Oak Ridge Today

Federal board recommends five cleanup priorities for Oak Ridge Reservation

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The fiscal year 2017 Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is pictured above. (Photo by SSAB)

The fiscal year 2017 Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is pictured above. (Photo by SSAB)

 

A federal board has recommended five cleanup priorities for the Oak Ridge Reservation: offsite groundwater monitoring, future waste disposal capacity, the disposal of excess facilities, mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek, and remaining debris at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

The recommendations were made by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board. That’s a federally appointed citizens’ panel that provides independent advice and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

The recommendations are for the fiscal year 2019 environmental management budget, which begins October 1, 2018.

“ORSSAB has identified five priorities for Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup, and recommends that the FY 2019 Oak Ridge EM program budget request reflect adequate funding to keep these projects going,” the board said. “Also, when additional funds from suitable plus-ups and savings become available, it recommends that these funds be targeted for these projects.”

Here is more information from the SSAB recommendation: [Read more…]

Robertsville Middle School vice principal appointment announced

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Tonya Childress

Tonya Childress

 

Tonya Childress was selected to serve as the Robertsville Middle School assistant principal beginning July 11, 2017.

Childress holds both doctor of education and educational specialist degrees from Lincoln Memorial University. She received both her master of science and bachelor of science degrees from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in Technology Education.

During the past 18 years, Childress has served as a teacher and administrator with Knox County Schools.

This press release was submitted by Holly Cross.

Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation presents two new grants

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Pictured above during a check presentation to Free Medical Clinic are Amber Price, Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation; Jackie Clay, executive director, Free Medical Clinic and board members Carol Smallridge and Judy Wilson; and Janie Click and Stephanie Zuleger, Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation. (Photo by Y-12 Federal Credit Union)

Pictured above from left to right during a check presentation to Free Medical Clinic are Amber Price, Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation; Jackie Clay, executive director, Free Medical Clinic and board members Carol Smallridge and Judy Wilson; and Janie Click and Stephanie Zuleger, Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation. (Photo by Y-12 Federal Credit Union)

 

Free Medical Clinic and Oak Ridge Computer Science (ORCS) Girls were the newest recipients of grants from Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation, a press release said. A check presentation ceremony was conducted at the Y-12 Federal Credit Union branch in Oak Ridge on Monday, August 7.

Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation was established by Y-12 Federal Credit Union, a full-service financial provider headquartered in Oak Ridge, with 14 branches located in Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Knox, Roane, and Sevier counties serving 108,413 members. The foundation was established to extend the Y-12 FCU mission of “people helping people” into the philanthropic realm of charitable giving and support.

Y-12 FCU Gives Foundation will improve communities by delivering human and financial resources, the press release said. The Foundation Board of Directors will use their compassion, accountability, and dedication to make a difference in the hearts and lives of the communities served in the areas of: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge to announce plans for 75th anniversary celebration on Thursday

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Pictured above is early construction in 1942 on the K-25 plant with one of the original homes in the city that became Oak Ridge. (Photo by Ed Westcott courtesy U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office)

Pictured above is early construction in 1942 on the K-25 plant in the left background with one of the original homes in the city that became Oak Ridge in the right foreground. (Photo by Ed Westcott courtesy U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office)

 

The City of Oak Ridge has formed a committee to help coordinate and circulate information about the city’s 75th Anniversary, which begins in September. Mayor Warren Gooch will lead a news conference on Thursday, August 31, where the city will announce plans for a year-long celebration of this milestone anniversary.

Several events are already on the calendar to help kick off the City’s 75th year. The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association will present a lecture on September 15 titled “The Legacy of Place” by guest speaker Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City” and “The Last Castle.” The Oak Ridge Fire Department plans to host “Then and Now,” a 1940s-era Fire Prevention Parade along Oak Ridge Turnpike on October 7.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex will celebrate the anniversaries of their respective beginnings as well. The festivities will continue through the end of 2018. Additional events will be announced as they are confirmed, a press release said. [Read more…]

United Way funds discretionary grants

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United Way of Anderson County awarded nearly $50,000 in grants to local nonprofits as part of its first Discretionary Grant cycle last month, a press release said.

United Way of Anderson County awarded nearly $50,000 in grants to local nonprofits as part of its first Discretionary Grant cycle last month, a press release said.

 

United Way of Anderson County awarded nearly $50,000 in grants to local nonprofits as part of its first Discretionary Grant cycle last month, a press release said.

While UWAC’s standard grant cycle focuses on programs that will have a long-term impact on clients’ lives, the Discretionary Grant offers funding for one-time, project-based requests that will enable the organizations to improve or expand the reach of existing programs and provide better service to their clients, the press release said. [Read more…]

Reminder: Emerald ash borer workshop at UT Arboretum this evening

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An ash tree is pictured above in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

An ash tree is pictured above in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Tree Board is hosting a workshop focused on the impact of the emerald ash borer in the area. The event, scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, August 29, will provide important information regarding the emerald ash borer for property owners, landscapers, and others involved in the maintenance of green spaces, a press release said.

Ash trees make up a significant percentage of the urban forest in the area and have traditionally been a landscaping staple. Many of these trees in Oak Ridge are already dead or beyond treatment, but a significant number can be saved. At the workshop this evening, experts from around the area will address issues that include the identification of affected ash trees and responses to emerald ash borer infestation, including appropriate treatment. [Read more…]

Osteoporosis the topic of Health Night at MMC this evening

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Daniel Benson

Daniel Benson

Osteoporosis is a disease that causes thinning of bones. Over time, this weakens the bones and can make them more fragile and more likely to break—even under minor stress or spontaneously. It can affect any bone, but the hip, spine, and wrist are most often involved.

