Oak Ridge Today

Forum to feature candidates for school board, TN House, Congress

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A Wednesday evening forum will feature candidates for Oak Ridge Board of Education, U.S. Congressional District 3, and Tennessee House District 32.

The forum starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater at 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike. It’s been organized by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.

Candidates for Oak Ridge Board of Education have been invited to speak and answer questions. They include  incumbent Bob Eby and seven other candidates: Jean Hiser, Andrew Howe, Mike Mahathy, A. Paige Marshall, Laura McLean, Laurie Paine, and Aaron Wells.

There are three school board seats available in the November 4 municipal election. Eby is the only incumbent seeking re-election; Dan DiGregorio and Jenny Richter are not.

Candidates with opposition in the state and federal general election have also been invited to speak and answer questions. In the U.S. House, Republican Representative Chuck Fleischmann of District 3, which includes Oak Ridge, faces challenges from Democrat Mary M. Headrick, who also ran two years ago, and Independent Cassandra J. Mitchell. [Read more…]

Food, music at Taste of Oak Ridge to benefit Free Medical Clinic

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Taste of Oak Ridge

 

The format will be the same, but this year’s Taste of Oak Ridge will be held at the new Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Oak Ridge Turnpike—instead of in Jackson Square. It was moved because organizers weren’t sure when construction work might start on a revitalization project at Jackson Square.

Taste of Oak Ridge features food from Oak Ridge restaurants and performances by local musicians.

The sixth annual festival, scheduled from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday, will raise money to benefit the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge. The Free Medical Clinic provides free medical care to residents of Anderson, Roane, and Morgan counties who don’t have insurance and can’t afford to pay for care.

Area restaurants will showcase some of their finest food in small portions. The price range for the “tastes” from each vendor will be $1 to $4 per item. Tickets will be available for purchase at entrances to the event. Attendees can buy as many tickets as they want for $1 each. In addition, beer and wine will be available to buy.

This year’s Taste of Oak Ridge will be held in the parking lot of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at its new address at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike, north of the Joe L. Evins Federal Building. [Read more…]

U.S. SBA honors Street Legal Industries with small business award

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Street Legal Industries Inc. has received the highest recognition by the U. S. Small Business Administration in Tennessee, a press release said. The company was proclaimed “Tennessee Historically Underutilized (HUB) Zone Small Business of the Year.”

Every year since 1963, the U.S. Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight, through National Small Business Week, the impact of outstanding small businesses.

“These award winners represent the many excellent small businesses that we have in the Volunteer State,” said Walter Perry, district director of SBA’s Tennessee District Office.

The award will be presented to Street Legal Industries Inc. at 3 p.m. Thursday, September 25, at their offices at 102A Jefferson Court in Oak Ridge. The presentation will be combined with an open house. Customers and partners of the company are invited to attend. [Read more…]

Tech 2020 announces interim CEO

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David Snider, the chief financial officer for Tech 2020, will serve as interim chief executive officer effective October 1, succeeding John Morris, who recently resigned.

The agreement was announced Tuesday by Tom Rogers, chair of the Tech 2020 board of directors.

Snider has been with Tech 2020, a nonprofit regional venture development organization, for 14 years as CFO. He will maintain his duties as CFO and fulfill the role of interim CEO until a new, permanent CEO can be recruited and hired, the press release said. [Read more…]

Abolitionist, women’s rights leader to be portrayed at AAUW meeting

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Teresa Collard and Lisa LeBleu

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an abolitionist and women’s rights leader, will be remembered in a historical portrayal during a Monday, September 22, meeting of the Oak Ridge Branch of the AAUW.

The presentation is titled “In Her Own Voice: Elizabeth Cady Stanton Remembers.”

The AAUW will meet at 11:30 a.m. in Room 102 of the Activities Building of First United Presbyterian Church. A catered luncheon will be served at 11:30 a.m., with the program beginning at noon.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, along with Susan B. Anthony, headed a group, which was also interested in women’s rights, that gathered 400,000 signatures on a petition to bring about the immediate passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to end slavery in the United States, a press release said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge firefighters save five lives, fire trucks help, chief says

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Oak Ridge Firefighters Lifesaving Medals and Harness Family

Oak Ridge firefighter and engineer Michael Vanosdale, left; Captain Eric Rackard, second from left; and paramedic Austin Keathley, right, helped save the life of Jason Harness, 50, second from right, on July 21. The three firefighters received Lifesaving Medals during a September 5 ceremony for three new fire engines. Also pictured is Nicole Harness. “These are the men that saved my husband’s life,” she said.

 

Oak Ridge firefighters have saved five lives so far this year, and the department’s fire trucks—which carry $30,000 worth of medical gear, including cardiac equipment—played a key role, Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said this month.

The five lives have all been saved since January; they were cardiac saves, Kerley said.

“That wouldn’t happen without these trucks,” the chief said during a September 5 ceremony to unveil three new Sutphen fire engines, the first for the Oak Ridge Fire Department in about 16 years.

Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley

Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley

During that ceremony, three firefighters received Lifesaving Medals for their role in saving the life of Jason Harness, 50, on July 21 at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

Harness’ wife, Nicole Harness, reported that her husband was in the car and not breathing that summer evening. The rescuers who responded moved Jason Harness from the vehicle to the ground, where “he was found to be pulseless, not breathing, and unresponsive,” Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said.

