Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Half Marathon, 5K is Saturday

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The Secret City Half Marathon and 5K has grown into one of the largest athletic events in Oak Ridge. A field of an estimated 700 runners and walkers will participate when the race celebrates its seventh anniversary on Saturday, November 21.

“This year we have totally revamped the event, and we think participants are going to really enjoy the changes,” says Lisa Kendall, race director for the half marathon and 5K races and event sales manager for the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In the past, the event was held over two days but that is down to one day with both races starting just 15 minutes apart. The previous “double loop” half marathon route is gone, replaced with a route that starts and finishes on the Melton Lake peninsula and includes Union Valley Road, home to the Rogers Group, which is the presenting sponsor of this year’s event.

“We are thrilled that the Roger’s Group gave us permission to route the race down their private road and by their quarry,” Kendall said. “It’s a very scenic route that will be new to many Oak Ridgers as well.” [Read more…]

Booms heard Wednesday were explosives training for officers at UT Arboretum

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The booms heard in Oak Ridge on Wednesday were from explosives training for law enforcement officers at the University of Tennessee Arboretum on South Illinois Avenue, an official said.

Twenty-nine officers from across the country are training in a 10-week National Forensics Academy course offered by the UT Law Enforcement Innovation Center in Oak Ridge. That course includes crime scene investigation, and one aspect of that training involves investigating car bombs, suicide bombers, and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, said Don Green, executive director of the Law Enforcement Innovation Center. On Wednesday, an explosives ordinance team from the Knoxville Police Department used explosives to show officers what they would have to go through at that type of scene.

The explosives training session was on Wednesday only. [Read more…]

Holiday festival at revamped Jackson Square to benefit ADFAC

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Buying local could help neighborhood families this holiday season. The Jackson Square Holiday Festival and Market will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 5. Visitors can buy artisan and handmade gifts, sample local cuisine, see live entertainment, and even snap photos with Santa. Best of all, this family-friendly event will raise funds for Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or ADFAC.

“The winter months can be especially difficult financially for families,” ADFAC Executive Director Annie Cacheiro said. “The Jackson Square Festival and Market will be a fun event that raises funds, awareness, and holiday spirit during this crucial time. We’re excited to be involved.”

The event planning committee is seeking vendors and offering a special inaugural event rate for space. [Read more…]

Clinton Christmas Parade is Saturday, Dec. 5

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Charles G. “Bones” Seivers

The Clinton Christmas Parade is Saturday, December 5, and former mayor Charles G. “Bones” Seivers will be grand marshal.

Clinton’s traditional Christmas Parade of bands, floats, and many other processional entries will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, a press release said. This year’s theme is “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Businesses, churches, schools, and other marching groups are encouraged to register and participate in the parade, the press release said. There is no parade entry fee this year, but a registration form must be submitted. The deadline to register is Tuesday, December 1, at 4:30 p.m. There will be no late entries.

Seivers is a native of Clinton, and he first entered public office in 1962 when he ran for an open alderman seat. He continued to serve the citizens as an elected official for 13 years, the press release said. [Read more…]

Yager, Ramsey plan state hearing on Syrian refugees in December

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Ken Yager

Ken Yager

NASHVILLE—Two state senators are planning to conduct a joint hearing in early December to look at federal plans to bring Syrian refugees to Tennessee, a move that has become controversial after the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday.

The joint hearing has been proposed by Senate State and Local Government Committee Chairman Ken Yager, a Kingston Republican, and House State Government Committee Chairman Bob Ramsey, a Maryville Republican. They want to look at plans by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement to bring Syrian refugees to Tennessee.

Reports indicate that Tennessee will likely receive some of the 10,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement under President Barack Obama’s admissions plans, a press release said. There has been widespread disagreement, including on the presidential campaign trail, over whether the United States should accept Syrian refugees after reports emerged that one of the men involved in last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris might have slipped into Europe with other migrants using a fake Syrian passport.

On Monday, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam asked federal officials to suspend placements in Tennessee until states can become more of a partner in the vetting process. [Read more…]

Animal Shelter closed due to power outage

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Due to a power outage, the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter will be closed until further notice, the Oak Ridge Police Department said Wednesday afternoon.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Budget plans for Secret City Festival discussed; DOE landfill raises concerns for Council

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Warren Gooch

Warren Gooch (Photo by Savanna Schubert)

By Savanna Schubert

There are no changes to the 2016 Secret City Festival, but Oak Ridge may enjoy the festival in a new season in 2017.

The first resolution on the Oak Ridge City Council agenda on Monday related to the Secret City Festival, an annual two-day festival that is the city’s biggest event each year but is in transition. It’s now in June, but it could be a fall event starting in 2017 and it could be transformed into a celebration that lasts a week or more.

