A Wednesday morning fire on Cedar Hills Drive in Anderson County heavily damaged a home, RV, and camping trailer.
The fire was reported at about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday at 210 Cedar Hills Drive. It apparently started in the attic, according to an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department report. The cause was not known, but it was not believed to be an arson, the report said.
A witness who lives nearby reported seeing flames coming out of the attic. [Read more…]
Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, and vandalized a uranium storage building. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.
KNOXVILLE—The three protesters who cut through fences and vandalized a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012 have not shown contrition or accepted responsibility for what they’ve done, a federal judge said during a Tuesday sentencing hearing.
The three anti-nuclear weapons activists—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael R. Walli—have acknowledged that they splashed human blood, hung crime scene tape, and hammered on the side of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility on July 28, 2012. They have freely given interviews to reporters and admitted that they spray-painted slogans—they called them “Biblical graffiti”—on the side of the HEUMF, which stores most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium.
But acknowledging their actions is not the same as contrition, U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar suggested during a Tuesday sentencing hearing at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Courthouse in Knoxville. To accept responsibility, the trio would have to show contrition and remorse, and acknowledge that what they did was wrong, Thapar said.
However, the defendants have fought the government at every step in the 18-month-old case, the judge said. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday approved the demolition of the deteriorated visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field.
The city’s school board on Monday unanimously agreed to demolish the deteriorated visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field.
Inspections have determined that the bleachers are no longer safe for fans, would cost too much to repair, and should be demolished immediately, a school official said this month.
“There is a very, very significant issue that we need to get on with,” said Bob Eby, Oak Ridge Board of Education vice chair, before the 5-0 voice vote on Monday.
The board hasn’t approved a replacement plan yet, but Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said the goal is to have new bleachers by the start of the next football season this fall. The school system is looking at all options in case the bleachers aren’t available by then, Borchers said. [Read more…]
A few people enjoy the snow near Blankenship Field on Tuesday evening.
Many schools, including in Oak Ridge, dismissed students early on Tuesday because of the snow, and Anderson County Schools will be closed on Wednesday.
(Update: Oak Ridge Schools will also be closed Wednesday.)
The snow that started late Tuesday morning is expected to continue through the evening in the valleys, tapering off around midnight in the mountains, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown.
Snow and ice caused traffic problems on slippery roads across the region. Some cars and trucks had trouble driving up hilly roads in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Snow delayed the Tuesday afternoon sentencing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists who cut through fences and vandalized a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012. Above, supporters, attorneys, and reporters leave U.S. District Court in Knoxville.
KNOXVILLE—Snow delayed the Tuesday afternoon sentencing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists who cut through fences and vandalized a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012.
The hearing could be moved to 9 a.m. Feb. 18. But there is also a possibility that U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar, who normally hears cases in the Eastern District of Kentucky, could resume the hearing on Wednesday.
The sentencing hearing for the three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—was at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Courthouse in Knoxville, which closed early at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday because of the snow and driving conditions. [Read more…]
Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.
The three protesters convicted on federal charges after sneaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex and splashing human blood and spray-painting slogans on a uranium storage building in July 2012 will be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Tuesday morning.
The sentencing hearing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael R. Walli—is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The defendants will be sentenced individually after a joint hearing to hear witness testimony and objections to a pre-sentence report.
The government plans to call retired Brig. Gen. Rodney L. Johnson as a witness. He testified at the two-day trial in May, and he is the senior vice president and deputy general manager of security operations and emergency services at Y-12.
A Catholic nun, house painter, and laborer, Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli were convicted in May 2013 of destroying U.S. property and attempting to injure national defense premises. They acknowledged sneaking into Y-12 before dawn on July 28, 2012, and cutting through three fences in a high-security Protected Area before vandalizing the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored. But they said their unprecedented intrusion was peaceful, religiously motivated, and nonviolent, a symbolic disarming of Y-12. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson is pictured at center above. Also pictured are Mayor Tom Beehan, left, and City Attorney Ken Krushenski.
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will not be moving to Texas for a job in Pearland, near Houston.
