Oak Ridge Today

Friendship Bell closed while city makes repairs

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Friendship Bell Repairs

A symbol of the friendship between Oak Ridge and Japan, the 20-year-old Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park is closed while the city make repairs to the structure holding up the bell.

A 20-year-old symbol of the friendship between Oak Ridge and Japan is closed while the city makes structural repairs.

The Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park was designed in Oak Ridge and cast in Japan in 1993. It’s mounted inside a wooden pavilion at the park in central Oak Ridge, but there is some rot in the wooden columns holding up the bell, said Jon Hetrick, Oak Ridge Parks Division supervisor. A structural engineer and an architect are evaluating the pavilion’s condition, and the city is waiting for their report.

Oak Ridge and Japan have a history dating back 70 years, when Manhattan Project production sites in the Secret City enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in war. That bomb, code-named “Little Boy,” was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, three days before a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and just days before World War II ended. [Read more…]

Pictures: Secret City Half Marathon start, winners

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Race photographer Gabe Walker of Walker Athletic Photography provided the following photos from the Secret City Half Marathon on Sunday. You can order prints here.

Secret City Half Marathon Start

More than 500 runners start the Secret City Half Marathon on Briarcliff Avenue on Sunday. (Photos courtesy Gabe Walker of Walker Athletic Photography)

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Most apartment residents displaced by Thanksgiving fire calls can return home

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Utica Circle Fire

An apartment fire at 312 Utica Circle that was allegedly set deliberately heavily damaged one home, and other residents in the eight-unit building were displaced during the Thanksgiving weekend. (Photos by Tom Scott)

ORFD chief says Utica Circle fire was set

Power has been restored to an Applewood Apartments building on Hillside Road after a Thanksgiving Day electrical short displaced two dozen residents, and most of another two dozen residents can move back into McKenzie Acres apartments on Utica Circle, two days after they were displaced by a Saturday night fire, city officials said Monday.

The two fire calls in three days displaced about 50 people during the Thanksgiving weekend. The Red Cross has helped the residents with food and shelter, and residents and restaurants have pitched in as well.

The city hoped to get the residents back into their buildings today, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said Monday afternoon. [Read more…]

New China Palace closes at marina, reopens on Central Avenue

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New China Palace Closed

The longtime New China Palace restaurant has closed at the Oak Ridge Marina and moved to a new location on Central Avenue in the center of town.

A longtime Chinese restaurant that had been on the city’s waterfront for decades has moved out of a city-owned building at the Oak Ridge Marina and reopened on Central Avenue in the center of town.

The New China Palace restaurant reopened on Central Avenue on Nov. 22, owner Cheng Ren said Saturday.

The former waterfront location closed five weeks earlier on Oct. 18 after at least one lease extension.

The city has developed a master plan for the waterfront area that recommends the current New China Palace site off Melton Lake Drive be remodeled as a bathhouse facility. It would be used to support a growing number of rowing and public activities as part of an ambitious plan to revamp the waterfront from Elza Gate Park to Rivers Run Boulevard. [Read more…]

Florida runner finishes first in Secret City Half Marathon

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Secret City Half Marathon Start

Five hundred thirty-six runners start in the Secret City Half Marathon on Briarcliff Avenue on Sunday morning.

A Florida man finished first in the Secret City Half Marathon on Sunday morning, crossing the finish line almost eight minutes ahead of the second-place runner.

Jason McLeod, 21, of Orlando, Fla., finished the 13.1-mile course in 1:11:53. It was his first half marathon.

McLeod has never competed in a full marathon either, but he did run cross country for four years at Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn.

Gina Rouse, 34, of Knoxville finished second with a time of 1:19:50. She was also the top female runner among the 536 athletes who started Sunday. She has competed in marathons, including the Nashville Marathon in 2006 and Atlanta Marathon in 2011. [Read more…]

Second apartment fire this week displaces another two dozen residents

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Utica Circle Fire

An apartment fire at 312 Utica Circle heavily damaged one home, and other residents in the eight-unit building will not be able to stay at home Saturday night. (Photos by Tom Scott)

The second apartment fire in Oak Ridge since Thursday has displaced another two dozen residents.

The Saturday night fire started at about 9:22 p.m. in the 300 block of Utica Circle at McKenzie Acres. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the second-story blaze, and no one was injured.

