The American Cancer Society Catch the Leprechaun 5K starts at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Oak Ridge waterfront.
It is an Irish-themed 5k, and participants are encouraged come adorned in green, a press release said. It’s a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
The course will follow Melton Lake Drive and Melton Lake greenway. One lane of Melton Lake Drive will be closed from 8-8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Sakuji Tanaka
When Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka of Japan visits Oak Ridge on Friday and Saturday, he will talk about and hear innovative ideas on how to achieve peace through service.
On Friday, Thom Mason, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will give Tanaka a tour of ORNL. At 3 p.m., the RI president will tour the Secret City Commemorative Walk built by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. City Manager Mark Watson, who is president-elect of this Rotary club, will present a gift to Tanaka, who will make some remarks.
At 3:45 p.m. Tanaka will then visit the International Friendship Bell, where he will be welcomed by Oak Ridger Jack Bailey, district governor of RI District 6780, which encompasses 65 clubs in East Tennessee. Shigeko Uppuluri will present a history of the bell and give a bell replica to Tanaka, who will make remarks and ring the bell.
The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will host the 2013 Egg Hunt later this month.
Hundreds of children are expected to participate in this annual spring event, a city press release said. It starts at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 23, at A.K. Bissell Park.
The Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge has again been named an endangered place in East Tennessee.
The Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge has again been named an endangered place in East Tennessee.
The vacant, two-story hotel was included on a list of 17 endangered places released by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance on Monday. The Alexander Inn, which could soon be converted into an assisted living center, has been on the list in previous years as well.
Announced Monday in Knoxville, the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance’s list includes endangered historic buildings and places in a 16-county region.
Programs that could help prevent, reduce, and end homelessness will be discussed at “Lunch with the League” on Tuesday.
Mike Dunthorn, program manager for homeless service in the Knoxville Community Development Department, will be the guest speaker at Tuesday’s lunch, which starts at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.
A recent draft of a proposed dog park at Big Turtle Park. (Image submitted by city staff)
The Oak Ridge Dog Park Committee and Recreation and Parks Advisory Board have scheduled an open house this month to share information on the progress of the dog park, as well as give the public an opportunity to comment or share concerns.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 21, in the Oak Ridge Civic Center.
“Please plan to attend this meeting,” a press release said. “We will soon have an opportunity to have a safe place for our dogs to exercise.”
Scouts, leaders, and family members from Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Cub Scouts troops sort food donations in Grace Lutheran’s Fellowship Hall. (Submitted photos)
Submitted by Scoutmaster Mike McEahern
The need is greater than ever.
As families continue to struggle across the country, local organizations like the Great Smoky Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America are striving to make a difference close to home.
On Feb. 9, Boy Scouts from Troop 224 from Grace Lutheran Church; Troop 328 from Kern United Methodist Church; and Cub Scouts from Pack 328 and Girl Scouts from Troop 20737, both from First United Methodist Church, teamed up to collect donations in the annual Scouting for Food drive. Donations were collected from neighborhoods throughout Oak Ridge and delivered to the Grace Lutheran Food Pantry. Additionally, Pack 328 led collection efforts at First United Methodist and Woodland Elementary—rewarding the leading classroom at Woodland with a pizza party.
Ava Rose Brown
A concert in Oliver Springs tonight will help a family with an infant with serious health problems.
The gospel benefit concert for Ava Rose Brown is scheduled from 6-9 p.m. today at Beech Park Baptist Church on East Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs.
It will help Ava Rose’s parents, Tiffany and Eddie Brown, purchase a van and remodel their home, concert organizer and family friend Kevin Craft said. He said Eddie and Tiffany Brown, who also have two other children, are now living with a relative in Oak Ridge, and their home is partially remodeled.
Jennifer Sheehan
Charlotte Bowers
Vowing to reorganize, the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County has replaced a husband-wife duo that had served as longtime executive director and operated its home store in Grove Center.
Board members said they agreed last week to replace Susan Burgess-Parrish, who had been executive director for about 12 years, and Rodney Parrish, Habitat Home Store manager for about seven years.
The Parrish couple was told of the decision on Tuesday.
The 11-member board sent out a press release the same day announcing that Jennifer Sheehan, who had been Habitat’s resource development director since October, is now interim executive director. Charlotte Bowers, who had been community development coordinator for two years, is interim manager of the home store.
Members of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church have purchased this 4.6-acre site in front of the Joe L. Evins Federal Building on Oak Ridge Turnpike. (Photo courtesy of Jake B. Morrill)
The members of a heavily used church on busy Oak Ridge Turnpike have found a new home, part of a neighborhood exodus to make way for a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center in the heart of the city.
Members of the Oak Unitarian Universalist Church had agreed in September to sell their current building and 3.6 acres at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Robertsville Road in a deal arranged by commercial developers Blanchard and Calhoun Commercial.
On Wednesday, roughly five months later, congregation members announced they had purchased a 4.6-acre parcel at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Laboratory Road, in front of the Joe L. Evins Federal Building.
Pictured above are, standing, Avon Rollins, director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, and Jim Little, participant in the 1963 March; and, seated, are Helen Ashe, Love Kitchen director and founder, and Ellen Turner, Love Kitchen manager. They shared their thoughts on the 1963 March on Washington at ORNL’s Black History Month celebration event. (Photographer: Curtis Boles)
The theme of this year’s Black History Month activities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington.”
The lab had a Black History Month speaker event last week.
Proceeds from this year’s activities, including a soul food tasting, are being donated to the Love Kitchen. The committee presented a check for $3,000 to the Love Kitchen, and donations are still coming in, ORNL said.
Robert Hatcher
A University of Tennessee scientist and professor on Thursday will discuss geology, petroleum resources in Tennessee, and the use of “fracking”—hydraulic fracturing—as a drilling tool.
The lecture by Robert Hatcher, a professor in the UT Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, will start at 7 p.m. Thursday at Roane State Community College. Presented by the UT Arboretum Society, the program is free and open to the public.
