Oak Ridge Today

Anderson County Emergency Communications launches new website, EALERTS

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Anderson County Emergency Communications District has launched a new website to provide residents with 911 news and information, a press release said.

The website is online at www.ace911.net. It contains information about the district, how to prevent accidental 911 calls, when to dial 911, and Voice Over IP telephones, and 911. It also includes board meeting schedules and information on how to obtain a new address.

The ECD has also implemented a new emergency notification system called EALERTS. It’s a Web-based mobile alert messaging system designed for both emergency and non-emergency notifications for severe weather events, emergency incidents, and traffic alerts. [Read more…]

DA: Crime down a ‘remarkable’ 10.5 percent in Anderson County

Posted at
By 5 Comments

Dave Clark

Dave Clark

The number of crimes reported in Anderson County dropped again last year, continuing a six-year trend, District Attorney General Dave Clark announced Monday.

Crime was down 10.5 percent in Anderson County in 2012, Clark said.

“That is a remarkable result in a single year,” he said. [Read more…]

Clinton pair indicted for attempted second-degree murder in New River shooting

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

James Matthew Boyd

James Matthew Boyd

Rene Edith Boyd

Rene Edith Boyd

CLINTON—A Clinton man and woman have been indicted on attempted second-degree murder charges for the alleged April 2012 shooting of a man on a gas pipeline service road off New River Highway in Briceville.

James Matthew Boyd, 31, of Dutch Valley Road, and Rene Edith Boyd, 29, of Center Valley Road, were indicted April 2 and arrested Monday. They are charged in the April 14, 2012, shooting of Christopher Paul Pruett, 34, of Batley Loop Road.

When deputies arrived at the shooting scene last year, they found a white Ford Explorer that had crashed into a ditch and a man lying on his back behind the sports utility vehicle, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department incident report said. Deputies also spotted another man as well as a woman sitting on the ground on either side of the vehicle. [Read more…]

Report: Homeowner shoots, hits tire; burglary suspects flee, found later

Posted at
By 3 Comments

Christopher Lynn Harness

Christopher Lynn Harness

Nicholas David Hedge

Nicholas David Hedge

After they allegedly drove toward him, a homeowner shot at a Ford Taurus carrying three burglary suspects leaving his Melton Hill Drive property Saturday, authorities said. He hit a tire.

But the trio was able to escape in the black car—at least temporarily, authorities said.

The three were arrested later after a search that included the Clinton Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and a Knox County Sheriff’s Department helicopter, the CPD said in a news release posted on its website. [Read more…]

Kentucky duo arrested after alleged burglary, homeowner confrontation, police chase

Posted at
By 2 Comments

Timothy Shane Petrey

Timothy Shane Petrey

Elizabeth Jane North

Elizabeth Jane North

A Kentucky man and woman were arrested after an alleged confrontation with a homeowner during a burglary on Andersonville Highway on Saturday morning and a short police chase, authorities said.

The alleged burglary at the Andersonville Highway home was discovered by the owner and a friend at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a press release from Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas.

“The homeowner confronted the male suspect as he was exiting her home after the female suspect, who was sitting in a truck in the driveway, sounded the horn and yelled to the male,” Lucas said. “The male suspect and the homeowner struggled over some items that were being taken, and then he and the female suspect fled in the truck.” [Read more…]

Fire destroys mobile home in Marlow

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Marlow Mobile Home Fire

An unoccupied mobile home was destroyed, but no one was injured in a fire early Sunday morning on Cumberland View Road in Marlow. (Photos by Tom Scott)

An unoccupied mobile home was destroyed, but no one was injured in a fire early Sunday morning on Cumberland View Road in Marlow, authorities said.

The fire was reported at about 2:45 a.m. near Laurel Road, which is east of Oak Ridge and north of Highway 61.

The home was destroyed, said Stephanie Fox, Marlow Volunteer Fire Department assistant chief. [Read more…]

Community Mediation helps reduce reliance on confinement in juvenile crimes

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Recent reports by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth highlight Tennessee’s success as the best in the nation in reducing reliance on confinement as a response to juvenile crime, a press release said.

Community Mediation Centers throughout Tennessee have been a quiet part of this, the release said. The first program in the state, Community Mediation Services of Anderson County, has for 27 years been working with juveniles and families to help them find their own solutions to their issues through mediation. [Read more…]

Clinton man convicted of child rape

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton man was convicted by an Anderson County jury on Wednesday on one of the three counts of child rape against him.

Michael David Hernandez, 44, was taken into custody, where he will remain until his sentencing on June 10 in Anderson County Criminal Court. [Read more…]

Judges say resigning jail alternatives director made ‘no real attempt’ to work with them

Posted at
By 7 Comments

Mike Baker

Mike Baker (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

Note: This story was updated March 31 to add a link to the judge’s letter.

Mike Baker, the director of Anderson County’s alternatives to jail program, was critical of the judiciary and the county mayor when he announced his resignation last week, saying he didn’t have their support.

This week, though, three Anderson County judges said Baker, whose last day is April 4, had made “no real attempt” to work with them. When Baker started his job about a year ago, they said, he lacked knowledge of Tennessee laws related to prisoner release programs, and he had no relevant experience in the state or Anderson County. [Read more…]

Sheriff’s Department announces enforcement partnerships to reduce traffic fatalities

Posted at
By 3 Comments

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and local law enforcement agencies have announced a partnership designed to reduce traffic fatalities in East Tennessee.

In a Friday press conference at the Knoxville office of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Steve Dillard, East Tennessee Law Enforcement Liaison Officer for the Governor’s Highway Safety Office, reported an increase in fatalities last year in four East Tennessee counties: Anderson, Blount, Campbell, and Sevier. During the last five years, Anderson County alone has averaged 11 fatal crashes per year, with 13 fatal crashes in 2012, a press release said.

In response, Dillard and GHSO Director Kendall Poole outlined traffic safety activities for the next six months in the four counties. Authorities will focus on impaired and distracted drivers, and those violating speed limit and seatbelt laws. [Read more…]

Forty-two face federal charges for allegedly conspiring to make 50+ grams of meth

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Federal Meth Prosecution

Flanked by local, state, and federal law enforcement officers, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian, center, announces that 42 people, including many Anderson County residents, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine.

CLINTON—In an unprecedented case, 42 people, including many Anderson County residents, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges they conspired to make 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

U.S. Attorney William C. Killian announced the charges during a Tuesday afternoon press conference at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

Other charges listed in a 17-count indictment filed March 19 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville include possessing the equipment, chemicals, products, and materials used to make meth; maintaining homes used to manufacture the illegal stimulant, including one residence within 1,000 feet of Claxton Elementary School; and federal firearms violations. [Read more…]

THP: Anderson County man dies in Sunday motorcycle crash

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

An Andersonville man died early Sunday morning when his motorcycle ran off the side of a wet roadway near Lake City.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the accident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday on Offutt Spur Road when 43-year-old Harold B. Hensley Jr. had been headed west on Offutt Spur. [Read more…]