Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge celebrates new national park

Posted at
By 6 Comments

National Park Celebration at Jackson Square on Nov. 12, 2015

The iconic “War Ends” photo is recreated in part on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, with a “Park Opens” photo that celebrates the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:20 a.m. Nov. 13.

Federal officials established the new national park that includes Oak Ridge on Tuesday. Oak Ridge residents celebrated on Thursday.

The new park, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, commemorates the Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II, before Germany could.

Oak Ridge was the main production site for the Manhattan Project, and uranium enriched at the Y-12 National Security Complex fueled the first atomic bomb used in wartime. It was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the war ended. [Read more…]

Photos: Alexander Guest House ribbon-cutting, open house

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Tom-Beehan-Mark-Dover-Mark-Watson-Alexander-Guest-House-Nov-5-2015

Pictured above during a ribbon-cutting and open house at the Alexander Guest House on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, are former Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan, left; Rick Dover of Dover Development, the East Tennessee company that converted the historic two-story hotel into an assisted living center; and Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, November 5, celebrated the conversion of the former Alexander Inn, a historic two-story hotel in central Oak Ridge, into an assisted living center called Alexander Guest House.

The ceremony, which was organized by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, included an open house. Guests toured the new 64-apartment assisted living center, which is located at 210 East Madison Road in Jackson Square.

Preserving the former Alexander Inn had been a dream for years, and those who have toured the two-year, $8 million conversion, completed by Dover Development of East Tennessee, have described it as “lovely” and “absolutely tremendous,” among other superlatives. [Read more…]

Photo: OS band at ORNL for Veterans Day

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Oliver Springs High School Band at Oak Ridge National Laboratory Nov. 11, 2015

The Oliver Springs High School band marches down Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Central Avenue on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015. (Photo by Rachel Brooks/ORNL)

 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory observed Veterans Day on Wednesday with a parade and concert by the Oliver Springs High School Bobcat Band, among other activities.

Other activities includes a presentation of the colors by the Carson Newman University Color Guard and a keynote speech by Lieutenant General George Fisher, U.S. Army (retired).

TN House minority leader to speak to Democrats at fundraising dinner

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Craig Fitzhugh

Craig Fitzhugh

Craig Fitzhugh, Tennessee House minority leader, will speak to Anderson County Democrats at their fall fundraising dinner at 6 p.m. Thursday, November 12, at the Clinton Community Center.

Fitzhugh has represented Tennessee’s 82nd legislative district as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives since 1994, a press release said. He is the former chairman of the House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee and of the Council on Pension and Insurance. Fitzhugh currently serves as House Democratic leader.

The Thursday dinner is $25 per person, and reservations are required. You can RSVP to Beth Hickman at (865) 964-0611 or Jean Hiser at (865) 272-3077, the press release said. For general information about the dinner contact Catherine Denenberg; see contact information above.

The Clinton Community Center is at 101 South Hicks Street in Clinton.

Reminder: Oak Ridge to celebrate new national park on Thursday

Posted at
By 5 Comments

Jonathan-Jarvis-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Nov-10-2015

National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis shares a story about the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which became the 409th park in the National Park System on November 10, 2015, after Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement on operation of the park during a ceremony at the South Interior Building in downtown Washington, D.C. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

Reminder: Two events in Oak Ridge on Thursday will celebrate the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

The park was formally established in a federal signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, November 10. That signing followed more than a decade of work by historic preservation groups, local leaders and governments, and federal officials and federal legislators representing communities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Hanford, Washington.

The Manhattan Project, which included the city that became Oak Ridge, was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. It is considered one of the top scientific achievements of the 20th century, and it credited with helping to end the war. The new park, the nation’s 409th, is the first of its type to commemorate the Manhattan Project. [Read more…]

No injuries in minor school bus crash on Northwestern

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

School Bus Crash on Northwestern Avenue on Nov. 10, 2015

No one was injured in a minor crash involving an Oak Ridge school bus and a pickup truck on Northwestern Avenue near West Gettysburg Avenue after 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015. Pictured above from left are bus driver Walter Erbaugh, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Nathan Stinnett, and First Student Location Manager Diane Gibson. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

No one was injured in a minor crash involving an Oak Ridge school bus and a pickup truck on Northwestern Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.

The sideswipe collision occurred near West Gettysburg Avenue at about 4 p.m. Tuesday. It involved Bus 1950 from Woodland Elementary School.

There was only one student on the bus at the time, and another bus picked her up.

It’s been 20 months since an Oak Ridge school bus was last involved in a crash. On March 5, 2014, a car crashed into the front of a school bus that had stopped to pick up students at Hillside Road and Highland Avenue. No students were injured in that crash either.

Tuesday’s collision was two houses down from the site of a June 3, 2013, crash between a school bus and car at the intersection of Northwestern and West Gettysburg avenues. No children were reported to be injured in that crash either.

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.

