The Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road is pictured above. (Submitted photo)
In August, the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association announced that it was opening the historic Midtown Community Center to the public on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and the organization has plans for a new Oak Ridge History Museum.
The announcement was made by the ORHPA’s Oak Ridge History Museum Committee.
The Midtown Community Center is open to the public: [Read more…]
A rendering of the new Oak Ridge Preschool at Scarboro Park. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge/Studio Four Design)
The City of Oak Ridge has opened the bidding period for two major projects: the new Oak Ridge Preschool with Scarboro Park improvements and the new Oak Ridge Senior Center. Interested parties must submit bids before the deadline early next month. Studio Four Design Inc. of Knoxville is the architectural firm chosen to design both buildings.
The new preschool will be a single-story facility of about 33,000 square feet on Carver Avenue. The build site is inside Scarboro Park, a roughly 10-acre parcel, a press release said. The project includes improvements to the adjacent park area such as lighted basketball/tennis courts, a baseball field, a public pavilion, green space, and a walking trail.
The current senior center is temporarily operating out of the Civic Center’s Recreation Building. The new senior center will be built next door, just to the west of the Recreation Center. The single-story, approximately 11,000 square foot facility will overlook part of A.K. Bissell Park. Plans include a large kitchen, craft and exercise rooms, billiards parlor, lounge, and other common space, the press release said. [Read more…]
Clarissa Sharee Tindell
A Knoxville woman who fled from the Tennessee Highway Patrol in a car in Anderson County last year as methamphetamine and heroin were discarded from the moving vehicle pleaded guilty to four charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison on Tuesday.
About 60 grams of methamphetamine and less than a gram of heroin were thrown out of a car window and two patrol vehicles were hit during the police chase, which started in Clinton and ended in Rocky Top on Sunday, July 30, 2017, according to court proceedings and affidavits.
The plea agreement hearing for the driver of the 1992 Honda Accord, Clarissa Sharee Tindell, 25, was Tuesday in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Her plea was by information, meaning she entered a plea before she was formally charged in an indictment by the Anderson County Grand Jury. Early pleas can lead to agreements more favorable to defendants.
Tindell, who was represented by defense attorney Paul Sexton of Oak Ridge, had been charged earlier in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton in a case that included additional counts such as aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during a felony, speeding (117 mph in a 45 mph zone), and failure to yield the right of way, among other charges. Those charges were waived to the Grand Jury on June 6. [Read more…]
The Visitor’s Overlook, part of the Happy Valley property purchased in November 2016, is pictured above across from East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
K-25 Overlook will be ‘bigger and better,’ provide Manhattan Project and recreational information
The K-25 Overlook next to State Route 58 in west Oak Ridge will soon be re-opening as a much larger and nicer visitor center that will also have a new purpose, a press release said.
Owner John McCormick, vice president of Bionomics, purchased the 160-acre property known as Happy Valley through an auction at the end of 2016. The overlook on SR 58 across from the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, was part of the purchase.
But the overlook needed building repairs and updates to the historical information inside, the press release said. In 2017, McCormick partnered with Pam May, vice president of the Roane Alliance, who reached out to local historians, the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy, and Explore Oak Ridge to discuss the future of the overlook.
“The idea to expand the overlook into a visitor center and recreational hub came from the National Park Service in one of the early meetings,” May said. “That aligned perfectly with what John had envisioned—to create trails and open spaces that people could enjoy while also learning Happy Valley’s history through its landmarks still evident on the property.” [Read more…]
The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The flat top house at the American Museum of Science and Energy is moving from its current location on South Tulane Avenue.
The new location hasn’t been announced yet, although an announcement about the move will be made Monday by representatives of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.
The AMSE location on South Tulane Avenue has been used for more than 40 years. But it closed in late July because the museum is moving to a new location at Main Street Oak Ridge, the 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. The new AMSE will be near JCPenney on the northeast side of Main Street Oak Ridge. It is scheduled to open in October. [Read more…]
Anderson County Commissioners are pictured above after being sworn in at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. At center front (third from left) is Tracy Wandell, who was elected chair by the other commissioners, and at right front is Jerry Creasey, who was elected vice chair. (Photo courtesy Shannon Wandell)
Information from WYSH Radio
Newly elected and re-elected Anderson County commissioners were sworn in Tuesday morning at the Courthouse in Clinton.
Following the swearing-in ceremony, commissioners held a brief meeting during which they elected Tracy Wandell to serve as the next chair of the Commission, succeeding Tim Isbel.
