Oak Ridge Today

Mahathy running for Oak Ridge school board

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Mike Mahathy Campaign Photo

Mike Mahathy, left, a candidate for Oak Ridge Board of Education, is pictured with his family. (Submitted photo)

Mike Mahathy, who has served on two school-related councils, is running for Oak Ridge Board of Education.

It wasn’t an easy decision, Mahathy said in a press release.

“I labored over it for weeks, as I am not a politician,” said Mahathy, a health physicist at ORAU. “I’m just a citizen, a husband, a father, yet that is why I decided to run, for my children and more importantly for yours.

“When I leave this life, I hope that it can be said that Mike Mahathy made a difference for children, at least in a little way.”

The press release said Mahathy co-founded a charity that provides assistance to orphans of the Yunnan Province, China. And he now serves as volunteer Caring Kids Coordinator for another adoption, helping with daily life needs, education, and transitioning to adult life. Mahathy also assists in a children’s ministry at his church.

Mahathy said he served as an officer on the Oak Ridge Preschool advisory council in 2005 and 2006, and he has served on the Oak Ridge Schools superintendent’s PTA/PTO council since 2005. In addition, he helps, as his time allows, the parent-teacher organizations at his daughters’ schools. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge unveils three new fire engines on Sept. 5

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New Oak Ridge Fire Engines

 

The Oak Ridge Fire Department and Chief Darryl Kerley will unveil three new Sutphen fire engines during a September 5 ceremony.

The 3 p.m. ceremony will be at Fire Station 3, which is in central Oak Ridge at 333 Tuskegee Drive. Light refreshments will be served.

See this story for more information on the decision to buy the new trucks last fall.

Paine running for Oak Ridge school board

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Laurie Paine

Laurie Paine

Laurie Paine, who led the recent protests to restore bus transportation to students, has announced she is running for the Oak Ridge Board of Education.

Paine said she is running because she wants children to be the top priority in the community.

“I am the proud mother of three children currently in the Oak Ridge school system: Kaitlan, Tyler, and Tristan,” Paine said in a press release. “My daughter Alexis recently graduated from Oak Ridge High School and is now attending the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.”

Paine said she has lived in Oak Ridge for 26 years and has witnessed many changes, “some good and some bad. It’s time for change again and that change needs to start at the top with the leadership on the Board of Education.”

In her campaign and as an elected representative, Paine said she will continue pursuing the following: [Read more…]

Roane Alliance expands Chamber program, hires two, adds member benefits

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Paulette Ray

Paulette Ray

The Roane County Chamber of Commerce now has two full-time employees, bringing more attention to members and adding member benefits through additional products and programs, a press release said.

Paulette Ray, director of Chamber operations, has returned to the Alliance to work “hand-in-hand with businesses to help them grow and succeed,” the press release said. Ray previously worked as the Chamber membership coordinator from 2007 to 2009 and has continued to work with the Alliance as a volunteer while running her own business, South Eastern Clogging Company, a dance and exercise studio in Kingston, which she owned for 28 years. A graduate of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce Executives, she has also completed her first year of Institute for Organizational Management, and is a 2009 graduate of Leadership Roane County.

Ray is a longtime resident of Roane County, a 1990 graduate of Roane County High School, and she attended Roane State Community College. In her spare time, she continues to teach, judge, and choreograph clogging and is also a ZUMBA fitness instructor in the county. She resides in Kingston with her husband, Daniel, along with four of their five children. Ray also has a married daughter living in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, with her husband who is currently serving in the Army. [Read more…]

Wildcats need to play tougher, more aggressively, Gaddis says

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Oak Ridge and South-Doyle Scrimmage

Sophomore Damarea Whitt of the Oak Ridge Wildcats, right, breaks up a pass intended for senior Chad Barksdale of the South-Doyle Cherokees during a pre-season scrimmage at Oak Ridge High School on Thursday.

The regular season starts in two weeks, and the Oak Ridge Wildcats need to play tougher and more aggressively, Coach Joe Gaddis said after the team’s second pre-season scrimmage on Thursday.

The Wildcats played the South-Doyle Cherokees at Ben Martin Track at Oak Ridge High School. It was also the second scrimmage for the Cherokees.

The South-Doyle varsity team scored three times to Oak Ridge’s two. The Wildcats played better as the scrimmage progressed and the team made adjustments, but the Cherokees “drove down the throat” on their first two possessions, Gaddis said.

“That’s not good,” he said. “We’ve got to play tougher, more aggressively, more physical.” [Read more…]

Thursday deadline to qualify for municipal elections across Anderson County

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Vote Logo

Thursday is the deadline to qualify for municipal elections across Anderson County, and so far, there appears to be a mix of incumbents and newcomers in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Rocky Top (Lake City), Norris, and Oliver Springs.

Eleven people, including the four incumbents, have expressed an interest in running for four seats on Oak Ridge City Council in November, and seven candidates have qualified so far.

Meanwhile, three people, including one incumbent, have qualified to run for three seats on the Oak Ridge Board of Education. A total of nine potential candidates, including the three who have qualified, have picked up petitions to run for Oak Ridge school board.

The November 4 election is the last in a series of three elections this year. The deadline to qualify is noon Thursday, August 21. A candidate needs 25 verified signatures on a nomination petition to qualify.

Those who have qualified to run for Oak Ridge City Council are: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge hit-and-run suspect crashes motorcycle in Knox County

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An Oak Ridge hit-and-run suspect is in the hospital after crashing his motorcycle on East Emory Road in Knox County this morning, authorities said.

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office was alerted by the Oak Ridge Police Department to be on the lookout for hit-and-run suspect James F. Mitchell, 43, of Oak Ridge, on Friday morning, according to the initial investigation.

