The Tennessee Small Business Development Center is offering a free and confidential counseling session on Wednesday, Dec. 18, from 9 a.m.–noon at the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce in Clinton.
TSBDC advises and assists future and existing business owners. Senior Business Specialist Jutta Bangs will lead the Wednesday session.
To make an appointment for this or another day, call (865) 457-2559 or e-mail accc@andersoncountychamber.org. [Read more…]
On Friday, the East Tennessee Economic Council named three new recipients of the Muddy Boot Award: Bill Biloski, Ray Smith, and Barry Stephenson.
The Muddy Boot Award is a tribute to people who, through their work and community activities, make East Tennessee a stronger region.
Also Friday, ETEC presented two Postma Young Professional Medals to husband and wife Colin and Sherith Colverson.
The council’s annual celebratory event was keynoted by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. [Read more…]
Sherith and Colin Colverson were presented the 2013 Postma Young Professional Medals on Friday for their outstanding accomplishments at work and in the community, a press release said.
The Postma Medal was created by the East Tennessee Economic Council to honor the accomplishments of young professionals who have made an impact and fostered a community culture in the region. Former Oak Ridge National Laboratory director Herman Postma epitomized this spirit during his life, and his wife Pat continues the tradition of service today through her involvement in the Oak Ridge community, the press release said.
Pat Postma and Tim Myrick presented the awards to the Colversons at ETEC’s annual meeting on Friday at the DoubleTree Hotel. [Read more…]
Submitted
Each year for 21 years, the Anderson County Toy Run has worked hard to raise funds for children at Christmas.
In February, there is a Chili Cook off; in April, June, and August, there are poker runs; and in October, there is a Parade Run and final effort to raise funds for that year.
Local churches help gather the list of the children, and at 7 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Oak Ridge Kmart and Clinton Walmart, 150 children were greeted by Santa Claus and volunteers and staff of the Anderson County Toy Run and local football teams, churches, and other organizations who helped the children shop. [Read more…]
League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge will join with chapters across America to mark the 222nd anniversary on Dec. 15 of the adoption of the Bill of Rights with a call for improved political discourse and greater civic participation in our community.
The Bill of Rights—the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution—is generally considered to be the mainstay of our constitutional freedom, a press release said. They are said to guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and reserve some powers to the states and the public. The League of Women Voters believes the best way to honor this historic document is to protect the freedom it guarantees.
For more than 90 years, the League of Women Voters of the United States has defended civil liberties and promoted balanced civic discourse on important community issues. Its mission is to increase civic participation—to help individuals recognize the critical importance of protecting and honoring our most cherished constitutional rights because they impact our everyday lives. [Read more…]
A symbol of the friendship between Oak Ridge and Japan, the 20-year-old Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park is closed while the city make repairs to the structure holding up the bell.
Since the structure housing the Friendship Bell is under repair for an indeterminate amount of time, the group that has met each week for more than 400 Sundays to ring the Friendship Bell in remembrance of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in recent years, for Anderson County veterans of American wars, will meet Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Veterans Memorial/Flag Pole in front of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building.
The memorial is at 12:20 p.m. Sunday.
The group, which varies in composition and number, plans to meet each week when the weather forecast is dry, a press release said. When the weather forecast is wet, the names to be read in memorium will be saved for the next gathering. [Read more…]
The city’s beer board took no action against Lincoln’s Sports Grille on Monday, the board’s third show cause hearing of the year for the restaurant and bar on South Illinois Avenue.
The city’s beer board ended an unusual string of hearings for local restaurants and bars this year by taking no action in its last two meetings. Most of the hearings were called after establishments sold beer to a minor during a state sting in March, but a few were related to bar fights.
The final show cause hearing, held Monday, was called after a Nov. 2 fight at Lincoln’s Sports Grille on South Illinois Avenue. The fight started after a highly intoxicated North Carolina man who had refused to pay his bar bill “came after” a male acquaintance who volunteered to cover his tab, the restaurant manager and police officers said.
The previous two show cause hearings in November were for Aubrey’s and Ruby Tuesday, which both sold beer to a minor during a March 18 compliance check by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The two restaurants were among seven establishments cited for selling alcohol to a minor after that sting. The other five were Applebee’s, Hacienda DeGollado, Hidalgo, Lincoln’s, and Moose Lodge No. 1316. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Christmas Parade is at 6 p.m. Saturday. (Photo by D. Ray Smith)
The Oak Ridge Christmas Parade will take place rain or shine Saturday evening, officials said.
The parade is organized by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, and it starts at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“According to the hour-by-hour forecast, the rain should be out of here before the parade takes place—keep your fingers crossed!” the chamber said.
This year’s theme is “Inside Santa’s Workshop,” and the parade promises to provide spectators with plenty of music, lights, and beautiful floats, a press release said. [Read more…]
Anthony Lay
An Anderson County man who is a state highway patrolman and former federal deputy U.S. marshal has announced he is running for sheriff.
Anthony Lay is seeking the Republican nomination for Anderson County sheriff in May 2014.
Lay is an officer with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, a press release said. He has served as Scott County sheriff, and when he was 33, was appointed as a federal U.S. marshal in Atlanta.
Lay returned to Anderson County to help his parents after his father suffered a health event, the release said.
“I am announcing my candidacy out of my love for public service and the people who live here,” Lay said in the press release. “Anderson County is a wonderful place to live and work, and the people of Anderson County deserve a safe community and leadership they can trust.” [Read more…]
A child who was hit by a car on Johnson Road on Wednesday appeared to escape serious injury, according to a police report.
The accident happened at about 4 p.m. Wednesday at Jay Lane, an Oak Ridge Police Department crash report said.
The report said the 10-year-old darted out from behind a parked car and was hit by an eastbound Chevrolet Impala driven by a 63-year-old Oak Ridge woman, who was not injured.
The child was knocked to the ground and had scrapes and bruises, but the parents declined transport or treatment, according to the report by ORPD Officer Benjamin Haines. The report said the injuries were “non-incapacitating,” or non-disabling.
The Rick Springfield concert at the Secret City Festival in June was the largest ever for the annual festival, an organizer said.
Debate over the costs of the Secret City Festival—and whether the city can afford a $160,000 “party” every year—was briefly renewed again on Monday.
The sometimes-rancorous debate came up as the Oak Ridge City Council considered whether to approve two resolutions laying the financial foundation for the June 2014 festival.
Early in the debate, Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn moved to reallocate the Secret City Festival money and use it instead for a school resource officer in each middle school, or two SROs total.
But Council member Charlie Hensley said Baughn was essentially asking the city to take money it would collect from festival sponsors and use it instead for SROs.
“I think that’s fraudulent,” Hensley said. [Read more…]
Federal officials on Thursday announced they had dismantled a Knoxville-based cocaine ring that is accused of trafficking $17.5 million worth of drugs and distributing more than five kilograms of cocaine and 280 grams of crack cocaine.
A federal grand jury returned a 58-count indictment on Dec. 3 against 21 Knoxville residents, charging them with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, money laundering, and gun charges, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a press release.
The 21 members of the alleged drug ring appeared in court before U.S. magistrate judges this week and entered pleas of not guilty to the charges in the indictment, Killian said. All of them have been ordered held without bond pending trial, which has been set for Feb. 11 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.
Among the law enforcement agencies participating in the investigation were the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Clinton Police Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, and Roane County Sheriff’s Department, Killian said. [Read more…]
