Oak Ridge Today

Oliver Springs fire chief dies after battling longtime illness

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Terry Phillips

Oliver Springs Fire Chief Terry Phillips is pictured above. (Photos courtesy Oliver Springs Fire Department)

 

Oliver Springs Fire Chief Terry Lee Phillips died Sunday, July 3, at the University of Tennessee Medical Center after battling a longtime illness. He was 60.

Phillips joined the Oliver Springs Fire Department in 1974, and he became the fire chief in 1994, after his father retired from the same position. He started working for the U.S. Department of Energy in 1976.

He retired from the fire department on Thursday, June 30.

“Please remember Chief Phillips’ family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” the Oliver Springs Fire Department said on its Facebook page. “The department would also like to thank everyone for your thoughts, kind words, and prayers during this difficult time.”

The family will receive friends Tuesday, July 5, between 5 and 7 p.m. at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church.

The funeral service will be held Wednesday, July 6, at 1 p.m. in the chapel of Premier Sharp Funeral Home, with Pastor Garvan Walls officiating. Burial will follow the funeral service at Mount Pisgah Cemetery. [Read more…]

Fires destroy two homes Friday, one in Oliver Springs, other on Dutch Valley Road

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Hen Valley Road Fire June 24 2016

A fire destroyed a home on Hen Valley Road in Oliver Springs late Friday, June 24, 2016. (Photo by Tom Scott)

 

OLIVER SPRINGS—Fires destroyed two homes on Friday, one in Oliver Springs and the other on Dutch Valley Road.

The first fire was reported at about 12:55 a.m. Friday at 1351 Dutch Valley Road in Anderson County.

The large, one-story, brick veneer home was completely on fire when the first units arrived from the nearby Marlow Fire Department Station 2 (located at the old Donovan School), fire photographer Tom Scott said. The Marlow Fire department responded with two engines and two tankers.

In response to mutual aid requests, the Oliver Springs Fire Department sent an engine and a rescue truck, and the Blair Fire Department sent an engine.

Anderson County Emergency Medical Services had a medic unit standing by at the scene. The fire units were on the scene until about 5 a.m. Friday, Scott said. The house was totally destroyed. [Read more…]

With new extrication equipment, OSFD helps Blair remove person trapped in vehicle after crash

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Oliver Springs Fire Department Vehicle Entrapment May 22 2016 I

The Oliver Springs Fire Department responded on Sunday, May 22, 2016, to a mutual aid call from the Blair Volunteer Fire Department to a single-vehicle crash that left one person trapped in a pickup truck, authorities said. (Photo by Oliver Springs Fire Department)

 

The Oliver Springs Fire Department responded on Sunday to a mutual aid call from the Blair Volunteer Fire Department to a single-vehicle crash that left one person trapped in a pickup truck, authorities said.

Using newly purchased extrication equipment, members were able to remove the victim and turn him over to Anderson County EMS for treatment less than 15 minutes after they arrived, the Oliver Springs Fire Department said in a post published on Facebook.

“This was the first time the new equipment was used during an emergency run since being put in service,” the OSFD said. “A big thank you to the Town of Oliver Springs Board of Mayor and Council for this purchace. It has allowed the Oliver Springs Fire Department to increase its capabilities to perform rescues. This further enhances the safety of the citizens and visitors of the Town of Oliver Springs.” [Read more…]

City, county could move General Sessions Court to Emory Valley Road

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A few options have been considered, and Anderson County will now study whether to move the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A few options have been considered, and Anderson County will now study whether to move the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road.

Related to that proposal are plans to move the Oak Ridge Senior Center, which is now at the Emory Valley Road building, to the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Also up for a possible move is the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department. That department now occupies part of the Civic Center, where the Senior Center could move, but the department’s administrative offices could move to a vacant building on Badger Road that once housed Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

The idea is that moving the administrative wing of Recreation and Parks to the Badger Road building could free up space for seniors at the Civic Center, which in turn would help create space at the county-owned building for the General Sessions Court. [Read more…]

No one injured, but medical oxygen tanks explode in Dutch Valley Road fire

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Firefighters from Oliver Springs, Marlow, and Medford responded to a fire on Dutch Valley Road on Sunday, April 10, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

No one was injured, but oxygen tanks that appeared to be medical exploded in a fire on Dutch Valley Road on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

The fire was reported at about 1:01 p.m. Sunday at 2757 Dutch Valley Road. No one was inside the home at the time of the fire, said Wes Horton, Marlow Volunteer Fire Department captain.

