Oak Ridge Today

Defendant in fatal car-motorcycle crash expected to enter plea, waive charges to grand jury, or set preliminary hearing

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Rufus E. Shephard III and Motorcycle

Rufus E. Shephard III is pictured above riding a motorcycle. (Photo courtesy Annette Shephard)

 

An Oak Ridge woman facing three misdemeanor charges in a fatal car-motorcycle crash on North Illinois Avenue in January is expected to enter a plea next week, waive the charges to a grand jury, or set a date for a preliminary hearing, court officials said Thursday.

Judge Roger Miller, of Anderson County General Sessions Court Division II in Oak Ridge, said he doesn’t want to reset the case against Noelle Leigh Patty, 29, again. Patty had a status hearing on Thursday, September 1.

She has another status hearing set for 9 a.m. Thursday, September 8, in the Division II court in Oak Ridge. Patty does not have to appear.

The three misdemeanor charges filed against her are failure to yield the right-of-way, resulting in death; a violation of the law to obey traffic control devices; and a failure to provide proof of financial responsibility.

Authorities said Patty, who was driving a Cadillac STS on Sunday evening, January 31, made an improper left turn from a right-turn-only lane at the western exit of the Westcott Center, the Kroger shopping center, and she failed to yield to Rufus E. Shephard III, 44, of Oak Ridge, who was riding a Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle north on North Illinois Avenue. Shephard died after colliding with the car, which was turning south in “the pathway of northbound traffic,” Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Chris Luethge said in arrest warrants filed after the crash. [Read more…]

ORFD, ORHS to dedicate flagpole in memory of 9/11 victims

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ORHS flagpole wide

The Oak Ridge Fire Department and the Oak Ridge High School 9/11 WTC Committee will join together on Sunday, September 11, to remember the tragic events that happened 15 years ago, a press release said. (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Fire Department and the Oak Ridge High School 9/11 WTC Committee will join together on Sunday, September 11, to remember the tragic events that happened 15 years ago, a press release said.

There will be a group meeting to officially unveil the new flagpole added this past year and to dedicate it in memory of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“Thanks to generous donations from the American Legion Post 2 out of Knoxville and from Woodmen of the World, the site is now home to a 30-foot flagpole that is capable of flying a flag all the time,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Manhattan Project program: Bike with a ranger on Melton Lake Greenway on Sept. 24

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Manhattan Project National Historical Park Bike with a Ranger

You can join a National Park Service ranger for a bike ride down beautiful Melton Lake Greenway on Saturday, September 24, a press release said. (Submitted photo)

 

You can join a National Park Service ranger for a bike ride down beautiful Melton Lake Greenway on a Saturday in September, a press release said.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the free program at 10 a.m. Saturday, September 24. The program will begin at Elza Gate Park, the former entry point to the once-secret city now known as Oak Ridge, and continue down Melton Lake Greenway. Rangers will stop several times along the bike ride to point out the rich history that is found within the Oak Ridge area, the press release said.

Elza Gate Park is located at 101 Oak Ridge Turnpike in east Oak Ridge, just east of Melton Lake Drive. Maps are available at the National Park desk in the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, or you can call (865) 576-6767. [Read more…]

ACSD investigating robbery report

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a robbery reported to them early Tuesday morning.

A deputy responded to a call of a suspicious person walking along Clinton Highway shortly after midnight and made contact with a man at the pay phone in front of the Weigel’s on Clinton Highway in Claxton. The man was attempting to call a friend to come pick him up, and the deputy noted that he had dried blood on his chest, a bloody nose, an abrasion on his right cheek, and a small cut on the right side of his jaw.

The man told deputies he had been riding with a friend in the friend’s car when he told the driver he was going too fast and needed to slow down. That started an argument that ended when the driver pulled into the parking lot of Ciderville Music, pulled the victim out of the car and allegedly beat and robbed him. The victim told deputies that it felt like there three or four people hitting him and that he believed it was a planned robbery. [Read more…]

Opinion: Alexander discusses ETTP demolition, development; Oak Ridge cleanup work

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Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

By Lamar Alexander

This week marked the end of an era. The last of the five uranium enrichment buildings in Oak Ridge has been cleaned up, making land available for new companies and new jobs coming to East Tennessee.

