Oak Ridge Today

Scholarships helps study abroad programs for Roane State students

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Roane State Study Abroad Scholarships

The Roane State Concert Choir traveled to Malaga, Spain, this spring, just one of the international education programs offered at the college. (Submitted photo)

 

A grant awarded by the Tennessee Board of Regents helped Roane State Community College students participate in study abroad programs this spring.

Access and Diversity grants are awarded by the Tennessee Board of Regents to projects promoting diversity, enhancing inclusiveness, and strengthening the presence of underrepresented groups on campuses statewide. Roane State associate professor of business Dave Rath applied for and received an Access and Diversity grant for 2013-14. Titled “Access Global Cultures,” the grant funded study abroad scholarships up to $1,000.

Scholarship applicants were required to write an essay and to complete a minimum of 30 hours of Roane State community service after returning from their study abroad program. Recipients were chosen based on individual need, GPA, and their essay.

The grant, for example, provided funding for music students who traveled to Malaga, Spain, in March to participate in an international choral festival. Of the 11 Concert Choir members who traveled to Spain, six applied for and received the Access Global Cultures scholarship. All six students agreed that without the scholarships, they would not have been able to participate. [Read more…]

Sewer rehab work continues week of July 14

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More rehabilitation work of the city’s sewer collection pipes is scheduled to continue this week, starting Monday, July 14.

The work is being done by Hurst Excavating and Morgan Contracting under contract with the City of Oak Ridge. It includes rehabilitating sewer collection pipes within city easements in yards and in roadways, a press release said.

Residents should already have received color-coded letters and door hangers (orange for Hurst Excavating and purple for Morgan Contracting) providing general information and each contractors’ contact information. [Read more…]

Guest column: Amnesty Week a great success at Oak Ridge Library

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Oak Ridge Public Library

The Oak Ridge Public Library is pictured above.

Amnesty Week was a great success at Oak Ridge Public Library. To celebrate the Library’s 70th birthday from May 27 to May 31, library patrons were invited to return any overdue materials and have the fines forgiven. A total of 145 overdue items were returned for a sum of $421.80 in cancelled fines.

The largest fine forgiven to one patron was $109.50. The most overdue items returned for one patron was 27 items. Four lost items that were due back in December 2011 were returned.

Libraries link people to the world of knowledge. Oak Ridge Public Library now has two databases online, making it easier for everyone to find local information. The Local Organization Index and the Obituary Index are searchable at the Library’s website at www.orpl.org. Library patrons can also get individual assistance with research, résumés, or online job applications. [Read more…]

Bullets for blanks negligent, but rounds not put into guns during police training, attorney says

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Oak Ridge Today

KNOXVILLE—The Oak Ridge police lieutenant who sent deactivated .38-caliber pistol ammunition and live .223-caliber rifle rounds rather than blanks for use in a training session three years ago was negligent, an attorney said Thursday.

But the mistake was detected before the live rounds were put into guns, and there was no imminent danger or harm to anyone, said Benjamin K. Lauderback, who represented the City of Oak Ridge in oral arguments before the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Knoxville on Thursday.

The police officer who detected the error, former Oak Ridge Police Department Sgt. Mark Coffey, filed a formal complaint two days after the August 20, 2011, training session, known as an “active shooter” response. He resigned a few months later in October, and in August 2012, he filed a lawsuit in Anderson County Circuit Court alleging retaliation and wrongful discharge.

In the lawsuit, Coffey said other ORPD employees retaliated against him after he filed the complaint against Lt. Brad Jenkins, who supplied the ammunition. Coffey said he had been forced to resign and was “constructively discharged.” Before he left the job, Coffey said, he had been re-assigned to work under Jenkins, and he resigned because of the alleged retaliation and fears for his personal safety. He sought $600,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

The city won a summary judgement, which is like a dismissal, in August 2013. Anderson County Circuit Court Judge Don Elledge did not find that Coffey’s working conditions were bad enough that an ordinary person couldn’t tolerate them, Lauderback said. [Read more…]

Four Applewood Apartment buildings still ‘unfit,’ not vacated, attorney says

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Applewood Apartments at 105 Hunter Circle

A city board declared four buildings on Hunter Circle to be unfit for human occupation or use in November 2010 and, after a Tennessee Court of Appeals opinion, reaffirmed the decision in March 2013. The case has been appealed back to the appellate court.

KNOXVILLE—More than three years after they were declared “unfit,” four dilapidated Applewood Apartment buildings have still not been vacated, an attorney said Thursday.

The Anderson County Chancery Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals have both affirmed a November 2010 decision by an Oak Ridge board declaring the dilapidated buildings on Hunter Circle to be unfit for human occupation and use—and calling for them to be vacated immediately, attorney Dan Pilkington said.

The 2010 decision was reaffirmed by the city board, the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, in March 2013, Pilkington said.

“We believe that this order is final,” he said in a 15-minute oral argument before a three-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Knoxville on Thursday. “Despite that, the buildings have never been vacated.”

The 2010 Oak Ridge board hearing was held after notices were issued citing multiple deficiencies that were hazardous to tenants, said Pilkington, who works for Knoxville law firm Watson, Roach, Batson, Rowell, and Lauderback. That company represented the City of Oak Ridge in Thursday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel that included John W. McClarty, D. Michael Swiney, and D. Kelly Thomas Jr. [Read more…]

Former ORHS Principal Goins headed home

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Jody Goins

Jody Goins

Information from WYSH Radio

Former Oak Ridge High School and now-former Knox Central High School principal Jody Goins left his Knox County post after just one year in order to take over the reins of Claiborne High School in his family’s native Claiborne County.

