Oak Ridge Today

ORNL FCU donates $65,000 to United Way, a 65 percent increase

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

ORNL Federal Credit Union and United Way of Anderson County

Pictured above from left to right are Lisa Thompson and Chris Boler, co-chairs of ORNL Federal Credit Union employee campaign; Leslie Daugherty, ORNL FCU loaned executive; and Edwena and Charles Crowe, 2013 UWAC campaign chair family. (Photo courtesy United Way of Anderson County)

Each fall, ORNL Federal Credit Union employees help raise funds for the United Way of Anderson County, and  donations this year were up more than 65 percent, a press release said.

ORNL FCU raised roughly $66,000, the release said. The money came from employee donations, ORNL FCU’s corporate donation, and an interactive employee auction site. The fundraising total was up significantly from 2012.

The theme of this year’s internal fundraising effort was Uni and Ted Way’s Excellent Adventure, a parody of the movie “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” the release said. [Read more…]

Council agrees to buy car wash to build sewer system tank

Posted at
By 7 Comments

Mullins Car Wash

The Oak Ridge City Council has approved the purchase of Mullins Performance Car Wash in south Oak Ridge to allow the city to build a sewer system holding tank.

A car wash in south Oak Ridge could soon be replaced by a sewer system holding tank.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday voted 5-1 to buy the car wash, owned by businessman Terry Mulllins, for $125,000.

The land is at the southern gateway to Oak Ridge, near the intersection of Scarboro Road and South Illinois Avenue. The city agreed to buy the property so workers can place the proposed tank, officially called an equalization basin, farther away from the busy intersection and make it less visible. The intersection is used by thousands of drivers every day, including workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The tank is one of three equalization basins that the city plans to build in order to comply with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order that requires Oak Ridge to repair all sewer system overflows by September 2015. [Read more…]

Commercial, nuclear facilities the focus of safety forum on Wednesday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership will hold its last community safety forum of 2013 on Wednesday at the American Museum of Science and Energy.

The program is titled “Safety in Commercial and Nuclear Facilities: Programs that Work.” It’s scheduled from 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Speakers include Shane Strickland, Alcoa safety manager;  Paul Wasilko, safety culture program manager at the Y-12 National Security Complex; Chris Patton, safety services division director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Doug Giles, plant protection safety area manager at Eastman. Each will make a 15-minute presentation about the safety program at his facility, followed by a panel discussion at the end with audience questions and answers. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge’s first dog park now open

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

PetSafe Big Turtle Park Dog Park

The city’s first dog park is now open at Big Turtle Park in west Oak Ridge. Officials and pet owners celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on Monday.

The city’s first dog park is now open at Big Turtle Park in west Oak Ridge. Officials and pet owners celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on Monday.

The dog park has been planned for five years. It was made possible by a $100,000 donation by Radio Systems Corp.

The PetSafe Dog Park features include separate fenced areas for small dogs and large dogs, benches, water fountains, and a shade structure.

Community members and their dogs joined city officials and representatives from Radio Systems Corp. and PetSafe at a dedication ceremony on Monday morning to mark completion of the new park.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

TDEC provides violation notices, timeline on pet crematory where remains excavated

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Elliott Pet Service Excavation

Dump trucks remove pet remains on Wednesday that had been excavated from Elliott Pet Services in Morgan County. (Photo courtesy WATE-TV)

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation on Wednesday provided copies of the violation notices sent to the Morgan County crematory where animal remains were excavated last week after a state investigation.

TDEC also provided the media with an event timeline for September and October at Elliott Pet Services on Grouse Ridge Road, copies of annual inspection reports, and a state response to complainants Dana and Fegan Kenny.

You can read the documents here: [Read more…]

Lake City Christmas Parade rescheduled to Friday, Dec. 13

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Due to the expected rainfall in the area, the Lake City Christmas Parade, which had been scheduled for this evening (Friday evening), has been postponed until next Friday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m.

For more information, call the Lake City Chamber of Commerce at (865) 426-9595 or visit http://www.lakecitychambertn.com/parade/.

Information from WYSH Radio

Impossible to identify animal remains excavated at pet crematory, state says

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Elliott Pet Service Excavation

Dump trucks remove pet remains on Wednesday that had been excavated from Elliott Pet Services in Morgan County. (Photo courtesy WATE-TV)

It will not be possible to identify animals buried at a pet crematory in Morgan County where remains were excavated this week after a state investigation, officials said Wednesday.

News of the investigation and excavations this week has left many pet owners, including in Anderson County, wondering whether animals they paid to have cremated might be among those buried at the rural wooded site near the Roane County line.

The crematory site on Grouse Ridge Road is operated by Elliott Pet Services. It was the subject of a citizen’s complaint in September that alleged animals were being dumped on the site.

In September, the business also received an open dumping violation notice from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. And in October, the company was cited for not maintaining logs.