People with osteoporosis may not get any symptoms. Some may have pain in their bones and muscles. Sometimes, a collapsed vertebra may cause severe pain, decrease in height, or spinal deformity such as a hunched back. Because many people do not experience symptoms, or may not associate their symptoms with osteoporosis, the condition can be left unchecked until advance symptoms, such a broken bone, occur. Osteoporosis is, in fact, the leading reason of broken bones among the elderly. That’s why understanding the risk factors and prevention tactics is so crucial. [Read more…]

Tennessee gubernatorial candidate to visit Oak Ridge today

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Craigh Fitzhugh

Craigh Fitzhugh

Craig Fitzhugh, a Democratic candidate for Tennessee governor, is visiting Oak Ridge this evening.

Fitzhugh will have a meet and greet from 7 to 8 p.m. today (Tuesday, August 29) at Razzleberry’s Ice Cream Lab and Café at 223 Jackson Square in Oak Ridge. The event is being sponsored by the Anderson County Democratic Party, a press release said. The public is invited.

“‘People Matter,’ the campaign slogan of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Craig Fitzhugh, ties together the very essence of why he has thrown his hat into the race for governor in 2018,” the press release said. “It connects voter concerns from across the state.”

When asked why he chose “People Matter” as his slogan, Fitzhugh said he’s concerned Tennessee is falling behind, citing education, jobs, infrastructure, and health care, particularly the expansion of Medicaid as top issues, the press release said.

“The problems and the situations that people in North Nashville and south Memphis find themselves in are not much different than those in Ripley, or Columbia or Etowah, or other communities,” Fitzhugh said. “There are things that we can do to give people an opportunity to better their lives.” [Read more…]

DOE disposing of uranium-233 waste stored at ORNL

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ORNL CEUSP Waste Shipping

During training, workers removed a type of shipping cask that was expected to be used to transport 403 canisters of uranium-tainted waste from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas. (File photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)

 

This story was updated at 5 p.m. Aug. 30.

They haven’t agreed on a final budget number, but the Trump administration and the U.S. House and Senate have proposed spending between about $33 million and $52 million in the next fiscal year to continue disposing of uranium-233 waste materials that are stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a building that is the oldest continuously operating nuclear facility in the U.S. Department of Energy complex.

The uranium-233, or U-233, waste is now stored in secure vaults in Building 3019, which was built in the 1940s at ORNL. Removing the waste could allow ORNL to relax its overall security posture, which will reduce costs, eliminate nuclear safety issues, and make the campus more conducive to collaborative science, according to a U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee report published in July.

Some of the waste is from a 1960s research and development test in New York, and it is being shipped to the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. In interviews this summer, DOE officials in Oak Ridge declined to discuss the amount of that waste that has been shipped to Nevada or to say how long the shipments might continue. But they are making progress, said Jay Mullis, acting manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

Once all of those materials are shipped, the remaining U-233 at ORNL will be treated in “hot cell” facilities across the street from Building 3019, at Building 2026. The DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management owns both buildings.

Mullis said there is other U-233 waste stored in Building 3019, including from glovebox research at ORNL, from reactor plates, and from conglomerate materials. [Read more…]

Political science professor the guest speaker at Monday meeting of Democratic Women’s Club

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Mark O'Gorman

Mark O’Gorman

Mark J. O’Gorman, professor of political science at Maryville College, will be the guest speaker at the Monday, August 28, meeting of the Anderson County Democratic Women’s Club. The club will host a pot luck dinner at 6 p.m. in the Club Room of the Clinton Community Center at 101 South Hicks Street in Clinton.

O’Gorman, who coordinates the environmental studies program and is on the college’s sustainability studies faculty, will discuss how reapportionment and redistricting will impact future elections.

He teaches about campaigns and elections, public policy, and environmental politics, a press release said. The professor provides political analysis and was the in-studio analyst for election night 2016 coverage by WUOT-FM. He has written book chapters on the presidential campaigns of presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. [Read more…]

Dave Clark the featured speaker at next Neighborhood Watch meeting

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

The next Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program meeting will feature Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark as guest speaker, an event notice said.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 5, in the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater. Everyone is invited to attend, the notice said.

Clark will talk about how the District Attorney’s Office handles cases involving Oak Ridge and Anderson County, the event notice said. He will also take questions from the audience.

“We have had several related questions at earlier meetings, so take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about how criminal cases are handled in our area,” the notice said. “If you have specific questions for General Clark, please submit them…in advance so he can prepare a response. We have a rare opportunity to talk directly to our district attorney.” [Read more…]

Man pleads guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault

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Deshon Marquece Meadow

Deshon Marquece Meadow

An Oak Ridge man accused of pointing a handgun at a group of people and pulling the trigger multiple times in April 2015 pleaded guilty on Thursday to a reduced charge of attempted voluntary manslaughter and six counts of aggravated assault, according to Anderson County court records.

Deshon Marquece Meadow, 22, was pointing a handgun at a group of people, including victim Traiquan Graves, when Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Tim Nguyen responded to a report of shots fired on Utica Circle on April 6, 2015, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

A witness said she saw Meadow point the handgun in their direction and pull the trigger multiple times, Nguyen said in the affidavits.

“The victim’s fear was evident when he backed up and took cover as the defendant tried to fire the weapon at him,” the affidavits said.

“Under Miranda, the defendant stated: ‘I couldn’t let him do me like that anymore. I went back to my house, got my gun, and pointed at them and told them to back off!'” the affidavits said. [Read more…]