The 32-year-old Goins announced last week he was leaving Central after just one year, but initially, his new destination was not revealed.

Goins said that the move to Claiborne was done so that both he and his wife could be closer to their respective families. Goins, a Clinton High School graduate, worked at Oak Ridge High School beginning in 2004 before being named principal in 2009. At the time, he was the state’s youngest principal.

Investigators search 200 miles of desert for pregnant Oak Ridge woman missing in California

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Erin Corwin

Erin Corwin (Photos courtesy San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department)

Investigators searching for an Oak Ridge woman who now lives in California and disappeared under suspicious circumstances two weeks ago have covered more than 200 square miles of remote desert, authorities said Friday.

The search for Erin Corwin, who is 19 years old and pregnant, has been concentrated around the Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. The vast high desert reserve is east of Los Angeles and just south of the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base, where Corwin lives with her husband, U.S. Marine Cpl. Jonathan Wayne Corwin, who is also from Oak Ridge.

The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said the search has found no sign of Corwin, and her disappearance does not appear to be voluntary.

The search will continue as necessary throughout the weekend using search and rescue volunteers from the San Bernardino County, Los Angeles County, and Kern County Sheriff’s Departments, and Joshua Tree National Park Service rangers, authorities said.

Investigators said they haven’t released much information about Corwin’s disappearance because of its suspicious nature. [Read more…]

Parents protest expanded 1.5-mile walk zone for students

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Oak Ridge School Buses at the Central Services Complex

Parents are protesting a June 23 decision to expand the walk zone for students to 1.5 miles to help reduce a $1.25 million budget deficit. The expanded walk zones mean that bus service won’t be offered to students who live within 1.5 miles of Oak Ridge schools.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:20 a.m. July 12.

Parents concerned about student safety are protesting a recent decision by Oak Ridge Schools to expand the student walk zone to 1.5 miles.

In the past two days, they’ve started a petition and Facebook group to oppose the June 23 decision, and they’ve organized a protest, rally, and walks through the expanded walk zones at several schools.

“We’re serious about this,” said Daniel Morgan, who has two sons at Linden Elementary School and a daughter who starts at Robertsville Middle School this fall. “The citizens are concerned about the safety of the children.”

The expanded walk zones mean that bus service will no longer be available to students who live within 1.5 miles of Oak Ridge schools. The change could affect 1,800 students. The new bus stops have been posted on the Oak Ridge Schools website. [Read more…]

Longtime businessman Anderson running for County Commission

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Joey Anderson

Joey Anderson

Longtime local businessman Joey Anderson has announced he is running for Anderson County Commission in District 6 in the Aug. 7 election. District 6 includes the City Hall, Robertsville, and West Hills voting precincts in Oak Ridge.

Anderson is a 1986 graduate of Oak Ridge High School and earned a BBA in business management from East Tennessee State University.

Growing up active in the Boy Scouts of America, earning the prestigious Eagle award, and being involved with the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge has carried over to remaining active in the community, a press release said. He is currently serving as president of the Oak Ridge Boys and Girls Club Alumni. He was also treasurer for many years for the alumni. Anderson is also a member of the Oak Ridge Quarterback Club.

Anderson’s roots are deep in Oak Ridge, the release said. He operated and managed Anderson’s Hilltop Market for 18 years, carrying on the family business started in 1944 by his grandfather, Joe Anderson. Anderson said his small business background would help him navigate managerial and budgetary challenges on the Commission if elected. [Read more…]

TDEC orders Oliver Springs to fix treatment plant or face fine

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has ordered Oliver Springs to upgrade its wastewater treatment plant or face a hefty fine. The state gave the town until August 31, 2015, to correct the problems outlined in the order, including several violations in the past few years dealing with system overflows and E. coli contamination.

The plant discharged water into Poplar Creek.

If the problems are not corrected by the end of August 2015, the town could face a fine of up to $175,000.

The state also issued a moratorium on adding any new sewer customers. [Read more…]

Tennessee man pleads guilty in $2.5 million Y-12 extortion case

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Y-12 Aerial Photo June 2012

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

KNOXVILLE—A Tennessee man who appeared on the television reality show “The Millionaire Matchmaker” has pleaded guilty in a $2.5 million extortion case involving the former managing contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

Adam Winters, 26, of Robbins, Tenn., said he had copies of slides that would injure the reputation of the contractor, Babcock and Wilcox Y-12 LLC, and he met with undercover officers on May 23 to exchange the slides for the money he demanded, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a Thursday afternoon press release. Law enforcement officers revealed their identity during that May 23 meeting and arrested Winters.

Earlier, on May 8, Winters had e-mailed Babcock and Wilcox and attempted to email Vice President Joe Biden about the slides, Killian said. After he sent the email, Winters used the Internet and telephone to communicate his threat to injure their reputation through the use of the slides, according to the plea agreement on file with the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Tennessee. [Read more…]

Brown leaving ORCVB for marketing, promotions job in East Tennessee

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Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau

The Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Welcome Center at the Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road is pictured above.

Katy Brown has accepted a new marketing and promotions job in East Tennessee, and her last day as president of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau will be Friday.

Brown started as a sales manager at the ORCVB in 2001, and she has been president since 2006, or about eight years.

Brown will now be a marketing and promotions specialist covering Knoxville and Chattanooga. She declined to identify her new employer, but she said it is an established company.

Brown might be most well-known for her work on the annual Secret City Festival, including her promotion of the two-day celebration. But she has also been involved in a range of other efforts to help promote and market the city, ranging from hosting travel writers from across the country to working a booth at the Oak Ridge Marina during rowing races. [Read more…]