Police say little, crime scene tape set up at Melton Lake Park
Authorities would say little as they strung up crime scene tape at Melton Lake Park this morning. Two tow trucks have arrived at the park, where a dive team was seen searching this morning. More information will be added later.
Update: The crime scene tape was pulled down at about 11:05 a.m. Thursday after authorities pulled a submerged pickup truck from the Clinch River and a tow truck hauled it away.
Dive team searches water at Melton Lake Park
PlanET forum in Knoxville on Saturday
Those who protest the drafting of a five-county regional development plan are concerned about losing their property rights.
There has been disagreement in East Tennessee over whether local governments and officials ought to be working on a five-county regional development plan known as PlanET.
A Saturday forum will allow residents to hear from both sides. Two officials helping to develop the plan are scheduled to take part and so are two speakers who plan to discuss the “pitfalls of central planning for sustainability.”
“What we really want is for people who are undecided about it all to come, and listen to the two groups on the panel presenting their views, then taking questions from the general audience,” said Oak Ridge resident Robert Humphries, who provided information on the five-hour forum.
Secret City show Friday features Natti Love Joys, Ridge City Ramblers
East Tennessee reggae band Natti Love Joys will play a free concert at A.K. Bissell Park on Friday. (Graphic submitted by Arts Council of Oak Ridge)
An East Tennessee reggae band and a group of local musicians—including the city’s mayor and several teachers—will play a free show Friday night at A.K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge.
The show, which starts at 6:30 p.m., will feature headliner Natti Love Joys and opening band The Ridge City Ramblers. The Ramblers include Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and local teachers Steve Reddick, Scott Linn, and Abbie Hoerner, as well as guidance counselor Mary Tuskan, and Gary Coleman.
Friday night’s performance is the sixth and last show in this year’s Secret City Sounds series.
ORNL researchers improve soil carbon cycling models
Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s new carbon cycling model could help scientists understand the role of soil in climate change by tracking the microbial processes that break down carbon-rich materials. (Graphic submitted by ORNL)
A new model developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory helps scientists understand the role that soil will play in future climate change, a press release said.
Predicting climate change depends heavily on the cycling of carbon dioxide, which is found in four main reservoirs: the atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, and soil, the release said.
ORNL’s model was designed to replace traditional soil carbon cycling models. The press release said it better accounts for the carbon dioxide-releasing activity of microbes in the ground.
“Soil is a big reservoir of carbon,” said co-author Melanie Mayes of ORNL’s Environmental Sciences Division. “And most of the soil carbon cycling models in use today are so vastly simplified that they ignore the fact that decomposition is actually performed by microbes.”
Street resurfacing work starts today
Resurfacing work begins today on eight streets in Oak Ridge.
The eight streets are Outer and West Outer drives; Administration, Alger, and East Tulsa roads; and Arkansas, Jefferson, and New York avenues.
Oak Ridge Community Band plays free Labor Day concert
The Oak Ridge Community Band will play a free Labor Day concert at A.K. Bissell Park.
The show will feature Louis Armstrong tunes, American river songs, several march pieces, a polka, and a unique “Looney Tunes” adaptation of some famous classical songs.
The show, which starts at 7 p.m., is the last summer concert for 2012, a press release said.
ORNL has reception for Zacharia, departing deputy director
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has a reception for departing Deputy Director Thomas Zacharia, front center, on Wednesday afternoon. Also pictured, at front left, is Zacharia’s wife Sindhu, and in the background are ORNL’s Sylvia Davis and University of Tennessee Executive Vice President David Millhorn. (Photos by ORNL’s Jason Richards)
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory had a reception Wednesday afternoon for deputy director Thomas Zacharia and his wife Sindhu, who are leaving at the end of the month.
Zacharia, ORNL deputy for science and technology, is leaving to take a leadership position at a science and education foundation based in Doha, Qatar.
He has worked for the lab for 26 years.
Zacharia will become executive vice president of research and development for the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.
Fire starts in garbage truck in Oliver Springs
Oliver Springs firefighters put out a fire that started in a garbage truck early Friday morning. (Photo by Tom Scott)
A fire started in a garbage truck in Oliver Springs early Friday morning, fire photographer Tom Scott said.
The driver pulled into the parking lot of the Tri-County Mall in Oliver Springs and dumped the entire load, Scott said. The Oliver Springs Fire Department responded and extinguished the 4:15 a.m. blaze.
Two women arrested on drug, conspiracy charges after undercover buy
Christy Charlene Seivers
Two Clinton women were arrested on drug and criminal conspiracy charges after one of them allegedly delivered $200 worth of pills to a confidential informant at a Git’n Go on Clinch Avenue on Wednesday night, authorities said.
Undercover officers had arranged to buy the prescription narcotics from Christy Charlene Seviers, 39, of Clinton, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department report said. Seviers allegedly needed the money from the sale of the 15 pills to finance a trip to a pain clinic in Manchester, Tenn.
ORAU seeks applicants for Extreme Classroom Makeover
Oak Ridge Associated Universities has set a Sept. 7 deadline for local teachers who intend to apply for an Extreme Classroom Makeover contest.
Teachers within 50 miles of Oak Ridge can compete in the fifth annual contest, which awards $25,000 worth of new educational technologies as well as training and support.
This year, eligible teachers include those who teach math and science to public school children from 3rd grade to 10th grade.
