Oak Ridge Today

Sexual harassment lawsuit against county appealed to Sixth Circuit

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The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building United States Courthouse is pictured above on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

  A jury found she had been sexually harassed while working for Anderson County, but the county was not liable. Then, since she did not prevail in the civil trial, she was ordered to pay about $1,800 in costs to Anderson County. Now that’s on hold. The former employee, Gail Harness, has appealed her $7.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Anderson County to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

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The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building United States Courthouse is pictured above on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A jury found she had been sexually harassed while working for Anderson County, but the county was not liable.

Then, since she did not prevail in the civil trial, she was ordered to pay about $1,800 in costs to Anderson County.


The Joel W. Solomon Federal Building United States Courthouse is pictured above on Wednesday, June 23, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

  A jury found she had been sexually harassed while working for Anderson County, but the county was not liable. Then, since she did not prevail in the civil trial, she was ordered to pay about $1,800 in costs to Anderson County. Now that’s on hold. The former employee, Gail Harness, has appealed her $7.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Anderson County to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

Pro

Temporary

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here. We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!

Cars for Canines is Saturday

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Explore Oak Ridge will host the second annual Cars for Canines event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, at Melton Lake Park. (Photo submitted by Explore Oak Ridge)

Explore Oak Ridge will host the second annual Cars for Canines event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, August 21, at Melton Lake Park.

The event will consist of a car show sponsored by Summer Knights Cruisers, food trucks, live music, vendors, demonstrations, and pet-friendly fun all to benefit the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter and Anderson County Humane Society, a press release said.

This event is free, and everyone is welcome, including your four-legged friends, the press release said.

Car show registration is $20 and begins at 10 am. All classic cars, hot rods, and motorcycles are welcome to enter. Awards will be given to the top 25 vehicles and door prizes will be given during the event for registered vehicles, the release said.

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More than 100 COVID cases in schools this year, most mild. Four staff members hospitalized during pandemic.

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This chart by Oak Ridge Schools shows the total and current number of COVID-19 cases by school and by student or staff on Monday, Aug. 16, 2021.

There have been more than 100 COVID-19 cases among students and staff members this school year, with most reporting mild symptoms, and a total of four staff hospitalizations reported since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oak Ridge Schools said Monday.

There have been no student or staff fatalities since the pandemic began, the school system said.

Monday morning, there were more than 200 students who were restricted from attending school. There were 109 cases of COVID among students and staff members on Monday evening, mostly among students. The largest number of COVID-19 cases is now at Robertsville Middle School. Until Friday, it had been at Willow Brook Elementary School.

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said the source of exposure to COVID-19 varies.

“A high percentage of students are unable to identify the source of exposure, while others feel the source was a family member, family gathering, or friend,” Borchers said in a response to questions Monday.

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Masks will be required at JMS, RMS

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This graph shows the total number of COVID-19 in Oak Ridge Schools between Wednesday, Aug. 4, and Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. Twenty-one new cases were reported Friday. The number of cases this fiscal year increased 10 times in nine days, from nine to 90. Total cases include both current cases and recovered, and they include both student and staff cases. (Data from Oak Ridge Schools/Chart by Oak Ridge Today using Flourish)

Face masks will be required at Jefferson and Robertsville middle schools starting Monday as they each reported at least seven new COVID-19 cases since Thursday, and 21 new cases were reported in all Oak Ridge schools, including among students and staff members. Eighty-one new cases have been reported in the past 1.5 weeks.

There are now three Oak Ridge schools that require face masks: Jefferson Middle School, Robertsville Middle School, and Willow Brook Elementary School. Willow Brook, which had the first outbreak of COVID-19 cases, required face masks starting this past Monday.

Willow Brook still has the largest number of cases: 27. Nineteen of those are current student cases, and one is a current staff case. Willow Brook reported four new cases between Thursday and Friday.

Robertsville has the second-largest number of cases: 24. Twenty of those are current student cases, and one is a current staff case. Robertsville reported seven new cases between Thursday and Friday.

