Oak Ridge Today

Chief engineer for U.S. ITER at ORNL to give project overview on Tuesday

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Brad Nelson

Brad Nelson

The chief engineer for the U.S. ITER Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will give a project overview on Tuesday.

Brad Nelson is the chief engineer for the U.S. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project. His Tuesday talk will be the first in a series of three presentations on the U.S. ITER project to Friends of ORNL, with Hans Vogel speaking on April 8 and Graeme Murdoch speaking on May 13.

The New Yorker published a story on ITER in its March 3 edition titled “A Star in a Bottle” by Raffi Khatchadourian.

Nelson’s Tuesday presentation during a Friends of ORNL luncheon lecture starts at noon at the University of Tennessee Resource Center in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Altrusa has International Day lunch on Wednesday

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Oak Ridge Altrusa has its annual International Day luncheon on Wednesday at the Double Tree Hotel in Oak Ridge.

The featured speaker will be Waldek Kaczocha. His presentation topic is “Living in Communist Poland and Coming to America.”

Kaczocha is well-known in the Oak Ridge community as one of the proprietors (together with his wife, Ilona) of Razzleberry’s Restaurant in Jackson Square. [Read more…]

‘Dine and Donate’ on Monday helps ADFAC

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The Other One Jimmy Long and Amanda Caldwell

The Other One, located in Oak Ridge’s Grove Center, features an extensive menu with dozens of types of sandwiches, burgers, salads, side items, beer, and much more. On Monday, The Other One will be open from 10:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., with indoor and outdoor seating available.

Five local restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or ADFAC, on Monday.

It’s part of “Dine and Donate,” which officially launched last October. “Dine and Donate” is a yearlong event, with different restaurants participating on the second Monday of each month.

“We have truly enjoyed watching Dine and Donate grow over the last six months,” said ADFAC Board Member Cande Seay, who also chairs the Dine and Donate committee. “It has been wonderful to see so many families and individuals enjoying meals to support ADFAC’s work in the community!”

Restaurants participating on Monday are: [Read more…]

Krause to discuss mercury at Lunch with the League on March 18

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“Oak Ridge’s Mercury Saga” will be discussed at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, March 18, at 12 p.m.

Carolyn Krause will speak on the events leading up to mercury contamination in Oak Ridge, the role of the media in making the contamination public, the response of the scientific community to the pollution event, and its influence on decisions about the cleanup. She will talk about the role of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a world center of expertise on mercury in the environment since the 1970s. [Read more…]

UT Aboretum to present ‘Healthy Trees-Healthy Tennessee’ on March 13

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The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will present “Healthy Trees—Healthy Tennessee” on Thursday, March 13, at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge at 7 p.m.

Alex Wyss, East Tennessee project director with the Tennessee Nature Conservancy, will be giving an interactive slide show presentation to educate the public about several forest pests that are impacting Tennessee urban and rural forests, and he will discuss what can be done to help stop the spread of these destructive insects.

The Nature Conservancy’s Healthy Trees, Healthy Tennessee trains volunteers in tree stewardship and tree health monitoring. They also engage the public and tree care professionals in tree pest identification, tree health monitoring, and long-term care of trees. The organization’s goal is to raise awareness about the importance of trees and what people can do to keep trees healthy through education and outreach. [Read more…]

Great American Clean-up kick-off is Saturday

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Keep Anderson County Beautiful Great American Cleanup

A submitted photo from the 2013 event.

Keep Anderson County Beautiful is hosting a kick-off event for the Great American Clean-up from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in front of the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

“If you were provided a free litter grabber and large plastic bags, would you take the challenge to help keep your part of Anderson County litter-free?” asked Linda Kimmel, event co-chair. These materials will be available on Saturday and from KACB for litter pick-ups throughout the Great American Clean-up from March to May.

“The goal is to enlist citizens of Anderson County to pick up trash found in their own neighborhoods and roadways,” Kimmel said. “Working together, we hope to clean up one ton of litter. Civic groups, families, neighborhoods, churches, youth groups, and businesses are encouraged to form teams to reach this goal. [Read more…]

Collins Tuohy of the ‘The Blind Side’ to speak at Girls Inc. luncheon

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Tuohy Family Super Bowl

Collins Tuohy, whose family is featured in the hit blockbuster movie “The Blind Side,” will be the guest speaker at the Girls Inc. of Oak Ridge annual Committee of 100 luncheon on Friday at the DoubleTree Hotel.

The annual luncheon honors a select group of woman who each contribute $100 or more to help address the growth and development of girls through programs offered at Girls Inc. The luncheon will begin at 12:30 p.m., and Girls Inc. invites all women of the community to join. To become a member of the committee and attend the luncheon, contact Rhoni Basden, executive director of Girls Inc. of Oak Ridge, at (865) 482-4475.

