Claxton Elementary School is closed today (Monday, December 5) due to a power outage, Anderson County Schools said.
Letter: Please contribute to help firefighters, first responders
To the Editor:
We’ve all been praying for rain, perhaps several times a day. This drought has been affecting our area for over four months now.
Because it’s been so dry, there’s been a ban on fires. You’ve heard the reports: No open fires. No fire pits or campfires. No grilling whether charcoal or gas. No throwing down a cigarette butt. No burning of brush or rubbish.
If you were going to ask, the answer would be a simple “NO!”
As a result, someone has, or did because they figured it was OK. Whether it was intentional or not. It happened. Fires popped up here and there. On the mountain side, at the campground, someone’s backyard, or even a spark from an engine. [Read more…]
Underage drinking town hall meeting held at Ritz Theatre
CLINTON—At the Ritz Theatre in Clinton on Wednesday night, the Anderson County Underage Drinking Task Force held a well-attended Town Hall meeting to discuss underage drinking. A panel of experts was assembled to discuss the issue and answer questions raised by members of the audience.
Panelists included Russell Barker, director of the Seventh Judicial Crime Task Force; Kim Guinn, director of Project AWARE; Gary Terry, assistant principal, athletic director, and mentor at Anderson County High School; and Jack and Mary Lou Winkler, parents in partnership with MADD.
“Underage drinking is not a minor problem; it’s a major one,” Barker said. “Almost every case I’ve ever investigated as a police officer has had alcohol or drugs involved.” [Read more…]
Proposed DOE waste disposal site to be discussed at Lunch with the League on Tuesday
Ellen Smith
The U.S. Department of Energy’s proposal for a new disposal site for waste from ongoing cleanups, and some concerns that have been raised regarding the DOE proposal, will be the subject of Ellen Smith’s presentation at Lunch with the League on Tuesday.
Lunch with the League is scheduled to start at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, December 6, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Smith is on the staff of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Environmental Sciences Division. She is a member of the Oak Ridge City Council, where she serves are mayor pro tem. [Read more…]
Roane State emergency services students gather donations to help firefighters
Students Ruben Sotomayor, left, and Cameron Driskill gather supplies at Roane State’s Knox County Center for Health Sciences that will assist emergency responders working the Sevier County wildfires. (Photo by Roane State)
By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer
KNOXVILLE—A student at Roane State’s Knox County Center for Health Sciences collected donations for exhausted firefighters who have been combatting the inferno that has devastated Gatlinburg and the surrounding region.
Ruben Sotomayor, 29, of Caryville launched his effort Tuesday morning after seeing news reports of the widespread destruction.
“I felt I needed to do something,” he said. “They (firefighters) are exhausted. They need something to eat and drink.”
Sotomayor quickly received Roane State’s approval to set up a collection site at the college’s Knox County campus, 132 Hayfield Road. The campus is a hub for the college’s emergency medical services programs and courses. [Read more…]
Children’s Museum offering free admission for photo exhibit today
This photo by Madiya of Girls Inc. will be among those in the photo exhibit at the Children’s Museum. (Submitted photo)
The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is offering free admission this weekend, including Sunday, December 3, inviting the public to view the Parks-in-Focus photography exhibit developed in partnership with the National Park Service and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.
The exhibit, with photos taken by young photographers from Girls Inc. of Oak Ridge, was first shown at the Children’s Museum Gala on Friday, December 2, when the museum’s annual benefit celebrated the centennial of the National Park Service. The Gala, “Tribute to the National Parks—A Centennial Celebration,” was an official National Park Service Centennial Event.
The photographs will be on exhibit throughout the month of December in the Imagination Gallery at the museum, 461 West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Photos: New Winter Farmers Market in Oak Ridge
The new Winter Farmers Market in Oak Ridge opened in the gym at St. Mary’s School on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. The Farmers Market is open Saturdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Mary’s from December through February. (Photo by Julio Culiat)
The new Winter Farmers Market in Oak Ridge opened in the gym at St. Mary’s School on Saturday, December 3. The Farmers Market is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., December through February.
The new Winter Farmers Market, by Grow Oak Ridge LLC, features items from hand-roasted coffee to hydroponically raised tilapia. It brings more than 40 local food and artisan vendors indoors for the first time ever in the Secret City, organizers said.
The St. Mary’s School gym is at 323 Vermont Avenue in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Hearing scheduled for OS man charged in two store robberies
Wallace Wade Tidwell
A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday for an Oliver Springs man charged in two store robberies in Clinton.
