Oak Ridge Today

Clinton honors female athletes, names them Christmas parade grand marshals

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Erin Champion

Erin Champion

Erin Champion and Vickie Franse selected as grand marshals for Clinton Christmas parade

Two outstanding young female athletes from Clinton will serve as grand marshals of the Clinton Christmas Parade this year, Mayor Scott Burton announced this week.

The grand marshals will be Erin Champion and Vickie Franse. The Christmas parade is Dec. 7, and the entry registration deadline is Dec. 4.

Erin Champion won the 2011 AAA State Pole Vault Championship with a height of 11’6,” a press release said. Earlier in the 2011 season, she set a Tennessee record with a height of 12’1.5” at the Metro 8 Meet. [Read more…]

Globetrotter-style hoops on Saturday benefits foundation, Scarboro association

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A Saturday night of hoops—Globetrotter style—will benefit the Regina Kirk Foundation and the Scarboro Community Alumni Association.

The game pits The Harlem Legends against The Oak Ridge All-Stars. It starts at 5 p.m. Saturday at Oak Ridge High School.

“The Oak Ridge All-Stars will be comprised of city officials, educators, and former Wildcats who will agree to an evening of family fun in their challenge of the Harlem Legends in a friendly game of hoops—Globetrotter style,” a press release said.

The Harlem legends are a group of professional athletes, former players from the Harlem Globetrotters, NBA, NFL, past Olympians, and other professionals. Legends include Michael Douglas, Tyrone “Hollywood Brown,” Larry “Shorty” Coleman, Robert Wallace, Tree Gordon, Mike Glenn, Jimmy Bolden, Kevin Sowell, L.T. Trahan, and Regina Kirk. [Read more…]

CONTACT Care Line celebrates 40th anniversary Friday

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Deborah Patterson

Deborah Patterson

For 40 years, volunteers with CONTACT Care Line have provided a listening ear to East Tennesseans in crisis, and the Oak Ridge-based nonprofit is inviting the public to a Friday evening of bluegrass music to celebrate its milestone anniversary.

The public is also recognizing CONTACT, with both the city of Oak Ridge and Rep. John Ragan from Tennessee’s District 33 proclaiming November as “CONTACT Care Line Month,” a press release said.

“A lot has changed in 40 years,” said Deb Patterson, CONTACT’s executive director, “but six of our volunteers have been with us from Day One, and what hasn’t changed is that lonely people, people with mental illnesses, the elderly—all of us, really—need someone to talk to every once in a while. It’s going to be special to reach the 40-year milestone and to thank all our telephone workers.”

The 40th Ruby Anniversary Balloon Pop Concert featuring the Ridge City Ramblers will be held from 7-10 p.m. Friday at the Pollard Conference Center in Oak Ridge. The Ramblers will provide a fun mix of bluegrass and Americana music, and there’ll be a prize in every balloon, the press release said. [Read more…]

Rotary clubs plan dragon boat races at Oak Ridge Marina in May

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Dragon Boat Festival

Teams take part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Taipei on May 28, 2009. (Photo credit Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)

Three local Rotary clubs are launching the city’s first Dragon Boat Festival on May 17 at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.

“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment, and raise funds for a special project and nonprofit service organizations in the community,” said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.

The boat racing event, launched by OARS in the Water, will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. OARS stands for the Oak Ridge Association of Rotarians. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs. [Read more…]

Holiday Bureau needs donated toys

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Holiday Bureau of Anderson County is in desperate need of donated toys. There are more than 700 kids that still need toys.

If you can help, contact the bureau at (865) 483-7831 or on Facebook to get details.

Lecture to focus on whether small reactors can rejuvenate nuclear power

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Kent Williams

Kent Williams

A retired distinguished staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will discuss Thursday evening whether small modular nuclear reactors, such as the one proposed in west Oak Ridge, can rejuvenate nuclear power.

The presentation by Kent Williams starts at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge.