Longtime Commissioner Jerry Creasey was elected vice chair. [Read more…]
The Hon. William Everette Lewallen Memorial Bridge over the Clinch River in downtown Clinton is pictured above in December 2013. (File photo/Oak Ridge Today)
Information from WYSH Radio
Wednesday afternoon, a pre-construction meeting for the project to replace the Hon. William Everette Lewallen Memorial Bridge over the Clinch River in Clinton was held at the Knoxville regional office of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Contractor Blalock and Sons Construction announced during the meeting that traffic warning signs marking the project will be installed next week, with the project officially getting started on Monday, September 17.
Recently-retired Clinton Public Works Director Lynn Murphy is acting as a consultant for the city and will serve as the liasion between Blalock, the state and the city. On Wednesday, Murphy said that he has requested a seven-day notice for the eventual closing of Riverside Drive between Meadowbrook Street and South Seivers Boulevard, which will also include the boat launch under the current span connecting Clinton and South Clinton on Highway 25W. A natural gas line and a sanitary sewer pipe running underneath Riverside will have to be excavated and relocated as part of the project. [Read more…]
Ground was broken last Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018, on a new inclusive playground for children of all abilities at South Clinton Park. (Photo via WYSH Radio in Clinton)
Information from WYSH Radio
Ground was broken last Wednesday on a new inclusive playground for children of all abilities at South Clinton Park.
The Clinton City Parks and Recreation Department, in conjunction with the nonprofit organization Milly’s Wings, is building the new playground at South Clinton Park. On Wednesday, August 29, city leaders were joined by Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, State Representative John Ragan, and others to celebrate the new facility.
In addition, during the ceremony, the Lions Club International Foundation presented the Clinton chapter with a $100,000 donation that will be used for the playground, which is being funded by local money as well as several grants, and donations from local civic groups, businesses, and individuals. [Read more…]
Christy Viola Comer
The Rocky Top woman charged with homicide last week admitted stealing from an 83-year-old man who was believed to have been strangled at his home on Friday, according to Anderson County court records.
The body of J.C. Copeland was found outside of his home in the 600 block of Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top on Friday morning, authorities said last week.
Agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation started investigating at the request of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark and with help from the Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force.
“During the course of the investigation, authorities developed information leading to Comer as an individual responsible for Copeland’s death,” the TBI said in a press release over the weekend.
An affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton said Christy Viola Comer, 37, who has been charged with criminal homicide, conspired to participate in the robbery and killing of Copeland. Copeland is believed to have been strangled to death, the affidavit said. [Read more…]
Development of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s quantum random number generator began with basic components including an LED light, the source from which a field of quadrillions of photons are produced. The device can detect and measure the quantum statistics of photons present in the field and use each one as the basis for creating truly unique encryption keys that are impossible to decipher or predict. (Photo credit: Brian Williams/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)
A company called Qrypt Inc. will incorporate a quantum random number generator developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory into existing encryption techniques, strengthening cyber security, a press release said.
Qrypt has exclusively licensed the technology from ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. It’s intended to help defend against cyber attacks, including those posed by quantum computing.
Encryption uses codes or mathematical algorithms to make information such as messages or stored data unintelligible to unauthorized readers. Quantum computers make use of the quantum states of electrons or other particles to store and process information as quantum bits.
The press release said Qrypt will incorporate ORNL’s quantum random number generator into the company’s existing encryption platform. It will use inherent quantum randomness to create unique and unpredictable encryption keys enabling virtually impenetrable communications, the press release said. [Read more…]
Simon Byrne
The Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force has named a new director after the former director was elected Anderson County sheriff.
Russell Barker had previously been the director, but he was elected sheriff on August 2.
On Tuesday, Anderson County’s law enforcement leaders, acting as the Board of Directors of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force, named Simon Byrne as director, District Attorney General Dave Clark said. [Read more…]
David Kropaczek directs the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, U.S. a Department of Energy Innovation Hub headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)
A consortium that is based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and works on next-generation commercial nuclear reactors has named a director.
David J. Kropaczek will lead the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, which is based at ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory.
CASL, which launched in 2010 as DOE’s first Energy Innovation Hub, has brought together the nation’s supercomputing facilities and leading nuclear experts and institutions to pursue an aggressive 10-year mission—to predict the performance of existing and next-generation commercial nuclear reactors through comprehensive, science-based modeling, and simulation, a press release said. [Read more…]