The first robbery was reported at the Clinton BP on North Charles Seivers Boulevard on June 13, 2015, and the second was reported at Rocky Top Market in Clinton on July 19, 2016.
Wallace Wade Tidwell III, 38, of Kingston Avenue in Oliver Springs, is charged with aggravated robbery in the first case, and robbery in the second. A hearing for him has been set for 1 p.m. Wednesday, December 7, in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton.
In the first case, the robbery reported at Clinton BP in June 2015, Tidwell allegedly came out of the bathroom, approached a store clerk behind the counter, and demanded money from the cash register—after telling the clerk he “had a bad day,” according to an affidavit filed in General Sessions Court. [Read more…]
First guilty plea in cocaine conspiracies leads to 10-year prison sentence
Marvel Lynette Carpenter
The first defendant to plead guilty in one of two alleged conspiracies involving close to three dozen defendants and 300 grams or more of cocaine has received a 10-year prison sentence, according to court records.
Marvel Lynette Carpenter, 45, of Oak Ridge, pleaded guilty to 10 drug-related charges in Anderson County Criminal Court on Friday, November 18.
Carpenter had been indicted May 3 in an alleged 24-person conspiracy. There was also an alleged 11-person conspiracy. A roundup of the cocaine conspiracy suspects started Thursday, May 5, as several law enforcement agencies swept through Oak Ridge and possibly other communities in what authorities described as a complex, multi-county criminal investigation. Authorities said parts of the investigation were unprecedented.
Carpenter had been charged with conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and sell 300 grams or more of cocaine—and conspiring to possess with the intent to manufacture, deliver, or sell 300 grams or more of cocaine. Those were Class A felony charges. [Read more…]
Son charged in gruesome murder of parents; mother worked in Oak Ridge
Joel Michael Guy Jr.
A 28-year-old man has been charged in the gruesome murder of his parents, one of whom worked in Oak Ridge, authorities said.
Joel Michael Guy Jr., 28, was arrested Tuesday evening in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and charged with killing his parents, Joel Michael Guy Sr., 61, and Lisa Guy, 55, at their home at 11434 Goldenview Lane in west Knox County, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said.
The parents are believed to have been murdered between Friday, November 25, and mid-day Saturday, November 26. Both suffered vicious stab wounds as well as dismemberment, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. Their remains were found in multiple rooms in the house. The suspect placed portions of the remains in an acid-based solution in an attempt to destroy evidence, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The toxic fluid required specific biohazard equipment for removal by the KCSO Hazmat Team, authorities said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge firefighters help rescue 12 people trapped in cars surrounded by fires near Dollywood
People being removed from vehicles while Oak Ridge Fire Department crews help respond to the wildfires that raged across Sevier County on Monday, Nov. 29, 2016. (Photo by Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley)
Note: This story was last updated at 4:30 p.m.
Oak Ridge firefighters helped rescue 12 people and four dogs from three cars surrounded by fires behind Dollywood near Pigeon Forge on Monday.
The 12 visitors had been staying in rental cabins behind the Dollywood theme park.
The rescue happened at about 11 p.m. Monday after wildfires fueled by high winds spread from Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the Gatlinburg area.
Before the rescue, an Oak Ridge Fire Department crew, along with five Maryville firefighters, had responded to several fire-related situations in Pigeon Forge, most of them in the Dollywood area, a City of Oak Ridge press release said. Pigeon Forge is near Gatlinburg.
At about 11 p.m., the firefighters were dispatched to Mitchell Road to help a man trapped in a cabin with fire all around him. But firefighters were unable to get there because the road was blocked by downed trees and power poles, the press release said. Firefighters began cutting trees until they encountered downed power lines and transformers.
Once Sevier County Electric System workers arrived and cut electrical power to the area, the crew again entered the fire area to rescue the man, the press release said. [Read more…]
Name of new element, tennessine, recognizes state’s contributions, including at ORNL
The recently discovered element 117 has been officially named “tennessine” in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery, including the efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its Tennessee collaborators at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee.
“The presence of tennessine on the Periodic Table is an affirmation of our state’s standing in the international scientific community, including the facilities ORNL provides to that community as well as the knowledge and expertise of the laboratory’s scientists and technicians,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a press release.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, or IUPAC, gave its final approval to the name “tennessine” following a year-long process that began December 30, 2015, when IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics announced verification of the existence of the superheavy element 117. That was more than five years after scientists first reported its discovery in April 2010.
IUPAC validates the existence of newly discovered elements and approves their official names.
ORNL had several roles in the discovery, the most prominent being production of the radioisotope berkelium-249 for the search. [Read more…]
