Waste Connections of Tennessee will close the Convenience Center at 400 Warehouse Road at noon on Saturday, December 24, in observance of Christmas. The Convenience Center will reopen on Monday, December 26.
In addition, the Convenience Center will be closed all day Sunday, January 1, 2017, in observance of the New Year’s holiday. [Read more…]
An interim city manager has been named in Norris, according to The Norris Bulletin.
Long-time resident Joe Deatherage, who has a long record of community service and charitable work, was picked unanimously during a special Norris City Council meeting on Monday, the weekly publication said. Council moved quickly to fill the position left vacant by last week’s decision to replace the Norris city manager.
Deatherage, who retired from Lockheed-Martin after 30 years working in Oak Ridge, will serve temporarily until a permanent city manager can be chosen, The Norris Bulletin said. Deatherage said he would not be a candidate for the post beyond the next few months.
See The Norris Bulletin for more information. You can contact the publication at (865) 719-3550 or norrisbulletin@horizonusa.com.
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association has unveiled a new guide to the historic sites of the “Secret City” of Oak Ridge. The Manhattan Project, Secret City Pocket Guide was prepared by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association in cooperation with the National Park Service and the Oak Ridge Schools.
The 44-page guide measures only 4 inches by 7 inches in size, so it easily fits in your pocket, a press release said. It tells the story of the Manhattan Project’s first major nuclear site, Oak Ridge—created less than a year after the Pearl Harbor attack. The guide is priced at $5.
The new guide is packed with historic photos, an introduction to the new national historical park, a driving map of Oak Ridge’s heritage sites, and fascinating factoids on the people who built one of the most amazing technical achievements in history, the press release said.
The guide’s author, Martin McBride, is a member of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association Board and a retired nuclear safety division director from the U.S. Department of Energy. [Read more…]
Ernest Moniz
Note: This story was last updated at 12:10 p.m.
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will attend the land transfer ceremony for the American Museum of Science and Energy property in Oak Ridge next week.
The ceremony is scheduled for Friday, December 30. Also expected to attend are U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and City of Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch.
It’s a signing ceremony to formally transfer the roughly 17-acre AMSE site from the U.S. Department of Energy to the City of Oak Ridge.
Under an agreement unanimously approved by Oak Ridge City Council on December 13, the city is then expected to transfer the property in two phases to a company set up by RealtyLink, the South Carolina firm building Main Street Oak Ridge at the site of the former Oak Ridge Mall. [Read more…]
The Energy Communities Alliance, an organization whose members include local governments adjacent to or affected by U.S. Department of Energy activities, has submitted its transition priorities and recommendations for the incoming Trump administration. They are included in “A Roadmap for Successful Local Government and Community Engagement.”
The document includes nine key priorities, each with their own set of recommendations, for the new administration to adopt as it engages in discussions regarding ongoing U.S. Department of Energy operations and performance, a press release said.
Here are the nine priorities, grouped into three areas: [Read more…]
Two drop-off locations will be available for residents who want to recycle their Christmas trees after the holidays. The program is offered by the City of Oak Ridge.
Signs will be posted in both locations. The drop-offs are:
Trees will be accepted any time through January 29, 2017. On Saturday, January 14, and Saturday, January 21, Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department employees will be available to assist with unloading trees at the Big Turtle Park drop-off location from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., a press release said. [Read more…]
From left to right standing are Colin Colverson, Oak Ridge Site Representative and Office of General Counsel; Padraic Benson, historian, Office of Legacy Management; Tracy Atkins, Principal Representative Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Office of Legacy Management; and Thomas Pauling, Acting Director, Office of Legacy Management. Seated in front is Bill Coors. (Photo courtesy DOE Office of Legacy Management)
William Kistler “Bill” Coors is best known for the beer brewed in the Rocky Mountains, but he was honored by federal officials this month for his historic work building ceramic insulators that were used in Oak Ridge to help build the world’s first atomic bombs.
On December 2, Coors received the Energy Secretary’s Appreciation Award in Golden, Colorado, which is west of Denver and at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
The award was presented by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Acting Director Thomas Pauling. It recognizes Coors’ historic role in providing critical insulators to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Manhattan Engineer District, also known as the Manhattan Project, during World War II, a press release said. The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during the war—before Germany could.