But roughly 25 residents, including children, will not be able to return home to the eight-unit building tonight, authorities said. The Red Cross was on its way to Utica Circle to help the residents, who huddled outside in pajamas, coats, gloves, and hats as temperatures dropped to freezing at about 11 p.m. Saturday. [Read more…]

Federal safety board to discuss Y-12 nuclear safety

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Y-12 National Security Complex Sign

A federal board meeting on nuclear safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been rescheduled for Dec. 10.

A federal board meeting on nuclear safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been rescheduled for Dec. 10.

The day-long public meeting and hearing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board had originally been scheduled for Oct. 22. But it was postponed because of the partial federal government shutdown that started Oct. 1 and ended Oct. 17.

The board will still meet at the Knoxville Convention Center, and the meeting will still include two sessions. The first is from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, and the second is from 2 to 6 p.m. [Read more…]

Small electrical fire displaces two dozen Applewood residents

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Applewood Apartments Building Residents

A small electrical fire at the Applewood Apartments on Hillside Road around noon Thursday displaced about two dozen residents. Above, Oak Ridge Fire Department Battalion Chief Marty Griffith talks to residents. (Photos by Tom Scott)

A small electrical fire at the Applewood Apartments on Hillside Road around noon Thursday displaced about two dozen residents, authorities said.

The fire was caused by an electrical short in the main power supply leading into the distribution system in the basement of a building at 184 Hillside Road, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

The fire at the basement fuse box was quickly extinguished with an extinguisher, ORFD Battalion Chief Marty Griffith said. He said a circuit breaker did its job, turning off power and minimizing damage. [Read more…]

Family, friends remember Cub Scout who wanted to be a police officer

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Treí-Roan Vann and Football Trophy

Treí-Roan Vann is pictured above with a second-place football trophy in the Boys Club VFC Conference on Oct. 26. (Photo courtesy Crist Vann)

Like his older brother David, Treí-Roan Vann wanted to be a police officer when he grew up. He also wanted to play soccer this year. He never got the chance to do either.

Treí, a third-grade student at Linden Elementary School, was found unresponsive on his school bus at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday near his home on Wilberforce Avenue. He was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

His father Crist Vann said Treí, as he was called, was a very good eight-year-old.

“He didn’t get into too many problems,” Vann said Wednesday night. “He was always concerned about people. He was always willing to lend a helping hand. He was always the life of the room.”

It’s not clear what happened to Treí on Tuesday.

“He went to school,” Crist Vann said. “Everybody at school said he was fine. On the way home, he was unresponsive. They thought he was asleep. They couldn’t bring him back.” [Read more…]

Rescuers tried to save unresponsive student, cause of death unknown

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Linden Elementary School

Linden Elementary School is pictured above.

The third-grade student who died Tuesday had appeared to be asleep on a school bus, officials said Wednesday.

But other students were unable to awake him at a bus stop on Wilberforce Avenue at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday. The bus driver parked the bus and went back to check on the boy, but she was unable to wake him or get him to respond, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

She called 911. A dispatcher gave the bus driver instructions to care for the boy until rescuers arrived, Kerley said.

Firefighters responded within two minutes. The bus stop is behind a fire station on Tuskegee Avenue. The boy was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. [Read more…]

Light snowfall blankets Oak Ridge, Thanksgiving cold but sunny

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Centrifuge Way Snow

A light layer of snow blankets the ground Wednesday morning at the Centrifuge Way interchange with South Illinois Avenue.

A light snowfall blanketed Oak Ridge on Wednesday morning.

The National Weather Service in Morristown said the snow would diminish to flurries this morning, and snow would primarily accumulate on grassy surfaces, except at higher elevations.

On Monday, the Weather Service had warned that a strong regional storm system could bring heavy rain, sleet, and snow to East Tennessee and southwest Virginia early this week. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Civic Ballet supports Second Harvest

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ORCBA Angels

The Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association said it was proud to give back with a promotion for Second Harvest during their recent “Nutcracker” performances. Pictured above are ORCBA angels. (Submitted photo)

Submitted

In appreciation of the support from the East Tennessee community during the past 50 years, the Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association was proud to give back with a promotion for Second Harvest during their recent “Nutcracker” performances. Patrons who donated five items for Second Harvest East Tennessee received special discounts on ticket prices.

A similar promotion with a local nonprofit agency that benefits lower income families in our area is planned for the spring production of “Sleeping Beauty” and “Swan Lake” on April 5, 2014. More specific information will be posted at www.orcba.org as it becomes available.

ORCBA holds the longest continuously-standing dance charter in the state of Tennessee. The organization’s goal is to provide a clean, safe, fun, professional environment for dancers of all abilities and ages to perform before a live audience. ORCBA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.