Garfield Adams has been appointed vice principal at Robertsville Middle School, a school official said Tuesday.
Adams’ appointment is effective July 1, Oak Ridge Schools Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak said in a press release.
Adams began his career as a special education teacher in Knox County Schools in 2001. He joined the Oak Ridge Schools in 2004 as an alternative program teacher and remained in that capacity until 2011. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Council rejected the school system’s request for a 37-cent tax rate increase on Monday, instead voting in the first of two votes this month to keep the tax rate steady for the seventh year in a row.
Note: This story was last updated at 9:55 a.m. June 10.
In the first of two votes this month, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday rejected a request from school officials for a 37-cent tax rate increase that would, among other things, help fund a technology initiative meant to eventually provide an electronic learning device or tablet to all students.
Council member Charlie Hensley said the tax increase would be the largest in the city’s history, and it came in late in the budget process.
The property tax rate is now $2.39 per $100 of assessed value. The increase would push it to $2.76, and it could cost the owner of a $200,000 home another $15 per month.
“I was looking to support a tax increase, but the one that we got asked for is really, really high,” Hensley said.
There was a two-part vote on the budget on Monday. The first reduced the amount transferred to the schools to roughly $14.6 million, which was about $3.3 million less than the school board had requested, and it kept the tax rate steady for the seventh year in a row. The vote on that amendment was 5-2, with Hensley and Council member Chuck Hope voting no. [Read more…]
An unknown suspect set several items on fire in the Walmart parking lot in Oak Ridge on Saturday evening. The items included a 50-inch flat-screen television and a computer monitor. (Photo by Jennifer Sampson)
An unknown suspect set several items on fire in the Walmart parking lot in Oak Ridge on Saturday evening, authorities said.
The arson included an LG 50-inch flat-screen television, a computer monitor and modem, three computer hard drives, and two Walmart DVDs, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Sherrill L. Selby said in an incident report.
The fire was reported at about 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Walmart, which is on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge. Black smoke billowed up from the center of the parking lot until the Oak Ridge Fire Department, which has a fire station nearby, arrived to extinguish the flames. The blaze didn’t appear be set near any vehicles, and there were no reports of injuries.
The police report did not include information on why the suspect might have started the fire.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Allen Schwartz, right, attorney for Lincoln’s Sports Grille, and restaurant consultant Roy McKinnon said Lincoln’s has made substantial changes.
Note: This story was last updated at 6:45 p.m.
The Oak Ridge Beer Board has suspended the beer permit of Lincoln’s Sports Grille for two weeks starting at midnight today (Monday).
The 14-day suspension will end just before midnight June 23. It was approved by Beer Board members in a 4-3 vote on Monday afternoon. Liquor and food sales are not affected.
Beer Board members said they weren’t satisfied with the remediation plan presented by Lincoln’s following a May meeting after an April fight.
“There is a cultural change that is occurring, but it has to occur faster,” Beer Board Chair Randy Tedford said. [Read more…]
Tim Isbel, president of the Rocky Top Marketing and Manufacturing Co., at a federal court hearing in May on Lake City’s proposed name change to Rocky Top.
Information from WYSH Radio
Officials in what is now called Lake City have announced that the City Council will meet on Thursday, June 26, at 5 p.m. to ratify the town’s name change to Rocky Top.
The name change is considered vital for the development of several attractions aimed at turning the sleepy town into a tourist destination for travelers along I-75, and it cleared its most significant hurdle a couple of weeks ago when a federal judge refused to issue an injunction to prohibit the name change from going forward.
The request for a preliminary injunction had been filed by the owners of the copyright to the song “Rocky Top,” who had argued that the name change amounted to a trademark violation. [Read more…]
Nichole Burgess
Information from WYSH Radio
Search warrants released last week have provided new information about what led investigators from Nashville to search the Anderson County home of a man who is now a person of interest in the disappearance and possible death of a Hermitage woman.
The documents indicate that a friend reported Nichole Burgess missing from her home in Hermitage on May 25 after she was unable to reach Burgess by phone or text message. The friend said Burgess’s last text message, sent on May 23, indicated she had been in an altercation with the father of Burgess’s child, 32-year-old Andersonville resident Caleb Cannon.