Tuohy shares a famously close bond with her adopted brother Michael Oher, as chronicled in “The Blind Side,” a press release said. They first met in the halls of their school in Memphis as she helped him adjust to both a new school and a new life with the Tuohy family. When Collins became homecoming queen, Michael was her escort. They also share a common bond through their athletic pursuits: Collins won the Tennessee state championship in the pole vault as Michael earned all-state honors in the discus and basketball championships. [Read more…]

Family Day at the Civic Center on March 15

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The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will host the Second Annual Family Day at the Civic Center from noon to 4 p.m. March 15. All activities except public swim and concessions are free. Concession items will include hot dogs, nachos, chips, cookies, juice, and soft drinks. A chili cook-off will be held in the Social Room. Those wishing to participate in the competition should call the Civic Center front desk to sign up.

Discounted public swim times, in 30-minute increments, will be offered for $1. Children two and under are free. The public swim is open to everyone and is scheduled at the indoor swimming pool from 12:30–1, 1:15–1:45, 2–2:30, and 2:45–3:15 p.m. Lifeguards will be on duty. If parents wish to supervise their children from the pool deck, they must pay admission and be dressed in swimming attire. If children do not need direct parental supervision, the pool can be viewed through glass windows in the snack bar and lobby areas.

Family activities will be offered throughout the Civic Center. They will include pool, ping pong, foosball, crafts, and board games. Active games, including badminton, corn hole, and family versions of volleyball and basketball, are planned for the gymnasium. [Read more…]

City egg hunt April 12

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The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will host the 2014 Egg Hunt at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 12. Hundreds of children are expected to participate in this annual spring event, and more than 15,000 candy and prize filled eggs will be hidden in A.K. Bissell Park with a first, second, and third place prize egg in each age group, a press release said.

Participants should assemble in the Civic Center gymnasium prior to 110 a.m. The children will be divided into separate age groups from four years old through 4th grade, and they will be escorted to their respective hunt areas. This event will be held “rain or shine,” so participants should dress for the weather. If severe weather prevents hiding the eggs outdoors, they will be given away in the gym and a drawing will be held for the prizes.

The Recreation and Parks Department staff will make a reasonable effort to provide appropriate accommodations for special needs. Parents of children who require a more accessible hunt area are encouraged to call ahead. [Read more…]

Education Foundation will award $80,000 more to Oak Ridge teachers

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The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award another $80,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers this year, and applications are now being accepted for the 2014 grant cycle.

This year, the Foundation will award $80,000 in grants to teachers, administrative staff, and student groups as part of its ongoing “Making the Critical Difference” campaign. Grant applications are due no later than March 31.

This campaign provides resources and teaching tools over and above those funded with tax dollars, typically in the range of $500 to $5,000, a press release said. The grants are not intended for salaries or to replace items that may have been cut from the schools’ annual budgets. Since the program began in 2004, the Foundation has awarded a total of more than $399,000 to dozens of teachers in every grade. ORPSEF grants may be made for educational programming, professional development, equipment, facilities, travel, conferences, or other purposes that might be approved by the Foundation. [Read more…]

Church Women United to highlight state, national developments during Friday lunch

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Church Women United will have the second meeting of its new lunchtime series in Oak Ridge on Friday. The meeting will focus on state and national development in Church Women United.

The meeting starts at 11:30 a.m. Friday with a reception with refreshments at Grace Lutheran Church, which is at 131 W. Gettysburg Ave. in Woodland. There will be short meeting at noon, followed by the program. The program will finish in time for attendees to return to work or attend other events at 1 p.m., a press release said.

Past Tennessee state president Donna Mosby will highlight developments at the state and national levels in a presentation titled “Church Women United in Action,” the release said. Visitors are encouraged to drop in and stay however long they can. Brown bag lunches are welcome! For more information, contact Gay Marie Logsdon at (865) 483-7940.

Gov. Haslam supports national preservation award for Alexander Inn

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Alexander Inn Groundbreaking

Local, state, and federal officials join volunteers and nonprofit and business executives for a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Alexander Inn in November.

Gov. Bill Haslam is supporting a nomination for a national historic preservation award for a project converting the Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge into an assisted living center.

Knox Heritage and East Tennessee Preservation Alliance have nominated the hotel for the 2014 The National Trust/Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation.

In a Feb. 25 letter, Haslam said he supports the nomination. The letter was sent to Stephanie Meeks at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C.

The Alexander Inn was built during World War II, when Oak Ridge raced to help build the world’s first atomic weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. Guests who once stayed at the two-story hotel included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]