Oak Ridge Today

Service of memory, hope at First Presbyterian Tuesday

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A special Service of Memory and Hope will be held in the sanctuary at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9, at First Presbyterian Church, located at the southeast corner of Lafayette Drive and Oak Ridge Turnpike.

“The candlelight service is especially for folks who find the holiday season difficult because of the loss of a loved one or other struggles,” said the Rev. Sharon Youngs, who will conduct the service.

The third annual service at the church will include music and readings designed to bring comfort and solace to worshipers, a press release said.

Top BP scientist, university professor confirmed as director of DOE research agency

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Ellen Williams

Ellen Williams (Photo courtesy Caltech Alumni Association)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Ellen Williams was confirmed by the United States Senate on Monday, December 8, as the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E.

As director of ARPA-E, Williams will oversee a novel program that funds high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment, a DOE press release said. She will ensure that the technologies assisted through ARPA-E will help change the energy landscape and better meet the nation’s changing energy needs, the release said.

“ARPA-E is central to the Department’s advancement of energy technology innovation, and Ellen Williams will provide outstanding leadership based upon her combination of world class research in condensed matter physics and insight into how technology impacts the energy marketplace,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. “I’m excited to work with Ellen on expanding the scope and impact of ARPA-E. I also want to thank Cheryl Martin for her leadership in ARPA-E for the past two years.” [Read more…]

ADFAC: Make the holidays happier with ‘Dine and Donate’

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Mediterranean Delight

Open for lunch and dinner, and with a large catering menu, Mediterranean Delight offers savory and sweet treats ranging from hummus and shawarma to baklava. Mediterranean Delight is located on Bus Terminal Road behind Methodist Therapy Services.

 

Submitted

With the hustle and bustle of holidays all around, it’s a great time to treat yourself and your loved ones to a special meal. Fortunately, with ADFAC’s “Dine and Donate” event, there is a way to do that and support the less fortunate in our community.

On Monday, December 8, seven local restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC).

Restaurants participating on Monday, December 8, are: [Read more…]

Alternative Gift Fair, Bake Sale/Mini-Bazaar at Kern Church on Saturday

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Kern Church Alternative Gift Fair

Kern Church will host its annual Alternative Gift Fair this Saturday, December 6, in conjunction with the UMW Bake Sale/Mini-Bazaar. Sokun Carathers (from left), her daughter Kiana, and Marcia Walker display just a few of the fair trade items that will be for sale. (Submitted photo)

 

Submitted

Kern United Methodist Church will have its annual Alternative Gift Fair this Saturday, December 6, in the church’s Family Life Center from 9 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

This annual event offers unique gift items that help end hunger and poverty for the families of artisans in economically disadvantaged areas around the globe. “Shop the World Gifts” of Englewood, Tennessee, and “Moja Fair Trade Fashions” of Maryville, Tennessee, will have booths full of beautiful, useful gifts for everyone on your list. Moja works directly with artisans in Kenya and Uganda to provide ethically produced and fashionable jewelry, accessories and home décor, while Shop the World Gifts obtains their merchandise through missionaries and several fair trade organizations. [Read more…]

Author Diane Fanning to sign ‘Scandal in the Secret City’ books at AMSE

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Diane Fanning

Diane Fanning

Author Diane Fanning will sign copies of her latest novel “Scandal in the Secret City” on Saturday at the American Museum of Science and Energy.

Fanning will be the museum, located at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge, from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, December 6.

Here is more information from an AMSE press release:

Eastern Tennessee is an area filled with the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains, clear creeks, and vibrant cities like Knoxville and Chattanooga. In 1942, the U.S. government selected a rural area between the ridges to create the “Secret City” (what is now Oak Ridge). The location was quickly built to develop materials for the Manhattan Project and the purification of uranium for use in the bomb that eventually fell on Hiroshima. [Read more…]

ORPD accepting applications for Citizen’s Police Academy

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The Oak Ridge Police Department will be accepting applications for the Citizen’s Police Academy, which will begin on January 15, 2015, and run through March 19, 2015.

The Citizen’s Police Academy allows citizens to learn about how the Oak Ridge Police Department is organized and how it functions, a press release said. It also provides an improved understanding of the challenges in serving and protecting the community, the release said.

The academy requires a 10-week commitment from the participants and will be held one night a week on Thursdays beginning at 6 p.m. and ending at 9 p.m.

“The goal of the Citizen’s Police Academy is to create and develop a nucleus of responsible and well-informed citizens who have an enhanced understanding of the Police Department and how it serves the City of Oak Ridge,” the release said. [Read more…]

What’s happening in Oak Ridge from Dec. 5-10

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Here is a summary of events happening in Oak Ridge from Friday, December 5, and continuing through December 10.

