Oak Ridge Today

CONTACT Care Line to bring new film ‘The Listeners’ to Oak Ridge

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Trainee Kortney Rist in the call room at Headquarters Counseling Center., from a scene in the documentary The Listeners. (Photo submitted by CONTACT Care Line)

Trainee Kortney Rist in the call room at Headquarters Counseling Center., from a scene in the documentary The Listeners. (Photo submitted by CONTACT Care Line)

 

Special one-time screening of a new documentary about suicide hotline volunteers; screening requires 80  tickets to be sold by Thursday, April 27

CONTACT Care Line will be hosting a one-time screening of “The Listeners” in Oak Ridge on Thursday, May 4.

“The Listeners” follows a cadre of new volunteer trainees in crisis and suicide prevention as they learn to answer suicide hotlines, a press release said.

“Through their eyes—and more importantly, their ears—the film examines mental health and suicide prevention strategies, volunteerism, and the life-saving power of empathy,” the press release said.

The event includes a brief introduction to the work of CONTACT Care Line and concludes with a 15-minute opportunity for questions.

The film is being screened through Tugg.com, a platform that helps organizations to host screenings in their local theaters. Tickets can be purchased at www.tugg.com/events/the-listeners-xxbt. [Read more…]

USW, UCOR offer hazardous waste response training to local high school students

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Students from three Morgan County high schools receive certificates after completing 40-hour HAZWOPER training. Also pictured are Joseph Miller, Director of the Morgan County Career and Technical Center, and Sarah Seavers, counselor. (Photo by UCOR)

Students from three Morgan County high schools receive certificates after completing 40-hour HAZWOPER training. Also pictured are Joseph Miller, Director of the Morgan County Career and Technical Center, and Sarah Seavers, counselor. (Photo by UCOR)

 

Students from three Morgan County high schools are now trained in hazardous waste emergency response thanks to a 40-hour class offered by the United Steel Workers in partnership with URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, a press release said.

Participants in the class, commonly called HAZWOPER (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response), were from Coalfield High School, Sunbright School, and Wartburg Central High School. Twenty students attended the training, which was held at the Morgan County Career and Technical Center in Wartburg from March 27 to April 3.

“We were very excited to participate with USW and UCOR to offer this hazardous waste training class,” said  Joseph Miller, director of the center. “As a result of this training, our students have earned a credential that will allow them to more easily transition from school to the work force.” [Read more…]

Community forum on immigration is Thursday

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De Ann Pendry

De Ann Pendry

There will be a community forum on immigration in Oak Ridge on Thursday.

A press release said the forum will provide information on how immigration has been affected by current politics and the issue of living without documentation in Oak Ridge.

The main speaker will be De Ann Pendry, a senior lecturer and adjunct assistant professor in anthropology at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

The forum is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 27, in the sanctuary at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The forum is free, and the public is invited, the press release said. It’s sponsored by Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge, or WIDOR; Oak Ridge Interfaith Partnership, or ORIP and the League of Women Voters, or LWV. [Read more…]

Learn about this summer’s total solar eclipse at ORICL

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Chip Bailey, seen here on the banjo, taught an ORICL course earlier this year on Celtic music in Ireland and Scotland and will teach a course this summer on Celtic music in eastern Canada. He is a teaching artist with the Tennessee Arts Commission. (Submitted photo)

Chip Bailey, seen here on the banjo, taught an ORICL course earlier this year on Celtic music in Ireland and Scotland and will teach a course this summer on Celtic music in eastern Canada. He is a teaching artist with the Tennessee Arts Commission. (Submitted photo)

Would you like to know more about the August 21 total solar eclipse, investing to make your retirement secure, famous Tennessee ladies, Emily Dickinson’s nimble mind, and the inventions of Knoxville’s Weston Fulton (“Edison of the South”)?

Do you have a hankering for learning about and hearing more Celtic music, as discussed and played by Chip Bailey, a teaching artist with the Tennessee Arts Commission?

Want to learn how to travel the world the easy way, write a memoir, crochet creatively, and do visual journaling? How to identify summer birds and butterflies on the Melton Lake Greenway, prepare and cook three Asian dishes, do cryptal varietal crossword puzzles, upgrade a computer, and determine when to replace your PC?

