Oak Ridge Today

Drug Take Back Day is Saturday in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Norris, Rocky Top

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Anderson County is participating in the 16th Annual DEA Rx Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 26. Community members can bring their expired or unused medicines to one of the Anderson County Take Back locations anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday.

Collection sites will be located at the police departments listed below. Each department will be set up outside in their respective parking lots to receive the expired or unused medicines.

  • Clinton Police Department, 125 West Broad Street, Clinton
  • Norris Police Department, 9 West Circle Road, Norris (will begin at 8 a.m.)
  • Oak Ridge Police Department, 200 South Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge
  • Rocky Top Police Department, 104 Lawson Street, Rocky Top

The National Rx Drug Take Back Day addresses a crucial public safety and public health issue, a press release said. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.4 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs, and that number has continued to climb in recent years. Studies show many of the misused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet. The Take Back Day provides an opportunity for Americans to prevent drug addiction and overdose deaths in the community and communities across the United States.

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Fire destroys Brushy Valley home; no injuries reported

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Information from WYSH Radio

A home on Brushy Valley Road in the Heiskell community was destroyed by a fire Wednesday night.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Adam Warren responded to the home shortly before 8:30 p.m. and made contact with the occupants, home owner David Neely and his son Dillon. Both made it out safely.

Warren reported that the house was completely on fire when he arrived, and that while he was on the scene, several explosions could be heard. David Neely explained that his wife, who was not home at the time of the fire, had several oxygen bottles inside and that there was a propane tank on the back porch.

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Drug Take Back Day is Saturday

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ASAP of Anderson and police departments in Anderson County have formed a partnership to take back expired or unused medicines on Saturday.

It’s part of the 2019 Drug Enforcement Administration Rx Drug Take Back Day.

“Community members can bring their expired or unused medicines to one of the Anderson County Take Back locations anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. this Saturday,” a press release said.

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Norris Bulletin: Norris hires new police chief, separates public safety departments

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Information from WYSH Radio

The town of Norris will have a new police chief beginning July 3.

According to the Norris Bulletin, it was announced during the Norris City Council meeting on Monday that William “Chip” Kain has been hired to serve as Norris’s next police chief. Kain is currently chief of police in the town of Baneberry, Tennessee. Kain has previously served with the University of Tennessee Police Department and the Clinton Police Department. He also once co-hosted a sports talk show on a Knoxville radio station. He succeeds Danny Humphrey, who stepped down earlier this year.

The Bulletin also reported that the City Council voted to reorganize the city’s Public Safety Department. The reorganization will essentially create separate police and fire departments, a move that supporters say will allow members of both to be more efficiently trained and supervised. That reorganization was unanimously approved.

WYSH Radio in Clinton is an Oak Ridge Today news partner.

Trees fall, roads flood, driver escapes floodwaters as rains continue

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Airport-Road-Flooding-Oliver-Springs-Storms-April-22-2017

The driver was reported to have made it out of floodwaters before emergency responders arrived on Saturday afternoon, April 22, 2017, but her black Nissan Altima remained partially submerged on Airport Road near Oliver Springs on Sunday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8 p.m.

Roads flooded and trees fell—sometimes on homes, power lines, and roads—as rain continued to fall in East Tennessee on Sunday. One driver was reported to have escaped from her car in floodwaters on Airport Road near Oliver Springs on Saturday afternoon, but the black Nissan Altima remained partially submerged in the water on Sunday.

There appeared to have been at least 10 reports of fallen trees in Oak Ridge during the severe thunderstorms that started Saturday afternoon and continued with rain showers on Sunday. Most of those trees were reported to have fallen on homes, power lines, across roadways, or on personal property such as an automobile. There were five reports of fallen trees between about 3 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday, including a tree that fell across both lanes of Melton Lake Drive near Calhoun’s restaurant, causing a temporary closure of that two-lane road.

There were more reports of trees that had fallen but not damaged anything.

Large trees are falling due to excess rain, the City of Oak Ridge said Sunday. Electric crews have been out all night, and backup is on the way, the city said, but it may be tomorrow (Monday, April 24) before all power is back.

At various times on Sunday, there were reports of flooding or flood watches across Oak Ridge, including on Vermont Avenue, near Heritage Center (the former K-25 site), on California Avenue, and at Jefferson Avenue and North Jefferson Circle.

There were also reports of trees down and road closures in Clinton. Briceville Highway was reported to be closed in Briceveille due to sinking pavement on Sunday afternoon. Earlier Sunday, State Route 71 in Anderson County was closed for several hours at Norris Dam State Park because trees were blocking the road, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Some school districts have announced they will be closed Monday. Roane County Schools said it will be closed due to “concerning road conditions throughout the county.” Anderson County Schools said it will be closed because of dangerous conditions with flooded roads and trees being down.

