Oak Ridge Today

Anderson County residents among 44 indicted in meth distribution conspiracy

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A group of Anderson County residents was part of an alleged methamphetamine distribution ring that involved 44 people and a conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine in East Tennessee and elsewhere, federal officials said Monday.

A 30-count indictment was returned against the 44 people by a federal grand jury in Greeneville in East Tennessee on January 9. Among those indicted were nine residents of Clinton, Oliver Springs, Powell, and Rocky Top, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Eastern District of Tennessee on Monday. There were also four Knoxville residents indicted and a dozen in Bristol and Kingsport in upper East Tennessee, among other defendants in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Clinton Police Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, Oliver Springs Police Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County were among the agencies that helped with the investigation, the press release said.

Here are the people that were indicted in the alleged methamphetamine distribution conspiracy: [Read more…]

City Council agrees to give $30K per year for five years to General Sessions Court

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The Oak Ridge City Council agreed on Monday, April 10, 2017, to contribute $30,000 per year for five years to continue operating Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. The interior of the current courthouse on Bus Terminal Road is pictured above. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council agreed on Monday to contribute $30,000 per year for five years to continue operating Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

The money will be used for court operations and capital costs for Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, in Oak Ridge.

Council approved the funding in a 6-0 vote, with Council member Hans Vogel absent.

The city and the Oak Ridge City Council have supporting having the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge since it started in 1993, according to City Manager Mark Watson.

“We believe that it is important to have that here,” Watson said. “It does save us a little bit of time.” [Read more…]

City to consider giving $30,000 per year to General Sessions Court

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The 18-month lease on the Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, on Bus Terminal Road in Oak Ridge expires in June, and Anderson County commissioners are taking steps to move the court to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road. The interior of the courthouse on Bus Terminal Road is pictured above. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider approving $30,000 in funding per year for five years for the Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, in Oak Ridge.

The money would be used for court operations and capital costs. Council will consider the funding during its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, April 10, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom.

Anderson County commissioners have cited the expected Oak Ridge contribution in their discussions of keeping the court in Oak Ridge and moving it from a private building on Bus Terminal Road to a county-owed building on Emory Valley Road.

The City of Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge City Council have supported having the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge since its start on February 1, 1993, City Manager Mark Watson said in an April 4 memo to Council members. [Read more…]

Crisis intervention training helps save life in Rocky Top

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Twenty law enforcement personnel graduated from Crisis Intervention Team, or CIT, training on March 10, 2017. The graduates represented Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Corrections Office, and Blount Memorial Security. (Submitted photo)

Twenty law enforcement personnel graduated from Crisis Intervention Team, or CIT, training on March 10, 2017. The graduates represented Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Corrections Office, and Blount Memorial Security. (Submitted photo)

 

Twenty law enforcement personnel graduated from Crisis Intervention Team, or CIT, training on March 10. The graduates represented Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Corrections Office, and Blount Memorial Security.

CIT is an innovative first-responder model of police-based crisis intervention with community, health care, and advocacy partnerships. CIT provides 40 hours of specialized training for problem solving and de-escalating crisis situations with individuals who have a mental illness. Studies show it also improves the safety of patrol officers, consumers, family members, and citizens within the community, a press release said.

“Thanks to the partnership between the Oak Ridge City Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Ridgeview Behavioral Health, NAMI Oak Ridge, the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee, and other community health advocates, our community has better equipped itself with first responders who have an effective set of communication and problem solving skills,” Oak Ridge Police Department Chief James Akagi said in his opening remarks.

So far, the East Tennessee Crisis Intervention Team has trained more than 180 law enforcement personnel, the press release said. [Read more…]

Rocky Top man indicted on attempted murder charge

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Steven Wayne Rice

Steven Wayne Rice

A Rocky Top man was indicted on an attempted first-degree murder charge this month in a shooting that allegedly involved his wife.

Steven Wayne Rice, 38, has also been indicted on a charge of aggravated assault with a weapon.

Rice was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on March 7. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday.

He is accused of trying to kill Amy Rice, who is identified as his wife in earlier arrest warrants, on August 30, 2015.

Rice had initially been charged with attempted first-degree murder and reckless endangerment. Those charges were waived from Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to the Anderson County Grand Jury on September 15, 2016.

Oak Ridge Today has previously reported that Rice had threatened Amy Rice with a pistol and fired it when three other people in the home tackled him and took away the gun. [Read more…]

County taking steps to move General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge

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Anderson County officials are taking steps to move General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge from a privately owned building on Bus Terminal Road, pictured above, to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:50 p.m.

Anderson County officials are taking steps to move General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge from a privately owned building on Bus Terminal Road to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road.

An 18-month lease on the current privately owned building, where the court has been since 2009, expires in June, officials said Wednesday.

Renovations are planned at the county-owned building on Emory Valley Road before the court moves there. Bid packages for the renovation work could go out to contractors this week, and the bid could be awarded in mid-April, said Anderson County Commissioner Phil Yager, one of two commissioners who represent District 8 in Oak Ridge.

