Oak Ridge Today

Meth lab seizures in Tennessee down from 2013

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Federal Meth Prosecution

Flanked by local, state, and federal law enforcement officers, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian, center, announces that 42 people, including many Anderson County residents, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine. (March 2013 file photo)

Information from WYSH Radio

The Tennessee Meth Task Force says that the number of meth labs seized in the state in the first quarter of 2014 is down 52 percent from this time last year. Between January and March of 2014, 290 meth labs were seized, compared to the first quarter of 2013, when 612 meth labs were seized.

Officials attributed the decrease to several factors, including increased enforcement, like the federal indictments handed down in Anderson County last year against more than 50 people on meth-making and related charges. Officials also cite local ordinances passed by 17 communities that now require a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine, which is the key ingredient used to make meth. Last year, however, the state Attorney General opined that such laws violate the state constitution.

In 2013, Anderson County led the state in meth lab busts. First quarter numbers for 2014 show that Anderson and Roane County have had the second highest number of seizures, with 10 meth lab busts each, and that Monroe County ranked first with the highest number, 14 meth lab seizures.

Clinton man charged after teen pierces tongue

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton man was arrested Wednesday morning on charges of aggravated child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection to an incident that allegedly happened last fall.

Jeremy Vandinter, 36, is accused of posing as a 13-year-old girl’s father and signing a parental consent form that allowed the girl to get her tongue pierced at an Oliver Springs tattoo parlor, against her actual father’s wishes. The teen had apparently babysat for Vandinter in the past and approached him to sign the form so she could have the procedure done at Uptown Ink in Oliver Springs.

The incident allegedly occurred on Sept. 28 of last year but the girl’s father did not discover the tongue-piercing until late last month, when he called police. Vandinter will appear in court in Roane County on June 6.

Fire destroys home on Meadow Lane in Blair

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Meadow Lane Fire in Blair

A home and its contents appeared to be destroyed in a Saturday night fire on Meadow Lane in Blair, fire photographer Tom Scott said.

The Blair Fire Department responded to the fire at about 10:40 p.m. Saturday. The initial report said flames were coming through the roof of the house on Meadow Lane, which is off Ollis Road near Dyllis-Springs Elementary School, Scott said. The school is in Roane County southwest of Oliver Springs and northwest of Oak Ridge.

But the house was completely on fire when the first fire engine arrived, Scott said. The Oliver Springs Fire Department was also dispatched on an automatic mutual aid call. Four engines, one tanker, and one rescue truck were on the scene. Water was shuttled from a hydrant on Ollis Road. [Read more…]

Suspect in officer assault nabbed in OR

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Information from WYSH Radio

In February, WYSH Radio reported that a Rockwood police officer’s foot was run over by a suspect trying to elude arrest and that the suspect had not been apprehended. That changed on Thursday night when 26-year-old James Poland of Rockwood was arrested in Oak Ridge on charges stemming from the late-February incident.

Poland faces charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, reckless endangerment, and evading arrest, and at last check was being held in Anderson County for Roane County authorities. He is also facing three probation violation charges and two charges for driving on a revoked license. [Read more…]

Firehouse Subs Foundation donates equipment to ORFD, Roane County

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Firehouse Subs and Oak Ridge Fire Department Thermal Imaging Camera

Above, representatives of Firehouse Subs present a $10,000 thermal imaging camera to the Oak Ridge Fire Department in January. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Fire Department)

Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation recently donated a thermal imaging camera worth more than $10,000 to Oak Ridge Fire Department.

The foundation also donated first-aid kits and six automated external defibrillators, worth a total of more than $10,200, to Roane County Sheriff’s Office.

The equipment was presented in ceremonies at Firehouse Subs in Oak Ridge and Lenoir City.

The thermal imaging camera donated to ORFD will detect body heat and hot spots in burning buildings, allowing firefighters to reach victims quickly and put out deadly fires. [Read more…]

Fire destroys two-story home in Blair

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Keys Drive Fire

A fire on Keys Drive early Friday morning destroyed a home in Blair in Roane County. (Photos by Tom Scott)

Information from photographer Tom Scott

A fire on Keys Drive early Friday morning destroyed a home in Blair in Roane County.

The fire was reported at 160 Keys Drive  in the Blair community at about 1:15 a.m. Friday.

The two-story wooden frame house was heavily involved in fire upon the arrival of the first Blair Fire Department units. The Oliver Springs and Midtown fire departments responded on a request for mutual aid. [Read more…]

Firehouse Subs donates equipment to Oak Ridge Fire Department, Roane County sheriff

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Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation is donating  $20,000 worth of much-needed equipment to the Oak Ridge Fire Department and Roane County Sheriff’s Office, a press release said.

Events are planned in Oak Ridge on Wednesday and Lenoir City on Thursday to celebrate the donations of the life-saving tools, the release said.

The ORFD is receiving a thermal imaging camera, worth more than $10,000.

“The donated camera will detect body heat and hot spots in burning buildings, allowing firefighters to reach victims quickly and put out deadly fires,” the release said. [Read more…]

WYSH: Man charged after meth lab sets apartment on fire

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Kingston man was arrested early Tuesday morning after his meth lab caught his bedroom apartment on fire.

Roane County deputies arrested Justin Michael Owens, 23, on five counts of reckless endangerment and one count each of manufacturing meth, tampering with evidence, and vandalism following the incident, which occurred at Smith Apartments on Kingston Highway.

According to the Sheriff’s Department incident report, the fire started when there was a “catastrophic failure” of one of the containers involved in the meth-making process. [Read more…]

Man facing charges in high-speed chase

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Powell man has been arrested on charges stemming from a high-speed nighttime pursuit that spanned two counties earlier this month.

Larry Eugene Ward Jr., 33, is facing a slew of charges including reckless endangerment, reckless driving, evading arrest, and a host of traffic violations. An Oliver Springs Police Department officer tried to pull Ward over at night on Nov. 2 for a routine violation, but Ward allegedly sped off in his Chevy Cruze, turned off the vehicle’s headlights, and proceeded to lead officers on a pursuit that reached speeds of more than 100 miles an hour, passing cars on double yellow lines, and taking hills in the wrong lane. [Read more…]

Roane County: Man suffers fatal heart attack behind wheel

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Information from WYSH Radio

A retired police detective died last week on a Roane County roadway when he suffered a heart attack behind the wheel.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said Richard Phillip Hadorn, 67, had been driving his pickup truck on Winton Chapel Road Thursday afternoon when his truck left the roadway and crashed. State troopers said an autopsy determined that he had suffered a heart attack and was likely dead before the truck came to its final rest.

Hadorn, according to our partners at BBB-TV, had only recently moved here from Florida after retiring from the New York Police Department.

Roane wreck kills one

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Kingston man died in a single-vehicle crash early Friday morning in Harriman.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol reports that Patrick E. Fly of Kingston, 22, had been headed south on Swan Pond Road at around 1:30 a.m. in a Nissan Altima when he failed to negotiate a curve. His car skidded and left the roadway, flipping several times and ejecting Fly, who was not wearing a seatbelt. [Read more…]

Follow-up: Roane shooting victim had been drinking, getting high

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Information from WYSH Radio

Following up on a story reported Monday, a 44-year-old Roane County man who accidentally shot himself in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle on Sunday was treated for his injuries and released from the University of Tennesseee Medical Center that same night.

Steve Brooks was flown to UTMC after the incident on Edwards Lane, just south of Rockwood. The Roane County Sheriff’s Office said that he told emergency personnel that he had been drinking before the incident and admitted to having smoked crack cocaine, an admission verified by his live-in girlfriend and her adult son. [Read more…]