Oak Ridge Today

Wednesday fire at European Import Auto Parts said to be accidental

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

Investigators say that it appears that Wednesday’s fire that destroyed the European Import Auto Parts salvage yard on Clinton Highway was an accident, as they had initially believed. Officials said Thursday that they believe the fire started in a vehicle in the garage with a leaky gas tank, gas from which is believed to have been ignited by a stray spark. The fire spread quickly and set off several explosions before destroying the business.

One Claxton firefighter had to be taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion but was released Wednesday night. No one else was injured.

Trio charged with aggravated burglary after woman hit with baseball bat

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Noah Ethan Ivey

Noah Ethan Ivey

Heather Marie Kemp

Heather Marie Kemp

Two Clinton teenagers and a Jackson woman have been charged with aggravated burglary after a Shetterly Lane homeowner reported that she had been hit in the arm with a baseball bat during an alleged burglary in Anderson County on Wednesday, authorities said.

A male homeowner said he had also been hit, and his Chevy Blazer was struck and dented, arrest warrants said. [Read more…]

No fire, but Comfort Inn evacuated after heater overheats

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A propane-powered heater overheated while workers were doing maintenance on the second floor of the Comfort Inn on Friday morning, setting off the hotel’s sprinkler system, authorities said.

Although there was no fire or flames, the building was evacuated after the 10:30 a.m. alarm, said Josh Waldo, Oak Ridge Fire Department assistant fire chief.

Waldo said there was water damage in four rooms on the first and second floors. He said the hotel was “back in business” by about lunchtime Friday.

FBI investigating report of possible trespassing at ETTP

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

East Tennessee Technology Park

The East Tennessee Technology Park is pictured above as it looked before most of the U-shaped K-25 building, center left, was demolished. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

The FBI is investigating a report of a man possibly trespassing at the East Tennessee Technology Park on Thursday evening, but so far, they said, it doesn’t appear he posed any danger to the former uranium-enriching site.

“I can tell you right now that there is no indication that this incident involves any kind of threat to the facility or to national security,” said Marshall Stone, supervisory special agent in the Knoxville office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge emergency workers, preschool checking child car seats

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Child Seat Safety Checkpoint

The Oak Ridge police and fire departments have teamed up with the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital to have a quarterly child seat safety checkpoint. By mid-morning Thursday, they had replaced seven expired or damaged seats.

The Oak Ridge police and fire departments have teamed up with the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital to have a quarterly child seat safety checkpoint.

By mid-morning Thursday, the team had replaced seven expired or damaged seats.

The free safety checkpoint continued until 12:30 p.m. Friday on New York Avenue across from the preschool. Car seats were checked and installed by certified technicians.

On Friday night, Oak Ridge Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said the team had checked 72 car seats and removed 31 unsafe seats.

“Great to know that we have made 31 kids that much safer over the past two days,” Waldo said. [Read more…]

Wednesday fire destroys auto parts business

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

An auto parts business on Clinton Highway was destroyed by a fire Wednesday afternoon that was preceded by several explosions.

European Import Auto Parts sat on the Anderson-Knox County line until Wednesday’s fire, which was reported shortly after 5 p.m. [Read more…]

Registration open for Oak Ridge Emergency Management Forum

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Online registration is open to the public for the U.S. Department of Energy’s DOE Oak Ridge Office and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency’s 10th Oak Ridge Emergency Management Forum that will be held Sept. 26 at the New Hope Center.

This year’s forum theme, “Back to Basics: Partnerships in Emergency Management,” will feature general session speaker Richard Serino, deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He will speak on current innovations in emergency management partnerships. [Read more…]

Intoxicated, wearing only a shirt, woman tries to bite officer, police say

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Crystal Jane Wombles

Crystal Jane Wombles

She was extremely intoxicated and was outside on her porch wearing only a shirt when Oliver Springs police arrived, and neighbors said she had been completely naked a few minutes earlier, authorities said.

Crystal J. Wombles, 35, of Crystal Lane in Oliver Springs, was not wearing “bottoms or underwear…showing her bottom private parts to children and the neighbors,” Oliver Springs Police Department Patrolman Nathaniel W. Nelson said in an incident report. The neighbors had instructed their kids to go inside, the patrolman said. [Read more…]

Oliver Springs police seize pirated DVDs valued at $35,000 at flea market

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oliver Springs Police Department seized $35,000 worth of movies and cited a Loudon couple on misdemeanor charges after allegedly finding 1,740 pirated DVDs at a flea market on West Tri County Boulevard last week.

Gordon Gerald Mashburn, 64, and Wilma June Mashburn, 57, both of Loudon, had a table set up behind a pickup truck at the flea market, where they were selling the movies on Tuesday morning, July 9, OSPD Sgt. David M. Laxton said in an incident report. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge couple remains jailed after infant allegedly kicked in head

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

David Lee Francis

David Lee Francis

Melissa Darnell Shillings

Melissa Darnell Shillings

An Oak Ridge couple accused of being involved in a domestic dispute on Saturday that resulted in a seven-month-old child being kicked in the head with a boot remained jailed Wednesday evening.

David Lee Francis, 38, and Melissa Darnell Shillings, 35, of Wainwright Road, are both charged with aggravated child abuse and domestic assault. [Read more…]

Man allegedly starts fight, gets knife, threatens to ‘kill them all’

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Richard Carl Johnson Jr.

Richard Carl Johnson Jr.

An Oliver Springs man allegedly shoved a 13-year-old boy into a vehicle and tried to assault him Monday evening before being forced off the family’s property, but Richard Carl Johnson Jr., 48, later walked up and down a road near the family’s home while carrying a large knife, screaming, and threatening to “kill them all,” authorities said.

The boy’s father and older son had tried to stop the assault at Green Acres Trailer Park, but Johnson allegedly started swinging at them. A brief fight ensued, authorities said. Johnson was hit around his head and face “numerous times” and forced off the property and back across the street, Oliver Springs Police Department Sgt. Charles Graham said in arrest warrants. [Read more…]

County denies payment to attorney detained taking pictures near Clinton Middle

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

CLINTON—With no discussion Monday, the Anderson County Commission denied a payment request from a local attorney who had allegedly demanded money before filing a lawsuit over an incident last fall where he was detained while taking pictures near Clinton Middle School.

Clinton attorney Phil Harber said he was photographing school buses that were parked on Marshall Street in Clinton on Oct. 10 when he was detained. The buses allegedly block the route to his home, and he was reportedly planning to use the pictures in a lawsuit against the city, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy William S. Lucas said in an incident report. [Read more…]