Oak Ridge Today

After crash, search, man sentenced on gun charge, woman indicted on drug charges

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Car Crash at Hilltop and West Outer Drive

Police said the driver of this silver Infiniti fled on foot after a three-car crash at North Illinois Avenue and West Outer Drive on Monday night, Sept. 21, 2015, just a few hours after a shooting was reported a short distance away on Wakefield Road. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A man was sentenced on a federal gun charge in September and a woman was indicted on state drug charges in June after a three-car crash reported after a shooting in 2015 led authorities to track a driver to a home in north Oak Ridge, where officers allegedly found 49 grams of suspected heroin and other drugs.

Larry Dewayne Williams of Oak Ridge pleaded guilty to a federal charge of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on September 26. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Pamela L. Reeves to the minimum seven years in prison, or 84 months.

In June, Chelsey Reign Lively, identified as Williams’ girlfriend in court documents, was indicted on state drug charges of selling, delivering, or possessing heroin for sale; selling, delivering, or possessing for sale more than 14.175 grams of marijuana; and selling, delivering, or possessing ethylone for sale. The Anderson County Grand Jury indicted Lively on June 6, and she was arraigned in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on June 30.

The circumstances of the shooting, reported on Wakefield Road at about 8:30 p.m. Monday, September 21, 2015, remain unclear. No injuries were reported, although three bullets were reported to have hit one home. It’s not clear who the shooter was or if there was more than one person involved. There appeared to be a significant number of rounds fired. Investigating that night, Oak Ridge Police Department Detective Kevin Craig documented 21 casings.

About two hours after that shooting was reported, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer James Elkins tried to stop a silver Infiniti sedan that was reported to be involved in the shooting, according to court documents. But the silver Infiniti fled, ran a red light, and caused a three-car crash at West Outer Drive and North Illinois Avenue in north Oak Ridge, the court documents said. The Infiniti rolled onto its side and burst into flames, and Williams, identified as the driver, climbed out of the car and ran into the woods, according to his plea agreement. [Read more…]

Council approves contract with TDOT for Rails to Trails project

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The former CSX railway is pictured near Jefferson Middle School in central Oak Ridge on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The former CSX railway is pictured near Jefferson Middle School in central Oak Ridge on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday unanimously approved a $1.5 million contract with the Tennessee Department of Transportation that is expected to allow a former railroad to be converted into a greenway.

The so-called Rails to Trails project will convert about 4.85 miles of unused CSX railroad into a pedestrian and bicycle trail.

The former railroad starts at Elza Gate Park at Melton Lake Drive in east Oak Ridge, runs past the Emory Heights neighborhood and Jefferson Middle School, crosses Emory Valley Road near Hank’s Market, and then continues through the Hendrix Creek neighborhood along Lafayette Drive before ending near South Illinois Avenue, Scarboro Road, and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) approved $1.224 million for the project in October 2016 through the Transportation Alternative Program, or TAP. There is a local 20 percent match of $306,000, which would be provided by the City of Oak Ridge. The combined funding from the TAP award and the local match is $1.53 million.

The overall cost of the Rails to Trails project isn’t clear. The property has not been purchased, and the TAP grant, federal money disbursed here through the Federal Highway Act, does not include purchase, Oak Ridge Community Development Director Kathryn Baldwin told City Council members on Monday.

“This is not the total amount,” Baldwin said. “This does not include purchase.” [Read more…]

Shelton will seek re-election as Anderson County register of deeds

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Tim Shelton (Submitted photo)

Tim Shelton (Submitted photo)

 

Tim Shelton announced this week that he will seek re-election to the Office of Register of Deeds in Anderson County in 2018.

Shelton has worked in the Anderson County Register of Deeds office since 1992, and he has served as Anderson County Register of Deeds since 2002, a press release said.

Shelton is a graduate of Leadership Anderson County and the University of Tennessee Local Government Leadership Program. Shelton also serves on the Board of Directors for the County Officials Association of Tennessee, representing more than 500 county officials across the state. Shelton was also selected by his fellow county officials across Tennessee to serve on the County Officials’ Legislative Committee.

