Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge Civic Ballet to present ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘The Firebird’ on Saturday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association will present “Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Firebird” on Saturday, April 8, at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. (Photo by ORCBA)

The Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association will present “Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Firebird” on Saturday, April 8, at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. (Photo by ORCBA)

 

The Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association will present “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Firebird” on Saturday.

You will also have a chance to meet “Belle” and her royal friends at the Princess Tea Party on Saturday.

Both events are at Oak Ridge High School. The Princess Tea Party is Saturday morning, April 8, and the shows are Saturday afternoon and evening.

“Beauty and the Beast,” is the classic tale of an arrogant prince who is turned into a hideous Beast until he learns to love and be loved in return, a press release said. Directed and choreographed by Sharon Nicklow-Cousins and Sarah Jett, the talented dancers of the Civic Ballet bring to life Belle, the Beast, and their castle servants.

“The whole family will enjoy the ballet as our gifted dancers enter the world of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’” said Christy Rickman, ORCBA president. [Read more…]

Roane State’s Anderson County Middle College students excited about graduation day

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Roane State Middle College students, from left, Miranda Vanover, Braelee Givens, and Emily Pooler will graduate from Roane State Community College before they graduate from high school. (Photo by Roane State)

Roane State Middle College students, from left, Miranda Vanover, Braelee Givens, and Emily Pooler will graduate from Roane State Community College before they graduate from high school. (Photo by Roane State)

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

A group of bright high achievers from Anderson County will be wearing commencement’s traditional caps and gowns twice this spring.

Members of the first graduating class of Middle College students from Anderson County will receive associate degrees from Roane State Community College on May 6.

Then, they’ll be graduating from their respective high schools later that month.

Middle College is a two-year Roane State program where area high school sophomores with qualifying grades and test scores are invited as juniors to attend college in the mornings and return to their high schools in the afternoon.

Middle College gives participants a huge leg up in terms of college credits, and they’ll start the rest of their collegiate careers with two years of higher education classes under their belts. [Read more…]

DOE’s public bus tour began in March, continues through November

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

DOE Public Bus Tour

A U.S. Department of Energy public bus tour in August 2012. (File DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

 

Visitors see Oak Ridge’s past and present

The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2017 Oak Ridge facilities public bus tour began March 3 and continues through November 27. The tour offers visitors a first-hand look at the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70 years, a press release said.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular destination for tourists visiting the area, the release said. Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted more than 40,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour tour allows visitors to see the Oak Ridge Reservation and learn historical facts and updates on the world-class missions underway in Oak Ridge.

The bus tour itinerary includes: [Read more…]

St. Mary’s student participates in National Honor Choir in Minnesota

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Anna Kasemir, an eighth-grader at St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge, participated in the American Choral Directors Association 2017 National Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in March in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was accompanied by her music teacher, music teacher, Carol Villaverde. (Photo courtesy St. Mary's)

Anna Kasemir, an eighth-grader at St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge, participated in the American Choral Directors Association 2017 National Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in March in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was accompanied by her music teacher, Carol Villaverde. (Photo courtesy St. Mary’s)

 

Anna Kasemir, an eighth-grader at St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge, recently participated in the American Choral Directors Association 2017 National Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir.

More than 4,400 singers auditioned to participate in the three conference honor choirs. Of the 298 singers selected to sing in the Junior High/Middle School choir, Kasemir was the only singer from the state of Tennessee.

The ACDA National Conference was hosted at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from March 8-11. The event involved more than 5,000 attendees, in which all fifty states were represented as well as 30 foreign countries, a press release said.

The Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir performed in two concerts on Saturday, March 11. [Read more…]

UT professor to discuss last year’s wildfires on April 13 in Oak Ridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Henri Grissino-Mayer

Henri Grissino-Mayer

A University of Tennessee professor will discuss the devastating wildfires in the Southeast in 2016 during a talk in Oak Ridge on April 13.

The featured speaker will be UT professor Henri Grissino-Mayer, a renowned expert on ecosystems, a press release said. He will address the devastating fires, their cause, and what the future may be, a press release said.

The talk is titled “The 2016 Wildfires in the Southeastern U.S.: What Comes Next after Gatlinburg?” It will be presented by the University of Tennessee Arboretum Society.

It’s scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13, in the UT Arboretum Auditorium at 901 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

Grissino-Mayer is a professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science. [Read more…]

Registration for 2017 Summer Camp began April 1

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Registration for the 2017 Summer Camp sponsored by the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department began on Saturday, April 1. Online registration is available at https://apm.activecommunities.com/oakridgerecandparks/Home.

Space is limited, and the camp will fill up quickly, a press release said. Early registration is recommended.

In addition to online registration, walk-in registration for cash or check payment will be available during regular Oak Ridge Civic Center hours (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Walk-in registrants should complete an online profile/account before coming in to register. The staff will complete the registration at the front desk, the press release said.