Business owner Cameo Farr and her attorney, Kevin Angel of Oak Ridge, told several Knoxville television stations that burying animals is part of her business, and she has always cremated animals that were supposed to be cremated. [Read more…]

B&W Y-12 donates $75,000 for new Emory Valley Center building

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Emory Valley Center Early Learning Center

B&W Y-12 donated $75,000 to Emory Valley Center on Wednesday as part of a capital campaign to help build a new facility to replace the former Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation Center on Emory Valley Road by 2015.

Fundraisers at 75 percent of goal

B&W Y-12 donated $75,000 on Wednesday to help the Emory Valley Center build a new facility by early 2015, when a county-owned building that houses some of its programs is expected to be torn down.

B&W Y-12 has now donated $175,000 of a $250,000 pledge, and EVC volunteers have raised $2.5 million of their $3.3 million goal, said former state representative and pediatrician Gene Caldwell, who is co-chair of the EVC capital campaign. That’s 75 percent of the fundraising goal.

Emory Valley Center now has two facilities across the street from each other on Emory Valley Road. The new 30,000-square-foot building west of the current administrative and workshop areas on the south side side of Emory Valley Road would consolidate the nonprofit’s operations, which include an Early Learning Center, gym, offices, kitchen, and work training center.

“This is a huge, huge help,” EVC President Jennifer Enderson of the B&W Y-12 donation. “The clock is ticking on when we must vacate an existing facility, and we can’t start construction of the new one until we have raised enough money.” [Read more…]

Comfort Inn holiday events benefit CASA of the Tennessee Heartland

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Breakfast with Santa

Proceeds from a “Breakfast with Santa” at Comfort Inn Oak Ridge on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. will benefit CASA of the Tennessee Heartland. (Photo courtesy T. Whigham Photography)

Families can kick off the Christmas season with Santa and help a local nonprofit volunteer organization at the same time by visiting the Comfort Inn Oak Ridge during December. The hotel is offering several different activities for the community to get in the holiday spirit with a portion of the proceeds from each event going to CASA of the Tennessee Heartland.

“We are so thankful to Comfort Inn for contacting us with this opportunity,” said Naomi Asher, executive director of CASA of the Tennessee Heartland. “Every dollar raised will help provide a voice in court for an abused and neglected child right here in our community.”

The Comfort Inn Oak Ridge will serve as the official site for “Pictures with Santa” throughout the holidays. T. Whigham Photography will be taking professional photos with Santa at the hotel from Friday, Nov. 29, through Saturday, Dec. 21. The hours are as follows: Monday through Friday from 4 p.m.-7:30 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sundays from noon-6 p.m. One dollar from every photo taken will benefit CASA and will be matched by Enrichment Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

New China Palace closes at marina, reopens on Central Avenue

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

New China Palace Closed

The longtime New China Palace restaurant has closed at the Oak Ridge Marina and moved to a new location on Central Avenue in the center of town.

A longtime Chinese restaurant that had been on the city’s waterfront for decades has moved out of a city-owned building at the Oak Ridge Marina and reopened on Central Avenue in the center of town.

The New China Palace restaurant reopened on Central Avenue on Nov. 22, owner Cheng Ren said Saturday.

The former waterfront location closed five weeks earlier on Oct. 18 after at least one lease extension.

The city has developed a master plan for the waterfront area that recommends the current New China Palace site off Melton Lake Drive be remodeled as a bathhouse facility. It would be used to support a growing number of rowing and public activities as part of an ambitious plan to revamp the waterfront from Elza Gate Park to Rivers Run Boulevard. [Read more…]

Learn more about Roane State’s AMTEC job training program Dec. 2, Dec. 10

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Anyone interested in Roane State Community College’s Advanced Materials Training and Education Center, or AMTEC—a no-cost, high-tech job training program for those who are unemployed or underemployed—is invited to upcoming meetings at the college’s Clinton location and at the Oak Ridge campus.

The meeting at the Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility, 214 Nave St, will be held Monday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. The meeting at the Oak Ridge campus, 701 Briarcliff Ave., will be held Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 6 p.m. in the back room inside Anderson’s Grille.

Please call (865) 481-5436 to reserve your seat. [Read more…]

Roane State’s Mechatronics Showcase on Tuesday highlights high-tech job opportunities

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Anyone interested in learning about Roane State’s one-year mechatronics program is invited to a Mechatronics Showcase from 2-5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility.

Visitors will be able to speak with industry leaders and experts in advanced manufacturing and learn what careers are available. Technology used in advanced manufacturing will be on display, and Roane State staff will answer questions about the college’s mechatronics certificate program.

The program trains students to become technicians who operate, maintain, and repair high-tech automated manufacturing systems. The courses include instruction in electronics, mechanics, computer science, robotics, and process control. Evening classes and financial aid are available. [Read more…]