The home was destroyed. The cause wasn’t immediately known, Horton said.

Besides Marlow, firefighters also responded from Oliver Springs and Medford. There were a total of a dozen firefighters and four fire trucks. Anderson County EMS was also on standby.

The fire was contained in about 30 minutes. [Read more…]

Neighbor with fire extinguisher helps control Oliver Springs kitchen fire

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The Oliver Springs Fire Department responds to a kitchen fire at 506 Cedar Lane on Friday evening, April 1, 2016. (Photo by Tom Scott)

 

OLIVER SPRINGS—A neighbor with a fire extinguisher in his camper helped control a kitchen fire in Oliver Springs on Friday, authorities said.

The fire was reported at about 5:35 p.m. Friday at 506 Cedar Lane in Oliver Springs. A resident of the home had been cooking, getting ready to fry potatoes, and stepped away from the stove, said Jordan Alcorn, captain of the Oliver Springs Fire Department. When the resident returned to the kitchen, grease was on fire, and the flames had extended up into the cabinets above the stove, Alcorn said.

The neighbor got his fire extinguisher and used it until it ran out. Then he exited the home, shutting the front door on the way out, a move that helps control fires, Alcorn said.

“He made a difference,” Alcorn said of the neighbor. [Read more…]

Warrants: Woman admits residents made meth in Tusculum Drive apartment

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Kimberly Hughes Welch

Kimberly Hughes Welch

An Oak Ridge woman who lives at an apartment raided by police on Wednesday admitted that she and a man who also lives at the home were using methamphetamine laboratory components, including chemicals and pseudoephedrine powder, to make meth there, authorities said.

Besides the chemicals and pseudoephedrine, officers also found gas generators, hoses, and what they described as bi-layer liquids, according to arrest warrants. Police described those items as meth lab components. They were allegedly found inside Apartment C at 197 Tusculum Drive during a Wednesday evening search, according to the warrants, which were filed by Simon Byrne of the Seventh District Crime Task Force.

Raynell Fountaine Hopson

Raynell Fountaine Hopson

After she was read her Miranda rights, apartment resident Kimberly Welch, 48, told police that she and Raynell Hopson, 47, who also lives in the apartment, were using the equipment to make meth, Byrne said.

Welch and Hopson have each been charged with the initiation of meth manufacturing, possession of drug paraphernalia, and the manufacture/delivery/sale of Schedule II drugs.

The alleged meth lab was within 1,000 feet of La Petite Academy on Tulsa Road, a drug-free school zone, so there could be a school zone enhancement to the charges, which would be applied at sentencing if Welch or Hopson are convicted, said Russell Barker, director of the Seventh District Crime Task Force. [Read more…]

Authorities find active meth lab on Tusculum Drive; three arrested

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Tusculum-Drive-Meth-Lab-Bust-March-30-2016-2

Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory in a home on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, March 30, 2016. Pictured above are three members of the 7th District Crime Task Force dressed in hazmat suits and using oxygen as they prepare to enter the back of the home. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 5:15 p.m.

Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, and three people were arrested, including two people who live at the home.

The Seventh District Crime Task Force determined the home was an active meth lab at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Director Russell Barker said. The alleged lab was inside a home at 197 Tusculum Drive, Apartment C.

Three members of the Crime Task Force first checked the home wearing hazardous materials suits and breathing oxygen. After they determined it was an active meth lab, they went back in to remove what Barker described as meth lab materials and trash left from cooking meth. Officers also found finished product, Barker said, although he didn’t have information on how much.

Officers collected the meth lab-related materials in front of the home on a blue tarp. Wearing gloves, boots, and sometimes using breathing masks with eye shields, they also placed some items in plastic five-gallon buckets.