Shelton also serves locally on the Anderson County Records Commission, the Anderson County Human Resources Advisory Committee, and the Anderson County Ethics Committee. He was recently elected to serve as chairman of the newly formed Anderson County IT Committee. [Read more…]

Trump nominates finance executive for DOE under secretary for science

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Image by U.S. Department of Energy

Image by U.S. Department of Energy

President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Paul Dabbar of New York, an investment banking executive at J.P. Morgan, to be under secretary for science in the U.S. Department of Energy.

Dabbar is managing director for mergers and acquisitions for J.P. Morgan, and he has more than $400 billion in investment experience across all energy sectors, according to a statement posted by the White House Office of the Press Secretary on Tuesday. Those energy sectors include solar, wind, geothermal, distributed-generation, utility, LNG, pipeline, oil and gas, trading, and energy technology, the statement said. Dabbar has also led the majority of all nuclear transactions.

Before joining J.P. Morgan, Dabbar served as a nuclear submarine officer in Mare Island, California, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and he was deployed to the North Pole, where he conducted environmental research, the statement said.

Dabbar currently serves on the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Advisory Board.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Dabbar would succeed Franklin “Lynn” Orr in the post. Orr left the job January 20, Inauguration Day, after serving as DOE’s first under secretary for science and energy. Orr started serving as under secretary on December 17, 2014. [Read more…]

ORAU’s Eric Abelquist named new president of national Health Physics Society

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Eric Abelquist

Eric Abelquist

 

The Health Physics Society named ORAU Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer Eric Abelquist its new president at its 62nd annual meeting in Raleigh this week.

Abelquist has been president-elect for the past year, and he has visited HPS chapters across the country as part of the transition to become president, getting to know members and soliciting feedback in order to better understand issues that need to be addressed, a press release said.

According to its website, HPS is a professional organization whose mission is excellence in the science and practice of radiation safety. HPS activities include encouraging research in radiation science, developing standards, and disseminating radiation safety information. HPS members are involved in understanding, evaluating, and controlling the potential risks from radiation relative to the benefits, the press release said.

When asked what he plans to accomplish as the new HPS president, Abelquist said: “Thanks to the leadership of the current administration, HPS has made outstanding progress on the new HPS strategic plan. The broad strategic areas I’ll focus on during my tenure include membership value proposition, implementation of proposed governance changes, and helping our academic programs secure more funding for health physics research.” [Read more…]

President’s budget would close NOAA lab that has Oak Ridge division

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:20 a.m. July 13.

The Trump administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year would close a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration air research laboratory that has a division in Oak Ridge, according to budget documents posted online.

The budget request for fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1, would close NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, or ARL, which has headquarters in College Park, Maryland. The Air Resources Laboratory has satellite campuses in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Mercury, Nevada. Those satellite campuses would also close, according to the documents, which were posted by the NOAA Budget Office.

The Oak Ridge campus is on South Illinois Avenue, in a historic building that was once an emergency hospital and then a health department. It now houses the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD. The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division is one of several field divisions of the Air Resources Laboratory. The ARL in turn is part of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

There are 33 employees at the Oak Ridge campus, including NOAA and ORAU workers. The primary focus of the ATDD is to maintain NOAA’s Climate Reference Network, a network of weather stations across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, to monitor climate change.

The Oak Ridge division also works with other NOAA groups that study the formation of tornadoes, using unmanned aerial vehicles to understand tornado formation. It also works with the Air Resources Laboratory headquarters on air quality modeling and forecasting.

