Information from WYSH Radio
According to information released by the state on Friday, Anderson County led the state in the number of meth lab seizures in 2014.
Authorities in Anderson County made 83 meth lab busts in 2013. Anderson County is one of two East Tennessee counties that ranked in the top five for meth lab seizures in the state during the 2013. The other was Monroe County, which ranked fourth. [Read more…]
Demolition work at Price Florist began Saturday and could be completed Monday.
Workers began demolishing Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Saturday and could finish the job on Monday.
The work at the longtime floral business in central Oak Ridge is being done by Perkins Trucking and Excavating of Knoxville.
Tony Cappiello of Capiello Real Estate said one of his family’s companies purchased the 0.43-acre property about a month ago for $216,000. He said the seller agreed to demolish the property at her expense since it had been condemned by the City of Oak Ridge.
Cappiello said the property is about as large as the Subway down the street. [Read more…]
Bill Bass
Enjoy an evening of delectable desserts from local chefs and a fascinating lecture by Body Farm founder Bill Bass at the Roane State Foundation’s Death by Chocolate fundraiser on Feb. 13.
The event will be held from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, in the O’Brien Theatre at Roane State’s Roane County campus in Harriman. The chocolate tasting, featuring dozens of samples from area businesses, begins at 6 p.m. The lecture by Bass will start at 7 p.m. Proceeds from ticket sales will be used for student scholarships.
Bass founded the University of Tennessee’s Anthropological Research Facility, an outdoor laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition. The facility, often referred to as the “Body Farm,” was featured prominently in the novel “The Body Farm” by best-selling author Patricia Cornwell. [Read more…]
Receiving the award for the Ridgeview MIST program are Michelle Jones, program manager; Brian Buuck, chief executive officer; Kristin Bales, therapist; and Stacy Park, outpatient services director. (Submitted photo)
Mothers and Infants Sober Together, or MIST, was presented a Program of Excellence award at the recent annual meeting of the Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations, held in Nashville.
The MIST program provides outpatient treatment for mothers who disclose use or abuse of substances during pregnancy or test positive at delivery. The service includes in-home case management, individual and group therapy, and alcohol and drug support groups. The program serves between 80-100 families a year.
A primary goal of the program is to coordinate and provide mental health and substance abuse treatment services to prevent Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome and to promote a stable, drug-free environment for the infant and family, a press release said. Families learn about bonding, attachment, parenting techniques, and addiction and recovery, to replace harmful parenting practices with safe, positive, and nurturing ones. Another goal is to assure access to and compliance with medical care and routine, consistent contact with a primary care physician and/or pediatrician. Urine drug screens are conducted to ensure the safety of the unborn and newborn babies. [Read more…]
Raeburn Josey
The Oak Ridge Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority will hold its 26th annual program to celebrate the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the Y-12 New Hope Center on Scarboro Road in Oak Ridge.
The program, “The Community Speaks,” begins at 9:45 a.m. in the NHC Auditorium. UCOR General Counsel Raeburn Josey will present the keynote address entitled “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—2014.”
At UCOR, Josey provides legal and management services on behalf of URS and its affiliates. He holds degrees from Georgia State University and Georgia State College of Law, and has bar licenses in several states. UCOR is the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Today has added a Pets section on our home page, and we are working with the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter to feature adoptable pets through a Pet of the Day feature. We posted the first featured pet today (Sunday).
Thank you to the Animal Shelter and its volunteers for suggesting this feature.
We have also periodically received requests to add a section on Oak Ridge Today for lost and found pets. We’re working on that feature with the Animal Shelter and will let you know when it’s ready.
Living Water Christian Fellowship of Oak Ridge has moved. Their new location is the Iris Room at ORAU’s Pollard Conference Center.
J. Tony Slay of Jacksboro, Tenn., will be their guest speaker this Sunday, Jan. 19. His daughters Amy and Rachel will lead worship.
Slay is founder and chief executive officer of Ministry International Inc. and of Ministry International Institute. MII is a helps and resource ministry for ministers of Jesus Christ from every background. Slay is bishop to more than 350 ministers in the United States, and he has trained and equipped thousands of ministers around the world, a press release said. [Read more…]
JCPenney at the Oak Ridge Mall will stay open as the company closes 33 stores across the United States.
The JCPenney in Oak Ridge will stay open as the retailer closes 33 underperforming stores across the United States.
The list of closures announced Wednesday includes only one Tennessee store, the JCPenney at Northgate Mall in Chattanooga.
The JCPenney in Oak Ridge is at the city’s mostly empty mall, where a $85 million redevelopment has been proposed. Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has had a purchase contract on the mall since January 2013, has said the renovated 59-acre site could open in 2016 and include a mix of retail and office space, a hotel, and up to 50 multi-family residential units, as well as a few restaurants. Belk and JCPenney are expected to stay. [Read more…]
Daniel T. Brown
A Martin Luther King Fellowship Breakfast on Monday morning will feature Knoxville City Council member Daniel T. Brown.
It’s the 26th annual breakfast, and it’s sponsored by the Atomic City Sportsmen Club. The program starts at 8 a.m. Monday at the East Tennessee Family Services Building at 1660 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Brown is a Knoxville native and a graduate of Austin High School. He graduated from Tennessee State University with a bachelor’s degree in history. He is a Vietnam veteran and received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, a press release said. Brown retired from the U.S. Postal Service. [Read more…]
Information from Dudley Evans/BBB-TV
The Oliver Springs Town Council on Thursday night voted 5-0 to appoint Don Shillings to serve out the remaining two-plus years of former Alderman James Brummitt’s term.
Brummitt resigned two weeks ago from the alderman’s position, saying he wanted to devote more time to family and his other political seat as as Roane County commissioner, where he also serves as chairman. Shillings was one of two names brought before the Council during the meeting. He was present and, immediately after the vote, was sworn in and took his seat.
No stranger to politics, Shillings served two terms on the Oliver Springs Town Council in the past, one a four-year term and the other a two-year term. He thanked his fellow council members and the mayor for their support, and he said he looks forward to serving the citizens again in Ward 6.
On Thursday, federal agents investigate the Oliver Springs offices of TOPS, a U.S. Department of Energy subcontractor.
Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Jan. 17.
OLIVER SPRINGS—A federal subcontractor that works at U.S. Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge is under investigation by several federal agencies, including the FBI, IRS, and DOE Office of Inspector General.
Federal agents were at the Oliver Springs headquarters of the contractor, TOPS, on Thursday, but officials would not comment on the investigation. The office is on Winter Gap Road, next to Highway 62 just north of downtown Oliver Springs.
Dennis Holenstein at the IRS’ Nashville Field Office confirmed that agents from IRS Criminal Investigations were assisting with the investigation, but he referred a reporter to the DOE Office of Inspector General. The IG, in turn, referred calls to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said its policy is to neither comment on, nor confirm or deny, the existence or status of a pending investigation.
Now demolished, the former K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)
Workers at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, were asked to shelter in place for about 30 minutes early Thursday afternoon as police officers searched for an armed person who had been reported to be traveling from the Clinton area to west Oak Ridge.
It was the same search that led to a brief lockdown at Jefferson Middle School at about 1 p.m. Thursday, said Mike Koentop, U.S. Department of Energy spokesman in the Oak Ridge Office.
“It was not related at all to any DOE activity,” Koentop said. “Steps were taken as a precaution.” [Read more…]
