Oak Ridge Today

Drug Awareness Day at Oak Ridge Pool on Saturday, June 6

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Drug Awareness Day at the Oak Ridge Pool

The Third Annual Drug Awareness Day is at the Oak Ridge Municipal Pool on Saturday, June 6.

It’s hosted by the Oak Ridge Chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks. The pool is located at 172 Providence Road, near Oak Ridge High School.

Drug Awareness demonstrations will be held from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. June 6 inside the pool area. Hundreds of prizes will be given away to those participating in a drug awareness activity, a press release said. Some of the prizes include T-shirts, coloring books, and Frisbees.

This event is a partnership with Anderson County Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Oak Ridge City Recreation and Parks Department, Roane County Anti-Drug Coalition, and the Tennessee Meth and Pharmaceutical Task Force. [Read more…]

Updated: Two found after going missing on off-road ride near Windrock

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Note: This story was updated at 1:15 a.m. May 27.

WINDROCK PARK—The two off-road riders who went missing Saturday evening were found at about noon Sunday. Their sister, Kara Ferguson, said the riders were her brothers, Travis Lampkin, 27, of Knoxville, and Austin Turner, 11, of Andersonville.

Ferguson said the two left her home near Windrock Park north of Oliver Springs at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. She started to worry at about 8 p.m. because the Polaris RZR side-by-side vehicle the two were riding had a half-tank of gas.

Unable to get help from authorities, Ferguson said, she and others spent Saturday night looking for her brothers.

They later learned that the Polaris RZR had flipped on a trail known as Trail 9. Ferguson’s brother Travis Lampkin managed to get it upright again, but then a tire went flat and it ran out of gas. It also got dark, and Lampkin and Austin Turner weren’t sure where they were, Kara said. [Read more…]

ACSD participating in Click It or Ticket this weekend

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Click It or Ticket Day and Night

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department will take part in the Click It or Ticket—National Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization by conducting saturation patrols during this Memorial Day holiday period, a press release said.

As part of the enforcement, a sobriety checkpoint was held Friday evening, May 22, on Tri-County Boulevard in Oliver Springs. It was to be a multi-agency effort sponsored by the Oliver Springs Police Department and the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, the press release said.

The Click It or Ticket—National Seat Belt Enforcement Mobilization runs through May 31. [Read more…]

Pilot robbery suspect arrested in Rocky Top

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Walter John Meachum

Walter John Meachum

A Caryville man suspected of robbing a Pilot Travel Center in east Knox County on Tuesday was arrested at a motel in Rocky Top in Anderson County on Wednesday, authorities said.

They said Walter John Meachum, 21, has been charged with aggravated robbery for an alleged armed robbery just before 2 a.m. Tuesday at the Pilot Travel Center at 1915 East Raccoon Valley Road in Knox County.

On Tuesday, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said the suspect was armed with a black and silver weapon, according to the initial investigation. Authorities said the suspect fled west on Raccoon Valley Road in a silver convertible with a black top after receiving an undisclosed amount of money from the business. He was described as wearing a skull mask, black hooded jacket, white shirt, and blue jeans at the time of the robbery.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office said Meachum was arrested early Wednesday morning at the Scottish Inn in Rocky Top by its Major Crimes Unit in conjunction with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, and Rocky Top Police Department. As of Wednesday, Meachum was being held at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility on a $20,000 bond. [Read more…]

Anderson County park manager assaulted at park

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident that occurred last week at Anderson County Park.

The park manager, Paul Schilling, called deputies on Sunday, May 10, and told them that at around 9:30 p.m., he confronted a group of six people who were throwing rocks toward the public swimming area at the park and jumping on and off picnic tables.

When he told them to stop, Schilling said that one of the men punched him in the nose and another hit him from behind. While he escaped serious injury, Schilling did tell deputies that his glasses were broken in the assault.

One of the people also grabbed Schilling’s county-issued cell phone as he tried to take pictures of the suspects’ vehicles and license plates and smashed it on the ground.

ACSD investigating robbery

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a report of an armed robbery that occurred late Wednesday night near Rocky Top.

The victim, Jacob Fry, called deputies just after midnight Thursday and told them that he had been assaulted and robbed by three people, two of whom he knew. Fry said that a man he knew called him at around 10 p.m. and asked if he wanted to play basketball, and Fry agreed.

A short time later, the man and a woman—whom he also knew—picked him up, and the three drove to the Pine Hill community park in Rocky Top. Fry later told deputies that he thought that the woman had been acting strangely on the ride.

