Oak Ridge Today

Man rescued from lift after tree limb falls onto power line

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Culver Road Rescue

The Oak Ridge Electric Department, left, cut the power to a Culver Road home after a tree limb fell onto a line, knocking it to the ground and onto a boom lift, right, used by the homeowner trimming the tree. The man was stranded in the lift until city workers could turn off the power.

A Culver Road man trimming trees at his home was stranded in a boom lift Friday night after a tree limb fell onto a power line, knocking it to the ground and onto the lift, authorities said.

The man was able to be lowered to the ground after the Oak Ridge Electric Department disconnected the power. The man was not injured, but he was a little cold, Oak Ridge Police Officer Christopher Wallace said.

The man appeared to have been trapped about 20-30 feet in the air for about an hour on a chilly Friday night.

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Anderson County Sheriff releases holiday crime prevention tips

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Many people can can become victims of burglary, theft, and other crime during the holidays, and the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has released tips to help prevent those crimes.

“Protecting yourself and home from crime is one way to be safe and happy this holiday season,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said.

Here are the tips:

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State firefighters suspect arson in Walden Ridge blaze

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Walden Ridge Fire

State officials suspect arson was the cause of a 225-acre fire that started on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County on Tuesday night. Firefighters battled the blaze by building control lines around it—”fighting fire with fire.”

WALDEN RIDGE—State officials suspect arson as the cause of a 225-acre fire that started on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County on Tuesday.

State and local firefighters have used hand tools and two bulldozers to remove fuel from around the fire, and they started a “back fire” to control the blaze. It’s “fighting fire with fire,” said Charles Via, Tennessee Division of Forestry fire resources coordinator in Knoxville.

He said the blaze appears to have started at a dump and spread into the woods. It was on Walden Ridge Road, but officials did not have to close the narrow, gravel road.

Although it’s now a controlled burn, flames are still flaring inside the control lines. Those control lines form what look like a giant ring of fire on Walden Ridge.

“This thing is large, and there is no way to put it out without the help of Mother Nature,” Via said Thursday.

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Oak Ridge man injured in rollover accident released from UT hospital

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The Oak Ridge man injured in a rollover accident on South Illinois Avenue has been discharged from the University of Tennessee Medical Center, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

Montgomery Lloyd Samu-Dodson, 21, of Nevada Circle was flown by Lifestar helicopter to the hospital after the 9 p.m. Monday wreck at the Bethel Valley Road overpass.

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DA seeks death penalty in child’s death

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Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m.

Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark announced today he plans to seek the death penalty against an Oak Ridge woman charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 18-month-old granddaughter.

Valerie Stenson was indicted earlier this year in the April 17, 2011, death of Manhattan Inman. The child was found dead in a home on Teller Village Lane, and an Anderson County grand jury indicted Stenson for first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse and neglect earlier this year.

Clark announced his intention to seek the death penalty against Stenson in a notice filed in Anderson County Criminal Court on Wednesday.

Driver injured in rollover accident on South Illinois Avenue

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South Illinois Avenue Rollover Accident

An Oak Ridge driver was injured in this rollover accident at about 9 p.m. Monday on South Illinois Avenue near Edgemoor Road, authorities said (Photo by Tom Scott)

An Oak Ridge driver injured in a rollover accident Monday night reportedly passed other cars at high speed and changed lanes before drifting off South Illinois Avenue, striking a cement bridge rail at Bethel Valley Road, and traveling a total of about 100 feet through the air, an accident report said.

The driver was trapped inside the vehicle, an Oak Ridge Fire Department report said. Rescuers cut the unidentified driver out of the 1995 Jeep Cherokee, removing the vehicle’s roof, windshield, remaining side windows, and driver’s side doors.

The driver was then flown by a Lifestar helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.

The ORPD report identified the driver as Montgomery Lloyd Samu-Dodson, a 21-year-old Nevada Circle resident

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Second Clinton resident dies after Nov. 1 head-on collision

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A second Clinton resident has died after a Nov. 1 head-on collision involving three cars on Oliver Springs Highway, authorities said.

Pat Smith, 62, of Clinton, died Monday at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, according to the Tennessee Department of Safety.

