The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday appointed 43 members to 17 city boards and commissions. Some of the appointees are new board members, and others are incumbents.
Some were for designated positions. For example, two hotel representatives were appointed to the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, and one City Council member was appointed to the Planning Commission.
Here is a list of the appointments:
An Athens man is accused of “head butting” an Oak Ridge woman on Friday night, punching and kicking her, and choking her “to the point of unconsciousness,” authorities said.
Gerald D. Wells, 26, has been charged with aggravated assault (domestic), and he remained jailed Tuesday morning.
To help save lives this holiday season, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is launching a special “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” crackdown to stop impaired drivers and to save lives on our roadways. Sheriff’s deputies will be aggressively looking for drunk and impaired drivers.
“Lots of folks will be out during this busy holiday season, enjoying themselves and the holiday festivities, and we want everyone to be safe on our roadways,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said. “That’s why we will be stepping up enforcement to catch and arrest impaired drivers. If you are caught drinking and driving impaired, you will be arrested. No warnings. No excuses.”
There are three simple steps people can take to stay safe and out of trouble:
The 100th photo from a collection of World War II pictures taken by James Edward Westcott, the official U.S. Army Manhattan Project photographer, was added to an American Museum of Science and Energy website today.
During the past year, the World War II images taken in Oak Ridge by James Edward Westcott, the official U.S. Army Manhattan Project photographer, have been scanned one image at a time every Tuesday and Thursday into the American Museum of Science and Energy’s website.
Today, the AMSE website will add the 100th photograph. The picture shows people waiting in line outside the telephone office in Oak Ridge, and it was taken by Westcott in 1944.
“The photos of Oak Ridge taken by Ed Westcott during the Manhattan Project years are invaluable to the preservation of the story of a unique moment in the United States history,” said Julie Kellis, AMSE collections curator.
From extreme drought to super storms, many wonder what the future holds for the climate of the eastern United States. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville does away with the guessing.
Results show the region will be hotter and wetter.
Joshua Fu, a civil and environmental engineering professor, and Yang Gao, a graduate research assistant, developed precise scales of cities that act as a climate crystal ball, seeing high-resolution climate changes almost 50 years into the future.
The study found that heat waves will become more severe in most regions of the eastern United States and that both the Northeast and Southeast will see a drastic increase in precipitation.
Note: This story was last updated at 8:12 p.m.
Four people have been arrested after two separate robberies in Anderson County on Saturday, one at knifepoint at a store on Lake City Highway and the other at a home on Sulphur Springs Road, authorities said.
The first robbery occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Town Talk Market on Lake City Highway, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a Monday afternoon news release. The suspect allegedly threatened to cut the clerk’s throat, the sheriff said. The clerk said he gave the suspect money from the cash register, and the suspect left the store, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department incident report said.
The suspect was reportedly accompanied by another man and woman, and witnesses described their older model black Chevrolet sports utility vehicle to deputies. The description was broadcast to all area law enforcement agencies. Investigators also determined the identity of the robbery suspect and broadcast that information as well, White said.
The second of three finalists for Oak Ridge Schools superintendent will visit the city on Thursday.
Dan Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn., will be at a “meet and greet” session at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce from 11:30-12:30 p.m. Thursday.
As part of his tour, he could also visit Willow Brook Elementary School and the Oak Ridge Preschool, Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said Monday.
Information from WYSH Radio
A Clinton man was struck by a car late Friday afternoon in Clinton.
The Clinton Police Department reports that 30-year-old Carl Bunch had been parked in one of the angled spaces on West Broad Street at the Anderson County Courthouse at around 5 p.m. Friday. Bunch was standing at the rear of his vehicle putting his new license plate on when a car driven by a 16-year-old girl traveling along Broad Street swerved out of its lane and hit Bunch and his car’s bumper.
Information from WYSH Radio
The Clinton Police Department and bomb squad technicians from Knoxville disposed of an object that was found in the parking lot of the Weigel’s on North Charles Seivers Boulevard on Wednesday and believed to be a hand grenade.
Police were called to the store at around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday and shown a suspicious-looking item in the parking lot. A customer said he had noticed the object when he got out of his vehicle.
J.W. Herren of Mid South Utility Contractors of Putnam County helps prepare a one-acre site on Oak Ridge Turnpike for a new Pizza Inn restaurant.
A new Pizza Inn restaurant could open on Oak Ridge Turnpike next year, and work started at the one-acre site several weeks ago.
The project’s site plan is scheduled to be considered by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission during a 5:30 p.m. Thursday meeting.
The new diner, part of a Dallas chain that has more than 300 restaurants across the world, will be at the corner of Oak Ridge Turnpike and ORAU Way, roughly where Mickey’s Produce was.
Thursday’s Planning Commission meeting is in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. The commission will consider a landscaping request for the Pizza Inn project.
The Oak Ridge City Council is scheduled to fill 43 positions on 17 boards and commissions during a special meeting tonight.
The boards include two of the most high-profile bodies, the Industrial Development Board and Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.
Others include the Beer Permit Board, Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Recreation and Parks Advisory Board.
The Oak Ridge Civic Center locker rooms will be closed for maintenance starting Dec. 17 and ending Christmas, Dec. 25.
The indoor pool will be open regular hours Dec. 17 and 18 but with no access to the locker rooms. On Dec. 19, the pool will close at 1 p.m. and remain closed until Dec. 26, a press release said.
