Oak Ridge Today

Sheriff: Eight pounds of marijuana found, $23K cash seized, five arrested

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Investigators allegedly found about eight pounds of marijuana, seized roughly $23,000 in cash and three vehicles, and arrested five Knoxville men after traffic stops in Anderson County on Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The five men were arrested after the three vehicles were intercepted on Clinton Highway bringing marijuana into the county, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said in a Wednesday afternoon press release.

“These arrests are the result of surveillance and investigation into this drug activity, which includes receiving, transporting, and distributing marijuana on several occasions in the Claxton community of Anderson County,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Three arrested, crowd pepper-sprayed during arrests at fireworks show

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Information from WYSH Radio

Three people were arrested Saturday night during the “Fire on the Water” fireworks show at Sequoyah Marina on Norris Lake after a disturbance that ended with an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy deploying pepper spray on an allegedly angry crowd of onlookers.

The incident began at around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when a homeowner on Sequoyah Drive approached three deputies assigned to a special detail to monitor the festivities and told them that he was having a private engagement party on his property. He told the deputies that two men and a woman had come onto the property from the public area roped off for fireworks viewing, taken beer, threatened party guests, and refused to leave. [Read more…]

ACSD probing Tuesday fire

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a fire that destroyed a mobile home on Old Lake City Highway as suspicious.

The Medford Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene of the fire at around 10 p.m. Tuesday. [Read more…]

Deputies arrest man accused of beating uncle with bat

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Joseph Allen Huskey

Joseph Allen Huskey

A Clinton man accused of beating his uncle with a wooden baseball bat on Saturday and stealing his prescription medications, including Xanax and oxycodone, was arrested Wednesday, authorities said.

Joseph Allen Huskey, 30, has been charged with especially aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, and theft, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said. He is being held in the Anderson County Jail under a $152,500 bond.

Huskey allegedly beat his uncle at the Belmont Lane home they shared, breaking a bone in his right leg and bruising his shins, arms, and hands, according to a Sheriff’s Department incident report. [Read more…]

WYSH: Nephew allegedly assaults uncle, steals pills

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton man reported that he had been assaulted and robbed by his nephew late Saturday night, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

An ACSD deputy was sent to Tennova North Medical Center in Knoxville early Monday morning, where he spoke with the victim, William Scarbrough, 53. Scarbrough told the deputy that at around midnight Saturday, his 30-year-old nephew Joseph Allen Huskey—who lives with him—had come in to his bedroom and hit him several times with a baseball bat before stealing his prescription oxycodone and Xanax pills and fleeing the scene. [Read more…]

Young boy hit by car, taken to UT hospital

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A 20-month-old boy ran out in front of a car on New Clear Branch Road south of Lake City on Thursday morning and was hit by a car, authorities said.

The boy, who had run out from his home on New Clear Branch Road, had no broken bones, but he was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Joseph Lindsay said. [Read more…]

Female pioneer in law enforcement dies after battle with cancer, sheriff says

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Peggy Murphy, a longtime deputy who was a pioneer in law enforcement, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday. She was 68.

“Deputy Peggy Murphy was a veteran law enforcement officer,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a statement. “One of the female pioneers in law enforcement, she began her career with the Clinton Police Department in 1966. Peggy served with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department from 1976 until 1986. She returned to the Sheriff’s Department in 2006 and served until her death. [Read more…]

Police Car Owners display cars, lights during first Oak Ridge convention

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Police Car Owners of America

Hal Johns, right, of Sevierville, cleans his 1962 Plymouth Belvedere, with help from his friend Jack Maness, also of Sevierville, during an exhibit in Oak Ridge by the Police Car Owners of America on Saturday.

The Police Car Owners of America had its first four-day convention in Oak Ridge, and highlights included a light display on Thursday and exhibit and award banquet on Saturday.

The organization, which works to preserve the history of law enforcement vehicles, has members in 35 states and three other countries. Saturday’s exhibit in the parking lot of the former Sears store in Oak Ridge included 25 cars from as far away as California and Wisconsin.

Cars—which can be purchased online and outfitted with light bars, radios, and display guns—are judged on their cleanliness and authenticity, said Jack Pike of Conway, Ark., the organization’s vice president and public information officer. [Read more…]

Lake City man dies, wife injured after Saturday motorcycle crash

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A Lake City motorcyclist died and his wife was injured after a Saturday morning collision with a sports utility vehicle on Lake City Highway, authorities said.

The crash happened at about 10:45 a.m. Saturday on Lake City Highway, also known as US 25W, at Old Lake City Highway between Clinton and Lake City. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said William Ferrell, 71, of Old Lake City Highway in Clinton, was driving a Mercury Mountaineer SUV and turned into the path of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle operated by Gregory McNelley, 53, of Longfield Road in Lake City. His wife, Julie McNelley, 49, was a passenger on the motorcycle. [Read more…]

Video: Driver of school bus that crashed not forced off road

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Information from WYSH Radio

The driver of an Anderson County school bus that crashed last week has been suspended until further notice after the in-bus camera recording shows that she was not forced off the road by an oncoming car veering into her lane as she had originally told investigators.

Last Tuesday, the bus carrying 43 children overturned in a grassy field off of Johnson Gap Road. Immediately after the crash, driver Tammy Moore told investigators that she had swerved to avoid an oncoming car that had veered into her lane, causing the tires on the right side of the bus to leave the roadway. The bus traveled about 200 more feet before rolling onto its side. [Read more…]

Knox teen killed in Anderson County wreck, charges pending against driver

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Information from WYSH Radio

A 19-year-old Knoxville woman was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Tuesday morning in Anderson County, and now the driver of the car she was riding in is facing charges.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported that Justin Seeber, 23, of Clinton had been driving a 2006 Jaguar XT3 sedan north on Highway 25W shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday with three passengers when the accident occurred. The THP report indicates that Seeber’s car veered off the roadway and hit a ditch before re-entering the road and coming to rest. [Read more…]

Hay bailer destroyed in fire

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Hay Bailer Fire

A hay bailer was destroyed in a fire on Wednesday afternoon on Oliver Springs Highway near Batley Road. (Photo by Adam Daugherty)

A hay bailer was destroyed in a Wednesday afternoon fire on Oliver Springs Highway near Batley Road.

Hay that had been cut in the field did not burn in the 1:20 p.m. fire.

Volunteer fire departments from Marlow and Oliver Springs responded. [Read more…]