Oak Ridge Today

Guest column: The sky is not falling on school funding, city manager says

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

The Sky is NOT Falling!

It is not often that a city manager takes the time to write an editorial, but I think this is one of those times.

These past two weeks, I have been working with new School Superintendent Bruce Borchers in reviewing a notice he received from the State of Tennessee that the financial formulas for required school funding have not been met by Oak Ridge. This principle is known as maintenance of effort.

Oak Ridge is one of the few school systems in Tennessee recognized as a city system. The school system is a “department” of the city for budgetary purposes.

Our school system has maintained itself through the years as one of the premier school systems in the state, and citizens here pay much more than the minimum requirements for school maintenance found elsewhere. However, with ups and downs of sales taxes and reductions in some state funding categories, the school and the city have found themselves calculated as coming up short in the statewide formula. This is the problem that Superintendent Borchers and myself find ourselves working together to resolve. With a solution, we will take that to our respective City Council and School Board. [Read more…]

Letter: Why must a ‘In God We Trust’ sign be placed on courthouse?

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To the Editor:

I find life really amusing, you see people running around boasting about doing something about bullying in today’s schools. A good example, how our society runs around trying to push an old motto on its people.

I still have difficulty with the “In God We Trust” motto. I can only trust in one God for I can only speak for myself. [Read more…]

Letter: Let’s have a design contest to paint three sewer system holding tanks

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Emory Valley Road Sewer System Holding Tank

A draft image of what a sewer system holding tank could look like on Emory Valley Road. The proposal could change based on input from Oak Ridge City Council members. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

To the Editor:

Having attended many meetings (City Council, EQAB, budget), I understand the rationale behind building the holding tanks proposed for the city. I have heard about gravity, clay soil, pumps, federal fines, tax increases, rate increases, rate increases, and the following year, rate increases. I have looked long and hard at the giant holding tank in Knox County on the road leading from Middlebrook Pike to Sam’s (it’s on the right) and looked at maps of the city to ascertain alternate locations. I also picked up a copy of the rate study at the Council work session Monday night.

I really hate to say it, but I think the city has gotten it right. It’s one of those “death and taxes” things. However, I would like to propose a solution to the “big, white, ugly blight on the landscape” inevitability. Let’s start out by painting all of them green. In Oak Ridge that is the best camouflage color. [Read more…]

Guest column: Council member proposes alternatives to raising water, sewer rates

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Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

On Sept. 9, your Oak Ridge City Council will likely vote to approve additional water and sewer rate increases. When combined with the last two increases, the average user’s bill will have spiked 62 percent in just 34 months. Subsequently, should council adopt the fully proposed schedule through 2019, most residents and businesses will be paying double what they were paying prior to the initial increase imposed in May 2012.

These increases are to pay for the $33 million of debt that the city incurred in the last two years in addition to a projected $15 million more that Public Works says is still needed. We are continuing to borrow without limits and without regard for your ability to pay such astronomical bills.

Much of this debt could have been reduced or avoided all together had your city government taken the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency up on the many opportunities they gave us to make corrections. (See my Feb. 24 post at trinabaughn.com entitled, “The Rest of the EPA Mandate Story.”) Unfortunately, we’ve screwed up so many times that we were too fearful to pursue leniencies that are now being afforded to many cities across the nation. So, while others have 20-25 years to comply and can spread out costs to minimize the hit their ratepayers will take, Oak Ridge has just five years and is forcing the entire burden on its residents and businesses. [Read more…]

Letter: Cross Country Booster Club thanks Applebee’s

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To the Editor:

As the new president of the Oak Ridge High School Cross Country Booster Club, I wanted to express the club’s appreciation for our local Applebee’s. In particular, Ryan Landry and Marsha Baker were awesome to work with in the kitchen as we served over 700 supporters.

Each year I am amazed at how extremely helpful Applebee’s is, not just to our team, but to all the local groups who count on Applebee’s generous use of their restaurant for financial support.

Thanks again to Ryan and Marsha, and I am glad we could keep them entertained with song during the very hectic morning.

Karen Fitchpatrick

ORXC Booster Club President

Letter: Thanks to those who plan, work, sponsor Anderson County Fair

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To the Editor:

What a great event the Anderson County Fair is! The dedication of countless hours of time and efforts of those who plan and prepare for week of activities for our residents reinforces my appreciation for these good people who love our county. People from far and wide our state visit us for this “Best 6 Days of summer.”