When they reached the park, the man said he was going to call another man to play ball with them, and while Fry stood outside the truck smoking, he said he heard the man tell his friend that they “were just outside and to come out and meet them.” [Read more…]

DA: Crime down 12 percent in Anderson County

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Crime dropped 12 percent in Anderson County and its cities in 2014, Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark said Wednesday.

It’s the eighth year in a row that crime has dropped, according to statistics released by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Clark said in a press release. He said crime is down 42 percent in the county and its cities during the past eight years.

During that same period, crime was down in Tennessee by an “impressive” 16 percent, Clark said.

“However, locally, we have more than doubled the crime reduction that has been accomplished across the state,” he said. [Read more…]

POST asks DAs, feds to investigate whether Akagi violated state, federal law

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Tasha Blakney

Tasha Blakney

Chief’s attorney calls it one more effort to vilify Akagi

The organization that certifies police officers in Tennessee has asked state and federal authorities to investigate whether Oak Ridge Police Chief James T. Akagi violated state and federal laws by possessing a firearm after being issued an ex parte order of protection during divorce proceedings in Blount County three years ago.

The April 27 letter from Ray Farris, assistant director of the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission, was sent to Mike Flynn, district attorney general in the Fifth Judicial District in Maryville; Dave Clark, district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District in Clinton; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“Documents provided to our office indicate that an order of protection was issued by the Blount County Court against Chief Akagi on April 19, 2012,” Farris said in the letter. “During the effective period of this order of protection, Chief Akagi submitted his firearms qualifications scores to the Commission, which appears to be a violation of the aforementioned order of protection.”

But Tasha Blakney, an attorney for the police chief, has said Akagi was not prohibited from carrying a firearm.

“I am absolutely confident that there has been no violation of state or federal law in this family law matter with regard to the ex parte order of protection that was temporarily entered and subsequently dismissed,” Blakney said Thursday. “They simply don’t carry any implications for an individual’s Second Amendment rights. That’s just a function of understanding the way that Tennessee law works.” [Read more…]

Prom and graduation reminders from the Sheriff’s Department

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Paul White

Paul White

By Sheriff Paul White

Proms and graduations are traditions for our young students and the community. These times celebrate achievements, reflect on the past, and take the first steps into adulthood. Unfortunately, some teenagers believe the deadly mix of alcohol and driving is also a part of this tradition. Too many are injured or killed after the prom or graduation.

Our students headed to the prom and from graduations are reminded not to drink and drive. Deputies with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department will be out in force on prom nights and after graduations. Driving under the influence (DUI), illegal drugs, and underage drinking will get you a ride to jail.

The Sheriff’s Department also reminds teens that getting caught drinking while under the age of 21 can result in losing your driver’s license, getting suspended from school, ejected from sports teams, and even banned from graduation ceremonies. [Read more…]

Police: Man found with suspected meth residue, $29K; charged with money laundering

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

James Phillip Chase

James Phillip Chase

Police said they found large vacuum seal bags that contained suspected crystal methamphetamine residue and $29,000 in a pickup truck pulled over for speeding in Oliver Springs on Tuesday.

Also found in the vehicle were tracking numbers, numerous shipping envelopes and rubber bands, addresses, documents related to the sale of controlled substances, deposit slips, and packing tape, said Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Wilson, an investigator with the Seventh Judicial Crime Task Force in Anderson County.

The defendant, James Phillip Chase, 53, of Dutch Valley Road, has been charged with money laundering, simple possession of a Schedule II drug (methamphetamine), and speeding. He remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton early Saturday morning. [Read more…]

Alternatives to Incarceration meets April 29

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

There will be a meeting to discuss updates to the Anderson County Alternatives to Incarceration program on Wednesday, April 29.

The meeting starts at 4 p.m. April 29 at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton in Room 118 A.

The notice was sent by Mary Ann Young, the new director of the Alternatives to Incarceration program.

Man charged with bribery after allegedly offering money for drug test help

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Ronald Lynn Fox

Ronald Lynn Fox

A Clinton man was charged with bribery of a public servant after he allegedly offered to pay a probation officer $40 to help him pass a court-requested drug test, authorities said.

Ronald Lynn Fox, 55, allegedly offered the money to probation officer Chad McNabb on Monday, April 13, because he was afraid he might not pass the drug screen.

“The victim (McNabb) stated that the offender told him he had taken a subelex pill and offered the victim $40 to help him pass the drug test that he was afraid he might not pass,” Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Gregory Pearmain said in an arrest warrant. “(McNabb) told (Fox) that he would not help him and then promptly contacted the sheriff’s office to respond to the courthouse.”

The alleged bribery, which is a felony, occurred on the third floor of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton, where the courtrooms and other court-related offices are located.