Oak Ridge Today

Pet Fest and Blessing is Saturday

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Horse Haven of Tennessee will have their popular miniature horse Twinkles at the 18th Annual Pet Fest and Blessing, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019. (Submitted photo)

Grace Lutheran Church of Oak Ridge will celebrate its 18th Annual Pet Fest and Blessing on Saturday, October 5.

“This year’s event will provide a chance to spend an enjoyable afternoon with your pet while you gather important information about the services and associations available to pets and their owners,” a press release said.

The Blessing of the Animals will be held in the pavilion behind the church at 4 p.m. The church will also hold a bake sale, rummage sale, and silent auction to raise funds for all the participating rescue groups. Boy Scouts and other volunteers will walk your pet while you shop, the press release said.

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Oak Ridge Business Office to be temporarily relocated

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Oak Ridge Utilities Business Office Exterior
Oak Ridge Utilities Business Office (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Utilities Business Office will temporarily relocate to the Oak Ridge Civic Center for about four months to allow workers to renovate the office to improve safety and efficiency, a press release said.

The Utilities Business Office is where Oak Ridge residents can pay utility bills and city taxes.

The temporary relocation, which will start Monday, October 7, was announced by the Oak Ridge Electric Department.

“The move is due to planned renovations of the UBO that are needed to increase efficiency and safety,” the press release said. “The affected offices are normally located inside the Oak Ridge Municipal Building at 200 South Tulane Avenue. Signs will be posted to direct patrons to the temporary offices.”

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New Senior Center opens Thursday

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The front of the new Oak Ridge Senior Center is pictured above. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The new Oak Ridge Senior Center opens today (Thursday, September 26) in Alvin K. Bissell Park in central Oak Ridge.

The new Senior Center was scheduled to open at 9 a.m. Normal operating hours were scheduled to resume Thursday, and so were most activities.

The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department called it a “soft opening.” Oak Ridge municipal officials are planning a ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony for later, and details will be announced soon, a press release said.

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Judge voids UPF decision, requires more seismic hazard analysis

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Y-12 Uranium Processing Facility
Structural steel installation is under way on the eastern half of the Main Process Building of the Uranium Processing Facility, the Y-12 National Security Complex said Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Note This story was last updated at 9:38 a.m. Sept. 25.

A federal judge in Knoxville on Tuesday said a critical decision made in 2016 for enriched uranium operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex, including for the $6.5 billion Uranium Processing Facility, violated a national environmental law, and she ordered the decision vacated, or set aside.

The UPF is already under construction, and Wedenesday morning, the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees work at Y-12, said construction will continue.

The 104-page opinion and order was filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela L. Reeves.

One of the plaintiffs said the decision to vacate the amended record of decision published in the Federal Register in 2016 means the NNSA no longer has the legal authority to continue construction work at UPF.

But the NNSA said it was pleased that the court’s memorandum opinion rejected almost all of the plaintiff’s claims regarding National Environmental Policy Act violations related to UPF construction.

“However, with the court agreeing that there was inadequate consideration of new information concerning seismic hazards at Y-12, NNSA will review the seismic analysis while conferring with the Department of Justice on the possibility of appeal,” the NNSA said. “In the meantime, construction of UPF will proceed.”

Besides the amended record of decision, Reeves said supplement analyses prepared in 2016 and 2018 also violated the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, and she said they were to be set aside as well.

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Warrants: Police find about three ounces of suspected meth

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Otis Kevin Aslinger
Otis Kevin Aslinger

Two men have been charged with a Class A felony drug crime after police allegedly found about three ounces of suspected methamphetamine during a search of a vehicle in Oak Ridge in August, according to court records.

Warrants filed in the case said the vehicle, a pickup truck, was searched after agents of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force and officers of the Oak Ridge Police Department conducted surveillance along South Illinois Avenue at about 6 p.m. Monday, August 5.

“A black Chevrolet step-side pickup truck was observed pulling into the parking lot of Big Lots (at) 250 South Illinois Avenue,” the warrants said. “The female driver of the vehicle parked while a male passenger exited and got into the passenger side of a newer model Ford F-150 pickup.”

Agents identified both the driver of the F-150 and the passenger, according to the warrants, which were filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge by CTF Agent S. Perry Lewis.

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Manhattan Project Park: Commemorate tennis court dances in Jackson Square

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Oak Ridge Tennis Court Dance NPS
This undated photo shows a tennis court dance in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will commemorate the tennis court dances that occurred in Jackson Square 75 years ago with a dance and costume contest in October.

The Tennis Court Dance and Costume Contest is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, October 11, in the Jackson Square tennis courts. The free event will feature swing dancing music from the 1940s World War II era.

