Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Half Marathon this weekend features 5k, 10k races; health, fitness expo

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Secret City Half Marathon Course Map

The Secret City Half Marathon course map is pictured above.

The Secret City Half Marathon this weekend will feature 5k and 10k races, and a new health and fitness expo.

The first-ever Secret City 5k and 10k races start at 7:30 a.m. Saturday at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

The inaugural Health and Fitness Expo is scheduled from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, also at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. The event will include booths and exhibits from fitness and health professionals around the region.

“The Secret City Half Marathon Health and Fitness Expo provides the perfect setting to promote Oak Ridge as a top-notch visitor destination,” said Katy Brown, executive director of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Around 600 runners from around the Southeast have registered to participate in the Half Marathon, and we hope every one of them will check in at the Health and Fitness Expo.” [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…]

Feed the People Thanksgiving Dinner at High Places on Thursday

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High Places Community Church

The Second Annual Feed the People Thanksgiving Dinner is from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday.

Note: This story was updated at 10 a.m.

Volunteers have organized a free, hot meal this afternoon for the homeless, lonely, and those who have no family.

It’s the Second Annual Feed the People Thanksgiving Dinner, and it’s from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday at High Places Community Church in Oak Ridge.

“We simply do not want anyone to be alone on Thanksgiving,” organizers said.

The volunteers could serve several hundred meals, and they will deliver food to shut-in residents later today, organizer Kandace Tucker said. They will bring food to Callaghan Towers, Emory Valley Center, 82 E. Tennessee Ave., and Honeysuckle Lane this evening. [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…]

Fund forming to help family after student’s death as counselors meet with classmates

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Linden Elementary School

Linden Elementary School is pictured above.

Counselors met with students at Linden Elementary School this morning, and a parent-teacher organization is forming a fund to accept donations to help the family of a third-grader who died Tuesday, an official said.

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers said there were five counselors from elementary and middle schools, and the school psychologist who serves Linden, at the west-end elementary school this morning.

“They have met with students who appeared upset or anxious,” Borchers said in a Wednesday afternoon e-mail. “I will tell you, though, it has been remarkably calm in my opinion.”

The boy was found unresponsive on a school bus on Wilberforce Avenue at about 4:10 p.m. Tuesday. An ambulance took him to Methodist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The boy has not been identified, and the cause of his death has not been determined. [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…]

Linden student becomes unresponsive on bus, pronounced dead at hospital

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Linden Elementary School

Linden Elementary School is pictured above.

A Linden Elementary School student who became unresponsive on the bus ride home Tuesday afternoon was later pronounced dead at Methodist Medical Center, school officials said Tuesday evening.

“It is a very sad day for Linden Elementary, Oak Ridge Schools, and the entire Oak Ridge community,” Oak Ridge Schools said in a press release. “The thoughts and prayers of the Linden and Oak Ridge Schools’ staff go out to the family. The student was a wonderful student who was a Lion through and through.

“Please join us in keeping his family, friends, and the entire Linden Elementary School family in your thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time.”

Linden Elementary School will provide grief counselors at the school on Wednesday to help students, parents, and friends deal with their thoughts and feelings associated with this loss, the release said.

The boy was not identified.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Alexander opposes cell phone calls on airplanes as FCC considers rule change

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KLM 747

A low-flying KLM 747 airplane is pictured above. (Photo by Kitty Terwolbeck/Creative Commons License 2.0)

A proposed rule change announced Thursday that would allow air travelers to make cell phone calls above 10,000 feet has already generated a backlash.

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said he would also oppose the move.

“Imagine two million passengers, hurtling through space, trapped in 17-inch-wide seats, yapping their innermost thoughts,” Alexander said. “The Transportation Security Administration would have to hire three times as many air marshals to deal with the fistfights.”

On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission said it will consider changing the rules, which Chairman Tom Wheeler called out-of-date. The change would also allow air travelers to use their cellular data plans above 10,000 feet. Restrictions would remain for takeoffs and landings. [Read more…]

Man pistol-whipped, pregnant woman blacks out during home invasion

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Duran Maszae Lee

Duran Maszae Lee

An Oak Ridge man was allegedly hit in the head and face with a pistol, and a woman who is nine months pregnant blacked out from fear when a suspect pointed a silver revolver at her during a Friday night home invasion on Dewey Road, authorities said.

The suspects allegedly stole a Sentry safe containing $3,000 from a closet and fled in a vehicle before officers arrived.

But the white 2008 Cadillac CTS four-door sedan crashed into a utility pole a few minutes later on Delaware Avenue, less than a mile from the Dewey Road home, an Oak Ridge Police Department crash report said.

Duran Maszae Lee, 29, who was the driver and also a home invasion suspect, allegedly had three plastic baggies in his rear pocket, and they contained a green leafy-like plant substance believed to be marijuana, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. The baggies contained a total of 21.9 grams of suspected marijuana packaged for sale, ORPD Detective Kevin Craig said. [Read more…]

AC man accidentally shoots own hand

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Information from WYSH Radio

An Anderson County man accidentally shot himself in the hand Sunday night when he tried to force the wrong caliber of ammunition into his pistol.

Carlie Indmon Phillips, 45, sustained the wound Sunday night at a home on Hillbilly Way and was taken to Methodist Medical Center for treatment of an injury to his left index finger, according to an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department report.

Phillips had been called to his sister’s nearby home by his sister, who thought she had seen a prowler on the property. He grabbed his .357 Magnum revolver and went to her house but had no ammunition for the gun. His sister gave him .38 caliber ammo, and when he tried to force the round into the weapon by tapping it with his pocketknife, the round went off, striking him in the hand. [Read more…]

Fisher to run for Anderson County chancellor in 2014

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Brandon FIsher

Brandon FIsher

He’s been the juvenile court judge for close to four years, and now Brandon Fisher is running for Anderson County chancellor in the 2014 election.

Fisher was appointed Anderson County juvenile court judge in January 2010, replacing April Meldrum after she resigned, and he was elected in August 2010.

Fisher will seek to fill the seat now held by Chancellor William Lantrip, who has announced he will retire at the end of this eight-year term. [Read more…]