Many people in the nuclear industry say that small modular reactors, or SMRs, are key to a revitalized nuclear industry in the U.S. and overseas because of their projected market, safety, and economic characteristics, a press release said. One SMR plant has been proposed at the former Clinch River Breeder Reactor site in west Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

World-wide polio eradication to be discussed at Lunch with League on Tuesday

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Brenda Thornburgh in India

Brenda Thornburgh, left, president of Galbraith Laboratories Inc. and past President of Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, marks a child’s left pinkie with a purple marker during a polio eradication mission in India in 2012, indicating that the child has received the immunization. (Submitted photo).

Brenda Thornburgh, president of Galbraith Laboratories Inc. and past President of Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, will discuss the worldwide effort to eradicate polio during Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

The meeting starts at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

For most Americans, paralytic polio is a disease of the past, a press release said. However, there has been a worldwide increase in the number of confirmed cases across the world in 2013, primarily in non-endemic countries such as Somalia, Kenya, and the Syrian Arab Republic. [Read more…]

ORCMA holiday wreaths for sale through Wednesday

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The Oak Ridge Civic Music Association is taking advance orders for holiday wreaths made from fresh evergreens.

A traditional symbol of the holiday season, the wreaths are made of Fraser Fir (Southern Balsam). Proceeds from the sale are used in ORCMA’s longstanding commitment to the funding of local music organizations.

The wreaths are made to order in sizes ranging from 14 inches to 32 inches and can be customized in larger sizes as wanted. Red or maroon velvet bows are also available by order. Prices for wreaths range from $17 to $30, and bows cost $7. [Read more…]

Open house offers information on Affordable Care Act on Saturday

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ACA Volunteer Jim Nelson

Affordable Care Act Volunteer Jim Nelson is pictured above. (Submitted photo)

An open house to provide information about the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called “Obamacare,” will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Grace Lutheran Church in Woodland.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the new health care act is invited to attend this educational event, especially those who need to get health insurance in the new marketplace. Those attending will be able to access both printed information and computers to get online resources, a press release said.

Community volunteers, including some experienced with the Tennessee Health Care Coalition, will be present to make sure their neighbors have access to affordable, quality health care, and accurate information about the ACA, the release said. [Read more…]

Officials celebrate conversion of historic hotel to assisted living center

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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 on Thursday.

Top military leaders and scientists once stayed at this historic two-story hotel in the heart of Oak Ridge, and now it’s being converted into an assisted living center.

The $5.5 million renovation of the Alexander Inn at Jackson Square started in July, the culmination of a years-long preservation effort. It could be complete by mid-2014, said Rick Dover, manager of Family Pride Corp., the company converting the hotel.

The Guest House Senior Living at the Alexander Inn will have 62 rooms, including a 17-room memory care wing.

The hotel was built during the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Guests who once stayed there included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]

ORAU exceeds $100,000 in annual giving campaign for sixth consecutive year

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ORAU Annual Giving

The 2013 ORAU Annual Giving Campaign Chair Sarah Roberts, pictured far right; Co-Chair Michael Ickowitz, pictured far left; ORAU President and CEO Andy Page, pictured second from left; and keynote speaker Edwena Crowe, one of four Crowe Family members serving as the 2013 United Way of Anderson County Campaign Family, reveal ORAU’s combined giving total of $132,109.32.

For the sixth year in a row, Oak Ridge Associated Universities has broken the $100,000 mark in donations as part of the annual giving campaign for the United Way and Community Shares, a press release said.

During a concluding ceremony on Nov. 12 in the ORAU Pollard Technology Conference Center, ORAU President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Page announced the 2013 ORAU Annual Giving Campaign total donation amount—$132,109.32. As part of the total donation, ORAU gave $98,432.34 to the United Way and $33,676.98 to Community Shares. [Read more…]

B&W Y-12 helps libraries, Smokies, Leukemia Society

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B&W Y-12 at Light the Night

A B&W Y-12 team raised more than $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society during an Oct. 24 Light the Night walk. (Submitted photos)

B&W Y-12 recently announced it has donated $1,250 to local libraries, raised more than $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and volunteered more than 10,000 hours of service at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Here is more information on each of those efforts from Y-12 News Notes:

B&W Y-12 supports local libraries

Libraries in four local towns are benefitting from $1,250 donations from B&W Y-12. [Read more…]