The Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge includes one of the largest World War II re-enactments in the South.
Preparations for the 11th Annual Secret City Festival are under way, and applications are now available online.
Vendors and exhibitors can visit www.SecretCityFestival.com and download an application to become involved in this year’s event, which will take place June 21-22 at A.K. Bissell Park.
Applications are available for arts and crafts, exhibitors, and food vendors.
Oak Ridge Dog Park Layout Draft (Image submitted by city staff)
Radio Systems Corp. has agreed to give Oak Ridge $100,000 through Legacy Parks to help build a dog park, a Friday afternoon press release said.
“At Radio Systems, we are always looking for ways we can give back to our community,” said Randy Boyd, founder and chief executive officer of Radio Systems Corp., maker of the PetSafe Brand. “We’ve seen the incredibly positive impact dog parks have made on communities, and we are excited to continue this effort in East Tennessee. We know Oak Ridgers and their dogs will enjoy a PetSafe dog park.”
The press release said PetSafe will partner with Oak Ridge to build the dog park within Big Turtle Park on the west end of the city.
NASHVILLE—The Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office is urging residents of manufactured homes—also known as mobile homes or trailers—to practice fire safety.
More than 250,000 of these homes exist in Tennessee.
“Fires move more quickly in smaller spaces, leaving occupants with less time to escape. This is why it is crucial to have working smoke alarms installed in all homes,” State Fire Marshal and Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Julie Mix McPeak said. “Develop and practice a home fire escape with your loved ones so that everyone knows what to do when the alarm sounds.”
Information from WYSH Radio
During a joint workshop between the Anderson County Commission and the Anderson County School Board on Thursday, schools’ security director Joe Fogerty outlined security measures already in place across the system and discussed future plans for school security.
Fogerty told a large crowd in the Clinton Middle School auditorium that there are currently eight uniformed, armed school resource officers and a DARE officer patrolling the county’s two high schools, four middle schools and alternative school, and those officers are available to answer calls at the nearby elementary schools. Fogerty also said that there are currently 259 surveillance cameras in nine of the county schools and that similar cameras are being installed on school buses.
A Tennessee Department of Transportation employee who worked in Oak Ridge resigned Thursday after he was charged with driving under the influence following a police investigation of a crash at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Louisiana Avenue on Friday, Feb. 1, officials said.
Police said William Hays Halbert, 56, of Knoxville, had been driving a state-owned 2010 Ford F150 pickup truck, but he had slurred speech and bloodshot, watery eyes, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. Halbert smelled like alcohol and appeared to be confused, and he had a hard time following directions, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Garrett L. Robbins wrote in the affidavit.
The Fourth Annual Clinch Valley Science Fair, organized by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge Sunset and sponsored by B&W Y-12 and several other businesses, will be held at Y-12’s New Hope Center on Feb. 23 and 24.
Students in third, fourth, and fifth grades in public, private, and home schools in Oak Ridge, Anderson County, and Roane County may participate.
Cash prizes of $100, $75 and $50 will be awarded to the top three winners in each grade in each of three categories: life, earth and physical sciences. Teachers of winning students will receive School Box gift certificates in the same denominations.
By identifying two genes required for transforming inorganic into organic mercury, which is far more toxic, scientists today have taken a significant step toward protecting human health.
The question of how methylmercury, an organic form of mercury, is produced by natural processes in the environment has stumped scientists for decades, but a team led by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has solved the puzzle. Results of the study, published in the journal Science, provide the genetic basis for this process, known as microbial mercury methylation, and have far-reaching implications.
A concept plan by Benefield Richters of Knoxville for the $1 million revitalization of historic Jackson Square in Oak Ridge.
Oak Ridge City Council members on Monday will consider awarding a $150,000 contract to a company that could help in the first phase of a $1 million project to redevelop Jackson Square, the city’s original town center.
The contract for design services could be awarded to Vaughn and Melton Consulting Engineering Inc. of Knoxville. V&M could help with services ranging from deed research and field surveys to preliminary plans and construction estimates.
The work is part of a project funded with help from a Tennessee Department of Transportation Enhancement Grant that was announced by Gov. Bill Haslam in Jackson Square in June 2012.
Damaged by smoke in November, the Magic Wok restaurant, which has been closed for several months, has passed all city inspections but still needs one from the county.
Several months after it was damaged by smoke, the Magic Wok restaurant has passed all city inspections, and the diner now needs an inspection from the Anderson County Health Department, Oak Ridge Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said Thursday.
The landmark Oak Ridge diner on Tyler Road passed a fire inspection Thursday morning, Waldo said.
The Magic Wok has been closed since it was damaged by smoke in November after food was left cooking on a stove unattended. Firefighters didn’t see any flames that night, but they found smoke and high temperatures.
Howie Rose, director of the Roane County Office of Emergency Services, pictured at right front, briefs firefighters responding to a sulfur dioxide leak at the Oliver Springs Waste Water Treatment Plant on Joel Road on Wednesday morning. (Photos by Tom Scott)
No one was injured or exposed to sulfur dioxide in a leak at the Oliver Springs wastewater treatment plant on Wednesday, but a small group of nearby residents were asked to stay in their homes as a precaution, City Manager Tina Treece said.
The small leak from a system connected to a 150-pound cylinder of sulfur dioxide was discovered by workers who heard an alarm when they arrived at the plant on Joel Road at about 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Treece said there was no odor in the air and it turned out that the leak posed no danger, but officials wanted to make sure conditions were safe for residents and workers.
Oak Ridge firefighters and police and animal control officers rescue a horse stuck in a trailer near Oak Ridge Turnpike and Louisiana Avenue on Wednesday afternoon. Pictured above helping the horse out of the trailer is Oak Ridge Animal Control Officer Randy Proffitt.
Oak Ridge firefighters and animal control officers rescued a horse stuck in a trailer with its hoof above its head near Oak Ridge Turnpike and Louisiana Avenue on Wednesday afternoon.
The horse was being hauled from Anderson County to Second Chance Youth Ranch in Sweetwater when it apparently put at least one hoof up on a hay loft inside the trailer and then broke through the loft, getting stuck, with its hoof stuck in the hole.
Mary Braswell was driving near the trailer at about 2:24 p.m. Wednesday. At first, she and her passenger Megan Baker thought the horse, which was moving around, was a colt because it looked small.
Pictured above from left to right are Georgia Brownfield and Heather Gann of Emory Valley Center, United Way chair Tom Hilton, and Robin Biloski of EVC. (Submitted photo)
Emory Valley Center recently presented a check for $16,320 to Tom Hilton from Y-12 Federal Credit Union, the 2012 United Way Chair.
“United Way is a generous donor to Emory Valley Center, and we as employees felt the best way to let the agency know of our appreciation was to contribute to the fund campaign,” said Heather Gann, EVC United Way Leader. “United Way of Anderson County is such a support system to so many agencies, and we are also a support system to adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities; it just seemed a natural fit.”
“We so much appreciate the donation of the many Emory Valley Center employees,” Hilton said. “We are pleased to assist agencies such as Emory Valley Center as they do so much for the community.”