Read Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” out loud with others? Hear about successful and healthy aging, calories and metabolism and “blue zones,” where people live the longest?

These are among the courses offered during the summer 2017 term of the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning, starting June 5 and ending August 4. [Read more…]

Relay for Life will offer chance to remember loved ones, honor those battling cancer

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American Cancer Society Relay for Life Luminaria

During this year’s American Cancer Society Relay For Life event in Anderson County, participants will have the chance to remember loved ones and honor those battling cancer with a special luminaria ceremony. This moving ceremony will be held at 9:30 p.m. Friday, May 5, at Melton Lake Park in Oak Ridge as hundreds of these beacons of hope are illuminated, a press release said.

“Each luminaria represents the love that families and friends have for a survivor who has won the battle against cancer, for the memory of someone who lost the fight, or as a symbol of hope for those who are currently battling cancer,” the press release said.

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life began in 1985, and it remains a celebration of survivorship and remembrance that raises funds for and awareness of the fight against cancer.

“The Relay’s luminaria ceremony symbolizes the hope and courage with which we continue to work toward a cure for this deadly disease,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Anderson, Roane schools closed Monday; Briceville Highway closed due to ‘slide issues’

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State Route 116 in Anderson County, also known as Briceville Highway, is closed at Hawkins Road due to “slide issues,” the Tennessee Department of Transportation said Sunday. Also Sunday, Anderson County Schools and Roane County Schools both announced they will be closed Monday.

TDOT said traffic on Briceville Highway is being diverted to county roads.

“Use caution in this area,” TDOT said.

Hawkins Road is southwest of Rocky Top (the former Lake City) and northeast of Briceville.

Briceville Highway had earlier been reported to be closed in Briceville due to sinking pavement on Sunday afternoon. [Read more…]

UT students studied how to use Centennial for more than golf; hear their recommendations Tuesday

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Centennial Golf Course in east Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

Centennial Golf Course in east Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

A team of graduate business students at the University of Tennessee have studied ways the city can use Centennial Golf Course for more than just golf, and the students will present their recommendations on Tuesday. The meeting is open to the public.

The graduate students are from UT’s Master of Business Administration, or MBA, program. They will present their recommendations from a recent “Innovations in Practice” project to the City of Oak Ridge at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.

There has been discussion of how to increase revenues at the golf course, including at Oak Ridge City Council meetings when the city has been asked to provide more money for the golf course.

A press release said the study of Centennial Golf Course took the group of four MBA students approximately seven weeks to complete. [Read more…]

Acting Oak Ridge site manager of Manhattan Project park to give info, ask for input Monday

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Niki Nicholas

Niki Nicholas

 

The acting site manager of the Oak Ridge unit of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present information on the park and ask for input about the project during a meeting on Monday.

Besides being acting site manager of the Oak Ridge park unit, Niki Stephanie Nicholas is also superintendent of both the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and the Obed Wild and Scenic River.

The Monday meeting is open to the public. It’s a general meeting of AAUW (American Association of University Women), and it’s scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. Monday, April 24, in Room 102 at First Presbyterian Church.

A soup and sandwich luncheon, catered by The Soup Kitchen, will be served at 11:30 a.m., with the program beginning at noon, a press release said. The cost for the lunch is $8. There will be cookies and iced tea and coffee also. Reservations may be made by calling Mary Uziel at (865) 483-1043. Reservations are asked for those also who plan to bring a sack lunch to ensure adequate seating for the program. [Read more…]

Emergency workers respond to car crash, fallen trees, flooding

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Oak-Ridge-Flooding-Oak-Ridge-Turnpike-Illinois-Avenue-April-22-2017-Slider

Floodwaters rose close to road level at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue after heavy rains fell in Oak Ridge on Saturday afternoon and evening, April 22, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge emergency workers responded to a car crash that injured two people, two fallen trees, and a possible apartment complex evacuation due to flooding during the severe thunderstorms on Saturday.

Heavy rain from the storms led to widespread flooding in Oak Ridge starting late Saturday afternoon. The water appeared to have receded in places a few hours later, or by early Saturday night.

