is free. [Read more…]

Horses seized, Anderson County man charged

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton man was arrested Wednesday on animal cruelty charges after two horses described as underfed and very thin were seized from his property.

The horses were seized from the property of Jason Shipley on Wednesday by Anderson County Animal Control officers and taken to the University of Tennessee Veterinary School for evaluation. The horses were then turned over to Horse Haven of Tennessee, where they are said to be doing well.

Shipley was charged with two counts of animal cruelty, and he was also picked up on several outstanding warrants unrelated to Wednesday’s incident.

UT economics professor to discuss virtues, limits of free markets

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Marianne Wanamaker

Marianne Wanamaker

An assistant economics professor at the University of Tennessee will discuss the virtues and limits of free markets during a noon lecture Tuesday.

Marianne Wanamaker will be the guest speaker at Lunch with the League at lunchtime Tuesday at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. Her presentation is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.

Wanamaker is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics in the University Of Tennessee’s College of Business Administration. [Read more…]

Gun season for deer opened Nov. 23, continues through Jan. 5

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The Tennessee gun season for deer opened Nov. 23 and continues through Jan. 5, state officials said.

It’s the third year there has been a continuous season. The continuous season replaced the previously two segmented hunting seasons that were in place prior to 2011, a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency press release said.

The TWRA divides the state into three deer hunting units: A, B, and L. Hunters may harvest one antlered buck per day until the statewide bag limit of three is reached, including those deer harvested during archery and muzzleloader seasons, the press release said. An antlered buck is a buck with an antler at least three inches long. [Read more…]

Linden student becomes unresponsive on bus, pronounced dead at hospital

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Linden Elementary School

Linden Elementary School is pictured above.

A Linden Elementary School student who became unresponsive on the bus ride home Tuesday afternoon was later pronounced dead at Methodist Medical Center, school officials said Tuesday evening.

“It is a very sad day for Linden Elementary, Oak Ridge Schools, and the entire Oak Ridge community,” Oak Ridge Schools said in a press release. “The thoughts and prayers of the Linden and Oak Ridge Schools’ staff go out to the family. The student was a wonderful student who was a Lion through and through.

“Please join us in keeping his family, friends, and the entire Linden Elementary School family in your thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time.”

Linden Elementary School will provide grief counselors at the school on Wednesday to help students, parents, and friends deal with their thoughts and feelings associated with this loss, the release said.

The boy was not identified.

More information will be added as it becomes available.