Oak Ridge Today

Anderson County fire probed as arson

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Information from WYSH Radio

A fire that destroyed a vacant home on Back Vowell Road early Wednesday morning is being investigated as arson.

The fire was reported at around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday and extinguished by the Briceville Volunteer Fire Department. A neighbor told an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy the house had been foreclosed upon and had been vacant for about two years. Investigators reported that the house had an electric meter, but that the fire started at the other end of the building. The cause of Wednesday’s fire is under investigation. No injuries were reported.

Follow-up: CPD seeks suspects in July theft

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Information from WYSH Radio

As reported last month, on Friday, July 5, a man and woman posing as contractors for the Clinton Utilities Board entered an elderly Clinton woman’s residence. While the female suspect distracted the victim by talking to her in the kitchen, it is believed that the male suspect entered the victim’s room, where several items were stolen.

A similar incident occurred in unincorporated Anderson County around the same time. [Read more…]

Anderson Commission to consider new fees for inmates

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Information from WYSH Radio

As the Anderson County Commission continues to try and find ways to generate sufficient revenue to staff the jail expansion scheduled to open early next year, commissioners on Monday will consider several resolutions drafted by the county law director assessing new fees for inmates incarcerated at the county jail. Law Director Jay Yeager says the new fees are in line with state law and would help take the onus of housing the inmates off of the taxpayers and place it on the offenders themselves.

Some of the proposed fees include charging prisoners for their jail-issued clothing and toiletries as well as instituting medical and dental co-pays and fees for having a jailer escort an inmate to the hospital to visit a sick relative or to the funeral of someone in their immediate family. [Read more…]

Punished by state, Applebee’s also gets city penalty for selling alcohol to minor

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Note: This story was updated at 6:40 a.m. Aug. 14.

The restaurant has already been punished by the state and lost thousands of dollars because of a five-day suspension of its liquor license after it sold beer to a minor in March, company representatives said.

Adding a municipal penalty would amount to double jeopardy for Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill, said Bobby Prince, the restaurant’s regional manager. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge students return to school, police enforce traffic safety; teachers, alumni welcomed

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Oak Ridge Superintendent Reception

Oak Ridge Schools had a reception last week for new Superintendent Bruce Borchers, center, and Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak. Borchers started in Oak Ridge on June 18. Also pictured above are James Hundertmark, right, who became Robertsville Middle School principal on July 1, and Christopher Scott, vice principal of curriculum and instruction at Oak Ridge High School.

Most Oak Ridge students returned to school on Monday, and police officers started a back-to-school traffic safety campaign. It’s known as “Operation Safe Start” and will focus on drivers who illegally pass school buses, speed in school zones, don’t wear safety belts or fail to ensure that their children do—or commit other unsafe driving actions near the schools.

Students at Willow Brook Elementary School and the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool returned to school in July. Oak Ridge will use an alternative schedule during the first week of school. (See the Oak Ridge Schools’ website for more information.)

In Anderson County, students returned to school on Wednesday, Aug. 7.

The resumption of classes in Oak Ridge caps a week in which school officials welcomed back representatives of graduating classes from 1946 to 2013, held a reception for new Superintendent Bruce Borchers and Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak, and together with the Oak Ridge Police Department, announced a new agreement governing school resource officers, or SROs. [Read more…]

Beer Board has hearing for Applebee’s, could re-open Brewski’s hearing

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The Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board on Monday will have a hearing for an Oak Ridge restaurant and bar that reportedly sold beer to a minor in March.

The board agreed last month to have the show cause hearing for Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill during a meeting that starts at noon Monday. [Read more…]

Apartment manager who saw son hit by car files $750,000 lawsuit

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An apartment manager who saw her son struck by a car at an Oak Ridge apartment complex in June has filed a $750,000 lawsuit against the driver and the driver’s husband.

Kimberly Roark filed the complaint on behalf of her and her son in Anderson County Circuit Court on July 19. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge man remains jailed on attempted arson, aggravated assault charges

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John Devin Ingram

John Devin Ingram

An Oak Ridge man remained jailed on Sunday on charges of aggravated assault and attempted arson after he allegedly poured lighter fluid on his wife, their home, and another victim, and tried to start a truck on fire, authorities said.

John Ingram, 23, was arrested Monday morning. Authorities said he had allegedly poured lighter fluid on the interior of a truck and side of a duplex that he and his wife share on Hunter Place and threatened to light it on fire. Ingram allegedly tried to start the truck on fire using a cigarette lighter, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Garrett Robbins wrote in arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. [Read more…]

Utility worker injured in Anderson County trench

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Hallsdale-Powell Utility District worker suffered a broken leg Thursday when a piece of rock came loose from the wall of a trench he was working in and fell on him.

James Moore was working on a project to install a water line on East Wolf Valley Road shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday when the accident happened. Moore was pulled from the trench by emergency crews and taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment of his injury.

Six dogs, two birds die in locked, unoccupied home; father, daughter cited

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Six dogs and two birds died after they were locked in an unoccupied home in Woodland for several months, and an Oak Ridge father and daughter were cited for animal cruelty this week because they allegedly failed to provide the animals with food, water, care, and shelter, authorities said.

On Tuesday, the father and daughter—Hillman N. Wright, 90, and Annette M. Wright, 57—received nine misdemeanor citations each for animal cruelty, authorities said. [Read more…]

Schools have to report illegal activity, turn over dangerous weapons or drugs, agreement says

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Bruce Borchers and Mark Watson

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, left, and City Manager Mark Watson during a Monday evening reception for Borchers, who started working in Oak Ridge in June.

School principals have to notify the Oak Ridge school resource officer, or SRO, of suspected illegal activity, and principals or school staff members who locate dangerous weapons or drugs have to turn them over to the SRO, according to a renewable one-year agreement signed Wednesday by municipal and education officials.

School staff members must also provide the SRO with the names of people who are not allowed on school property, and the staff is required to notify the officer when they expect problems from parents of students who have been disciplined.

Meanwhile, the Oak Ridge Police Department is required to tell the school board of criminal gangs and associated criminal gang activity. It wasn’t immediately clear if—or how much—any of those requirements differed from earlier procedures.  [Read more…]

Seven arrested at alleged meth lab on Oliver Springs Highway

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Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Seven people were arrested Wednesday afternoon at an alleged methamphetamine laboratory on Oliver Springs Highway, authorities said.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the home on a drug investigation and found an active meth lab, Sheriff Paul White said in a press release. [Read more…]