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69 COVID cases reported in Oak Ridge Schools

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This graph shows the total number of COVID-19 cases in Oak Ridge Schools between Wednesday, Aug. 4, and Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. The number of cases this fiscal year increased more than seven times in eight days, from nine to 69. Total cases include both current cases and recovered, and they include both student and staff cases. (Data from Oak Ridge Schools/Chart by Oak Ridge Today using Flourish)

Sixty-nine cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Oak Ridge Schools this fiscal year. Sixty of those cases have been reported in the past eight days, since Wednesday, August 4. Two dozen cases were reported in the past two days. Students have been back in school about two weeks.

Three schools have had more than 10 cases each, and one, Willow Brook Elementary School, has had more than 20. Willow Brook is the only school where face masks are required.

The largest number of cases is at Willow Brook, where 23 COVID cases have been reported. Some are no longer considered current. Current cases include 16 student infections and two staff member infections.

Robertsville Middle School has had the second-highest number of cases with 17 total. Thirteen are current student cases, and one is a current staff case.

Jefferson Middle School has the third-largest number of cases with 11 total. Ten of those are current student cases.

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USRowing Masters National Championships begins Thursday

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The USRowing Masters National Championships is in Oak Ridge from Thursday to Sunday.

The regatta is hosted by the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

The event draws competitors who are 21 years old and older from all across the United States. For many rowers, it will be their first big regatta in two years, a press release said. The regatta was last hosted by ORRA in 2017.

Racing will run each day from about 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Setup for the four-day regatta began on Saturday, August 7. Teams began to arrive Tuesday, August 10. and practice Wednesday, August 11.

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COVID cases quintuple in schools in one week

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This graph shows the total number of COVID-19 in Oak Ridge Schools by school between Wednesday, Aug. 4, and Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021. Schools not shown have reported no COVID cases. The number of cases in the school system quintupled in one week. There were nine total cases in the schools on Wednesday, Aug. 4, and five times as many, 45, on Tuesday, Aug. 10. Total cases include both current cases and recovered, and they include both student and staff cases. (Data published by Oak Ridge Schools/Chart by Oak Ridge Today using Flourish)

The number of COVID-19 cases quintupled in one week in Oak Ridge Schools. There were nine total cases in the schools on Wednesday, August 4. There were five times as many, 45, on Tuesday, August 10. Total cases include both current cases and recovered, and they include both student and staff cases.

Almost half of the school system’s total cases, 20, have been at Willow Brook Elementary School. Sixteen of those are considered current cases. Face masks are now required at Willow Brook. That change went into effect on Monday.

The next largest group of cases, 11, has been at Robertsville Middle School. Ten of those are current. No change in the face mask policy has been announced at Robertsville. With the exception of Willow Brook, face masks are optional in Oak Ridge Schools this school year after being required last year.

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City wants to replace 74-year-old water line that failed nine times

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West Outer Drive Water Main Break
A water main break along West Outer Drive is pictured above in August 2015.

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department wants to replace a critical 74-year-old water line along West Outer Drive that has failed nine times since 2014.

The Oak Ridge City Council will consider a contract this evening for engineering services to replace the 14-inch cast iron water line between North Illinois Avenue and Wellington Circle. The contract for engineering services with LDA Engineering would be worth up to $120,000.

The city said the water line was installed around 1947. It is about 2,800 feet long and about three feet behind the curb on the north side of West Outer Drive.

“This section of waterline that Public Works proposes to replace has proven to be very unreliable,” Oak Ridge City Engineer Roger Flynn told City Manager Mark Watson in a memo on Monday.

The city staff found one failure in 2014 and eight more since 2018. The failures have been between 648 and 740 West Outer Drive.

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Oak Ridge Land Bank has news conference about downtown development

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The Oak Ridge Land Bank will host a gathering on Friday, August 6, at 5 p.m. on Wilson Street near Rice Road. At 5:30 p.m., there will be a news conference regarding the land bank’s Request For Proposals to develop Downtown Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The Land Bank, representing the community interest with respect to the development of a downtown district, is releasing a RFP for the purchase and development of property in accordance with the adopted “vision” for this district, the press release said.

