Oliver Springs Mayor Omer Cox on Wednesday said he is feeling fine, does not have any symptoms of COVID-19, and is out of quarantine.
Cox tested positive for COVID-19 before a scheduled surgery. He learned of the test result on Monday of last week. The surgery was canceled.
Oliver Springs announced after the positive diagnosis that it was closing City Hall until August 3.
[Read more…]Note: This story was updated at 5:30 p.m. July 16.
Oliver Springs Mayor Omer Cox tested positive for COVID-19 before a scheduled surgery, and he said he does not have any symptoms and is not sick.
“Hopefully, I won’t be,” Cox said.
Cox said he was tested on Saturday morning at Tennova North. He was notified by his surgeon of the positive test result at 9:45 a.m. Monday. The surgery was canceled.
Cox said he is in self-quarantine at home and following doctor’s orders, and he has notified everyone that he has had contact with.
[Read more…]An Oliver Springs employee has tested positive for COVID-19, and City Hall will be closed to the public until August 3.
Oliver Springs officials learned of the positive diagnosis Monday morning. Other city employees are being tested.
[Read more…]Tennessee officials on Friday announced a $500,000 loan for water system repairs in Oliver Springs.
The loan was announced by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner David Salyers. It’s a Clean Water State Revolving Fund, or SRF, planning and design loan. It’s meant to remediate water losses in the Oliver Springs water system in what is being described as a pilot project.
The loan consists of 100 percent principal forgiveness in the amount of $500,000 with a five-year term and a 0 percent interest rate, a press release said.
“We are pleased we can assist local communities with important infrastructure improvements,†Lee said in the press release. “This loan directly addresses a need and will improve quality of life.â€
[Read more…]
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Tennessee Valley Authority will talk to the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday about the potential closure of the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton.
The informational briefing is scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, February 11, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room at 200 South Tulane Avenue. [Read more…]
The deadline for candidates to qualify for the November 6 municipal elections was noon Thursday, and four Oak Ridge City Council incumbents have one challenger while there are three candidates for three school board seats.
Besides the four seats now held by incumbents, the November election will include the selection of an additional member of Oak Ridge City Council to fill the rest of the term of Hans Vogel, who was elected to a four-year term in November 2016 but resigned in June to take a new job at Idaho National Laboratory. Only one candidate, Derrick Hammond, has qualified as a candidate in that special election. Hammond was unanimously appointed to the seat by City Council in July to fill the seat through the November election. After his unopposed November election, Hammond will serve the last two years of Vogel’s unexpired term.
Also on the ballot in November are city council and school board seats in Clinton, Norris, Oliver Springs, and Rocky Top. That’s in addition to the state and federal elections for Tennessee governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, and Tennessee Senate and Tennessee House of Representatives.
The four incumbents on the seven-member Oak Ridge City Council who are up for election in November all qualified as candidates by Thursday’s deadline. They are Kelly Callison, R.G. “Rick” Chinn Jr., Warren Gooch, and Ellen D. Smith. The four incumbents last had an election in November 2014. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider supporting an Oliver Springs request to ask the state to widen nine miles of State Route 61 between Oliver Springs and Harriman, where 114 crashes—some of them fatal—were reported between February 2013 and December 2016.
In a January 24 email, Oliver Springs Mayor Cecil E. Crowe told several city and county mayors that Oliver Springs has asked that State Route 61, which is two lanes, be widened to four.
“This highway project has been discussed for a number of years, but it has lacked the support necessary to get it approved,” Crowe told Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, and Roane County Executive Ron Woody. “We need your support to increase the priority of this highway project to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities.”
The improvement could boost both the economies in Oak Ridge and Oliver Springs, as well as in Harriman and Anderson, Morgan, and Roane counties, according to Crowe and the Oliver Springs resolution. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced in Nashville on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017, that a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment and 10 people were arrested, including seven Anderson County residents, on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. (Photo courtesy TBI)
Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.
Seven “sovereign citizens” from Anderson County, including Lee Harold Cromwell, have been indicted and arrested on charges related to filing fraudulent liens against local officials, law enforcement officers, and public employees, authorities said Thursday.
The sovereign citizens were arrested Wednesday by teams that included agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to a press release from Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark in Anderson County.
The TBI said a year-long investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation resulted in a 320-count indictment, and 10 people were arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies also participated in the arrests.
Dave Clark
TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. That was about the time that Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge learned that Cromwell had filed a lien against the judge, causing Elledge to recuse himself from a vehicular homicide and aggravated assault case filed against Cromwell. The judge vowed to do everything he could legally, morally, and ethically—both criminally and civilly—to prosecute Cromwell to the full extent of the law.
Elledge said he discussed the liens filed against him by Cromwell with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a federal task force, the Seventh District Attorney General’s Office (the Anderson County DA), and local legislators. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will have a press conference this afternoon (Thursday, February 16) to discuss an investigation into fraudulent liens and arrests made in East Tennessee.
It’s not clear how many arrests were made or where, and who was arrested. But WYSH Radio in Clinton reported that local, state, and federal law enforcement officers assisted the TBI in arresting a suspect in South Clinton on Wednesday.
Oak Ridge Today received a report that the TBI and Federal Bureau of Investigation were both at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on Wednesday during the trial for Lee Harold Cromwell. Cromwell is a 67-year-old Oak Ridge man convicted Wednesday in Anderson County Criminal Court of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault for a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015. It has been alleged, including in court hearings, that Cromwell is a sovereign citizen, or someone who might not recognize certain government authorities, although neither he nor his defense attorney have acknowledged in court hearings that he is.
Officials haven’t confirmed whether the investigation into fraudulent liens by the TBI includes the $137 million in liens filed by Cromwell against local law enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service, or Social Security, but they did announce after his convictions on Wednesday that Cromwell had been indicted in Davidson County, where the TBI is based. Cromwell’s bail was revoked, and he was immediately taken into custody. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
Oliver Springs got a big assist last week on several, much-needed sewer system repairs in the form of a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant of $2.99 million and loan of $4.47 million.
The money will help the town to meet the system requirements of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and operate its water and sewer systems properly.
The new money will go toward improvements in the sewer system.
A press release from Rural Development said the corrections will improve the water quality of Poplar Creek and eliminate the numerous overflows that occur in the drainage area of the creek when heavy rainfall takes place. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
It looks like sweeping changes will be coming to the Oliver Springs city government. As our partners at BBB-TV have previously reported, City Manager Becky Campbell is stepping down, and her last day on the job will be today (June 30).
Earlier this week, Billing and Accounts Director Susan Tyler also announced that she will be retiring, effective today as well. Longtime Fire Chief Terry Phillips has also announced his retirement, which also goes into effect today. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
Our partners at BBB-TV have learned that Oliver Springs City Manager Becky Campbell will be stepping down at the end of the month.
Campbell has served as the Oliver Springs city manager since November 2014 after succeeding Tina Treece.
Campbell is wrapping up 18 years with the town. Much of her tenure was spent as an administrative assistant. [Read more…]