Harness had had a massive heart attack, with 100 percent blockage. [Read more…]

Lunch with League: tnAchieves paves path to higher education

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Graham Thomas

Graham Thomas

Graham Thomas, tnAchieves director of community partnerships, will be the guest speaker at Lunch with the League at noon Tuesday, September 16, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

tnAchieves, a partnering organization to Governor Bill Haslam’s Tennessee Promise, serves primarily first-generation, low-income students in an effort to increase this population’s likelihood of earning a college credential. While the funding provided by Tennessee Promise is critical to increased post-secondary access, tnAchieves data confirms that working with a mentor further enhances a student’s likelihood of entering the post-secondary pipeline, a press release said. In fact, the University of Tennessee’s Center for Business and Economic Research found that students participating with tnAchieves are nearly 21 percent more likely to enter college. [Read more…]

Gov. Haslam, Bredesen to discuss Amendment 2 at UT on Wednesday

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Governor Bill Haslam

Bill Haslam

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and former Governor Phil Bredesen will discuss a constitutional amendment that could affect the judicial system during a Wednesday celebration of Constitution Day at the University of Tennessee.

Amendment 2 to the Tennessee Constitution will be on the ballot in November. It proposes new checks and balances to the governor’s appointment of Supreme Court and intermediate appellate court judges. It also protects the rights of Tennesseans to vote to retain or replace those judges in retention elections, UT said in a press release.

Haslam and Bredesen will discuss the amendment at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Toyota Auditorium of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. The discussion will be moderated by Doug Blaze, dean of UT’s College of Law.

It’s part of the Baker Center’s celebration of Constitution Day on Wednesday. Free and open to the public, the day’s events will also include: [Read more…]

UT’s Medal of Honor involvement very special for grad student and her dad

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Peter and Laura Lemon at Medal of Honor Convention

Medal of Honor recipient Peter Lemon, on the right, sits next to his daughter, Laura Lemon, a University of Tennessee doctoral student. They are surrounded by UT public relations students, some of whom are in Laura Lemon’s class. (Photos courtesy UT)

 

KNOXVILLE—Graduate teaching associate Laura Lemon found herself in an interesting spot at last week’s Medal of Honor Town Hall at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

On one side of her sat her public relations students, eagerly taking notes to write a press release about the event. On the other side sat her father, Medal of Honor recipient Peter Lemon.

A doctoral student, Laura Lemon said her involvement with UT’s Medal of Honor Project began last year when she went to Assistant Professor Nick Geidner’s office for help in one of his classes that she was taking.

Geidner directs the Medal of Honor Project, which is an award-winning service-learning collaboration between UT’s School of Journalism and Electronic Media and the 2014 Medal of Honor Convention, held last week in Knoxville. (It included a Town Hall Forum in Oak Ridge on Friday.) Through the project, students produced written, audio, and video pieces related to the convention. Although the convention is over, the project will continue sharing stories about Medal of Honor recipients and become a model for other universities that want to partner with future conventions. [Read more…]

Candlelight vigil for Erin Corwin in Oak Ridge on Friday

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Erin Corwin

Erin Corwin

Erin Renae (Heavilin) Corwin of Twentynine Palms, California, went to be with the Lord on August 16, 2014. Erin, originally from Oak Ridge, was a doting wife, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin, and friend.

Erin’s friends remember her as being a great confidant who was always willing to go above and beyond to help anyone she knew. Erin’s love for animals, especially horses, will live on in the memories of those closest to her. Erin’s nurturing soul led her to become the mother of dozens of animals in her short life. Her “children” ranged from fish and guinea pigs to cats and dogs.

Before her husband Jon’s career in the United States Marine Corps took them to California, Erin worked at Tractor Supply in Oak Ridge and spent most of her free time with her horse or checking out the latest yard sales with her mom and brother. Though Erin enjoyed being in California, she and Jon were looking forward to being able to move back to East Tennessee next year. [Read more…]

Photos: Remembering fallen heroes of Sept. 11, 2001

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Sept. 11, 2014 Ceremony with Firefighter at Y-12

Y-12 photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security

 

Area firefighters, police officers, Oak Ridge school students and staff, and others came together on Thursday to remember and honor the fallen heroes of September 11, 2001. There were ceremonies at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge High School.

The firefighters were at Y-12 this week for their annual Fire Officer Conference, held in conjunction with Safety Fest.

The ceremony at Oak Ridge High School included students and staff, and the Oak Ridge police and fire departments. [Read more…]

Medal of Honor recipients honored at Y-12

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Medal of Honor Recipients at Y-12 National Security Complex

Medal of Honor recipients Herschel “Woody” Williams (USMC, WWII, Iwo Jima); Ron Rosser (US Army, Ponggilli, Korea); and Wesley Fox (USMC, Quang Tri, Vietnam) were welcomed by CNS President Jim Haynes (far left) and NNSA Production Office Manager Steve Erhart (far right) at the Medal of Honor Town Hall Forum held at Y-12’s New Hope Center on Friday. (Photo courtesy CNS)

 

Three Medal of Honor recipients were honored at the Y-12 National Security Complex during a Town Hall Forum on Friday, part of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s annual convention held in Knoxville last week.

The Medal of Honor recipients honored at Y-12 were Herschel “Woody” Williams (U.S. Marine Corps, Iwo Jima, World War II), Ron Rosser (U.S. Army, Ponggilli, Korea) and Wesley Fox (USMC, Quang Tri, Vietnam). They were welcomed at Y-12’s New Hope Center by CNS President Jim Haynes and Steve Erhart, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office.

The three recipients discussed their experiences and answered questions from the public. Williams and Rosser also toured the Y-12 National Security complex with Haynes and Y-12 Historian Ray Smith. The group visited 9731, Y-12’s pilot plant during the Manhattan Project, and the south ridge of the site.

Many of the honorees also visited area schools, where Tennessee leads the nation in adopting the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation’s Character Development Program. To learn more about the program, go to http://www.mohknoxville.com/character-development/.

See also this story from the Medal of Honor Town Hall at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.