Tennessee should be extremely proud of the men and women who have worked for more than a decade to complete the demolition and cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

The story of how these buildings first came to be built is by now a familiar one. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Senator Kenneth McKellar, the Tennessean who chaired the Appropriations Committee, to hide $2 billion for a secret project to win World War II. McKellar replied, “Mr. President, I have just one question: Where in Tennessee do you want me to hide it?”

They hid it in Oak Ridge, on 2,200 acres along the Clinch River, where they quietly built K-25, the largest building in the world, to enrich uranium through gaseous diffusion—a complicated and now mostly obsolete process. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge supports ORNL, LeMond Composites carbon fiber partnership

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Jones LeMond Watson and Creswell Aug 31 2016

Pictured above at a meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016, on a new carbon fiber partnership between Oak Ridge-based company LeMond Composites and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are, from left, Steve Jones (Oak Ridge economic development consultant), Greg LeMond (LeMond Composites), Mark Watson (Oak Ridge city manager), and Wade Creswell (president of The Roane Alliance). (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

 

By City of Oak Ridge

The City of Oak Ridge is proud to support the recent announcement that LeMond Composites, a new company in Oak Ridge offering solutions for high-volume and low-cost carbon fiber, has secured a licensing agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The news was made public on August 29 in a release from LeMond Composites. The company, founded earlier this year by three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, focuses on making carbon fiber composites with global applications. The agreement with ORNL will make LeMond Composites the first company to offer these newly developed products to the transportation, renewable energy, and infrastructure markets.

LeMond Composites plans to build their first carbon fiber production line at their recently purchased facility on Palladium Way at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. Their first commercially available product is expected to be ready in early 2018.

“I am ecstatic about this unique technological application for carbon fiber in our community,” Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch said. “We look forward to working with LeMond Composites to create jobs and further investment in Oak Ridge.” [Read more…]

Safety Fest TN in Oak Ridge, Knoxville to feature more than 80 free safety & health classes, sessions, demonstrations

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Safety Fest TNThe Fifth Annual Safety Fest TN is scheduled for September 12-16 in Oak Ridge and Knoxville, and it will feature more than 80 free safety and health classes, sessions, and demonstrations. In addition to the free classes, a Safety Expo and Safety Demonstrations will take place on September 13 and 14, along with the “Secret City” Fire Officer Conference on September 14 and 15, a press release said.

The majority of the classes and sessions will be hosted by Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, at the New Hope Center at 602 Scarboro Road in Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Associated Universities, or ORAU, at Pollard Technology Conference Center at 210 Badger Avenue in Oak Ridge. But classes are also being offered at seven other area locations including two in Knoxville, the press release said.

“It’s all about safety and health at work, at home and in the community,” said Michelle Keever, the Safety Fest TN class coordinator from URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR. “And what a community! In collaboration and with the irreplaceable help of United Steel Workers Local 9-288, we’re thrilled that 20 seniors at Sunbright School will receive OSHA 40-hour HAZWOPER training.” Sunbright is a one-campus pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school located in rural Morgan County. [Read more…]

Photos: ORNL, Boeing set Guinness World Record with largest solid 3D printed item

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ORNL-Boeing-Empric-and-Peter-Aug-29-2016-3-Web

Guinness World Records Judge Michael Empric, left, is pictured above with Bill Peter, director of ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley, after Empric had confirmed that a trim-and-drill tool made at the MDF for Boeing (it’s partially pictured in the foreground) had set the world record for largest solid printed 3D item on Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A tool made by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has set a world record for largest solid item manufactured on a 3D printer. Guinness World Records confirmed the tool’s measurements during a visit to ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday.

Here are pictures from the Monday morning award ceremony by John Huotari of Oak Ridge Today and ORNL/U.S. Department of Energy.

The trim-and-drill tool measures 17.5 feet long, 5.5 feet wide, and 1.5 feet tall. It’s comparable in length to a large sport utility vehicle and weighs approximately 1,650 pounds.