The NOAA budget request, which has not been approved by Congress, proposes zeroing out funding and employment at the Air Resources Laboratory, cutting base funding from about $4.7 million and 34 full-time equivalents (FTE) to $0 and zero FTE. President Donald Trump submitted his administration’s budget request to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. [Read more…]

Emerald ash borer could kill most ash trees, cost city about $660,000

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Typical ash tree locations, plus color enhancements—Providence Road. (Images by City of Oak Ridge)

Typical ash tree locations, plus color enhancements—Providence Road. (Images by City of Oak Ridge)

 

A pest known as the emerald ash borer could kill most ash trees in Oak Ridge, and the cost to treat or remove the trees that pose a threat to the city’s electric system has been estimated at $662,000, officials said.

The emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, is an exotic beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. The adult beetles nibble on ash foliage but cause little damage. The larvae (the immature stage) feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree’s ability to transport water and nutrients.

The City of Oak Ridge said in May that ash trees in Oak Ridge are dead or dying due to the emerald ash borer. Once compromised by the beetle, the city said then, the trees pose a significant hazard to people, property, and power lines.

“The impact of this pest is extreme,” Oak Ridge Electric Director Jack L. Suggs said in a June 27 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. “We expect virtually 100 percent death of all ash trees in the city, with only trees receiving ongoing chemical treatment surviving. Many of these trees will impact our power lines, in addition to other public facilities such as parks and streets.”

A survey of the city’s electric power lines with help from University of Tennessee forestry interns this summer is evaluating the health of the trees and the probability that they might affect the electric system. The work is only about one-third complete, but officials estimate there could be about 1,000 to 1,200 trees that will need to be either treated or removed because of their potential to affect the city’s electric system, Suggs said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge group sends delegation to Germany to address U.S. nuclear deployment

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Ralph Hutchison

Ralph Hutchison

Members of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance will join peace activists from around the world in Büchel, Germany, from July 12-18 in protests at the Büchel Air Base to call for the withdrawal of the 20 U.S. B61 nuclear bombs that are currently deployed there, a press release said.

University of Tennessee student Carmella Cole, an OREPA Board member, and Ralph Hutchison, OREPA coordinator, will join nuclear abolition advocates from the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Belgium for a week of actions culminating in an international day of action on Sunday, July 16, the press release said.

“We have been invited to participate in this gathering because of the role the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex (the Y-12 National Security Complex) plays in the refurbishment of U.S. nuclear weapons,” Hutchison said in the press release. “Y-12 is currently making plans for the ‘life extension upgrade’ of the B61-Modification 12. The upgrade will result in a new, more threatening nuclear bomb, which will then be deployed in Büchel over the objections of the German Bundestag, which has voted, overwhelmingly, across all parties, for the removal of NATO nuclear weapons from German soil.” [Read more…]

Broadband working group meets this evening

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Anderson County Property Assessor Johnny Alley, left; County Mayor Terry Frank, center; and Deputy Property Assessor Billy Brown look at some of the areas in the Andersonville area lacking broadband service. (Submitted photo)

Anderson County Property Assessor Johnny Alley, left; County Mayor Terry Frank, center; and Deputy Property Assessor Billy Brown look at some of the areas in the Andersonville area lacking broadband service. (Submitted photo)

 

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank is asking for interested Anderson County citizens to form a working group in advance of upcoming broadband opportunities made possible by newly passed legislation in Tennessee, a press release said.

Those who are interested can meet on Tuesday, July 11, at 6 p.m.in the conference room at the Anderson County Health Department, 710 North Main Street in Clinton.

Governor Bill Haslam and the Tennessee State Legislature passed the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act that provides $45 million over three years in grants and tax credits for service providers to assist in making broadband available to unserved homes and businesses, in addition to allowing nonprofit electric cooperatives to provide retail broadband service, the press release said.

Guidance has not yet been released on the grant application process, but in the press release, Frank said she hopes a working group assembled prior to the release of grant guidance could help Anderson County be ready and prepared once grants are released. Frank also hopes the working group will serve as a forum for new ideas regarding connectivity in areas of the county where access is already available. [Read more…]

Free suicide prevention training at Grace Lutheran on Saturday

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Danielle Roach

Danielle Roach

 

The Grace Lutheran Church of Oak Ridge’s Mental Health Ministry will host a free community program on suicide prevention training on Saturday, July 15, at 10:30 a.m. in the church’s fellowship hall. Childcare will be provided.

