Oak Ridge Today

Letter: WSI leaves Oak Ridge with ‘flags flying’

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To the Oak Ridge Community:

As WSI Oak Ridge completes its transition to the new security contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Protective Force contract, I wanted to take this opportunity to say farewell.

We have provided protective nuclear security services to DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration in the valley for the past 13 years, and are proud that our employees have answered our nation’s call to duty in an exceptionally worthy manner. The WSI Oak Ridge Protective Force has led the DOE Security Complex in professionalism, mission performance, and innovation. [Read more…]

Guest column: Questions remain on Oak Ridge cleanup funding

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David Martin

David Martin

By David Martin, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board chair

There is great uncertainty on what the looming federal budget cuts will be and what effect they will have on funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management, or EM, program at the Oak Ridge Reservation. We can be confident that budget cuts are coming. It is going to take a coordinated effort on the part of the DOE-Oak Ridge EM, regulators, and stakeholders to minimize the impact on current and future remediation projects, and on the men and women who carry out this work.

Right now DOE-EM is operating on a temporary six-month budget. This budget covers just the first half of Fiscal Year 2013 and is based on half of the FY 2012 budget. We should know soon how changes in the federal budget affect Oak Ridge EM for the second half of 2013. This still leaves the 2014 budget in question. [Read more…]

Guest column: Woolly housing adelgids invade Oak Ridge

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By Pat Fain and Leslie Agron

In Nimes, France, there is a 2,000-year-old Roman coliseum. For 500 years in the Middle Ages, thousands of people lived their lives within the walls of the coliseum, and in modern times it has hosted rock concerts and safely seated nearly 15,000 people.

Yet at less than 75 years of age, Oak Ridge has the blight. Woolly housing adelgids, no doubt. [Read more…]

Guest column: Anderson County Dental Clinic helps those in need

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Anderson County Dental Clinic

Pictured above, from left, are Anderson County Commissioner Robin Biloski, Dental Assistant Nancy Hamilton, and Dr. Tim Bible. (Submitted photo)

The Anderson County Dental Clinic has been held monthly in Oak Ridge for 30 years and is operated solely by volunteers. This necessary outreach was started by Jeanie Bertram.

“The waiting list has held a constant number of 150 to 200 names for our free services.  Last year we treated 232 patients, with 101 of them being brand-new,” said Bertram. “We extracted 661 teeth last year for a production value for $97,484. Last year we did receive some patient fees and donations from the public totaling $10,000, and we put that right back into our services.”

Dr. Tim Bible, a longtime volunteer dentist, said: “This is so important; these individuals simply have no means to pay for dental care, which is desperately needed. Our clinic currently has five general dentists, two oral surgeons, the University of Tennessee General Dentistry Department volunteers, 12 registered dental assistants, three clinic support staff, and five front office staff who rotate through the clinic in any given year. We are so proud of this wonderful service we provide to our residents.” [Read more…]

Guest column: The City Council should negotiate with EPA

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At its next meeting, the Oak Ridge City Council will consider whether to attempt to negotiate a better deal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the sewer upgrades or not.

About three and a half years ago, the EPA inspected the Oak Ridge sewer system and noted excessive rain water leaking into that system during storms. In April 2010, EPA sent the city a show cause letter which requested a face-to-face meeting to “show cause” why EPA should not intervene. Instead of meeting with EPA, the Council chose to phone in an informal response. Subsequently, EPA imposed a 20-page administrative order filled with expensive add-on requirements and a $170,000 civil penalty.

The total cost of the sewer improvements is in the neighborhood of $50 million. Paying for these improvements has so far required two major utility rate increases and a major increase in city debt. More rate hikes are likely.

[Read more…]

Letter: Disappointed by commissioners who use religion to govern

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To the Editor:

To answer Marion Burger’s letter and maybe a question that has been bothering me and probably other folks too.

Why were there only Baptists listed in a list of citizens supporting placing “In God We Trust” on the Anderson County Courthouse?

[Read more…]

Guest column: A tale of two cities

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By Leslie Agron and Pat Fain

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Oak Ridge is on the cusp of a renaissance; Oak Ridge is in its worst-ever financial shape. Despite the looming risk of the guillotine for questioning the conventional wisdom here, we want to examine where Oak Ridgers are coming from when they speak of our future. To do this we, conveniently, will compare these possible futures for Oak Ridge with two present day Tennessee cities: Farragut and Chattanooga.