A man and woman who live at the house were decontaminated and taken to jail in white Tyvek suits at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. Barker said one of them had been inside the home but was coming out when officers arrived. [Read more…]

Man injured, facing charges after pursuit ends with crash into power pole

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Truck-Crash-Oliver-Springs-March-13-2016

A 32-year-old man was injured and is facing a half-dozen charges after he allegedly went off State Route 62 in a pickup truck while fleeing from Morgan County officials early Sunday, struck a utility pole and broke it in half, and then traveled down an embankment and rolled over in a ditch, authorities said. (Photo by Tom Scott)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:50 p.m.

OLIVER SPRINGS—A 32-year-old man was injured and is facing a half-dozen charges after he allegedly went off State Route 62 in a pickup truck while fleeing from Morgan County officials early Sunday, struck a utility pole and broke it in half, and then traveled down an embankment, where the vehicle he was driving rolled over onto its top in a ditch, authorities said.

Travis Lyles, 32, of Oliver Springs, was driving east on SR 62 in a 2004 Ford F-250 when his pickup truck went off the westbound side of the road at about 12:35 a.m. Sunday, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said. The crash occurred while Lyles was evading arrest and being pursued by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, which was trying to stop him for speeding and swerving on the roadway, the THP said.

The crash occurred in the Morgan County portion of Oliver Springs on Winter Gap Road near Lookout Avenue. [Read more…]

Maine man pleads guilty to murder charge in OS drug deal that ended in death

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Scott-Benjamin-Pike-Nov 21-2014

Scott Benjamin Pike (November 2014 photo by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)

A 32-year-old Maine man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated robbery in the death of an Oliver Springs man after a drug deal in May 2011.

Scott Benjamin Pike, of Lewiston, Maine, entered the guilty pleas in Anderson County Criminal Court on Friday, January 29.

Pike received a 20-year sentence on the second-degree murder charge, a Class A felony, and a 12-year sentence on the aggravated robbery charge, a Class B felony. There is no probation on either count, according to court records. The sentences will run concurrently. He will receive credit for time served.

Pike was indicted on a first-degree murder charge on February 7, 2012, by the Anderson County Grand Jury. Also indicted were Ronny Blake Hamrick of Oliver Springs and Tristin Jane Dayon of Lewiston, Maine. A first-degree murder charge could include a premeditated killing or an unlawful death that occurred during a robbery or attempted robbery, according to the indictments. [Read more…]

OS man faces charges after head-on collision injures three on Hwy 61

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Harriman-Highway-Crash-Jan-15-2016

An Oliver Springs man is facing charges, including driving under the influence, after a head-on collision injured three people in two vehicles on Highway 61 west of Oliver Springs late Friday afternoon. (Photo by Tom Scott)

 

OLIVER SPRINGS—An Oliver Springs man is facing charges, including driving under the influence, after a head-on collision injured three people in two vehicles on Highway 61 west of Oliver Springs late Friday afternoon, authorities said.

Ryan P. Price, 33, of Oliver Springs, will be charged with DUI, vehicular assault, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm while under the influence, a due care violation, failure to maintain lane, violation of the financial responsibility law, and a failure to carry registration, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The THP said a 2003 Dodge Durango driven by Price was traveling east in the westbound lane on State Route 61 near Scandlyn Hollow Road in Roane County at about 4:55 p.m. Friday.

A 2014 Jeep Wrangler driven west by Rodger Mattox, 66, of Oliver Springs, was also in the westbound lane, which was its travel lane, the THP said. [Read more…]

No one injured when car goes off SR 62, van rolls into creek

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SR-62-Van-Crash-Creek-Jan-14-2016

No one was injured when this 1997 Dodge van went down a steep embankment and rolled into a creek alongside State Route 62 on the north side of Oliver Springs in Morgan County on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Above, workers prepare to pull the van out of the creek. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

OLIVER SPRINGS—No one was injured when a car went down a steep embankment and a van rolled into a creek alongside State Route 62 on the north side of Oliver Springs on Thursday, authorities said.

The two-vehicle collision was reported Thursday afternoon just inside Morgan County, headed toward Wartburg.

Neither driver had to be taken to the hospital, Oliver Springs Police Chief Kenneth Morgan said. The drivers were identified as Larry Oliver and William Byrge. One was driving a 1997 Dodge van, and the other was driving a 1999 Toyota car.

Morgan said the vehicles appeared to be going in opposite directions when one crossed the center line. [Read more…]