Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge municipal, education officials reach agreement on school resource officer MOU

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James T. Akagi

James T. Akagi

School safety has been a high-priority issue for many people across the country since the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut in December.

It’s been an issue in Oak Ridge as well, with proposals to increase the number of school resource officers, or SROs, and a vigorous debate in July that was sparked by a controversial guest column written by Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn.

On Thursday, Oak Ridge municipal and education officials announced a cooperative effort to govern the city’s SRO program. They said an agreement has been reached between city officials and school officials on a memorandum of understanding, or MOU.

[Read more…]

Blasting begins next week at construction site for Kroger Marketplace

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Kroger Marketplace Hotels

The former Super 8 motel that is expected to be demolished to make way for a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

Blasting at the construction site for the Kroger Marketplace shopping center will begin next week, Oak Ridge officials announced Thursday.

“All blasting will happen at 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,” a city press release said. “Depending on the location of the blast, there may be temporary road closures in the area.”

The release said a blast survey was performed. “No collateral damage has been predicted,” it said. “The explosions may be heard and felt. During the blasts, it is not necessary to contact emergency dispatch services, unless an emergency has occurred. The City of Oak Ridge Fire and Police will be present for the blasting.” [Read more…]

Would you like ammo with that? Pistol found in McDonald’s bathroom

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Clinton Police Department is trying to track down the owner of a pistol that was found in a bathroom at the McDonald’s on North Charles Seivers Boulevard Tuesday night.

Police were called to the restaurant shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday and were told that a customer had found a loaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver in a holster in the men’s room. The serial number of the pistol was run through the NCIC and did not come up as stolen, so Clinton police officers took custody of it and placed it into the evidence locker for safekeeping.

Clinton man charged in Knox

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton man is in custody in Knox County on Tuesday after he allegedly kidnapped his estranged wife early Monday morning, then eluded authorities for several hours.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office said that 41-year-old Stephen Mayes hid in the bushes outside his estranged wife’s workplace and forced his way in to her car at gunpoint at around 5 a.m. Monday. He allegedly drove around for a while before ending up at a gas station in Farragut, where he is accused of trying to force her in to her car’s trunk. The woman fought back and ran into the gas station, where she called for help. [Read more…]

Two injured in separate one-vehicle accidents on Highway 25W

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Information from WYSH Radio

Two people escaped serious injury in the past three days when their cars rolled during accidents on Highway 25W.

The first accident happened Saturday at around 12:45 p.m. on Clinch Avenue near the intersection with Carden Farm Road. The Clinton Police Department reported that 57-year-old Douglas Fairbanks had been headed north in a 2005 Audi when his car left the right side of the roadway, hit an embankment and a tree stump, and came to rest on its side. Fairbanks had to be extricated from the vehicle and was taken to Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge by ambulance. [Read more…]

In cities surrounded by good bear habitat, wildlife officials generally let bears keep moving

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Black Bear at Grill

A black bear investigates a backyard grill in north Oak Ridge in May 2012. To encourage bears to move on, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency recommends trying to eliminate outdoor food sources such as dog and cat food, bird seed, and grease traps. (Photo by George Ostrouchov)

Oak Ridge and Knoxville are surrounded by very good bear habitats—including the largest black bear preserve in the world—and it’s not unusual to see up to a half-dozen bears come through the Oak Ridge area each year and at least that many in the Knoxville area, Tennessee wildlife officials said this week.

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Sgt. Roy Smith of Morristown said the bear seen in Oak Ridge on Monday was not the first in the area this summer, and there have also been a few in Anderson County.

“It’s not an isolated incident,” Smith said. “We have bears moving through Oak Ridge from time to time.” [Read more…]

Y-12 protester temporarily released for funeral; officials don’t comment on whether she returned to prison

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Megan Rice and Michele Naar-Obed

Megan Rice, left, was convicted on two federal charges in May after breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, and vandalizing a uranium storage building with two other protesters. She was temporarily released last week to attend her brother-in-law’s funeral. Rice is pictured above outside U.S. District Court in Knoxville with Michele Naar-Obed, wife of one of the other protesters, Greg Boertje-Obed.

