Information from WYSH Radio
Early voting for the November 4 general election in Anderson County begins Wednesday, October 15, and runs through Thursday, October 30.
Early voting hours Monday through Friday will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon at the Clinton Community Center, the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge, and at the North Anderson Government Office in the Anderson Crossing Shopping Center in the Norris/Andersonville area. [Read more…]
Bill Haslam
State officials announce 80 Community Development Block Grants
Oliver Springs received a $525,000 grant for sewer system improvements, and Rocky Top (formerly Lake City) received a $360,840 grant for water system improvements, Tennessee officials announced last week.
Oliver Springs and Rocky Top were among the Tennessee communities that will receive funding after Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty approved more than $28 million in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to help with infrastructure, health and safety projects, and downtown improvements, a press release said.
The Oliver Springs grant will be matched with $225,000 in local funding (for $750,000 in total funding), and the Rocky Top grant will be matched with $27,160 in local funding for a total of $388,000. [Read more…]
Chris Phillips
CLINTON—Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank announced Thursday that Chris Phillips will be rejoining Anderson County government as budget director.
“I never wanted Chris to leave, but I certainly understood from the beginning that Lake City, now Rocky Top, was in search of next-level management in modernizing their accounting structure,” Frank said. “Though Chris tried to accomplish Rocky Top’s goals by working part-time on weekends, it really took him leaving the county to be in Rocky Top full-time. I made it clear from the get-go that if I had not filled the budget director position, he was always welcome back home here in Anderson County government.”
“While the thought of disappointing those who were kind enough to vote for me weighs heavily on me, I know I can best serve the people of this county by implementing and directing policy, rather than making policy, and that requires that I step down from my position as Commissioner to serve Anderson County in another way,†said Phillips, who was elected to one of two Anderson County Commission seats in District 4 on August 7.
Phillips will resign his County Commission seat effective October 10, a press release said.
Former Anderson County Commissioner Zach Bates, who ran for county mayor in the May 6 Republican primary, did not seek re-election in District 4, which includes the Lake City (Rocky Top), Briceville, and Rosedale voting precincts. [Read more…]
The Lake City Council in June agreed to rename the town as Rocky Top as part of an effort to attract a multi-million dollar development that could include a water park, interactive theater with children’s museum, and coal miners music theater, among other things. (File photo)
Information from WYSH Radio
The owners of the iconic bluegrass song “Rocky Top” have filed another legal challenge to prevent the recently-renamed Anderson County town of Rocky Top from cashing in on the name change.
Earlier this year, Lake City changed its name to Rocky Top, a change widely seen as the first step in revitalizing the town’s economy. The House of Bryant owns the rights to the “Rocky Top” song and is suing city leaders and the developers of several proposed attractions for trademark infringement.
This spring, the company sought an injunction aimed at preventing the then-Lake City Council from changing the town’s name to Rocky Top until the lawsuit was heard, saying it could do irreparable damage to the brand that family created. That request for an injunction was rejected in May and the city officially changed its name in June.
This latest legal challenge comes after Monday’s announcement that marketers with the city had reached an agreement with a Knoxville fashion designer to manufacture “Rocky Top, Tennessee” merchandise. House of Bryant has filed another request for the courts to step in, saying Monday’s merchandise deal is “new information” that constitutes grounds for a temporary injunction. [Read more…]
Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m.
Ten candidates have qualified to run for Oak Ridge City Council in the November 4 municipal election, and there are nine candidates for Oak Ridge Board of Education—a total of 19 candidates.
It’s the largest field of candidates in recent memory, and it’s not immediately clear when, or if, there has been a field as large.
The deadline to qualify as a candidate in this fall’s municipal elections in Anderson County was noon Thursday.
There is a mix of incumbents and newcomers in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Rocky Top (Lake City), Norris, and Oliver Springs.
In Oak Ridge, two incumbents, including Mayor Tom Beehan and Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller, are not seeking re-election. Meanwhile, the other two incumbents whose terms expire this November, Anne Garcia Garland and David Mosby, are running for another four-year term.
In addition to Garcia Garland and Mosby, the other Oak Ridge City Council candidates are:
Thursday is the deadline to qualify for municipal elections across Anderson County, and so far, there appears to be a mix of incumbents and newcomers in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Rocky Top (Lake City), Norris, and Oliver Springs.
Eleven people, including the four incumbents, have expressed an interest in running for four seats on Oak Ridge City Council in November, and seven candidates have qualified so far.
Meanwhile, three people, including one incumbent, have qualified to run for three seats on the Oak Ridge Board of Education. A total of nine potential candidates, including the three who have qualified, have picked up petitions to run for Oak Ridge school board.
The November 4 election is the last in a series of three elections this year. The deadline to qualify is noon Thursday, August 21. A candidate needs 25 verified signatures on a nomination petition to qualify.
Those who have qualified to run for Oak Ridge City Council are: [Read more…]
The Lake City Council on Thursday agreed to change the town’s name to Rocky Top as part of an effort to attract a multi-million dollar development that could include a water park, interactive theater with children’s museum, and coal miners music theater, among other things.
Note: This story was last updated at 1:10 p.m. June 28.
LAKE CITY—Lake City is now Rocky Top, Tennessee.