It will be used to help make a wing part on the Boeing 777X airplane, a passenger jet. After ORNL completes some testing, Boeing will evaluate the tool in the company’s new production facility in St. Louis and then provide information to ORNL about its performance. [Read more…]

Celebrate Labor Day with Concert in Park on Monday

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Deidre Ford

Pictured above is band member Deidre Ford, who will be guest vocalist at the Oak Ridge Community Band’s concert on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Community Band will have its last outdoor concert of the season at 7 p.m. Monday, September 5, in A.K. Bissell Park.

The Labor Day performance will feature vocalist Deidre Ford, who will be singing Hoagy Carmichael’s “Star Dust” and George Gershwin’s”But Not for Me.” Ford, a bass clarinetist with the Community Band, sings and plays baritone saxophone with the Knoxville-based Ensemble Swing Time Band, sings with the Little Big Band, Jack Russell Terriers, Vocal Big Band, and has played clarinet and saxophone in a number of theater productions.

Among the selections the Community Band will perform are James McLeod’s “State Street Strut,” a medley of tunes in Michael Buble’s “Crooner’s Serenade,” Paul Yoder’s tribute to Duke Ellington in “Salute the Duke,” and Warren Barker’s arrangement of “Themes Like Old Times” with “My Melancholy Baby,” “Ain’t We Got Fun,” “On Moonlight Bay,” and “After You’ve Gone,” a press release said.

The audience will also enjoy hearing Warren Barker’s American overture “From Sea to Shining Sea” and John Williams’s fast-paced “The Cowboys,” which will be recognized by John Wayne fans as the theme song from the 1972 movie “The Cowboys.” Rounding out the program will be Sousa’s “The Thunderer,” G.H. Huffine’s “Them Basses,” and Jay Dawson’s arrangement of “Tennessee Salute.” [Read more…]

Expert on legal issues, social media to speak Sept. 15 at Roane State

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Joe Jarret

Joe Jarret (Submitted photo)

 

An expert on legal issues associated with social media will kick off a lecture series sponsored by the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning, or ORICL, and Roane State Community College.

Joe Jarret’s lecture, titled “Social Media: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” will begin at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, September 15, in the City Room of the Coffey-McNally Building on the Oak Ridge campus of Roane State Community College, which is at 701 Briarcliff Avenue. It’s free, and the public is invited. Refreshments will be available in the lobby after Jarret’s talk.

The event in Room A-111 also launches the fall series of courses offered by ORICL, a nonprofit organization that provides a wide variety of classes for area residents who love learning. Those classes start in mid-September, and registration can still be taken during the September 15 event. [Read more…]

Khaleel to lead ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate

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Mohammad A. Khaleel

Mohammad A. Khaleel

 

Mohammad A. “Moe” Khaleel has been named associate laboratory director for energy and environmental sciences at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The work that Khaleel will oversee for the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, or EESD, includes biological and environmental research for DOE’s Office of Science and an extensive set of research and development programs supported by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery, and Energy Reliability and Office of Fossil Energy.

EESD also engages with a broad external community that includes a growing list of industrial partners through the ORNL-managed BioEnergy Science Center, the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, and the National Transportation Research Center, a press release said.

“Moe brings a rich background as both a researcher and scientific leader,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said. “In his new position, he will oversee activities that translate basic science into applied research and development (R&D), with direct benefits for energy production, transmission, and conservation. ORNL will benefit from his experience and his vision.” [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Symphony to start season with new music, national park celebration

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Oak-Ridge-Symphony-Orchestra-Strings

Part of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra string section is pictured above. (Photo courtesy ORCMA)

 

The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra will kick off its new season in September with new music by East Tennessee composer Mark Harrell and a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

The concert is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 24, at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. It’s the 72nd season for the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. The Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra will be led by Music Director Dan Allcott.

The concert, titled “Pride of Place,” is a celebration of Oak Ridge, especially recognizing the scientists and immigrants who founded this community, a press release said.

Commissioned by the JAZ Fund, Harrell’s “π to the Sky: Tribute to Discovery” is a celebration of the post-World War II generation of Oak Ridge scientists and their numerous accomplishments. The concert will also celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service with Peter Boyer’s moving narrated work, “Ellis Island: The Dream of America.” [Read more…]