More than half the acres burned by arson in Tennessee since November were from 40 fires set in Anderson, Campbell, Hawkins and Scott counties, state officials said Tuesday.
The rash of wildfires before and after Thanksgiving are being investigated as arsons. In Anderson County, they included a 225-acre fire on Walden Ridge, a 375-acre fire at Graves Gap, and another 150-acre fire on Redoak Mountain. All three were in northern Anderson County.
Information from WYSH Radio
An overflow crowd of Andersonville residents unhappy about the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department’s subscription plan jammed the hallways on the third floor of the Anderson County Courthouse on Monday to express their anger and frustration over the new fees scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1.
The fire department says it needs an increase in revenue or it will have to close its doors. But many citizens call the subscription plan “extortion.”
Earlier this year, the department’s board of directors voted to implement the plan after donations continued to lag far behind budgetary needs.
Tom Beehan
Jane Miller
After a week of spirited public debate, the Oak Ridge City Council re-elected Tom Beehan to a third term as mayor in a 4-3 vote on Monday.
He narrowly beat Oak Ridge City Council member David Mosby, who announced his candidacy this past weekend.
Council also re-elected Jane Miller to a third term as vice mayor—or mayor pro tem—on Monday. She received four votes, and Mosby, who hadn’t sought the position, received three.
Anderson County will have a Christmas open house on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.
The open house is scheduled from 2-4 p.m.
Employees will be collecting new stuffed animals for foster children in Anderson County.
The Oak Ridge City Council will appoint a mayor and vice mayor on Monday, one month after the Nov. 6 election.
Council will also consider hiring a full-time veterinarian at the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter and approving a pair of $17,000 demolition contracts for two city-owned homes.
The current mayor, Tom Beehan, and vice mayor, Jane Miller, have both asked to be appointed to a third two-year term. In Oak Ridge, the mayor and vice mayor—officially called mayor pro tem—are also council members, and they are appointed after each municipal election.
There has been some public opposition to re-appointing Beehan as mayor. It has been led by new Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn.
A sewer line that runs underneath Oak Ridge Turnpike will be replaced, and two roads on the east end of town could occasionally be closed starting today and ending in January, a city press release said.
The two roads, Science.Gov Way and Brisbane Road, could also have intermittent traffic interruptions or temporary lane closures through Jan. 11, the release said.
Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation Executive Director Lila Metcalf presents a $402,611 check to Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson to help pay the debt on the renovation of the Oak Ridge High School. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation recently made its eighth annual contribution for the rebuilding and renovation of Oak Ridge High School, a project that was completed in 2008.
In November, Lila Metcalf, the foundation’s executive director, presented a check for $402,611 to Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson to assist in the high school debt repayment. Since the payments began in 2005, the Education Foundation has presented the city with more than $3.5 million for the high school.
The Education Foundation raised $8 million in private funds for the high school, and that money provided the leverage for special bonds available for public schools. Together, the private funds and bonds provided the final piece of funding that made the renovation of Oak Ridge High School possible.
Trina Baughn
After asking Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan to consider resigning, new City Council member Trina Baughn requested trip and cost information for all of his city-related travel in the past five years.
She asked Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson for the trip information in a Wednesday afternoon e-mail.
Baughn requested the mayor’s travel records for the dozen boards and committees she knows about, as well as any she doesn’t. She asked Watson to also give the total cost of each trip, including mileage, per diem, hotel expenses, entertainment, and other charges, as well as the funding sources.
Trina Baughn
Tom Beehan
New Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn has asked Mayor Tom Beehan to drop his bid for a third term as mayor and consider resigning.
In a column posted on her website and submitted to local media, Baughn lobs accusations at the mayor that range from his alleged public encouragement of “backroom meetings” on the high school debt to the alleged benefits he received from the $30 million Kroger Marketplace shopping center.
“An overwhelming percentage of Oak Ridgers have lost all confidence in Tom Beehan’s leadership abilities,” Baughn said. “They elected me to be their voice, and with this letter, I am keeping the only campaign promise that I specifically made: I will not cast my vote for Tom Beehan as mayor.”
The seven-member council is expected to appoint a mayor to serve a two-year term during a Monday, Dec. 10, meeting.
It’s Baughn’s first major move as a new City Council member, and Beehan dismissed it with dismay this week.
“If you had to fact-check that whole column and label it, it would be ‘pants on fire,’” Beehan said. “It’s mostly fiction.”
Construction work has started on a $1 million state project to improve the interchange at South Illinois Avenue and Centrifuge Way in Oak Ridge.
Construction work has started on a $1.2 million state project to improve the interchange at Centrifuge Way and South Illinois Avenue, or State Route 62.
The work started Nov. 14 and could be complete by June 15, said Mark Nagi, Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesman.
The work is being done by J&M Grading Division LLC of Friendsville under a $1.165 million contract, Nagi said.
The work includes building three detention ponds that will be used as sediment basins during construction, reconfiguring the interchange, and extending Centrifuge Way, which was formerly known as Boeing Road.
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank announced today that she has hired local businessman Thomas Shope as her part-time fiscal analyst.
“When I campaigned for office, I pledged to internally audit the books to look for efficiency on behalf of the taxpayer,” Frank said. “Hiring Tom is part of keeping that pledge.”
Frank was elected to her first four-year term as county mayor on Aug. 2.
Voters in Oliver Springs have rejected a liquor referendum that would have allowed retail package stores to sell alcoholic beverages.
The proposal failed 488-520, according to official certified results released after the Nov. 6 election. That’s a 48 percent to 52 percent vote margin.