The friend told detectives that they had gone to Burgess’ home in Hermitage and noticed her car was parked out front and her dogs were walking around freely instead of in their crates. A neighbor said he/she saw two people carrying something out of the home’s back door on May 24.
Cannon, who has custody of his and Burgess’s 10-year-old son every other weekend, picked the boy up from school on May 23. The warrants say a friend of the boy’s said that Cannon had been at Burgess’s home earlier in the afternoon, loading two black bags into a car parked in the driveway. The friend said he asked the 10-year-old where his mom (Burgess) was, and the boy said he was pretty sure his mom was dead and that his dad had killed him. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
Charges are pending against two juveniles and an adult for vandalizing mailboxes in Anderson County.
Over several days last week, a number of mailboxes were vandalized on East Wolf Valley Road, Davidson Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge Road, and Heiskell Road.
Residents on Thursday were able to provide deputies with a description of the suspect vehicle, which was pulled over later that night. Two juveniles and an adult were identified as the suspects in the vandalism, and charges against all three are pending. [Read more…]
A large crowd waits to hear music during the June 2012 festival.
Make plans to attend the 12th Annual Secret City Festival on Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, in historic Oak Ridge. Join more than 20,000 visitors and residents to celebrate the end of World War II and the heritage of Oak Ridge from 1945 to the present.
Here’s an overview of some of the many activities and events taking place at this year’s festival: [Read more…]
Visitors to the Secret City Festival next weekend can expect tighter security measures and maybe a few delays when entering the concerts this year, all in the name of safety.
“In light of recent events, we’re being extra vigilant in our protection of our attendees, staff, and the community during the festival concerts,” said Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi.
No backpacks or coolers will be allowed into the concert site and all bags will be subject to search. This includes bags used to store chairs. Visitors should expect delays if carrying in anything that needs to be searched. Organizers suggest festival attendees only bring their concert tickets, money for food, an ID to buy or consume beer, and a chair for the concerts. Once inside the concert site, festival seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The concert site opens at 5:30 p.m. [Read more…]
Here is a summary of events happening in Oak Ridge from Monday, June 9, and continuing through June 11.
This weekly listing of events is compiled by the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau: [Read more…]
By David Allred, June 4, 2014
I got a phone call tonight that bothered me. The content of the message wasn’t so much an annoyance as the delivery system. You see, our schools sold us a bill of goods some time back about automated phone dialing. They said it would assist us in the event of emergencies, public service announcements, and other items of communication that might be pivotal to parent/school relations.
They were right. It’s a great system, probably worth the tax dollars, but I am no expert on its worth by any stretch of the imagination. Still, when that same taxpayer system of communication is used to solicit more taxpayer funds, I confess to being put on edge.
You see, I was one of hundreds, probably thousands of households, asked to fork over a little bit more money for a little more technology: tablets for all our students.
It’s a grand idea, I suppose. I mean, it is probably money that could be spent on an extra teacher or two or 12 or 20, but let’s face it—the tablet prepares our students for the modern world and there’s hardly anything more true of the modern world than replacing people with machines. [Read more…]
Pat Imperato, left, vice chair of Keep Anderson County Beautiful, presents a check for $150 to Sister Marie Blanchette and some seventh-grade students from St. Mary’s School for contributing the most number of shoes per student as part of the recent community shoe drive. (Submitted photo)
Keep Anderson County Beautiful has announced the total amount of materials collected, including electronics and shoes, during the recent 2014 Earth Day Festival in Oak Ridge.
“This is one of the best Earth Days that we have had in terms of materials collected and diverted from our landfill through recycling,” said Pam Turner, KACB president. “The community really embraced the meaning of Earth Day while enjoying a beautiful day in the outdoors playing old-fashioned neighborhood games.”
More than 36 volunteers helped to put on the event, which collected 7,531 pounds of electronics, 5,400 pounds of personal documents for shredding, 3,100 pairs of shoes, 540 pounds of books, 108 pairs of eye glasses, and 56 pounds of blankets and towels for the animal shelter. [Read more…]
