Oak Ridge Today

Community Band has ‘Tennessee Tribute’ concert on Sunday

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George Hayden

George Hayden

 

The Oak Ridge Community Band has a “Tennessee Tribute” concert on Sunday.

The concert is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, February 16, at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center at 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

“This performance will be a celebration of the rich musical heritage of Tennessee and will also feature guest director George Hayden,” a press release said. “Also, with Valentine’s Day on Friday, treating your special somebody by attending Sunday afternoon’s ORCB concert is a great way to celebrate this special weekend.”

George Hayden, band director at Montgomery Ridge Intermediate School in Maryville, will conduct the Community Band in Gary Gilroy’s “Three Stars of Tennessee,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Utilities Business Office returning to Municipal Building

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Oak Ridge Utilities Business Office Exterior
Oak Ridge Utilities Business Office (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Utilities Business Office will return to the Municipal Building following the completion of renovations. The Utilities Business Office, or UBO, will reopen in its updated space on Monday, February 10, the Oak Ridge Electric Department said.

UBO operations were moved to the nearby Oak Ridge Civic Center for about four months while renovations were under way. The changes were needed to increase efficiency and safety, the Electric Department said.

Customers routinely handle utility and property tax concerns at the UBO, including signing up for new accounts, terminating services, and making payments, the press release said. Utility and tax bills are also generated in this office.

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K-25 History Center has grand opening this month

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The K-25 History Center will have a grand opening ceremony on Thursday, February 27.

The ceremony, which will include a ribbon-cutting, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 27, at 652 Enrichment Street in west Oak Ridge.

The K-25 site, now known as Heritage Center, was built during World War II to help enrich uranium for the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs. K-25 helped enrich uranium for “Little Boy,” a nuclear weapon dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of World War II.

After the war, K-25 enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power plants through the Cold War. The site was shut down in the mid-1980s, and it is being cleaned up and converted into a private industrial park. The site’s large uranium enrichment buildings have been demolished and so have many of the support buildings. Most of the cleanup is expected to be completed this year.

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Oak Ridge Orchestra, violist to pay tribute to trailblazing black, African American composers

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Derek Reeves

The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra with special guest violist Derek Reeves will pay tribute to trailblazing black and African American composers in Musical Firsts on Sunday.

The concert is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Sunday, February 9, in the Historic Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge. Tickets are available at ORCMA.org, by phone at (865) 483-5569, or at The Ferrell Shop in Jackson Square. Tickets are also available at the door. Prices are $25 for adults, $10 for young adults ages 19-29, and free for youth 18 and younger through the Penny4Arts initiative.

The orchestra will perform music by acclaimed composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Jessie Montgomery. Reeves, the soloist, will be featured in the music by Still and also the “Viola Concerto” by Georg Friedrich Telemann before leading area viola students in a master class, a press release said.

“I’ve known Derek since he was a talented undergraduate student at Indiana University,” said Music Director Dan Allcott. “Now a seasoned professional, Derek belongs to that special category of musicians who has the ability to cross multiple boundaries and musical genres to engage all audiences. Oak Ridgers are in for a treat.”

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Dine and Donate to help ADFAC on Monday, Feb. 10

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The Soup Kitchen features eight soups each day. Monday’s selections include chili, hearty vegetable, and gratin Savoyard. (Submitted photo)

Submitted

Punxsutawney Phil might think early spring is on the way, but there is still plenty of time to enjoy your favorite winter weather comfort foods and help local families!

On Monday, February 10, leave the cooking to ADFAC’s Dine & Donate partners. On that day, participating restaurants will donate a portion of sales to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC).

February’s featured Dine & Donate supporter is the Soup Kitchen, located in Jackson Square. Although spectacular any time of year, there’s nothing quite like a hot bowl of homemade soup to disrupt winter’s chill. In addition to soup, the Soup Kitchen also offers a variety of in-house baked bread, sandwiches, salads, and desserts. [Read more…]

Free urban gardening workshop on Saturday

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Jason Schmidt presented “Making Simple Worm Bins,” a free workshop at the Winter Farmers’ Market recently. The market is offering another free workshop Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020, on urban gardening, by Jacob Resor of Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum. (Submitted photo)

The Winter Farmers’ Market will offer a free workshop on urban gardening in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

The workshop will start at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 8. It will be presented by Jacob Resor, manager of the Center for Urban Agriculture at the Knoxville Botanical Garden and Arboretum. Resor will talk about how KBG maintains a series of community gardens that help people grow food for themselves and others.