Emergency workers made preparations Saturday evening to possibly evacuate apartments on Royce Circle, where water covered part of the roadway and rose near the first floor of an apartment complex at the northeast end of the circle. The apartments, which are next to Robertsville Road and just east of Willow Brook Elementary School, are in a low-lying area between two creeks that flow down along Jefferson Avenue and intersect with East Fork Poplar Creek, which was swollen with floodwaters on Saturday.

Authorities had made preparations to see how many people lived on the first floor of the Royce Circle apartment complex in case the residents had to be evacuated, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said. Of the 10 people there, all but one had another place to go, he said. Authorities were watching the water, Kerley said.

“We think it’s receding,” he said Saturday night. [Read more…]

Using DUI simulation goggles, ACHS students learn how alcohol, drugs impair driving

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The School Resource Unit of the Anderson County Sheriff's Department and Allies For Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County, or ASAP, in cooperation with Anderson County Schools, hosted a DUI Simulation Event on Friday morning, April 21, 2017 for students at Anderson County High School. (Photo courtesy Anderson County Sheriff's Department)

The School Resource Unit of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and Allies For Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County, or ASAP, in cooperation with Anderson County Schools, hosted a DUI Simulation Event on Friday morning, April 21, 2017 for students at Anderson County High School. (Photo courtesy Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

 

The School Resource Unit of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and Allies For Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County, or ASAP, in cooperation with Anderson County Schools, hosted a DUI Simulation Event on Friday morning for students at Anderson County High School.

Using DUI simulation goggles, students were able to see first-hand the effects of driving while under the influence, or DUI. These goggles simulate different levels of blood alcohol in a person’s system, a press release said. Students drove golf carts through a driving course and participated in field sobriety tests. All of the students who were “tested” could see how alcohol and drugs can seriously impair driving and coordination, the press release said.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol, Clinton Police Department, Anderson County EMS, Anderson County Rescue Squad, Andersonville Fire Department, Clinton Fire Department, and Lifestar, along with representatives with Anderson County Schools, were on hand for this event. [Read more…]

ORAU awards two teachers with $5,000 Extreme Classroom Makeover grants

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Donna Widner and her students at Oliver Springs Middle School received a $5,000 grant as runners-up in the 2017 ORAU Extreme Classroom Makeover competition. (Photo by ORAU)

Donna Widner and her students at Oliver Springs Middle School received a $5,000 grant as runners-up in the 2017 ORAU Extreme Classroom Makeover competition. (Photo by ORAU)

 

Oliver Springs Middle School in Roane County and Shannondale Elementary School in Knox County have been announced as runners-up in the 2017 ORAU Extreme Classroom Makeover competition during surprise classroom visits, according to a press release on Friday.

ORAU made surprise visits to the two schools and their students and teachers, and presented each with a $5,000 grant as runners-up in the competition.

April Lamb, a STEM teacher at Shannondale Elementary School in Knox County, and Donna Widner, a math teacher at Oliver Springs Middle School in Roane County, will use the grants to outfit their classrooms with new technology. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. [Read more…]

General Assembly approves bill that would establish CROET as ETTP manager

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The East Tennessee Technology Park, now known as Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above in this aerial photo from 2015. The large building that extends from left to right at left-center is the former K-27 Building, where demolition work was completed in August 2016. (Photo courtesy CROET)

The East Tennessee Technology Park, now known as Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above in this aerial photo from 2015. The large building that extends from left to right at left-center is the former K-27 Building, where demolition work was completed in August 2016. (Photo courtesy CROET)

 

The Tennessee General Assembly has approved legislation that would establish the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, or CROET, as the manager of the 1,300-acre East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The legislation was sponsored by Tennessee Senator Ken Yager and Representative Kent Calfee, both Kingston Republicans. It has been sent to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam for his signature.

East Tennessee Technology Park, or ETTP, is also known as Heritage Center and the former K-25 site. It once housed the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which was built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons, before Germany could.

The ETTP site, once used to enrich uranium, is slowly being cleaned up. K-25 operations ended in 1985, and the site was permanently shut down in 1987. Now, it is being slowly converted into a large industrial park. Proponents hope it will become one of East Tennessee’s prime locations for new industry, the press release said.

CROET President Lawrence Young said the state legislation “is the latest step in efforts by the Department of Energy and CROET to reindustrialize the former K-25 site and help diversify the region’s economy.” [Read more…]