Oak Ridge Today

Final presentation on revitalization of downtown Clinton is Thursday

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The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce will host the final presentation for the revitalization of downtown Clinton on Thursday.

This event will feature a presentation by Gianni Longo, president of Gianni Longo and Associates. Longo has conducted visions, many in Tennessee that have led to the redesign of Chattanooga’s riverfront, downtown Franklin, and even Knoxville’s Market Square, a press release said.

The closing presentation given on February 22 at the end of the four-day Clinton charrette focused on unveiling the results of the effort. The ideas presented have since been expanded to include specific implementation steps on how to turn the community vision into reality. [Read more…]

Citywide household trash pickup to start April 2

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The citywide household trash pickup program will begin Monday, April 2. Household rubbish, old appliances, and minor remodeling materials will be picked up. City collection efforts will follow the accompanying schedule as closely as possible.

Residents have always been very cooperative and we ask for their continued cooperation this year by following a few guidelines, a press release said: [Read more…]

Council to review Preschool, Senior Center, Water Plant projects Tuesday

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The Oak Ridge City Council will review the Oak Ridge Preschool and Senior Center projects, and receive a briefing on the Water Plant project, during a work session on Tuesday.

The work session is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the Multi-Purpose Room in the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane, behind the Hobby Lobby shopping center.

The reviews of the Preschool and Senior Center projects are scheduled to be presented by Jacene Phillips of Studio Four Design. [Read more…]

Man charged with attempted murder in alleged baseball bat attack

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Clayton Perry Jones

Clayton Perry Jones

 

Note: This story was last updated at 3:45 p.m. March 22. 

An Anderson County man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly beating another man in the head, arms, and back with a baseball bat at a car wash in Oliver Springs in the summer of 2016, according to court records.

Clayton Perry Jones, 53, of Dutch Valley Road, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on Tuesday, March 13, on charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a weapon, according to court records. He has an arraignment scheduled for March 26 in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

Jones is accused of beating Brett Blank in the head, back, and arms with a baseball bat as Blank was cleaning his vehicle at the Sportsman Car Wash on East Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Thursday, July 14, 2016, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge on July 13, 2017.

The alleged beating was stopped by a witness with a handgun who was also at the car wash cleaning his vehicle, which was parked in front of Blank’s vehicle, according to the affidavit. The armed witness, Hank Mullins, saw Jones hitting Blank with the baseball bat, and Mullins revealed his concealed-carry handgun to deter the fight and told them to “Stop! Stop! Stop!” according to the affidavit. Both Blank and Jones then ran in opposite directions, said the affidavit, which was filed by Oliver Springs Police Department Patrolman Samuel Seiber. [Read more…]

Johnson Architecture donates design of new facility for Little Ponderosa Zoo & Rescue

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Pictured above is a rendering by Johnson Architecture of the new facility at Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue. (Submitted image)

Pictured above is a rendering by Johnson Architecture of the new facility at Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue in Anderson County. (Submitted image)

 

Animals to get new home after devastating December fire

After a devastating fire last December, plans to rebuild the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue started quickly since the surviving animals and new rescues would need a permanent home. Knoxville-based Johnson Architecture volunteered to donate its time to design a new structure for the nonprofit organization, a press release said.

“Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue is such a valuable part of our community, and we wanted to give back in their time of need and thank them for all that they do to provide a loving home for rescue animals,” said Daryl Johnson, president of Johnson Architecture.

The new design recently was revealed to the organization’s donors, sponsors, and supporters.

The facility, which will be built on the foundation of the former structure in Anderson County, will feature 5,600 square feet of interior space; a 1,700-square-foot mezzanine; front and rear porches; and 4,200 square feet of open-air, covered storage. It will include a bird aviary, reptile viewing area, and eight stalls to house a variety of animals. [Read more…]

Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit has presentations on energy, manufacturing, security

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Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit Logo 1

The Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit in Oak Ridge in May will feature presentations on advanced manufacturing, clean energy and a nuclear renaissance, and national security and cyber security.

The 2018 TVC National Summit is scheduled from May 29-31 at the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. It will be hosted by Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch in cooperation with U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann.

Agenda topics include: [Read more…]

Social justice, sociology of incarceration to be discussed Tuesday

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Michelle Brown

Michelle Brown

Social justice and the sociology of incarceration will be discussed at Lunch with the League on Tuesday. The speaker will be Michelle Brown of the University of Tennessee Department of Sociology.

The meeting will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Brown received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University and joined the faculty at UT in 2011, a press release said.