For most people, Rocky Top has been, until now, the name of a bluegrass song that is wildly popular in East Tennessee and the unofficial anthem of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Hikers might know it as a sub-peak of Thunderhead Mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains. And shoppers might recognize it as the name of a bookstore, or gas station, or wine trail, or one of many other businesses registered in Tennessee.
But officials and business leaders here have worked for months to make their town to first to use it in a city name.
The idea is to use the name change to spur developments along Interstate 75 that could be worth up to $237 million. Proposed projects include an indoor and outdoor water park, interactive theater with a children’s museum, a coal miners music theater, and laser tag, among other things. Officials have said those developments—which have also included other options such as a hotel, restaurant, and candy company—won’t happen without the name change.
Residents hope the change and subsequent developments will create jobs, add sales tax revenues, and provide a vital economic boost to this depressed town of 1,800 people in northern Anderson County. [Read more…]
Tim Isbel, president of the Rocky Top Marketing and Manufacturing Co., at a federal court hearing in May on Lake City’s proposed name change to Rocky Top.
Information from WYSH Radio
Officials in what is now called Lake City have announced that the City Council will meet on Thursday, June 26, at 5 p.m. to ratify the town’s name change to Rocky Top.
The name change is considered vital for the development of several attractions aimed at turning the sleepy town into a tourist destination for travelers along I-75, and it cleared its most significant hurdle a couple of weeks ago when a federal judge refused to issue an injunction to prohibit the name change from going forward.
The request for a preliminary injunction  had been filed by the owners of the copyright to the song “Rocky Top,†who had argued that the name change amounted to a trademark violation. [Read more…]
Tim Isbel, president of the Rocky Top Marketing and Manufacturing Co., at a federal court hearing in May on Lake City’s proposed name change to Rocky Top.
A federal judge on Wednesday denied for now a request to stop Lake City from changing its name to Rocky Top.
The preliminary injunction had been requested by House of Bryant Publications LLC, the Gatlinburg publisher of “Rocky Top,†a well-known bluegrass song closely identified with the University of Tennessee and its Volunteers athletics program.
The Lake City Council could reconsider the name change as early as June. The council endorsed the name change in November, and it was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly this year in a bill that has already been signed by Gov. Bill Haslam. Anderson County Commissioner Tim Isbel has said Lake City could become Rocky Top on July 3 under the new state law.
Isbel is president of Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing and Manufacturing Co. That company has proposed a development that could be worth up to $450 million over six years and include an indoor and outdoor water park, coal miners theater, children’s museum, train rides, restaurant, and a candy company on some 300 acres near two exits off Interstate 75. Officials have said it could bring 200 new jobs to Lake City and generate another $6 million in sales tax per year. But the project hinges on the name change. [Read more…]
The Lake City Council votes 4-0 in November to change the town’s name to Rocky Top, and Rep. John Ragan said he had draft legislation to approve the name change to introduce in the Tennessee General Assembly. (File photo)
WYSH Radio/Oak Ridge Today
A bill that will allow Lake City to officially change its name to Rocky Top was unanimously approved in the Tennessee Senate on Thursday, three days after the state House of Representatives also unanimously voted to support the measure.
Lake City Council members approved the name change, seen as a vital first step toward developing a Rocky Top theme park in the former coal mining town, in November. The bill will now go to Gov. Bill Halslam’s desk for his signature, then the Lake City Council must ratify it by a two-thirds majority.
The name change is seen as a necessary first step toward turning the former coal mining town into a tourist destination, taking advantage of its two exits off of I-75. Plans call for an interactive 3-D theater, a restaurant, a water park and a hotel, as well as other attractions. [Read more…]
WYSH Radio/Oak Ridge Today
On Monday, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted unanimously to allow Lake City to change its name to Rocky Top. The House bill sponsored by Rep. John Ragan of Oak Ridge passed 89-0.
The name change is seen as a necessary first step toward turning the former coal mining town into a tourist destination, taking advantage of its two exits off of I-75. Plans currently call for an interactive 3-D theater, a restaurant, a water park and a hotel, as well as other attractions.
The state Senate has yet to schedule a vote on the companion bill to the House version, which is being sponsored by Sen. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge. If the Senate approves the measure as expected, the Lake City Council will have to vote again on the name change to ratify the private act that was endorsed Monday by the state House. [Read more…]
Officials with the Anderson County Water Authority, Lake City, and Anderson County governments gather at the new waterline extension valve control station in Lake City. (Photo courtesy of Anderson County government)
CLINTON—The Anderson County Water Authority has completed a water line extension project near the Lake City Industrial Park and is nearing completion of the five-mile water line extension on Park Road in Andersonville, a press release said.
Representatives of the Water Authority and government officials from both Anderson County and Lake City recently gathered to celebrate the completion of the water line extension. The water line extension and control valve station in front of the nursing home was part of the effort to provide increased water pressure to that area.
The Lake City project included installing between 700 feet and 1,000 feet of new six-inch water pipe off an existing eight-inch line and the valve control station, according to Jack Shelton, ACWA board member.
“It’s an exciting time for Lake City as we are striving to improve our water distribution system for our town,†said Andrew Howard, a Lake City Council member. “Lake City is very proud of our Water and Sewer Department as well as Anderson County Water Authority. Our own Water and Sewer Superintendent, Travis Thrasher, worked closely with ACWA to strive to provide efficient services to our community. We are thankful to be a part of community utilities that are able to work together closely.” [Read more…]