The first session of camp will begin on June 5 and run for eight consecutive weeks, Monday through Friday. There will be no camp on Tuesday, July 4. Campers must be six to twelve years of age, or have completed kindergarten, the press release said. [Read more…]

Information about plans for new Friendship Bell site to be shared Monday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

oak-ridge-international-frienship-bell-interior-scaled

Design of the Peace Pavilion for the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell by Demian\Wilbur\Architects, Washington, D.C.

 

Submitted

Peace. Can it be attained in 2017?

“My Faith’s Traditions/Teachings on Personal and World Peace” will be the topic of a panel discussion held by the Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge, or WIDOR, on April 3 at 11 a.m. at the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge, the Beth El Center, at 101 West Madison Lane in Oak Ridge. Everyone is invited, a press release said.

The first speaker on the panel, Shigeko Uppuluri, will present on the peaceful intentions of those who arranged to bring the Friendship Bell to Oak Ridge from Japan and share information about the plans for its new site, the press release said. [Read more…]

Central Baptist has Easter Resurrection Celebration on Saturday, April 8

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Central Baptist Church of Oak Ridge

Central Baptist Church of Oak Ridge

Central Baptist Church of Oak Ridge has its annual Easter Resurrection Celebration on Saturday, April 8.

The celebration is from 12-1:30 p.m. April 8. Free hot dogs, games, blow ups, and the story of Easter, along with an egg hunt, will be available to all preschoolers and children through the sixth grade, a press release said. Activities will be held rain or shine.

Please enter the church at the west side of parking area, the press release said. For more information, call Central Baptist Church at (865) 483-7495 or email Darla Comeaux at dsc804@bellsouth.net.

Central Baptist Church is at 130 Providence Road.

This press release was submitted by Darla Comeaux.

Roane State Massage Therapy Club offering massages through end of April

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Roane State Massage Therapy Club members, from left, Mary Lewis, Brooke Lee, and Ciarra Wallace process the requisite paperwork for people seeking massages during the club’s Friday afternoon fundraising program. (Photo by Roane State)

Roane State Massage Therapy Club members, from left, Mary Lewis, Brooke Lee, and Ciarra Wallace process the requisite paperwork for people seeking massages during the club’s Friday afternoon fundraising program. (Photo by Roane State)

 

It’s a relaxing way to start a weekend, and the donations to this fundraiser also help Roane State club members obtain the licenses they need to launch their careers.

It’s the Roane State Massage Therapy Club’s program to offer one-hour, full-body massages. The cost is $25. Roane State students, faculty, and staff get a $5 discount.

The 17 students in the club provide the full-body massages from 1 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. on Fridays in the massage therapy area, located at the west end of the Goff Building on the Oak Ridge Campus.

This year’s edition of the annual fundraiser is being conducted through April 29, except on Good Friday. [Read more…]

Working together through community organizing topic at Lunch with the League

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A Tuesday lunch will focus on ways people within the community can create positive changes through community organizing, a press release said. The public is invited.

It’s Lunch with the League at noon Tuesday, April 4, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, or ORUUC. Reverend Jake Morrill will be the featured speaker.

ORUUC is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

“Community organizing is a road-tested model of effective democracy in local communities,” Morrill said in a press release. “Building on relationships forged in one-on-one conversations, effective organizing helps neighbors form a network that gets big things done. How could this model for democracy work in Oak Ridge?” [Read more…]

Professor to discuss gay civil rights movements on Monday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Roane State Community College professor Don Windham will be the guest speaker at the Monday, April 3, PFLAG meeting. In his presentation, Windham will explore the rise of early gay civil rights movements beginning with the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis to today, a press release said. The public is invited.

The meeting will be held at the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge located at 101 West Madison Lane. Social time will start at 6:45 pm. The meeting will be from 7-8 p.m.

Windham has been professor of psychology at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge since 1990, the press release said. He has a doctorate in psychology from the University of Tennessee. [Read more…]

Clinton man sentenced to 30 years in death of mother fleeing dispute

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Kieth William Pittman

Kieth William Pittman

 

CLINTON—A Clinton man was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday for the 2014 stabbing death of a mother trying to flee a domestic dispute.

Kieth William Pittman, 28, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder and a second charge of tampering with evidence. He was sentenced to 25 years on the second-degree murder charge and five years on the tampering with evidence charge.

The sentences must be served consecutively, meaning Pittman has an effective 30-year sentence, Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge said during a plea agreement hearing in Clinton on Thursday.

The victim, Heather McKamey, 22, was a mother of three boys. She and Pittman had two of the boys together.

McKamey was stabbed outside her apartment at 301 Park Avenue in north Clinton after an argument between her and Pittman became physical at about 2:25 a.m. Saturday, April 19, 2014, according to police reports and an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

“While both the victim (McKamey) and suspect (Pittman) were in the driveway, the suspect stabbed the victim in the stomach with the knife he had taken from the kitchen,” according to the affidavit, filed by Clinton Police Department Detective Sergeant Russell Barker. “Witnesses advised the victim fled down Park Avenue to McAdoo Street yelling for help, and the suspect chased her.” [Read more…]