The National Park Service is partnering with Explore Oak Ridge to host the dance, a press release said.

“All ages are welcome to attend and everyone is encouraged to participate in the costume contest with their best 1940s costume,” the press release said. “One winner will be announced for best individual costume and one for group costumes.”

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Small business donates $10,000 for new Center for Math & Science at Pellissippi State

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GEM Check Presentation

Romaine Evans, GEM vice president; Michael Evans, GEM president/CEO; Ryan Overton, GEM vice president; Anthony Wise, Pellissippi State president. Left to right, back row: Susanna Waters, GEM business development manager; Esam Abid, GEM employee and current student at Pellissippi; and Ben Jerrell, GEM chief financial officer. (Submitted photo)

 

GEM Technologies has donated $10,000 to the Pellissippi State Community College Foundation to support the construction of the new Bill Haslam Center for Math and Science, a press release said.

Pellissippi State is Tennessee’s largest community college, and the 82,000-foot Bill Haslam Center for Math and Science will play an integral part in meeting the increasing demand for lab spaces and classrooms on Pellissippi State’s Hardin Valley Campus, which has the largest enrollment of the college’s five campuses, the press release said.

“As a long-time neighbor to Pellissippi State’s Hardin Valley Campus, GEM is thrilled to partner with the college as they continue their excellent work educating the students of the community,” said GEM President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Evans after presenting GEM’s contribution to Pellissippi State President L. Anthony Wise Jr. on September 13. [Read more…]

Minister, climate activist to speak Sunday, Sept. 29, at First Presbyterian

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On Sunday, September 29, First Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge will host the Reverend Jim Antal, a climate activist, a press release said. He will teach Sunday school at 9 a.m., following a continental breakfast, and deliver the sermon during the 10:30 a.m. worship service, the press release said.

Antal is the author of “Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change.”

The press release said Antal is a graduate of Princeton University, Andover Newton Theological School, and Yale Divinity School, which in 2017, honored him with the William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice. [Read more…]

ORAU sponsors U.S. student researchers to attend Heidelberg Laureate Forum in Germany

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Part of the ORAU campus in central Oak Ridge is pictured above on May 29, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

ORAU will again sponsor young researchers in the fields of mathematics and computer science to attend the Seventh Heidelberg Laureate Forum from September 22-27 in Heidelberg, Germany.

The Heidelberg Laureate Forum is a gathering of laureates of some of the most prestigious prizes in mathematics and computer science, namely the Abel Prize and Fields Medal as well as the Turing Award and Nevanlinna Prize. Held annually for a week in Heidelberg, Germany, the Heidelberg Laureate Forum brings these laureates at the apex of their careers together with 200 high-achieving graduate student and postdoctoral counterparts from around the world, a press release said.

The forum gives early career researchers an opportunity for interaction that is typically not available within the normal university environment or in their home university department, whereby the laureates provided formal plenary lectures and led small group discussions with topics driven by a combination of prepared presentations by the laureates as well as student questions, the press release said. [Read more…]

Pumpkin Fest returning to Grove Center in October

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Pumpkin Fest is returning to Grove Center in October, a press release said.

The free festival is scheduled from 12 to 5 p.m. Saturday, October 26. It will include kid and pet costume contests, a halloween parade, pie eating contest, trick-or-treating for children, craft vendors, music, a scavenger hunt, pumpkin carving contest, and more, the press release said.

The Grove Center Festival Association is looking for local businesses to help sponsor the return of the festival, the press release said.

“Company sponsors will be helping bring a family-oriented and free community event back to Oak Ridge,” the release said. [Read more…]

For members: Man sentenced to 14 years after taking van from woman in wheelchair

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Bradley Allan Thomas

CLINTON—A Knoxville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday after he stole a van from a woman in a wheelchair in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant in Oak Ridge last year.

Bradley Allan Thomas, 31, received a 12-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, a Class B felony. He will be required to serve 85 percent of that sentence before he could be eligible for a parole hearing. Authorities had alleged that Thomas pushed the woman out and took the van through force or intimidation while using a deadly weapon (a large knife).

Bradley Allan Thomas

 

A Knoxville man was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Thursday after he stole a van from a woman in a wheelchair in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant in Oak Ridge last year. Authorities had alleged that the man pushed the woman out and took the van through force or intimidation while using a deadly weapon (a large knife).

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ORHPA to celebrate $80,000 grant at History Museum

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Photo by Oak Ridge History Museum

The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association will celebrate its 20th anniversary and the receipt of an S80,000 state grant during a ceremony on Saturday.

The state grant is for the new Oak Ridge History Museum, a press release said.

The public is invited to Saturday’s ceremony. The Oak Ridge History Museum is at 102 Robertsville Road in central Oak Ridge.

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