Community health practitioner Danielle Roach, through association with the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network (TSPN), will be the instructor, a press release said. Roach has worked at a community mental health center for the past 16 years. In addition to suicide prevention training, she as taught verbal and physical de-escalation techniques, CPR, and newborn care Safety/CPR classes for the last 12 years at a local hospital.

According to the TSPN website, this training, known as QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), is a program designed to teach lay people and professionals alike how to prevent suicide.

Grace Lutheran Church is located at 131 West Gettysburg Avenue in Oak Ridge. For more information about the program or the Mental Health Ministry, contact the church office at (865) 483-3787.

Dr. Crane to discuss Lewy body dementia at Courtyards Senior Living on July 18

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Dr. Monica Crane

Dr. Monica Crane

 

Dr. Monica Crane, a fellowship-trained geriatric medicine physician with special expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, will discuss “Lewy Body Dementia” at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, at The Courtyards Senior Living at 801 East Inskip Drive in Knoxville.

The public is invited to attend the free talk in the Hearthside Chat speaker series at The Courtyards Senior Living, which operates assisted living and dedicated memory care facilities in Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Johnson City, a press release said. To reserve a seat for the July 18 program, send an e-mail to Jody Daugherty at jody@courtyardseniorliving.com or call (865) 357-1660.

Crane, medical director for The Courtyards, will continue to present informative talks on aging at The Courtyards on a regular basis, the press release said. She is also the founder and medical director of Genesis Neuroscience Clinic, at 1400 Dowell Springs Boulevard in Knoxville. The clinic provides comprehensive evaluation, treatment, and clinical trial opportunities for those with cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative dementias. [Read more…]

Negligence lawsuit of up to $10.5 million filed in car-trailer crash

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Car-Trailer-Crash-Emory-Valley-Road-Sept-2-2016-1-Web

The crash between a car and trailer with a skid steer loader on it on Emory Valley Road on Friday evening, Sept. 2, 2016, happened after the trailer came loose from a truck hitch and crossed into an oncoming lane, where it hit the car, authorities said. It took firefighters and rescuers about 55 minutes to free the female driver pinned inside the car, and they used a tow truck to help lift the trailer and loader to take weight off the woman. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A negligence lawsuit of up to $10.5 million was filed last month after a September 2 crash between a car and a trailer carrying a skid steer loader injured an Oak Ridge woman and pinned her inside her car for almost an hour before rescuers were able to free her and fly her to a trauma center in Knoxville.

Arminda “Mindy” Carter, a nurse who lives in Oak Ridge, was driving west on Emory Valley Road in her 2010 Toyota Camry at about 5:29 p.m. September 2, headed to her job at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, according to the legal complaint, which was filed in Anderson County Circuit Court in Clinton on June 2.

Headed the other way, toward the Oak Ridge Marina, was an eastbound 1994 GMC dump truck driven by Gerald D. Cureton, 71, of Knoxville. He was pulling a trailer with a CASE skid steer loader that weighed about 6,000 pounds, the complaint said.

As the two vehicles approached the intersection of Emory Valley Road and Carnegie Drive in east Oak Ridge, the trailer with the loader on it came off the hitch of the dump truck driven by Cureton, the complaint said.

“Once detached from the dump truck, the trailer and skid steer then crossed into the westbound lane of travel, where it violently collided with the plaintiff’s vehicle (the Camry driven by Carter),” the June 2 lawsuit said. “The trailer and skid steer came to rest on top of the plaintiff’s vehicle, leaving her trapped under its weight for nearly an hour as rescue workers scrambled to free her.”

The trailer carrying the skid steer loader did not have operational brakes or adequate safety chains, a violation of state law, according to the lawsuit. [Read more…]