Oak Ridge Today

Driver escapes before train hits pickup on railroad tracks

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Pickup Truck and Train Crash on Dutch Valley Road

The driver escaped from this pickup truck before it was hit by a train on railroad tracks alongside Dutch Valley Road in Marlow on Sunday afternoon. (Photos by Tom Scott)

 

A driver was able to escape from a pickup truck before it was hit by a train on railroad tracks alongside Dutch Valley Road in Marlow on Sunday afternoon, a fire official said.

The Chevrolet S-10 pickup had apparently hit the ditch alongside Dutch Valley Road, went airborne, and landed on the tracks, where it was stuck, said Stephanie Fox, assistant chief for the Marlow Volunteer Fire Department.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much time elapsed before the truck was hit by the train near Smith Road. The crash was reported at about 2:50 p.m. Sunday. [Read more…]

Shopping center evacuated after gas leak reported

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Kroger Gas Leak and ORFD and ORUD

A shopping center was evacuated on Tuesday afternoon after a gas leak was reported at the former Kroger grocery store on South Illinois Avenue.

 

A shopping center was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after a gas leak was reported at the former Kroger grocery store on South Illinois Avenue.

Emergency workers remained on the scene for several hours and were still there as of about 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The gas leak was reported at about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, and Oak Ridge emergency workers quickly evacuated surrounding stores, including China Wok, Nixon’s Deli, Mr. K’s Used Books and CDs, and Big Kmart. They also closed off the surrounding parking lot.

An employee at Mr. K’s smelled gas inside the store Tuesday afternoon, evening manager Kelly Smith said. The staff initially thought it might be coming from NIxon’s, the deli next door. But then they learned that Nixon’s doesn’t use natural gas. A walk around the shopping center’s parking lot determined that the gas was probably coming from the former Kroger store, Smith said.

The odor was getting stronger and stronger, he said. [Read more…]

Reminder: National Night Out today features food, family-friendly activities

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Bucket Ride

The National Night Out celebration on Saturday, October 11, will feature bucket rides on an Oak Ridge Electric Department bucket truck. (Submitted photo)

 

This is a reminder: The National Night Out celebration at A.K. Bissell Park today will feature free food, family-friendly activities for children and adults, and crime prevention presentations and information.

The National Night Out is from 3-7 p.m. Saturday, October 11, at A.K. Bissell Park near the Oak Ridge Civic Center. The community is invited.

The Oak Ridge Police Community Resource Office and the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program will host the 2014 National Night Out celebration, a crime prevention program promoted by National Association of Town Watch. This year marks the 31st anniversary of this community-police partnership, a press release said.

Magician Danny Whitson will perform feats of magic during the celebration. Festivities will also include Oak Ridge Police K-9 demonstrations, the Mobile Meth Lab exhibit, safety and health exhibits, Oak Ridge Electric Department bucket rides, drug abuse prevention information, Doug LaVerne on steel drums, music, and games. Child fingerprinting and bike registration will be offered. In case of rain, the celebration will move into the Civic Center. [Read more…]

National Night Out Celebration to feature food, family-friendly activities

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Bucket Ride

The National Night Out celebration on Saturday, October 11, will feature bucket rides on an Oak Ridge Electric Department bucket truck. (Submitted photo)

 

A National Night Out celebration at A.K. Bissell Park this month will feature free food, family-friendly activities for children and adults, and crime prevention presentations and information.

The National Night Out is from 3-7 p.m. Saturday, October 11, at A.K. Bissell Park near the Oak Ridge Civic Center. The community is invited.

The Oak Ridge Police Community Resource Office and the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program will host the 2014 National Night Out celebration, a crime prevention program promoted by National Association of Town Watch. This year marks the 31st anniversary of this community-police partnership, a press release said.

Magician Danny Whitson will perform feats of magic during the celebration. Festivities will also include Oak Ridge Police K-9 demonstrations, the Mobile Meth Lab exhibit, safety and health exhibits, Oak Ridge Electric Department bucket rides, drug abuse prevention information, Doug LaVerne on steel drums, music, and games. Child fingerprinting and bike registration will be offered. In case of rain, the celebration will move into the Civic Center. [Read more…]

Updated: Driver injured, pulled from van crash that sparks gas line fire

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Car Crash and Gas Line Fire Oak Ridge Turnpike

The male driver of this Honda Odyssey minivan was taken to the hospital after he crashed into a wooded area alongside Oak Ridge Turnpike and sparked a gas line fire. The area of the gas line fire is in the left foreground.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:05 p.m.

A male driver was taken to the hospital after a westbound minivan went down a small embankment on the north side of Oak Ridge Turnpike, crashed into a wooded area, and sparked a gas line fire on the east end of town.

Driver Thomas Debusk, 43, of Knoxville, was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.

The cause of the crash, reported at about 1:43 p.m., was not immediately known. The gold 2003 Honda Odyssey van driven by Debusk struck an aboveground natural gas pipeline in a small basin below Oak Ridge Turnpike and next to the parking lot at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is across from Tractor Supply. [Read more…]

Updated: Andy Allen, missing ORHS senior, had been lost in woods

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Andy Allen

Andy Allen

Note: This story was updated at 11:20 a.m.

Andy Allen, the 17-year-old Oak Ridge High School senior who had been missing since Saturday night, has been found safe after getting lost in the woods, authorities said Tuesday morning.

Allen told deputies that he was unable to find his way out of the woods, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said.

Allen had been missing since early Sunday morning after leaving his father’s home in west Knox County on foot. He was reunited with his parents on Tuesday morning.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office said a witness saw Allen walk out of the woods on Hart Road in Knox County around 8 a.m. He then walked to the Weigel’s on Northshore Drive off Pellissippi Parkway.