The renovation work could take two to three months, Yager said. Michael Brady Inc., a Knoxville architectural firm helping Anderson County, has estimated the renovations could cost around $300,000. [Read more…]

Christmas gifts meant to help children stolen from disabled vehicle

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Information from WYSH Radio

A real-life Grinch struck in Anderson County on Thursday.

Organizers of Saturday’s Rocky Top Christmas Party were driving near the intersection of Highway 116 and Andy’s Ridge Road in Briceville on Thursday evening after a wrapping party, where volunteers had wrapped presents for children in need in the northern part of Anderson County, when their green Ford Ranger’s alternator went out and they stopped by the side of the road.

The occupants of the vehicle locked the truck and went to call for help.

But while they were away from the vehicle, someone smashed in the windows and ransacked it. [Read more…]

Rocky Top donates to Family Drug Treatment Court of Anderson County

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Pictured left to right are Rocky Top Police Chief Jim Shetterly, Mayor Michael Lovely, Stephanie Strutner of ASAP, and City Manager Michael Foster. Rocky Top City officials presented a $500 check to ASAP of Anderson County to support the Family Drug Treatment Court. (Submitted photo)

 

At the Rocky Top City Council meeting last week, Mayor Michael Lovely, Police Chief Jim Shetterly, and City Manager Michael Foster presented a check for $500 to Stephanie Strutner, executive director of Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County Inc., to support the Family Drug Treatment Court of Anderson County.

“The Family Drug Treatment Court has been under development for a number of years based on best practices from effective programs from across the country,” Strutner said. The program is geared toward rehabilitating not only adolescents through the Juvenile Court system, but their family unit as well, a press release said.

“This program offers the possibility to break the generational cycle of substance abuse many of our juvenile offenders experience,” Juvenile Court Judge Brian Hunt said. “It also offers hope—hope that these adolescents can stay out of jail as adults and become contributing members of their community.” [Read more…]

Get rid of expired, unused medicines on Saturday

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You can get rid of unused, unwanted, or expired prescription or non-prescription medicines on Saturday. It’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

You can drop off the medications at locations in Clinton, Norris, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, and Rocky Top.

The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications, a press release said.

Oak Ridge and Anderson County participate by encouraging residents across the city and county to properly dispose of their unused, unwanted, or expired prescription or non-prescription medicines, the press release said. Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Anderson County has partnered with the Oak Ridge Police Department and other law enforcement agencies throughout the county to give two convenient options to residents for proper medicine disposal. [Read more…]

Fire destroys vacant home in Rocky Top

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Information from WYSH Radio

A fire Monday afternoon destroyed a vacant house on Old Bryant Lane in Rocky Top.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called to the scene shortly before 3 p.m. and reported that the house was still on fire and almost completely destroyed upon their arrival. [Read more…]

City, county could move General Sessions Court to Emory Valley Road

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A few options have been considered, and Anderson County will now study whether to move the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A few options have been considered, and Anderson County will now study whether to move the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge to a county-owned building on Emory Valley Road.

Related to that proposal are plans to move the Oak Ridge Senior Center, which is now at the Emory Valley Road building, to the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Also up for a possible move is the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department. That department now occupies part of the Civic Center, where the Senior Center could move, but the department’s administrative offices could move to a vacant building on Badger Road that once housed Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.

The idea is that moving the administrative wing of Recreation and Parks to the Badger Road building could free up space for seniors at the Civic Center, which in turn would help create space at the county-owned building for the General Sessions Court. [Read more…]

Authorities find active meth lab on Tusculum Drive; three arrested

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Tusculum-Drive-Meth-Lab-Bust-March-30-2016-2

Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory in a home on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, March 30, 2016. Pictured above are three members of the 7th District Crime Task Force dressed in hazmat suits and using oxygen as they prepare to enter the back of the home. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 5:15 p.m.

Authorities found what they described as an active methamphetamine laboratory on Tusculum Drive on Wednesday, and three people were arrested, including two people who live at the home.

The Seventh District Crime Task Force determined the home was an active meth lab at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Director Russell Barker said. The alleged lab was inside a home at 197 Tusculum Drive, Apartment C.

Three members of the Crime Task Force first checked the home wearing hazardous materials suits and breathing oxygen. After they determined it was an active meth lab, they went back in to remove what Barker described as meth lab materials and trash left from cooking meth. Officers also found finished product, Barker said, although he didn’t have information on how much.

Officers collected the meth lab-related materials in front of the home on a blue tarp. Wearing gloves, boots, and sometimes using breathing masks with eye shields, they also placed some items in plastic five-gallon buckets.

A man and woman who live at the house were decontaminated and taken to jail in white Tyvek suits at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. Barker said one of them had been inside the home but was coming out when officers arrived. [Read more…]