Oak Ridge Today

Drug awareness at Oak Ridge pool today

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The Oak Ridge Chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks will be hosting “Drug Awareness Day” at the Oak Ridge Municipal Pool this Saturday, June 8. This event is a partnership with Anderson County Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention, Roane County Anti-Drug Coalition, the City of Oak Ridge Parks and Recreation Department, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Drug awareness demonstrations will be held from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. inside the pool area. A few of the planned activities include the TWRA jet ski simulator and fatal vision goggle demonstrations. “Elroy the Elk” the national mascot for the Elks Drug Awareness Program will be in attendance to remind kids that hugs are better than drugs. Hundreds of prizes will be given away to those participating in a drug awareness activity. Some of the prizes include T-shirts, coloring books, Frisbees, and free passes to the pool that can be used anytime during the summer. [Read more…]

Relay for Life moved indoors tonight, ends at midnight due to forecast

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Relay for Life will be held indoors at the Oak Ridge High School tonight due to the risk of bad weather, the American Cancer Society said.

“We will be in the corridor and the B Gym,” representative Kayla Shelby said in a statement Thursday. She said participants should enter through the doors they would use to go to the arena, and the event will be modified, ending at midnight.

[Read more…]

B&W Y-12 again a premier sponsor of the Secret City Festival

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B&W Y-12 Secret City Festival Check Presentation

Chuck Spencer, center, B&W Y-12 president and general manager, presents a $25,000 sponsorship check for the Secret City Festival to Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan, left, and Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller. (Submitted photo)

B&W Y-12 is returning to the Secret City Festival once again as the premier festival sponsor, a press release said.

“B&W has led the way in Secret City Festival sponsorships both financially and in kind for the past eight years,” the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau said in a Wednesday press release. B&W Y-12 operates the Y-12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Chuck Spencer, B&W Y-12 president and general manager, presented a $25,000 festival sponsorship check during a May 28 meeting. [Read more…]

Council rejects funding for sinkhole repairs, tax rate reduction; approves Habitat property transfer

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Oak Ridge High School Soccer Field Sinkhole

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to reimburse the school system about $36,000 for repairs to this 13-foot sinkhole under the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to use red light camera money to reimburse the school system $36,000 for sinkhole repairs made in April at the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

Council also agreed to transfer a small burned-out lot on Hillside Road to Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County and rejected a proposal to lower the property tax rate by one cent.

Asked about the sinkhole repair reimbursement on Tuesday, Oak Ridge Schools Interim Superintendent Bob Smallridge said the school system, which expects revenues to fall by about $1 million and is cutting 18 positions, has a tight budget. [Read more…]

Police Car Owners display cars, lights during first Oak Ridge convention

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Police Car Owners of America

Hal Johns, right, of Sevierville, cleans his 1962 Plymouth Belvedere, with help from his friend Jack Maness, also of Sevierville, during an exhibit in Oak Ridge by the Police Car Owners of America on Saturday.

The Police Car Owners of America had its first four-day convention in Oak Ridge, and highlights included a light display on Thursday and exhibit and award banquet on Saturday.

The organization, which works to preserve the history of law enforcement vehicles, has members in 35 states and three other countries. Saturday’s exhibit in the parking lot of the former Sears store in Oak Ridge included 25 cars from as far away as California and Wisconsin.

Cars—which can be purchased online and outfitted with light bars, radios, and display guns—are judged on their cleanliness and authenticity, said Jack Pike of Conway, Ark., the organization’s vice president and public information officer. [Read more…]

‘Classical June’ at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church starts Sunday

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Always seeking to further the art and appreciation of classical music, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church Director of Music Wendel Werner has announced that during the month of June various classical pieces will be the featured music during the 10 a.m. Sunday worship services. Everyone is invited to attend. ORUUC is located at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge.

Featured on June 2 will be a performance of “The Flower Duet” from Léo Delibes’ opera Lakmé sung by Saffron Mills and Anne Scott. On June 19, featured pieces by Schubert and Mozart will be sung by Saffron Mills. Services on June 16 and 23 will feature classical pieces played by Charlotte Bowers and will include some four-hands music played by Charlotte and her mother. On June 30, the feature pieces will be by Bach, Schumann, and Copland sung by Marti Messer. [Read more…]

Peggy’s Irish Festival this evening

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Pat Kane

Award-winning musician Pat Kane will perform at Peggy’s Irish Festival at the Realty Center today.

Peggy’s Irish Festival is this evening from 5 to 9 p.m. at Realty Center on South Tulane Avenue.

The annual festival features Irish music by Pat Kane, two-time winner of the New York City Fleadh Cheoil National Festival of Irish Music.

Realty Center is at 201 S. Tulane Ave.

Final sale day at Alexander Inn

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center.

The first estate sale at the Alexander Inn was very popular, and now the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance plans to have a second.

It will be this Saturday, and the ETPA said it’s the second and final estate “tag” sale.

The sale will from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. ETPA is holding it in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]

With renovations under way, hundreds shop at Alexander Inn estate sale

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Alexander Inn Estate Sale

Hundreds of people lined up at the Alexander Inn on Saturday for an estate sale, an unprecedented opportunity to buy items ranging from bed frames and Bibles to chairs and chandeliers, before the vacant, historic hotel is converted into an assisted living center. (Photo by Don Hunnicutt)

Renovations have started at the historic Alexander Inn, and on Saturday, hundreds of people shopped at an estate sale at the vacant, two-story hotel, taking advantage of an unprecedented opportunity to buy items from the 1940s to the 1980s, including bed frames and Bibles, chairs and chandeliers, and dishes and dressers.

Halfway through the three-hour sale, a project executive estimated that more than 500 people had attended. At one point, the line of people waiting to get in stretched from the hotel, located on East Madison Road, to Kentucky Avenue, said Rick Dover, general manager of Family Pride, which has proposed converting the dilapidated hotel into an assisted living center. [Read more…]

Continuous Threads has summer sewing camps

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Continuous Threads Sewing Studio in Oak Ridge will offer summer sewing camps beginning June 10 and ending the week of July 29.

Sewing camps will meet daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Each week-long camp is designed for boys and girls ages nine and up who want to learn how to sew using hand sewing and machine techniques. During the course of a given camp week, students will make new friends and learn skills involving math, design, and even history, a press release said. [Read more…]

Anderson County has Memorial Day ceremony Monday morning

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Anderson County will have its 5th Annual Memorial Day ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Anderson County Courthouse in downtown Clinton.

Guest speakers include Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and Curtis Sexton, a retired U.S. Army colonel. [Read more…]

Secret City Festival has World War II living history exhibit

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The Secret City Festival is introducing a new “Salute to Soldiers” program featuring World War II living history activities and demonstrations at A.K. Bissell Park on Saturday, June 22.

“Come out and salute our WWII veterans and enjoy an entire day of living history activities and exhibits provided by Five Oh First Group,” a press release said. [Read more…]