“A second person identified him and called 911,” the Sheriff’s Office said. “When Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, he had been taken to a back room at the store. Rural Metro examined him and then he was sent home with his parents.”

[Read more…]

Searchers hunt for missing ORHS student

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Andy Allen

Andy Allen

Note: This story was last updated at 10:10 a.m. September 2.

Friends and family are searching for a 17-year-old Oak Ridge High School student who hasn’t been seen since he left his father’s house in west Knox County on foot at midnight Saturday, a family friend said.

Searchers are meeting at 9:30 a.m. today (Monday) at Concord Park on Northshore Drive to hunt for Andy Allen, an ORHS senior, family friend Betsy Coleman said.

Allen is 5’9″ and has blue eyes, dark hair, and a shaved head, Coleman said.

Allen’s father, Kevin Allen, is an assistant district attorney general for Knox County who lives in the Northshore Drive and Westland Drive area, Coleman said.

She said the last ping from Andy’s cell phone came at about 3 a.m. between Northshore Elementary School and George Williams Road, near Concord Park. [Read more…]

Driver dies, passenger escapes when car crashes into pond

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England Road Fatal Pond Crash

Rescuers call in a tow truck to pull a car out of a pond on England Road on Tuesday night. The driver of the car died in the crash, but the passenger escaped.

OLIVER SRINGS—A female driver died and a passenger escaped Tuesday night when a small car crashed into a private pond on England Road in Oliver Springs.

Oliver Springs Police Chief Kenneth Morgan said the driver and female passenger won’t be identified until relatives have been notified.

The crash occurred sometime before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Property owner Marcia Pemberton said she came out of her house around then and heard screaming. At first, she thought it was family members playing at the dam at the pond. But then she realized these were different screams—screams for help, Pemberton said.

“Then I took off running,” she said.

The passenger was in a corner of the 18-foot-deep pond, hanging onto a tree and unable to get out because of the steep banks. There’s a car in the water, the woman told Pemberton. [Read more…]

Man who allegedly fired pistol charged with aggravated assault

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Wakefield Road Police Standoff

A man who allegedly shot one round from a pistol during a disturbance in a parking lot at an apartment complex on Wakefield Road on Monday has been charged with six counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless endangerment, the Oak Ridge Police Department said. A woman has been charged with tampering with evidence.

 

An Oak Ridge man who allegedly fired one shot from a pistol during a disturbance in a parking lot on Wakefield Road on Monday has been charged with six counts of aggravated assault and one count of reckless endangerment, authorities said.

Police responded to the disturbance call, which involved several people, at an apartment complex at 105 Wakefield Road at about 7:40 p.m. Monday, an Oak Ridge Police Department press release said. During the disturbance, a man allegedly fired one shot from a pistol, the release said.

Before officers arrived, witnesses said, the suspect entered Apartment #E, and he possessed a second firearm, the press release said. ORPD officers arrived and set up a perimeter around the apartment building. [Read more…]

Since Saturday, three crashes in Oliver Springs area required Lifestar response

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Oliver Springs Crash Tri County Boulevard

An Oneida woman driving the car above was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville after a collision with a truck on Tri County Boulevard in Oliver Springs on Monday afternoon. (Photo by Oliver Springs Police Department/Kenneth Morgan)

For the third time since about noon Saturday, a Lifestar medical helicopter on Monday afternoon picked up a patient injured in a car crash in Oliver Springs.

The 1 p.m. Monday crash involved an Old Dominion truck driven by Steven Mayfield and a car driven by Lyndsay Phillips of Oneida. The truck was turning from eastbound Tri County Boulevard onto Knoxville Highway, or State Highway 62, headed toward Morgan County, Oliver Springs Police Chief Kenneth Morgan said. He said the car was traveling west toward Harriman on the Boulevard.

Phillips was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by Lifestar, Morgan said. [Read more…]

Woman, two children escape Easter morning grease fire

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wade-lane-fire-5

An Oak Ridge woman and her two children escaped an Easter morning grease fire at this Wade Lane home. (Photos by Tom Scott)

Note: This story was last updated at 8:20 p.m.

An Oak Ridge woman and her two children safely escaped an Easter morning grease fire that started in a pan on a stove while she was preparing to fry chicken in a Wade Lane home.

But their home, one of four units in a two-story building, was likely destroyed, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

Still, resident Dee Crumm said she is just glad that she and her 13-year-old son Seth and 10-year-old daughter Shelby are okay.

“As long as the kids are okay, that’s what counts,” Crumm said. [Read more…]

Lightning strike may have caused house fire on Graceland Road

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Graceland Road Fire

A lightning strike may have caused a house fire on Graceland Road on Thursday morning. (Photos by Tom Scott)

A Thursday morning fire possibly started by a lightning strike likely destroyed a home in west Oak Ridge and caused a few hundred thousand dollars in damage, authorities said.

The residents of the home at 118 Graceland Road knew their home had been hit by lightning at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said. They heard the strike and found siding blown off the side of their house. They used a ladder to climb on the roof and check the home. Then, they re-checked it later before the man who lived there went to work.

But at about 7:45 a.m. Thursday, neighbor Chris Wetherall reported the roof of the house was on fire. The female resident, Yvonne McClellan, remained asleep inside, Kerley said.

Wetherall went to the burning home and banged on the door until McClellan woke up and answered the door, Kerley said. Wetherall moved a pickup truck out of the home’s garage and turned off the power. He took McClellan next door to his house, where she was evaluated by the fire department and Anderson County Emergency Medical Services. [Read more…]