I was a part of the Anderson County Fair this year as an employee of Emory Valley Center where we had our information/awareness booth. Thank you to all who plan and work at our fair! [Read more…]

Letter: Residents, representatives urged to support Tennessee Wilderness Act

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To the Editor:

U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker have again introduced legislation to protect nearly 20,000 acres of the Cherokee National Forest as wilderness. The Tennessee Wilderness Act of 2013 will create one new wilderness area, expand five others, and ensure that Tennesseans have wild places to visit long into the future. Passage of this act, which failed to get to the Senate floor last year, represents the first expansion of Tennessee’s wilderness land in 25 years. This acreage is already part of the Cherokee National Forest, so there is no need for federal funds to purchase land. [Read more…]

Letter: Support museum for Coal Creek miners, who ‘left their mark on history’

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Aug. 7, 2013

To: Anderson County Commissioner Tim lsbel

From: Barry Thacker and Carol Moore

Re: Support of the Coal Miners’ Museum in Coal Creek (aka Lake City)

We would like to express our continuing support of every effort to preserve and honor the rich coal mining history of Anderson County, Tenn. There is nowhere on Earth with more dramatic coal mining history in such a small area with the effects felt worldwide—and it sits right on I-75!

The miners of Coal Creek in Anderson County, Tenn., left their mark on history. [Read more…]

Letter: Coal Mining Museum board wants to buy former Lake City bank building

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Note: This is a copy of a letter sent to Anderson County Commissioner Robin Biloski, who chairs the Operations Committee. During a Monday, Aug. 12, meeting, the committee will consider a request to buy the former Bank of America building in Lake City for services on the north end of the county and to house a coal mining museum.

The Board of Directors of the Coal Mining Museum in Lake City would like to encourage the Anderson County Commission’s Operation Committee to approve the purchase of the building formerly occupied by the Bank of America in Lake City in order to provide county services to the residents of north Anderson County and a home for the Coal Mining Museum.

The Coal Mining Museum has been looking for a home for several years. It is currently housed in the Lake City Community Center, which does not provide adequate space to display all of the artifacts. [Read more…]

Guest column: Y-12 wants to have best security in nation’s nuclear weapons enterprise

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Chuck Spencer

Chuck Spencer

Note: This is a copy of a message that B&W Y-12 President and General Manager Chuck Spencer sent to employees July 25 regarding the one-year anniversary of the July 28, 2012, security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

General Manager’s Message: One-Year Anniversary of Security Event

One year ago this coming Sunday (July 28), three individuals trespassed at the Y-12 National Security Complex, damaged government property, and interfered with our ongoing national defense operations. While the security breach was unacceptable, the intruders did not come close to accessing any nuclear materials. Since that time, B&W Y-12 has worked closely with the National Nuclear Security Administration to make numerous changes in security and operations. I want to thank each and every one of you for your role in those improvements. I also want to highlight those improvements specifically and talk a little about our path forward. [Read more…]

Letter: UCOR celebrates two years in Oak Ridge

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Leo Sain at K-25

Leo Sain, president and project manager for cleanup contractor UCOR, near the east wing of the mostly demolished K-25 Building, which was built to enrich uranium during World War II.

Note: This is an edited copy of a letter that UCOR President Leo Sain sent to company employees on Aug. 1.

To All UCOR Employees:

As we begin our third year on the job here at East Tennessee Technology Park, I want to thank everyone for an outstanding two years.

I am so very proud of this workforce. Our performance has been truly spectacular in every way. K-25, one of our nation’s largest deactivation and decommissioning projects, is nearly on the ground, and we’ve begun pre-demolition work in K-27 significantly ahead of schedule. We’ve disposed of over 120,000 cubic yards of waste while safely traveling over 1.5 million miles. [Read more…]

Letter: Open discussion of bullying is encouraging

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To the Editor:

I was fortunate enough to attend the Knoxville Police Department’s anti-bullying summit on July 30 at the Expo Center on Clinton Highway. The main message given at the summit was summarized really well by the headline in the Knoxville News Sentinel the next morning: “Expert: Confront, rehab bullies.”

Dr. Steve Edwards, a former teacher and school principal, talked about methods he developed in which he would get to know the bullies in a school and find out their interests and what they felt was wrong in their school experience. He would then engage them in some way in helping the school. He said also that bullies often have leadership qualities which need direction. [Read more…]