Dianne Farris
The Oak Ridge Wind Ensemble/Community Band will feature music of England, Ireland, and Scotland in a “Music of the British Isles” concert next week.
The concert is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, February 12, at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center, which is at 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
It’s part of the Wind Ensemble/Community Band’s “Exploring Our Roots” series for the 2016-2017 season. [Read more…]
Robert Johnson
You can hear an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a Thursday evening meeting.
The meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 9, at the Midtown Community Center’s Wildcat Den at 102 Robertsville Road. It’s open to the public.
Robert Johnson will present an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge. He will discuss the status of the park and announce upcoming events, a press release said.
Here are some links to website pages on the park, which also includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico: [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge High School Fusion Orchestra performs on the “Blue Plate Special” on WDVX 89.9 FM at the Grove Theater in Oak Ridge on Friday, Feb. 3, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Oak Ridge High School Fusion Orchestra performed on the “Blue Plate Special” radio show on WDVX FM 89.9 on Friday. Here are photos from the show.
The groundbreaking fusion orchestra is now in its second year at ORHS, and it is the brainchild of ORHS Orchestra Director Doug Phillips, a press release said. According to Phillips, the class is a result of his doctoral studies during the past seven years at one of the top music universities in the world: Boston University.
“The class is a unique way to teach orchestra students for several reasons,” Phillips said. “First, in a traditional orchestra, all of the students are guided by notes on a paper that tell them exactly what to do and when to do it, how loud to play it, when to stop, etc., while the teacher acts as an overseer and dictates of all activities. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge High School Orchestra students pictured from left above are Jade Dush, Hannah Constance, Lindsey Young, Olivia Mahathy, Mandy Pitz, Jamimie Clark, Meghan Campbell, HyeJi Bang, Aaron Beavin, Logan Roeling, Alek Wereszczak, Noah Constance, Kenny Moon, Eagle Yuan, Jared Anderson, Michael Ma, and Jay Casey. (Photo courtesy Doug Phillips)
Oak Ridge High School Orchestra placed 17 students in the All-East TN Orchestra Clinic. The clinic was held in Gatlinburg this weekend. The students are pictured above. They are: [Read more…]
Anderson County’s newest dispatchers graduated from the Communications Deputy Training Academy on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. (Photo by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)
Anderson County’s newest dispatchers graduated from the Communications Deputy Training Academy on Friday, January 27.
The new communications deputies are Tiffany Haines, Amy Purkey, and Brittany Streetman. They have spent the last 10 weeks in an intensive training program to prepare them to answer the call for help from citizens, dispatch the appropriate emergency responders, and render life saving medical care until those resources arrive, a press release said.
The training program included basic public safety telecommunicator training, CPR and emergency medical dispatcher training, specialized courses in criminal law, incident command (NIMS), best practices response for missing and exploited children, area familiarization including ride-a-longs with EMS (emergency medical services) and law enforcement personnel, and many other topics, the press release said. [Read more…]
Brandan Justin Holeton
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a runway juvenile.
Brandan Justin Holeton, 14, ran away from his home in the Powell community on Tuesday evening, January 31, and he has not returned, the Sheriff’s Department said Friday.
Brandan Justin Holeton is described as: [Read more…]
Michael Benanti
The federal trial is under way for a Pennsylvania man accused of kidnapping family members and robbing or attempting to rob banks and credit unions, including in Oak Ridge and Knoxville.
The trial for Michael Anthony Benanti, 44, of Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania, started with jury selection on Monday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. It has continued this week.
Benanti and a co-defendant, Brian Scott Witham, 45, of Waterville, Maine, had been named in a 15-count indictment issued by a federal grand jury in December 2015. They were accused of kidnapping family members and robbing or attempting to rob three banks and credit unions in Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Elizabethton. The Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge was one of the three financial institutions that was targeted.
Witham pleaded guilty March 1, 2016. He received a 42-year sentence and will be the star witness against Benanti, his co-defendant, according to Jamie Satterfield, a Knoxville News Sentinel reporter.
The trial for Benanti could last up to three weeks. Oak Ridge Today has not been able to cover the trial, but Satterfield has been covering it. You can see four of her News Sentinel stories here: [Read more…]
The Third Annual “Divas for a Cure” Relay for Life event is Saturday, March 4, in Oak Ridge.
It’s sponsored by Team Got Hope, and it is scheduled from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at High Places Community Church in the Grove Center in Oak Ridge.
Admission is $30 per diva, a press release said, and it will include:
Obayana Ajanaku of Indigenous Vibes will create positive vibes on the djembe drums Feb. 18, 2017, at the Children’s Museum International Festival. (Submitted photo)
Indigenous Vibes, a culture-based entertainment group that creates positive vibrations using traditional West African drums, will be the featured performer when the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge hosts its annual International Festival on Saturday, February 18.
Led by Obayana Ajanaku, Indigenous Vibes drummers use the djembe drums to bring the message of diversity, confidence, unity, and pride through their entertainment, a press release said. The festival audience will be invited to participate in dancing to the drum rhythm.
The family-friendly International Festival will present entertainment, crafts, and cuisines from cultures around the world, with musical and dance entertainment on stage throughout the day and crafts for children to make and take home, the press release said.
The festival entertainment will be from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. February 18 at the Children’s Museum, which is at 461 West Outer Drive, with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. [Read more…]
About 500 people attended the “Standing in Solidarity” event hosted by the Anderson County Democratic Party at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. (Photo by Ellen Smith)
Organizers said they expected about 70 people. Instead, roughly 500 people showed up.
It was the “Standing in Solidarity” event hosted by the Anderson County Democratic Party at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, January 21.
The purpose was to show support with the worldwide protests of President Donald Trump, said Scott Julius of the Anderson County Democratic Party. He said there were tables from 20 different progressive organizations at the January 21 event.
Several readers have sent photos from the event. Here are some of them. [Read more…]
Victoria Seiber, the Chick-fil-A Cow, and Alexis Roy at Clinton High School for the ASAP Ambassador’s National Drug and Alcohol IQ Challenge. (Photo by Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County)
Submitted
The ASAP Ambassadors Youth Coalition from Anderson County, Clinton, and Oak Ridge high schools celebrated National Drug and Alcohol Facts week last week. Aiming to increase their peers’ awareness of the dangers of drugs and alcohol, the student-led group organized the event.
Students from the three high schools tested their knowledge on drugs and drug abuse by taking the 2017 National Drug and Alcohol IQ Challenge during their school’s lunch periods. Student contestants answered questions in a buzzer style trivia game related to mental health, marijuana, and other drugs.
With the support of Project AWARE and Chick-fil-A, the event was a crowd-pleasing success, but most importantly, students gained valuable knowledge. [Read more…]
Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge
The Oak Ridge Public Works Department will be performing right-of-way maintenance on Edgemoor Road beginning Monday, February 6. This work could cause delays for drivers in the area, a press release said.
The maintenance project is estimated to be complete by Friday, February 17, providing there are no issues with weather or other unforeseen circumstances, the press release said. The road work will take place between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Motorists should expect some delay in the flow of traffic during this time. [Read more…]