U.S. and Georgia officials did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday and Wednesday on whether peace protester Megan Rice, who has been convicted of destroying government property at the Y-12 National Security Complex, returned to prison in the Peach State this week after a five-day release to attend the funeral of her brother-in-law in New York.

But on Tuesday, Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said he assumed Rice had returned to the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga.

“I assume she reported, or we’d have heard from someone trying to locate her,” Hutchison said in a Tuesday evening e-mail. “I know she was returning to Atlanta last night en route to Ocilla. That’s the last I heard.” [Read more…]

Pictures: Black bear in Solway on Sunday

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A black bear at a bird feeder on Lullaby Lane in Solway on Sunday night. (Photos courtesy Kayla Driscoll Boone)

A black bear at a bird feeder on Lullaby Lane in Solway on Sunday night. (Photos courtesy Kayla Boone)

In addition to the black bear in Oak Ridge on Monday, there was also a bear in Solway on Sunday night. It’s not clear if it was the same bear.

The bear in Solway on Sunday was seen on Lullaby Lane, including at a bird feeder at about 7 p.m.

There were many sightings of a bear in the Woodland neighborhood on Monday. It was at The Manhattan Apartments on Rutgers Avenue at about 10:30 a.m. Monday. [Read more…]

Black bear in Oak Ridge

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Black Bear in Tree

A black bear is in a tree at Northwestern and Rutgers avenues in Oak Ridge on Monday morning. (Photos by Todd Baker)

A black bear was at an apartment complex at about 10:30 a.m. Monday at Northwestern and Rutgers avenues in Oak Ridge.

The bear was seen at The Manhattan Apartments on Rutgers Avenue and also in a tree. There were several other sightings of the bear throughout the day.

There were several reports of bears in Oak Ridge in May and June last year, and at least two were trapped, one on East Drive and the other at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. There were also reports of bears crossing through Woodland one year ago, a mother and cub spotted west of the Y-12 National Security Complex, and a bear reported in yards on Orchard Circle and Oglethorpe Place. [Read more…]

Letter: Country musician Tracy Lawrence plays at December fundraiser for Oak Ridge firefighters

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To the Citizens of Oak Ridge,

My name is Austin Keathley, and I am the president of the Oak Ridge Firefighters Association.

I would like to give some information about our concert fundraiser. This fundraiser has been a part of our organization for the past three years. The tickets are sold over the phone. This is done by employees of our association that work out of the Knoxville Firefighters Association’s office. The tickets are then mailed from the same location. You receive the tickets and then mail back your payment.

There are two shows per year: one is oldies in June, and the other is country in December. The calls have begun for the country show in December. The artist is Tracy Lawrence with special guest Rick Huckaby. [Read more…]

Lake City woman dies in Anderson County crash

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A Lake City woman died after she was ejected from her car when it went into the median on Interstate 75 in Anderson County and rolled just before midnight Wednesday, authorities said.

Christina D. Nelson, 23, was in the left lane of southbound I-75 in Clinton at about 11:51 p.m. Wednesday when her 2000 Nissan Altima sedan left the roadway, traveled through the median, and rolled about three times, Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Anthony Lay said in a report. [Read more…]

No one injured, but home heavily damaged in Hickory Lane fire

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Hickory Lane House Fire

No one was injured, but an unoccupied home was heavily damaged in a Thursday morning fire on Hickory Lane, authorities said.

No one was injured, but an unoccupied home on Hickory Lane was heavily damaged in a fire early Thursday morning, authorities said.

Neighbors said they heard something and went outside and saw that the house at 109 Hickory Lane was on fire at about 3:15 a.m., Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

He said the cause of the fire has not been determined, but it is under investigation. [Read more…]