The workshop is located at the Winter Farmers’ Market, which is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. through March 28. The market is in the gym at St. Mary’s School at 323 Vermont Avenue in Oak Ridge. Previous free workshops at the market have included “Making Simple Worm Bins” and “Healthy Eating on a Budget,” a press release said.

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Motorsports park proposed at Horizon Center

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The Horizon Center off Highway 58 in west Oak Ridge is pictured above in this image published by the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board.

A motorsports park that could cost more than $50 million and cover more than 300 acres has been proposed at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge.

The Oak Ridge City Council is expected to consider a resolution expressing support for and interest in the project on Monday evening. The development of the test track and research facility could be on three lots at Horizon Center: parcels 5, 6, and 7. The project could include about 327 acres total.

If the resolution is approved Monday, it would be sent to the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board. The project could then be reviewed by the IDB, which could consider whether to sell the property. The IDB has contacted Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson’s office to determine City Council’s interest in the project, according to the agenda for Monday’s meeting.

H.E. Bittle III of Hardin Valley Land Partners told Oak Ridge officials in a February 2 letter that the planned motorsports park would have a road course “suitable for FIA (Federation Internationale de L’Automobile) sanctioned events, such as Formula E, Indy Car, IMSA, NASA, and other sanctioning bodies.”

Besides the race course, the motorsports park would have an amphitheater with a mix of permanent and lawn seating for more than 7,000 people, similar to the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville, Bittle said.

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Thursday night’s Bull Run meeting canceled due to flooding

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The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The fifth Bull Run community meeting that had been scheduled for tonight (Thursday, February 6) has been canceled because Claxton Elementary School is closed due to flooding.

The meeting had earlier been scheduled for Thursday, January 30, but that meeting was postponed one week (to today, February 6) because of illnesses that led to the two-day closure of Anderson County Schools.

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Main road through Oliver Springs closed due to flooding

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East Tri County Boulevard was closed near Mahoney Road and Midway Drive in Oliver Springs as floodwater from Poplar Creek flowed over the four-lane road Thursday morning, Feb. 6, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 8:20 a.m. Feb. 7.

Note: The Oliver Springs Police Department reported at 7:12 p.m. Thursday that East Tri County Boulevard and Windrock Road had re-opened.

OLIVER SPRINGS—The main road through Oliver Springs was closed due to flooding Thursday morning.

Floodwaters were flowing over all four lanes of East Tri County Boulevard near Midway Drive before 11 a.m. Thursday, and the Oliver Springs Police Department was redirecting traffic down Mahoney Road.

Midway Drive, which veers off from Tri County Boulevard, was submerged under water from Poplar Creek.

The Oliver Springs Police Department reported at about 11 a.m. Thursday that the city was impassable, and Mahoney Road, which heads west out of the city, is now closed due to flooding.

“You will now have to come downtown and go out Dutch Valley or go around via Oak Ridge and Harriman,” the OSPD said. “If you do not know these areas well, please stay in until the flood levels are down and roads opened.”

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Flooding causes road, school closings

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The rain that continued to fall in East Tennessee on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, has led to school and road closures. Pictured above, floodwaters from East Fork Poplar Creek fill a basin near the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

The rain that continued to fall in East Tennessee on Thursday has led to school and road closures.

The National Weather Service in Morristown said Oak Ridge received an estimated 4.47 inches of rain between 5 a.m. Tuesday, February 4, and 5 a.m. Thursday, February 6.

Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown

Anderson County Schools are closed Thursday due to the continued threat of flooding.

The Oak Ridge Police Department said Thursday morning that the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and North Jefferson Circle is closed due to flooding.

And the ORPD said drivers should use caution on State Route 95/Oak Ridge Turnpike between Imperium Drive and Southwood Lane. Traffic is down to one lane due to flooding, the ORPD said.

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U.S. Census seeking workers in Anderson County

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The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking census takers in Anderson County for this year’s census.

Larry Carignan, a recruiter for the census in Anderson County, will be at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on two dates this month to answer questions and help anyone who might be interested in applying to work as a census taker, a press release said.

Carignan will be at the Courthouse from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, February 4, and Thursday, February 13, to recruit potential workers for the federal census in Anderson County. He will be set up next to the Courtesy Booth on the Courthouse’s first floor near the elevators.

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Local organizations, congregations celebrating community unity

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Community Unity Celebration has events this week. During the celebration, local organizations and congregations are working together to offer opportunities for residents of Oak Ridge and surrounding areas to come together to get to know each other and build community, a press release said.

The Celebration kicked off with the Human Rights Rally on Saturday, January 18, and it will end with the World Day of Prayer on Friday, March 6.

“Please join us as you can!” the press release said.

Here is more information about the events:

[Read more…]