“Currently, she studies and advocates for anti-prison and racial justice movements in carceral regimes,” the press release said. “She is particularly interested in the use of rights claims and visual tactics in community and national organizing.” [Read more…]

Fleischmann: Supercomputing race could change with Summit at ORNL

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The installation of the Summit supercomputer continues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Jan. 23, 2018, with the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility and IBM teams receiving and installing compute nodes. Summit will come online in late 2018 for early science, and will be available to users in January 2019. (Image credit: Jason Richards/ORNL. Used under Creative Commons license)

The installation of the Summit supercomputer continues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Jan. 23, 2018, with the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility and IBM teams receiving and installing compute nodes. Summit will come online in late 2018 for early science, and will be available to users in January 2019. (Image credit: Jason Richards/ORNL. Used under Creative Commons license)

 

The supercomputer being built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could change the race for supercomputing supremacy between the United States and China, U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann said during a budget hearing on Thursday.

The congressman said Summit, a 200-petaflop supercomputer at ORNL, will be commissioned this summer, and it will be the fastest supercomputer in the world, with twice the power of the top Chinese system. The Chinese machine is a 93-petaflop system known as Sunway TaihuLight.

During Thursday’s budget hearing, which featured Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Fleischmann said the United States and China are in a race for supercomputing supremacy. The race is critical to advances in science and technology that will drive economic growth, said Fleischmann, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge.

Citing a February 9 edition of Science magazine, Fleischmann said the U.S. dominated supercomputer rankings for decades but is now far behind. The combined power of the top two machines in China easily outpaces all 21 supercomputers operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, the country’s top funder of supercomputers, the congressman said.

But that could change with the commissioning of Summit this summer, Fleischmann said. [Read more…]

Manhattan Project Park Program: The Life of Women in the Manhattan Project

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Y-12 Calutron Girls

Women enriching uranium in calutrons at Y-12 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. This famous “Calutron Girls” photograph by Manhattan Project photographer Ed Westcott prompted author Denise Kiernan to write the best-seller “The Girls of Atomic City.” (Photo by Ed Westcott)

 

What was life like for women during the Manhattan Project? Join National Park Service staff as they discuss the social changes that occurred during World War II and how that affected women in the Manhattan Project. The free interpretive program will take place at the New Hope Center at Y-12 National Security Complex at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 29. The program will outline the life for women before, during, and after World War II.

After the program, you may see the new photography display commemorating the life of women from all walks of life in Oak Ridge during World War II.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal project to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. Besides Oak Ridge, other sites that were involved in the Manhattan Project and included in the park are Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. [Read more…]

Construction advisory for Methodist Medical Center

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Methodist Medical Center Main Entrance

Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge is pictured above.

 

Starting Friday, March 16, construction crews will be working day and night on top of the roof of Methodist Medical Center this weekend to install new air handling units on the hospital’s West Tower. Because of the nature and non-stop timing of this project, there will be activity and lighting on the roof of West Tower around the clock until the work is completed sometime on the evening of Sunday, March 18, a press release said.

For patient comfort, patients and staff currently on 5-West will be moved to another floor to minimize exposure to noise during the project. In addition, a portion of the driveway around the back of the hospital will be closed due to equipment staging. The hospital’s helipad will also be closed to helicopter traffic; however, an alternative landing zone has been coordinated with the Oak Ridge Fire Department for any incoming or outgoing air transport needs.

Emergency services should be accessed via the east side of the hospital nearest the Emergency Department entrance. All private car discharges will occur from the Main Lobby during this period.

This press release was submitted by Crystal Jordan.

Attempted murder charge sent to grand jury in Claxton shooting

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Jacob Lynn Rutherford

Jacob Lynn Rutherford

 

CLINTON—An attempted first-degree murder charge has been sent to the grand jury in a case involving an Oak Ridge man accused of shooting and injuring two men and shooting near a woman but not hitting her.

Two charges of reckless endangerment were also bound over, or sent to the grand jury. Those charges had initially been filed as attempted first-degree murder.

A preliminary hearing for Jacob Lynn Rutherford, 23, was held Wednesday, March 7, in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.

Rutherford had originally been charged with a total of three counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of reckless endangerment. One count of reckless endangerment was dismissed during the preliminary hearing last week, meaning Rutherford faces the one attempted first-degree murder charge and the two counts of reckless endangerment that were originally attempted murder. [Read more…]

‘HerStory:’ A special women’s history reception & celebration on March 22

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Kattie Lue Strickland

Kattie Lue Strickland

 

As part of Women’s History Month and the 75th Anniversary of Oak Ridge, there will be a special Manhattan Project event on Thursday, March 22. The program will start at 5:30 pm at the New Hope Visitor Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Scarboro Road in Oak Ridge.

During the event, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park will be presented with a biscuit pan secretly used by Kattie Strickland during the Manhattan Project. The biscuit pan is an important cultural artifact for the park that can help provide context of the story of a woman who worked on the Manhattan Project, a press release said.

Each person had a unique story of why they found themselves working in the Secret City, the press release said. [Read more…]