Farragut is a place most Oak Ridgers are fairly familiar with. It is mostly new and upscale. It tends toward sprawl and toward heavily developed strips, but has no real heart. It has low taxes, but is not a full-service city. Chattanooga is an older city with a downtown and outlying neighborhoods of varying ages. It is a full-service city with commensurate taxes. Chattanooga has done an outstanding job of revitalizing some of its older neighborhoods. The neighborhood in the vicinity of its Aquarium is particularly noteworthy in this regard.

[Read more…]

Letter: Asks City Council to create budget advisory board

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To the Editor:

Our city has over $168 million dollars in debt—that is a 168 with six zeroes after it.

We, as the citizens of Oak Ridge, owe this debt. The number sounds huge. But the size of this debt is actually not unbearable. It is like a mortgage, we just have to pay a little bit each year—and we can afford to.

But there is a key difference between this debt and a mortgage: With a mortgage, you pay off a little bit each year, and then you are done. Unfortunately, the city of Oak Ridge is not paying down its aggregate debt each year. Instead, the city is borrowing more money each year, just making the debt larger and larger.

[Read more…]

Letter: Anderson County not interested in liberal politics

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To the Editor:

The very fact that Commissioner Myron Iwanski is outraged the county mayor would respond (in public) to defamatory comments, made against her (in public) by another county official, I find rather amusing. And, his further attempts to define the narrative by suggesting the mayor should “learn” that divisive D.C. style politics will only serve to further pit and divide, I think makes perfect sense…

For liberals love to preach about being “open-minded”, but to a liberal, this has nothing to do with seriously considering other people’s ideas. To the contrary, liberals define being “open-minded” as agreeing with them.

[Read more…]

Guest column: Anderson County court, criminal prosecution programs at risk

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Dave Clark

Dave Clark

Proposals to redistrict Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts may cost Anderson County its full-time judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and their staffs. Proponents want to jumble 15 of Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts containing the state’s 95 counties. The pending proposal would eliminate the 7th Judicial District consisting of Anderson County and combine Anderson, Scott, Union, Campbell, Claiborne, and Fentress counties into a single district. If the move is approved in Nashville, local officials and their offices may be relocated, and many other programs may be terminated.

Currently, Anderson County has a single circuit judge, chancellor, district attorney general, and public defender. All of these offices are located in the county seat in Clinton on a full-time basis. The other counties that are part of the proposed new super-district are headquartered in Scott County in the city of Huntsville, Tenn. It is unclear if redistricting would result in all of Anderson’s current officials relocating to Huntsville. However, what is clear is that under the proposal, Anderson County officials would have duties in other counties, some of them an hour or more away, such as Jamestown, the county seat of Fentress County, located on the Cumberland Plateau bordering Kentucky.

[Read more…]

Guest column: The velocity of money is 70 mph

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By Pat Fain and Leslie Agron

The usual theory behind economic development for a community is that the local economy is too small. So, economic development experts seek to bring in new companies, especially industrial ones, to enhance that economy. The theory is that increased local purchases by new companies and their employees are multiplied several times as the money spreads throughout the community. Every additional purchase results in additional sales tax from the same original dollar that exited the new company. Companies that manufacture goods or provide services externally have the greatest value theoretically as they actually bring new money into the community. The rate at which this happens is called the velocity of money.

In Oak Ridge, however, the size of the economy that occurs within our city limits is enormous for our population. The problem for Oak Ridge is that much of that economy occurs within non-taxable institutions and the vast majority of their staff does not live in Oak Ridge. Thus, in Oak Ridge the velocity of money is 70 mph—the speed at which those folks are cruising down Interstate 40 on Friday evening as they take their paychecks home!

[Read more…]

Guest column: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts collect food pantry donations

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Scouts Sort Food at Grace Lutheran

Scouts, leaders, and family members from Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Cub Scouts troops sort food donations in Grace Lutheran’s Fellowship Hall. (Submitted photos)

Submitted by Scoutmaster Mike McEahern

The need is greater than ever.

As families continue to struggle across the country, local organizations like the Great Smoky Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America are striving to make a difference close to home.

On Feb. 9, Boy Scouts from Troop 224 from Grace Lutheran Church; Troop 328 from Kern United Methodist Church; and Cub Scouts from Pack 328 and Girl Scouts from Troop 20737, both from First United Methodist Church, teamed up to collect donations in the annual Scouting for Food drive. Donations were collected from neighborhoods throughout Oak Ridge and delivered to the Grace Lutheran Food Pantry. Additionally, Pack 328 led collection efforts at First United Methodist and Woodland Elementary—rewarding the leading classroom at Woodland with a pizza party.

[Read more…]