Smith was a passenger in a Hyundai Elantra driven by Alberta Farrer of Clinton. Farrer, 56, died early Thursday, Nov. 8, at UT Medical Center, authorities said.

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Briceville man beaten, robbed

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A Briceville man told Anderson County deputies that two men beat him up and stole his medications as he was walking home from Shop-Rite in Lake City on Tuesday afternoon.

A deputy had reported that the victim, who had bought a pack of cigarettes at Shop-Rite, was found lying next to Briceville Highway at Beech Grove Lane, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department report said.

The 25-year-old victim said the two men pulled up behind him in a black truck, got out and beat him up, and took 60 oxycodone and 30 MS Contin pills, the report said. They also stole a pack of L&M cigarettes and $7 cash, the victim told Deputy Joshua I. Zisman.

The victim told Zisman he did not know the men and did not see them leave. He was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center after the alleged robbery.

No one injured in three-car, rollover accident on Edgemoor Road

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No one was injured in a three-car accident on Edgemoor Road on Tuesday evening, but one vehicle rolled, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.

A 16-year-old Clinton driver told police she took her eyes off the road to look at something, the accident report said. When she looked up, traffic had stopped, and the compact utility vehicle she was driving hit a pickup driven by James Michael Graham, 59, of Clinton, which then hit another pickup, driven by Chester Leon Davis, 46, of Powell, the report said.

The teenager’s vehicle flipped and came to rest on its top just west of Melton Lake Drive at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, the report said.

Greenback man dies after SUV rolls, hits tree on Highway 95

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A Greenback man died after his compact utility vehicle went off the roadway and into the ditch on Highway 95 near Bethel Valley Road Tuesday, overturned, and hit a tree, authorities said.

Daniel B. Summers, 46, had been driving northbound on Highway 95 at about 7:30 p.m. when his 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer left the road as he was going around a curve, according to an Oak Ridge Police Department report.

The SUV traveled about 80 feet along the ditch before the right wheels dug in, causing the vehicle to vault and overturn, the report said. The driver’s side door smashed into the tree.

USAF releases report on plane crash that killed Clinton native

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The U.S. Air Force has released the findings of its investigation into the crash of a C-130 Hercules air tanker on July 1 in South Dakota that killed four members of the North Carolina Air National Guard, including a Clinton native.

Lt. Col. Paul Mikael and three other crew members aboard the plane died while fighting wildfires in the Black Hills. The accident report released Wednesday says that the crew misjudged weather and flew into a wind burst that forced their plane down, according to WSYH Radio in Clinton.

The report was issued by the Air Force Air Mobility Command, and it said the crash occurred because the crew had made an “inadequate assessment” of the weather before flying into a microburst, a small and intense thunderstorm, WYSH said.

The report also said two other plane crews in the area failed to communicate critical information to Mikael and his crew, which also received conflicting information on how close they could fly to a thunderstorm, WYSH said. Two other crew members in the rear of the plane were injured but survived the crash.

The North Carolina Air National Guard released a statement Wednesday that said they will study the investigation’s conclusions to prevent future incidents, WYSH said.

The radio station said Clinton has paid tribute to Mikael’s service through remembrances, resolutions and renaming the swimming pool at the Clinton Community Center in his honor.

WYSH used information from the Air Force Times in its story. For more information, visit http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2012/11/airforce-c130-crash-report-111412w.

This story brought to you through an agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website at http://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.

Oliver Springs undercover drug operation leads to 27 indictments

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The Oliver Springs Police Department has wrapped up a four-month undercover operation targeting illegal drug sales, and 27 people have been indicted on 56 charges, according to WYSH Radio in Clinton.

Thirteen of the suspects were indicted in Anderson County, and the remaining 14 in Roane County, WYSH said. Police say three of the suspects were indicted on charges related to the sale and delivery of marijuana while the rest centered on the sale and delivery of prescription drugs.

Last weekend, Oliver Springs police began rounding up the suspects and at last check had arrested 19 of them, WYSH said.

Two others were found incarcerated on unrelated charges, and six more are being sought.

This story brought to you through an agreement between Oak Ridge Today and WYSH. See more local news headlines on the WYSH website at http://www.wyshradio.com/local_news.html.