“We are looking to broaden the festival into a series of concerts and festivals to last throughout the year,” City Manager Mark Watson said.

The 2016 festival will continue the tradition of nightly concerts, war re-enactments, and fun family-oriented activities for all ages. [Read more…]

Updated: Two charged in Friday shooting that injured two

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Tyler Earl Gulley

Note: This story was last updated at 5:33 p.m.

An Oak Ridge man has been charged in the shooting that left two people seriously injured in the Scarboro neighborhood on Friday, authorities said.

Tyler Earl Gulley, 22, of Hampton Road, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault in the alleged shooting. He is accused of shooting Daniel Rose in the left foot. Also wounded in the shooting was Josie Wisman, who was hit in the abdomen, according to an arrest warrant filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

Officers found one handgun at the scene, the Oak Ridge Police Department said in a press release Tuesday.

They searched the area and executed a search warrant at 101 Hampton Road, where two firearms were recovered, a Glock 26 9mm and a Glock 22 40-caliber, authorities said.

The ORPD arrested Gulley that evening for the shooting that morning, the ORPD said. Gulley was located at his home on Hampton Road and detained without incident, said the arrest warrant, filed by Oak Ridge Police Department Detective William Weaver. [Read more…]

Controlled burns scheduled on Oak Ridge Reservation

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office is starting a controlled burn of a small forestland area on the Oak Ridge Reservation for prescribed burning at the East Tennessee Technology Park and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Beginning Monday, November 16, weather permitting, a controlled burn was expected to take place on approximately four acres south of West Bear Creek Road near the DOE Central Training Facility southeast of ETTP.

The planned burn is being conducted as an effort to reduce the risk of wildfires and will be overseen by the State of Tennessee Division of Forestry, which maintains fire control equipment, certified burn managers, and trained personnel at the burn area with the support of the Oak Ridge Fire Department and the ORNL forester, a press release said.

Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

California Ave. temporarily closed, power out after SUV hits utility pole

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A mother and her son were taken to the hospital with injuries reported as non-life threatening after a small sport utility vehicle hit a utility pole on California Avenue, flipped, and landed on its top Tuesday morning, authorities said.

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:46 a.m.

A mother and her son were taken to the hospital with injuries reported to be non-life threatening after a small sport utility vehicle hit a utility pole on California Avenue, flipped, and landed on its top Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The single-vehicle crash was reported at about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. The SUV was reportedly driving north on California Avenue when it crashed.

Authorities temporarily closed a short section of California Avenue at West Arrowwood Road as utility workers repaired the pole.

In a text alert at 10:08 a.m. Tuesday, the Oak Ridge Police Department said there was a power outage in east Oak Ridge from California Avenue east, and it could affect traffic signals. The signal at Melton Lake Drive and Oak Ridge Turnpike was reported to be out.

At about 11 a.m., the Oak Ridge Electric Department said there was damage to a substation as well.

“As a result, power is expected to be off east of Florida Avenue on both sides of the Turnpike, including residents and businesses along East Emory Valley Road, for the next few hours in order to make the necessary repairs,” the Electric Department said.

The ORED reported at about 12:30 p.m. that power had been restored on the east end of Oak Ridge.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

UT, Y-12 chemical sensing technology wins national R&D100 award

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Michael Sepaniak

A low-cost chemical sensor invented by a University of Tennessee chemistry professor in partnership with the Y-12 National Security Complex has been recognized by R&D Magazine as a top technology product in the marketplace, a press release said.

The invention, the product of UT Chemistry Professor Michael Sepaniak and collaborators at Y-12, was selected this weekend for the 2015 R&D100 Award—known in the field as the “Oscars of innovation.” The award recognizes the top 100 technology projects of the year and honors the inventors.

ChIMES (Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing) is a new low-cost passive chemical sensing technology. The sensors are based on a set of target response materials that expand in the presence of a target. The expanding volume puts stress on materials, changing their magnetic properties so they can be detected wirelessly. [Read more…]

ORNL wins six R&D 100 awards

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The Big Area Additive Manufacturing-CI system, developed by ORNL and Cincinnati Incorporated, was among ORNL’s six 2015 R&D 100 award winners. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received six R&D 100 awards, increasing the lab’s total to 193 since the award’s inception in 1963.

The competition, sponsored by R&D Magazine, recognizes advances in the nation’s most impactful technologies and the scientists and engineers who led the effort. This year, ORNL researchers earned awards for the following innovations:

The Big Area Additive Manufacturing-CI system was developed by ORNL researchers and Cincinnati Incorporated. BAAM-CI also received an Editor’s Choice award from R&D Magazine. [Read more…]