Oak Ridge Today

Knox teen killed in Anderson County wreck, charges pending against driver

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Information from WYSH Radio

A 19-year-old Knoxville woman was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Tuesday morning in Anderson County, and now the driver of the car she was riding in is facing charges.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported that Justin Seeber, 23, of Clinton had been driving a 2006 Jaguar XT3 sedan north on Highway 25W shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday with three passengers when the accident occurred. The THP report indicates that Seeber’s car veered off the roadway and hit a ditch before re-entering the road and coming to rest. [Read more…]

Hay bailer destroyed in fire

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Hay Bailer Fire

A hay bailer was destroyed in a fire on Wednesday afternoon on Oliver Springs Highway near Batley Road. (Photo by Adam Daugherty)

A hay bailer was destroyed in a Wednesday afternoon fire on Oliver Springs Highway near Batley Road.

Hay that had been cut in the field did not burn in the 1:20 p.m. fire.

Volunteer fire departments from Marlow and Oliver Springs responded. [Read more…]

Anderson County D.A.R.E. program graduates 387 students

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The 2012-2013 Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program finished its instruction at the end of the school year, and a total of 387 fifth-graders successfully completed the curriculum, a press release said. Each student earned a certificate of completion and was awarded a special D.A.R.E. T-shirt as an award.

This was the first year the new, updated D.A.R.E. program was taught in Anderson County Schools, the release said. D.A.R.E. “keepin’ It… REAL” continues to discuss issues such as drugs and peer pressure, but emphasis is placed on the students decision-making process, the choices students make, and the consequences of bad choices. Anderson County was one of the first in the state to be trained and certified to teach the new curriculum. [Read more…]

Anderson EMS honors paramedic, EMT, officer of the year; gives first ‘Director’s Award’

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Anderson County Emergency Medical Service, or EMS, honored some of its own Wednesday afternoon with a luncheon and awards ceremony.

Whitney Ellis was recognized as Paramedic of the Year. EMS Director Nathan Sweet said Ellis has great compassion for her job “and her commitment to patient care exceeds all others. [Read more…]

Anderson County EMS hosts luncheon today

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May 19-25 is National EMS Week and Anderson County EMS and UT LIFESTAR will host an appreciation luncheon on Wednesday, May 22, to honor Anderson County’s EMS crews and First Responders for the work they do. The luncheon starts at 11 a.m., and this event is open to everyone.

There will be a short presentation to honor the EMT-IV, Paramedic, and Officer of the Year, as well as others. [Read more…]

ORFD: After Y-12 refuses wet nitric acid package, FedEx driver finds leak

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FedEx Nitric Acid Spill

Workers from a commercial cleanup company place a leaking nitric acid package in a secure container along Administration Road on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by Tom Scott)

The cardboard container contained one liter of nitric acid, and the delivery had been refused at the Y-12 National Security Complex because the bottom of the package was wet, the FedEx driver told Oak Ridge firefighters.

The delivery driver checked the 11-pound package at his next stop, and he found fluid leaking out of it and immediately called 911, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said in a Tuesday afternoon statement. [Read more…]

Anderson County school bus rolls on side, three students possibly injured

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Note: This story was updated at 1:57 p.m.

An Anderson County school bus rolled on its side on Johnson Gap Road on Tuesday morning in the Dutch Valley community, and five students could have minor injuries, officials said.

There were 44 students on Bus No. 20, which transports students to Dutch Valley Elementary School, Clinton Middle School, and Clinton High School, said Jim Woodward, chief financial officer for Anderson County Schools. It crashed at Dutch Valley Road at about 7:50 a.m. [Read more…]

Marlow man charged with vehicular homicide for two deaths after three-car crash

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Danny L. Bean

Danny L. Bean

A Marlow man has been charged with vehicular homicide in the deaths of two women who died after a three-car collision on Oliver Springs Highway in November.

Danny L. Bean, 55, of Ford Road, has been charged with two counts each of vehicular homicide by intoxication and two counts of vehicular homicide by recklessness. He has also been charged with reckless endangerment and failure to maintain a single lane.

Bean allegedly crossed the center line while driving southbound in a Toyota 4-Runner on Oliver Springs Highway on Nov. 1, causing a head-on collision with a Hyundia Elantra drive by Alberta Farrer, 56, of Clinton, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Farrer died Nov. 8, a week after the accident, at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. [Read more…]

Man indicted in mausoleum assault

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Charles Ronald Bean

Charles Ronald Bean

Information from WYSH Radio

An Anderson County grand jury has indicted a Powell man on charges that he lured a man to a mausoleum in Claxton, locked him inside, and forced him to perform oral sex.

Charles Bean, 55, was indicted on charges of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, vandalism, and vandalism of a cemetery. Bean has been in custody since his arrest in July of last year. [Read more…]

Police officers remembered, sworn in, honored, promoted during Memorial Day ceremony

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Oak Ridge Peace Officer Memorial Day Ceremony

Law enforcement officers from the Oak Ridge Police Department and Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies honor Peace Officer Memorial Day on Thursday.

Eight new Oak Ridge police officers were sworn in, two were promoted, and many were honored with new awards during a Peace Officer Memorial Day ceremony on Wednesday.

The annual May 15 ceremony is part of National Police Week, and it pays tribute to local, state, and federal peace officers, including those who died on the job.

Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said more than 20,000 officers have died while working since 1792, and on average, one is killed every 57 hours.

Last year, 127 died, and so far this year, 50 have been killed.

“Your unsung work is what binds us all together,” Akagi told several dozen officers gathered outside the Oak Ridge Municipal Building on a warm, sunny Wednesday afternoon. [Read more…]

Crime down 25 percent in Anderson County in two years, sheriff says

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The total number of crimes reported to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has dropped by about 25 percent in the past two years, Sheriff Paul White said.

He said overall crimes decreased by an even larger percentage, roughly 35 percent, from 2007 to 2012. Crimes against property, such as burglaries and thefts, fell about 20 percent over two years and close to 30 percent since 2007.

“This drop in overall crime can be directly attributed to proactive law enforcement and increased patrols of the rural areas of the county,” White said in a Monday press release. [Read more…]

Anderson man arrested for death of woman who fell from van

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James Richard Wylie

James Richard Wylie

An Anderson County man indicted for homicide last week in the death of a Lake City woman who allegedly fell from his vehicle last year was arrested today, authorities said.

An investigation showed that Martha Rose McGhee, 33, of Lake City, fell out of a vehicle driven by James Wylie, 54, of Clinton, on Cobb Hollow Road just outside Lake City on Sept. 12 and hit her head, causing her death, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a Tuesday press release. [Read more…]