In December, Pearland officials said Watson was one of four finalists who could replace the city’s former manager, Bill Eisen, who retired at the end of December after 12 years.
But Watson—who was in Pearland for interviews, tours, and staff briefings this past weekend—told Oak Ridge City Council members at the beginning of a Monday night work session that he is staying in the Secret City.
He said the Pearland City Council could select a new city manager during a Monday night meeting, and members could pick Clay Pearson of Novi, Mich. Watson said the competition was tough. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday will consider whether to demolish the visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field.
The visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field are no longer safe for fans, would cost too much to repair, and should be demolished immediately, a school official said this month.
The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider the proposed demolition during a Monday evening meeting.
The visitor bleachers would be too much of a liability risk if they continue to be used, said Allen Thacker, maintenance and operations supervisor for Oak Ridge Schools. In addition, the main stairs from the dressing rooms to the field on the home side of Jack Armstrong Stadium/Blankenship Field are seriously aged and suffer from erosion. [Read more…]
Daniel J. Goode, a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, briefs members of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on a new groundwater strategy for the Oak Ridge Reservation.
The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to spend $4.5 million during the next three years to study groundwater contamination on the Oak Ridge Reservation.
The reservation includes three federal sites—East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex—that have been involved in missions ranging from scientific research to uranium enrichment to nuclear weapons work. That work has sometimes included the use of hazardous substances such as mercury and technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive metal.
The $4.5 million in funding will help implement a new groundwater strategy developed by DOE with help from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The strategy, which was presented to the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board in November, will help guide future cleanup decisions, said Sue Cange, deputy manager for environmental management in DOE’s Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]
In May 2013, state and federal officials announce a plant to treat mercury-contaminated water at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Pictured from left are Mark Whitney, Robert Martineau, Lamar Alexander, Dave Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg.
The $1 trillion federal spending bill passed by Congress last week provides money for a water treatment plant that would help reduce mercury contamination in Oak Ridge, and it includes less money for the Uranium Processing Facility than President Obama had requested, Sen. Lamar Alexander said Thursday.
The U.S. Senate approved the spending bill in a 72-26 vote after the House passed it 359-67. Alexander and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann voted for it, while Sen. Bob Corker voted against it. All are Tennessee Republicans, and Fleischmann’s district includes Oak Ridge.
Alexander said the spending bill provides $16 million less than Obama had requested in his budget for the UPF, a multi-billion-dollar building that would replace old buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex as part of a years-long effort to update the 811-acre site, consolidate operations, and cut the plant’s high-security “footprint” from 150 acres to 15. [Read more…]
Anderson County Commissioner Zach Bates, pictured at center with his wife Whitney, announces he is running for Anderson County mayor in the Republican primary in May.
CLINTON—Anderson County Commissioner Zach Bates on Tuesday announced he is running for Anderson County mayor in the Republican primary in May.
Bates, 25, will oppose Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, 45, who was elected to a two-year term in August 2012, completing the unexpired term of former mayor Rex Lynch, who resigned in January 2011.
The oldest of 19 children, Bates was 21 when he was elected to the Anderson County Commission in 2010. He represents District 4, which includes Lake City and Briceville. County officials said he is the youngest mayoral candidate they can recall.
His challenge to Frank might have appeared unexpected. The two have at times appeared to be politically aligned, including, for example, on the citizen-led initiative to install “In God We Trust” signs on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton in July 2013. [Read more…]
The Anderson County Commission rejects a proposal for a non-binding referendum in August on whether federal prisoners should be housed at the expanded county jail.
CLINTON—Anderson County commissioners rejected a proposal on Tuesday to ask voters in August whether federal prisoners should be housed at the expanded county jail.
The vote was 10-4 against the proposal for the non-binding referendum.
Earlier this month, the Anderson County Legislative Committee had recommended that the full commission consider the referendum, which was proposed by Anderson County Commissioner Dusty Irwin. He represents District 3, which includes the Andersonville, Fairview, Norris, and Glen Alpine precincts, and Irwin’s constituents live in the district that includes the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton. [Read more…]