A KCSO officer saw Mitchell traveling eastbound on West Emory Road at 7:42 a.m. The officer got behind Mitchell and activated his emergency equipment, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office said. Mitchell tried to negotiate a curve too fast and ran off the right side of the road into a ditch at 9638 East Emory Road at 7:43 a.m. He was thrown from the motorcycle, authorities said. [Read more…]

Museum of Appalachia announces line-up for Tennessee Fall Homecoming

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Museum of Appalachia Wilson Barn Stage

A performance at a previous Fall Homecoming at the Museum of Appalachia near Norris. (Submitted photo)

Submitted

NORRIS—The best bluegrass, gospel, and old-time music in the South will resonate across the beautiful grounds of the Museum of Appalachia this coming October 10-12. This year’s line-up includes more than 70 national, regional, and local musicians performing on five unique outdoor stages throughout the pastoral museum setting.

In celebration of 35 years of this award-winning festival, organizers have put together the strongest lineup in event history, including Grammy award winner and multi-talented Marty Raybon and Full Circle, International Bluegrass Music Association male vocalist of the year Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice, Jeff Brown and Still Lonesome, Grammy-nominated Della Mae, “Entertainers of the Year” and “Vocal Group of the Year” The Gibson Brothers, and the multi-award winning group Lonesome River Band.

Appearing again this year are Grammy-nominated Blue Highway, “Broadcaster of the Year” Chris Jones and the Night Drivers, the award-winning Darrell Webb Band, the highly recognized Blue Moon Rising, Grits and Soul, Jesse Gregory and Faultline, and the legendary Paul Williams and the Victory Trio. Joining these top artists is one of the most successful bluegrass bands of all time, seven-time International Bluegrass Music Association “Vocal Group of the Year” with multiple Grammy and Dove award nominations and IBMA Hall of Fame inductee Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. [Read more…]

USEC: ORNL extends American Centrifuge demonstration program into 2015

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American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center

The American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center in south Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photos courtesy USEC)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has exercised an option to extend the American Centrifuge demonstration program into 2015, USEC announced Wednesday.

The announcement was included in a report on second quarter results, when the uranium enrichment company had a net loss of $28 million. USEC, which has operations in Oak Ridge, is undergoing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is turning over its gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky, to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Funding for the next-generation American Centrifuge activities was previously provided under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy. Under that cost-sharing agreement, DOE provided 80 percent of the funding, and USEC provided 20 percent for research, development, and demonstration work performed from June 1, 2012, through April 30, 2014, when the agreement expired.

On May 1, USEC signed a new agreement with UT-Battelle, which manages and operates ORNL for DOE. The agreement was called the American Centrifuge Technology Demonstration and Operations, or ACTDO, agreement, and it allows for continued cascade operations and the continuation of core American Centrifuge research and technology activities and the furnishing of related reports to ORNL, USEC said in its quarterly report.

On July 31, ORNL exercised its option to extend the period of performance for the ACTDO Agreement by an additional six months to March 31, 2015. The agreement also provides ORNL with one additional option to extend the agreement by six months to September 30, 2015. [Read more…]

DOE responds to SSAB’s waste disposal recommendation

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has responded to a recommendation made earlier this year by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board.

In May, the federally appointed citizens’ panel recommended that DOE continue to plan for additional on-site waste disposal capacity on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, or ORR, for low-level radioactive and chemically hazardous waste.

DOE currently operates the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, or EMWMF, a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Bear Creek Valley near the Y-12 National Security Complex. When the facility began accepting waste in 2002, it was expected to handle all projected low-level waste from cleanup operations on the ORR. However, with the amount of demolition and work left to complete, EM requires additional disposal capacity onsite.

DOE has conducted a study to develop, screen, and evaluate alternatives for an additional waste disposal facility, with a working name of EM Disposal Facility, or EMDF. ORSSAB’s recommendation encouraged the agency to continue working toward adding disposal capacity and proposed recommendations for a new facility.

The ORSSAB encouraged DOE to minimize the need for additional on-site capacity when possible. In its response, DOE said it was examining the final cover design of the EMWMF to allow for extended capacity. The waste acceptance criteria for other so-called “sanitary landfills” on Chestnut Ridge are being evaluated for possible modifications to allow a wider variety of waste. [Read more…]

DOE, ORNL, state conduct emergency preparedness exercise Aug. 20

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Emergency responders from the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory—along with federal, state, and local emergency management personnel—will conduct an emergency exercise on Wednesday, August 20, at ORNL.

The public may observe emergency responders simulating response activities and performing environmental monitoring or sampling in the area surrounding the Oak Ridge Reservation. These activities are part of the exercise.

The exercise will begin at approximately 8 a.m. Eastern time and conclude around noon.

This event is one of a series of emergency exercises conducted regularly by the DOE facilities in Oak Ridge. The exercises test the ability of emergency personnel to respond quickly and effectively to emergency situations and ensure that the public, site employees and the environment would be protected in the event of an actual emergency at the facilities.

After two days in hospital, toddler dies from drowning, CPD says

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Anthony Hampton

Anthony Hampton (Photo courtesy Brenda Hood)

The two-year-old boy who apparently fell into a swimming pool at his grandparents’ home in Clinton on Tuesday morning died Thursday morning at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, authorities said.

Anthony Hampton had been in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, the Clinton Police Department said.

The CPD and Clinton Fire Department responded to the near-drowning on Melton Hill Circle in Clinton at about 8:40 a.m. Tuesday. Hampton was first taken to Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge and then transported to Children’s Hospital. He died at about 4 a.m. Thursday. [Read more…]