Over the decades, multiple plans have called for creating a place where Oak Ridgers can live, work, and play, the press release said. The Wilson Street corridor borders Main Street shopping near the new American Museum of Science and Energy and planned conference center, and it is easily accessible from Oak Ridge Turnpike and Alvin K. Bissell Park, the press release said. It provides a “great opportunity to finally have a distinctive, uniquely Oak Ridge place for people to gather,” the release said. “The existence of a more urban, densely-developed environment, featuring apartments, condos, restaurants, local shops, offices, and beautiful green space, will attract new and different businesses to Oak Ridge.”

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Some ask for mask requirement in schools but no change yet

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The Oak Ridge Board of Education is pictured above on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A small group of parents and two school board members asked for face masks to be required in Oak Ridge Schools, but no decision was made during a school board meeting Monday evening.

Some students are too young to get vaccinated, the parents and school board members said. Others have only had one COVID-19 vaccination shot and aren’t fully vaccinated. Four days into the new school year, parent Gretchen Toney said her daughter has already been exposed to COVID-19 at Robertsville Middle School and sent home to quarantine, potentially exposing her four-year-old son at home and continuing to prevent a visit by her father, who has cancer.

Parent Laetitia Delmau said her children at RMS and Oak Ridge High School are getting non-stop comments because they wear masks for their own protection, and the schools should be free of harassment and bullying.

Citing reports from their children and their own personal observations, parents said few people are wearing masks in Oak Ridge Schools.

The parents asked the school system to follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommended on Tuesday that everyone should wear a mask indoors in K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also recommended universal masking in schools this fall, and on Monday, the University of Tennessee announced it will require masks in many indoor settings this fall semester.

“I really request that we follow the CDC guidelines,” Toney said.

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About 43 percent vaccinated in Anderson County

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The charts above show total COVID-19 vaccines in Anderson County and new vaccines by day; total vaccine recipients and new recipients by day; and the total number of fully vaccinated people and number of new fully vaccinated people by day. (Charts by Oak Ridge Today using Tennessee Department of Health data and Flourish for chart production).

After more than seven months, about 43 percent of people are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Anderson County–lower than the national average–and the number of daily vaccinations remains far below the peak this spring, according to state data.

The largest increase in vaccinations in Anderson County was between about late February and mid-May. There were eight days with about 900 vaccinations or more during that time period and three days in April with more than 1,000 vaccinations, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. The peak was 1,256 vaccinations on April 10.

Now, though, vaccinations are in the range of about 100 per day, with all peaks below 200. At that rate, it could take months, maybe more than a year, to approach a vaccination rate of 70 percent or higher.

The number of new vaccine recipients can vary widely each day, but there does appear to be an increase in the number of new recipients as the new daily case rate rises again in Anderson County.

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Roane State partners with Tennessee Tech for new dual enrollment program

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Roane State Community College Technology Building
The Technology Building at Roane State Community College’s main campus in Harriman is pictured above. (Photo by Roane State)

A new program designed to provide a smooth transition from Roane State Community College to Tennessee Tech University will launch this fall. The program, dubbed “Roane to Tech,” ensures that all Roane State graduates have guaranteed admission to Tennessee Tech, a press release said.

“The strong relationship we’ve built with our friends at Tennessee Tech has allowed us to provide yet another path for our students to receive a world-class education,” Roane State President Chris Whaley said. “The goal of this program is to remove the misconception of difficult transfers and reduce anxieties for transfer students.”

Roane to Tech students will be known as “Golden Raiders,” a combination of Roane State Raiders and Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. Through the new program, students have multiple opportunities to take advantage of dual enrollment benefits, the press release said.

Those in Agriculture, Biology, Business, Psychology, or Sociology programs will be considered students at both institutions, receiving predefined degree plans, advising services from both schools, special access to events, waived application fees, and free Roane to Tech gear, the press release said.

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