The ceramic insulators were used in uranium enrichment operations at the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, which was built as part of the Manhattan Project. [Read more…]
The American Museum of Science and Energy property is pictured above in central Oak Ridge. The wide road running vertically at center-right through the aerial photo is South Tulane Avenue. Main Street Oak Ridge is being built on the right side of South Tulane Avenue at the former Oak Ridge Mall. The road running horizontally at bottom is South Illinois Avenue. AMSE is the brown-roofed building at top-center.
Note: This story was last updated at 11 p.m.
The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the transfer of the American Museum of Science and Energy property. The roughly 17.42 acres will be transferred from the U.S. Department of Energy to the City of Oak Ridge. It could then be transferred in two phases to a company set up by the developer of Main Street Oak Ridge.
Under the agreement, the AMSE missions will be relocated within about one year to 18,000 square feet of space in a two-story building that once housed a Sears store next to JCPenney at Main Street Oak Ridge. That space, once finished, will be provided by TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC, a Main Street Oak Ridge company, to the city at no cost for 15 years.
The city will, in turn, sublease the former Sears space to DOE at no charge for 15 years, and it can be used for the public outreach and education missions now conducted at AMSE—as well as for a temporary visitor center for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. That visitor center is now housed at AMSE.
[Read more…]
A Flak 88 firing during a Battle of Normandy re-enactment at the 2015 Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge. (Photo by Rob Welton)
The Secret City Festival will expand into a week-long celebration in June, and it will be called the Secret City Celebration.
The change has been announced by Celebrate Oak Ridge, a nonprofit organization created by the Oak Ridge City Council to take over the production of the festival from the city.
The Secret City Celebration will include a full week of events celebrating the arts, culture, and history of Oak Ridge, organizers said. It will kick off with an opening ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday, June 2, 2017. It will include events presented by Celebrate Oak Ridge and other partner organizations.
“A crowd favorite, World War II Living History, will serve as the kickoff event on June 2 and 3, with re-enactments scheduled on Saturday,” a press release said. [Read more…]
The current Oak Ridge Senior Center in a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road in central Oak Ridge. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)
A new target date has been set for the Oak Ridge Senior Center’s temporary transition to the Civic Center on the Oak Ridge Turnpike. Recreation and Parks Department Director Jon Hetrick says they now expect to begin the move in January.
Senior Center activities will then be held in a wing of the Civic Center near the indoor pool facility. Part of the area currently houses administrative offices for Recreation and Parks employees. Most of those employees will relocate to the Scarboro Center while a city-owned building on Badger Avenue is undergoing minor renovations. Once changes to that building, the former Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, are complete, staff will move into the Badger Avenue location permanently.
An architectural firm retained by the city is working on plans for a brand new Senior Center. The aim is to locate it on the same property with the Civic Center. [Read more…]
Warren Gooch (File photo by Savanna Schubert)
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch has been elected by City Council to a second two-year term as mayor, and City Council member Rick Chinn was appointed mayor pro tem, replacing Ellen Smith.
No other City Council member sought to be appointed mayor, and Gooch, who was first appointed after he was elected in 2014, was unanimously elected by the new City Council.
Smith and Chinn both sought to be appointed mayor pro tem. The mayor pro tem serves as mayor when the mayor is temporarily unavailable. [Read more…]
The American Museum of Science and Energy is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge. (File photo by Sara Wise)
Note: This story was updated at 2:45 p.m.
The American Museum of Science and Energy property could be transferred to the City of Oak Ridge and then to a developer under a resolution to be considered by Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday.
The City Council will consider whether to accept the 17.12-acre AMSE site from the U.S. Department of Energy during a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, December 13, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. The Council will also consider whether to enter into certain agreements with TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC. That company was set up by RealtyLink, the developer building Main Street Oak Ridge at the former Oak Ridge Mall.
The potential property transfer, the latest in a series of AMSE discussions dating back to at least 2003, was endorsed by City Council this summer as part of the Main Street Oak Ridge redevelopment. Council agreed to allow City Manager Mark Watson to negotiate the AMSE property transfer with DOE and RealtyLink.
On Monday, Watson said the city has submitted a property transfer proposal to DOE, and the federal government has accepted the terms. In order to take effect, the City Council has to approve it.
If the transfer is approved, TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC would provide Oak Ridge with 18,000 square feet of space at Main Street Oak Ridge at no cost for 15 years. The city would pay no rent, maintenance, taxes, or utilities. [Read more…]