This weekly listing of events is compiled by the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau: [Read more…]

Free small business workshop on Wednesday, Dec. 10

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Jutta Bangs

Jutta Bangs

The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, will host a free workshop next week for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want a better understanding of starting a new business.

This free seminar will be held on Wednesday, December 10, from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce office at 245 North Main Street, Suite 200, in Clinton with Jutta Bangs, director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Roane State Community College. [Read more…]

Pancakes with Santa fundraiser for CONTACT Care Line on Saturday

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Santa

CONTACT Care Line is hosting a Pancakes with Santa fundraising event this Saturday, December 6, from 8 to 10 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church at 1350 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Santa Claus and Mrs. Santa will be there to greet children of all ages, and parents can take photos of their children with Santa, a press release said. Youth choirs will entertain the crowd with carols, and there will be plenty of merry elves serving pancakes with butter and syrup, bacon, fruit juices, hot chocolate, milk, and coffee too.

CONTACT is in its fifth decade serving people in need throughout East Tennessee, the press release said. Trained volunteers field nearly 19,000 critical support calls every year. Anderson County, where CONTACT is headquartered, has one of the lowest suicide rates in the state of Tennessee. However, suicide is on the rise in Tennessee and across the United States. [Read more…]

State: Tennessee Mountain Writers workshops to meet in Morristown

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Tennessee Mountain Writers has scheduled writing workshops at the “January Jumpstart XV” from January 9-11, 2015, at the Best Western Morristown Conference Center in Morristown, and a high school teacher who lives in Oak Ridge will lead the fiction workshop.

By popular demand, Jane Sasser, the teacher, will be leading the fiction workshop, and Bill Brown returns to lead the poetry workshop, a press release said. The event is sponsored by Tennessee Mountain Writers. It will open with an informal social hour on Friday evening; workshop sessions will run from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Saturday and from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Sasser was born and raised in Fairview, North Carolina. Following in the footsteps of both parents and numerous other relatives and ancestors, she is a lifelong lover of stories and storytelling. Her poetry has appeared in The Atlanta Review, The North American Review, The Sun, The Lullwater Review, Appalachian Heritage, The National Forum, Sow’s Ear, and numerous other anthologies and publications. She has won first place in fiction contests with the Knoxville Writers’ Guild, The Alabama Writers Conclave, and the Green River Writers. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, “Recollecting the Snow” and “Itinerant,” and two novel manuscripts, “Where You Ought to Be” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” A high school teacher of English and creative writing, she currently lives in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge elementary schools participate in ‘Foodie Fridays’

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Adrianna King and Abbie Cary

Linden Elementary School second-grader Adrianna King and University of Tennessee Extension Outreach Coordinator Abbie Cary pose for a picture in front of a broccoli poster on Foodie Friday. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

This year, each elementary school throughout the Oak Ridge Schools district will participate in Foodie Friday. Foodie Friday is made available through a partnership between Oak Ridge Schools Coordinated School Health, food service provider Aramark, and the University of Tennessee Extension Office, a press release said.

Each Friday, volunteers from the UT Extension Office and the Anderson County Health Department prepare healthy samples, provided by Aramark, to sample during elementary school lunch periods. The students talk about the foods, see how it is prepared, and share their thoughts on how they taste, the Oak Ridge Schools release said.

Linden Elementary School is the first school of the year to participate in the program. The students have sampled red peppers, grapes, broccoli, green peppers, cherry tomatoes, and apples. Educational nutritional information is also provided to the teachers and students through the UT Extension office.

Foodie Friday will return after winter break at Glenwood Elementary School starting January 16, Woodland Elementary School on March 6, and Willow Brook Elementary School on April 10. [Read more…]

Conserving coral reefs: Learn more in ‘Classroom Under the Sea’ on Thursday

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Coral Restoration

The decline of coral formations will be the topic of the Dec. 4 episode of “Classroom Under the Sea.” The photo shows coral polyps on Molasses Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. (Photo by Brent Deuel, courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce)

 

The devastation of coral reefs will be the topic of the next episode of “Classroom Under the Sea,” an online lecture series hosted by two local college educators living underwater for more than two months.

The live program starts at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, December 4. Viewers can watch live at roanestate.edu/classroomunderthesea and on youtube.com/classroomunderthesea.

Roane State Community College biology professor Bruce Cantrell and adjunct professor Jessica Fain are living and working in an underwater habitat for 73 days. While they stay in the habitat, where the living space is about the size of a dorm room, Fain and Cantrell host “Classroom Under the Sea,” an educational program about marine science. [Read more…]