The National Weather Service in Morristown said a record for daily rainfall was set at Knoxville Mcghee Tyson Airport on Sunday. The NWS said 1.89 inches had fallen as of 5 p.m. Sunday, breaking the old record of 1.63 inches in 1977.

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Norris public safety director to retire

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Chief Danny Humphrey, who serves as Norris public safety director, will retire in March, according to the Norris Bulletin.

Humphrey, who has had a 39-year career in law enforcement, is in charge of the Norris Police and Volunteer Fire Department.

He worked for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for almost 18 years before he joined the Norris Police force, the Norris Bulletin said. Humphrey was named chief by former Norris City Manager Benny Carden in 1999.

See the Norris Bulletin, a weekly publication, for more information. You can email publisher and executive editor Jack Mitchell at [email protected].

Get rid of expired, unused medicines on Saturday

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You can get rid of unused, unwanted, or expired prescription or non-prescription medicines on Saturday. It’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

You can drop off the medications at locations in Clinton, Norris, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, and Rocky Top.

The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications, a press release said.

Oak Ridge and Anderson County participate by encouraging residents across the city and county to properly dispose of their unused, unwanted, or expired prescription or non-prescription medicines, the press release said. Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Anderson County has partnered with the Oak Ridge Police Department and other law enforcement agencies throughout the county to give two convenient options to residents for proper medicine disposal. [Read more…]

Norris fire destroys TVA office building

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Information from WYSH Radio

A fire Saturday night destroyed an administrative office building at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Engineering Laboratory in Norris.

The call came into Norris Public Safety at around 10 p.m. Saturday, and firefighters responded to the building on Pine Road. When Norris fire crews arrived, they reported the building was fully involved and requested assistance from the Andersonville, Claxton, and Medford volunteer fire departments. [Read more…]

One flown to UT after ATV-motorcycle crash on Hillvale Road

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Note: This story was updated at 4:35 p.m.

A 23-year-old man was flown to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries after a motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle crashed on Hillvale Road in Anderson County on Monday afternoon, authorities said.

At the time of the crash, Caleb Tyler Burrell, 23, of Clinton, was traveling south on Hillvale Road on a 2014 Yamaha YFR motorcycle behind a 2013 Ranger side-by-side ATV driven by Wesley Edward Tilley, 38, of Andersonville, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said.

Tilley was trying to make a left turn off Hillvale Road onto a private drive when Burrell tried to pass the ATV, the THP said.

The motorcycle driven by Burrell hit the ATV driven by Tilley at an angle, a preliminary report said. [Read more…]

Woman flown to hospital by Lifestar after Norris Freeway crash

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A Heiskell woman had to be freed from a car and flown to a hospital by a medical helicopter after a crash on Norris Freeway on Friday evening, authorities said.

The single-vehicle crash was reported at about 7:09 p.m. Friday on Norris Freeway near Foust Hollow Road in Anderson County, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said.

Karen Nolan, 60, was driving north on Norris Freeway, also known as US 441, when the 2006 Buick Century went off the left side of the road, the THP said. The car traveled through a fence and down an embankment, rolling several times before coming to a stop on its driver’s side, a preliminary THP report said. [Read more…]

Norris man allegedly fights officers, grabs lieutenant’s gun; now faces charges

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Donald-Berry

Donald Berry

NORRIS—A Norris man who allegedly fought public safety officers, resisted arrest, and tried to grab a lieutenant’s gun from its holster on Thursday is facing charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest, authorities said.

Donald Howard Berry Jr., 25, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault and two count of resisting arrest, according to court records.

The Norris Department of Public Safety responded to a reported disturbance on Oak Road on Thursday afternoon. Berry’s stepsister told police that he was upstairs in a bedroom behaving erratically and possibly trying to harm himself, arrest warrants said.

Norris Officer Rick Roach and Lieutenant Carl White entered the home and made contact with Berry, the warrants said. But after the bedroom door was opened, Berry charged White and grabbed him around the waist, according to the warrants.

Roach tried to restrain Berry, but he resisted the officer and the lieutenant, the warrants said. [Read more…]

No injuries reported, but cat dies in Norris fire that might have started at laptop

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Norris-Fire-Feb-19-2016

No injuries were reported but a cat died after a kitchen fire in a Norris home last Friday, authorities said. (Photo courtesy Norris Fire Department/Chief Danny Humphrey)

 

NORRIS—No injuries were reported but a cat died after a kitchen fire in a Norris home last Friday, authorities said. The cause of the fire isn’t known, but authorities said it might have started at a laptop in the kitchen.

The fire was reported at 169 Garden Road at 9:48 a.m. Friday, February 19.

Norris Fire Department firefighters saw heavy smoke when they arrived, according to an incident report. The fire was in the kitchen and had not spread to other areas of the home, the report said. Firefighters were able to extinguish it. [Read more…]