Bank robbery alert, traffic stop lead to arrest of suspect

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Home Federal Bank Robbery Stop Oct. 20, 2015

A suspect in a bank robbery in Powell on October 20, 2015, was arrested just a few hours later in the eastbound lanes of North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard at Interstate 75. The suspect was stopped by the Clinton Police Department with help from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. (Photo by Lisa Kincaid)

 

An alert sent to local law enforcement combined with a traffic stop in Clinton led to the arrest of a suspect in a Powell bank robbery in October, federal officials said.

Christopher Michael Miller, 36, is accused of a bank robbery at Home Federal Bank at 105 East Emory Road in Powell on Tuesday afternoon, October 20.

He was arrested just a few hours later on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard at Interstate 75 in Clinton.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville alleged Miller entered the Home Federal Bank at about 1:38 p.m. that Tuesday, approached a teller, and passed a handwritten note that read: “I Have 2 Guns! I need all the 50’s, 100’s out of your drawer! No FAKE Blue Bills. NOW!”

The teller complied with the demand for money and provided an undisclosed amount of cash to Miller, the complaint said. [Read more…]

Foundation led efforts to create Manhattan Project Park

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Cindy-Kelly-Victor-Knox-Stephanie-Toothman-Nov-10-2015

AHF President Cindy Kelly with NPS Associate Directors Victor Knox and Stephanie Toothman. (Photo by Atomic Heritage Foundation)

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Atomic Heritage Foundation on Tuesday welcomed the official establishment of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park with units at Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In a ceremony at the Interior Department on Tuesday morning, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernie Moniz and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell signed an agreement that defines the respective roles of the Department of Energy and the National Park Service in implementing the new park, a press release said.

“Today is a milestone for Manhattan Project history,” said Foundation President Cynthia C. Kelly, who attended the ceremony along with the Foundation’s staff. “For more than a decade, the Atomic Heritage Foundation and our partners have been working to preserve Manhattan Project sites and create the park. The national park is long overdue and will provide Americans with an important opportunity to understand the Manhattan Project and its complex legacy for the world today.”

The sites of the Manhattan Project Park “are among the world’s most significant places, where work was done that changed the human world forever,” said Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” and a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. [Read more…]

Alexander statement on Manhattan Project Park

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lamar-Alexander-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Nov-10-2015

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee addresses a gathering of park supporters and the news media at the South Interior Building in downtown Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015, where Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement which created the 409th park in the National Park System, The Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. It will have three sites in Hanford, Washington, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung.

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Tuesday was among those celebrating the formal establishment of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Alexander said the Manhattan Project paved the way for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge Corridor, which now attracts “good-paying jobs to the area.”

“Today, we celebrate the Manhattan Project as a unique period in our history,” Alexander said. “But it’s also part of our future because from that effort arose many of the country’s great national laboratories—our secret weapon as we look to the future of keeping our country competitive in the world. I thank Secretary Sally Jewell and Secretary Ernest Moniz and the National Park Service for their work to establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.”

Alexander continued: “Almost everyone in the Knoxville area knows something about the Manhattan Project. I was a little boy growing up in Maryville at the time, and I knew people who worked at Oak Ridge—what we called ‘the secret city.’ I didn’t know what they were doing, but today we can see what has come of their work—the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, home to one of the world’s fastest computers and additive manufacturing. The ‘Oak Ridge Corridor’ now symbolizes some of the greatest scientific brainpower in the world. So, for us in the Knoxville area, it is our history—and it is our future.” [Read more…]

Read Manhattan Project Park agreement here

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Signing-Ceremony-Sally-Jewell-Ernest-Moniz-Nov-10-2015

And with a handshake, there’s a new national park. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shake hands immediately after signing a memorandum of agreement that created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Hanford, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.

The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

Read the memorandum of agreement signed Tuesday here. See a story on the park and Tuesday’s signing ceremony here. See photos by the National Park Service here.

Photos: Manhattan Project National Historical Park signing ceremony

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak-Ridge-Group-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Signing-Nov-10-2015

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shortly after they signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.

The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Here are photos from Tuesday’s signing ceremony, taken by the National Park Service and used with their permission.

See a story on the park and the signing ceremony here.

Vic-Knox-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Nov-10-2015

National Park Service Associate Director Victor Knox welcomed visitors from Hanford, Washington, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, to a ceremony at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015, where Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

[Read more…]

Police investigate alleged animal cruelty but find no evidence to file charges

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Police Department has investigated a report of animal cruelty after a social media post said a dog had allegedly been smothered by its owner, but there is no evidence that allows charges to be filed, authorities said Tuesday.

The ORPD received the complaint of possible animal cruelty on Sunday, November 8, a press release said. Officers investigated the complaint and conducted interviews with a complainant, an employee of a local veterinary clinic, and the owner of the dog, who claimed her pet was being treated for severe heartworm issues, the press release said.

“The owner of the dog advised that her pet was very ill, and she put it down for compassionate reasons,” the release said. “Results of the investigation are being forwarded to the Anderson County District Attorney General’s Office for further review. However, per Tennessee Criminal Law (TCA 39-14-212/Aggravated Cruelty to an Animal), no evidence exists at this time which allows officers to file charges against the owner of the dog.”

No other information is available at this time, the City of Oak Ridge said in the press release.