Oak Ridge Today

USRowing: A day for hope and championships

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Hope Quad

The Narrangansett Boat Club stenciled “Hope” on their quad in honor of Hope Wilhelm, who died Saturday and was the mother of junior coach Peter Wilhelm. (Images courtesy Ed Moran/USRowing)

By Ed Moran/USRowing

Late Saturday, with the finals in the youth national championships on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge only hours away, the athletes from Narragansett Boat Club learned they had lost a member of their small family back home in Rhode Island.

Hope Wilhelm, Narragansett junior coach Peter Wilhelm’s 89-year-old mother, had died. [Read more…]

USRowing Youth National Championships end this afternoon

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

USRowing Youth National Championships

More than 1,500 athletes have competed this weekend in the USRowing Youth National Championships on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge. The championship finals in 18 featured events end this afternoon.

More than 1,500 athletes have competed this weekend in the USRowing Youth National Championships on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge. The championship finals in 18 featured events end this afternoon, and 108 athletes are seeking national titles today.

The championships feature some 369 crews from 153 clubs in 30 states competing in back-to-back races. [Read more…]

The leg bone is connected to the hip prosthesis: Students analyze artificial implants

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

ASM Materials Camp Lab Instrument

Student Hunter Stombaugh loads a material sample into the Saphir 550.3, a laboratory instrument used to grind and polish samples before placing them in an electron microscope for analysis. (Submitted photos)

Fifteen high school students and one college freshman recently got up close and personal with lab equipment worth nearly a half-million dollars at the ASM International Materials Camp. During the weeklong camp, students performed failure analyses on prosthetic implants including a hip prosthesis, pelvic clamps, a tibial nail, and tibial component. An area surgeon provided the sterilized implants, along with X-rays showing the implants before they were removed from patients.

The ASM Materials Camp is organized and sponsored by Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tech 20/20, and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Steve Dekanich, an engineer in B&W Y-12’s Quality Assurance, is the camp co-chairman. [Read more…]

Three ORNL staff members cited for vehicle technologies work

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Scott Curran

Scott Curran

Ron Graves

Ron Graves

Three Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff members—Scott Curran, Ron Graves, and Janet Hopson—were recognized following a U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office, or VTO, annual merit review.

Curran was recognized with a 2013 VTO Research and Development Award for “his leadership in transitioning reactivity controlled compression ignition combustion from a single cylinder to a multi-cylinder engine using bio-renewable fuels.” [Read more…]

UT Medical Center can’t comment on condition of child hit by car in Oak Ridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The University of Tennessee Medical Center could not provide information on the condition of an eight-year-old boy hit by a car on Wednesday afternoon in Oak Ridge—or even confirm whether the child was at the hospital.

An Oak Ridge Police Department report said the boy was hit by a 1998 Toyota Camry in the parking lot of British Woods Apartments at about 4:35 p.m. Wednesday. The four-door sedan was driven by Zhenfeng Han, 33, who lives at the apartment complex on Briarcliff Avenue. [Read more…]

Drug awareness at Oak Ridge pool today

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Chapter of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks will be hosting “Drug Awareness Day” at the Oak Ridge Municipal Pool this Saturday, June 8. This event is a partnership with Anderson County Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention, Roane County Anti-Drug Coalition, the City of Oak Ridge Parks and Recreation Department, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Drug awareness demonstrations will be held from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. inside the pool area. A few of the planned activities include the TWRA jet ski simulator and fatal vision goggle demonstrations. “Elroy the Elk” the national mascot for the Elks Drug Awareness Program will be in attendance to remind kids that hugs are better than drugs. Hundreds of prizes will be given away to those participating in a drug awareness activity. Some of the prizes include T-shirts, coloring books, Frisbees, and free passes to the pool that can be used anytime during the summer. [Read more…]

Y-12 security failed to follow procedure, allowed driver to enter site, NNSA says

Posted at
By 8 Comments

Security Officers at Y-12 East Gate

Security police officers stand guard during an August 2012 peace protest at the east gate and main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex at Bear Creek and Scarboro roads.

Police officers at the Y-12 National Security Complex failed to follow established procedures when they allowed an Oak Ridge woman who did not have permission to be at the nuclear weapons plant to drive through the main entrance at Scarboro Road on Thursday morning, federal officials said.

Brenda L. Haptonstall, 62, told Oak Ridge police she was looking for a new, low-cost apartment complex and followed morning commuters through the east gate at the Y-12 National Security Complex at about 6:10 a.m. Thursday.

An Oak Ridge Police Department report said Haptonstall drove unhindered through the plant before she was stopped by security officers at the west gate. Haptonstall told ORPD Officer Roy J. Heinz that she thought there must have been a crash at Y-12 because there were “nice officers waving her through with illuminated flashlight cones,” the report said. [Read more…]

Anderson Chamber award winners announced

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce will pay tribute to local businesses at the “Dinner on the Lawn” event held at the majestic Brownworth Manor at 710 Eagle Bend Road in Clinton today.

The evening starts at 6:30 p.m. with a social hour on the patio, live music in the gazebo, and a fun silent auction. “Dinner on the Lawn” will be served at 7:30 p.m. followed by the Chamber’s “Tribute to Business” award ceremony. [Read more…]

Some postal customers told to switch from house boxes to curbside mail

Posted at
By 37 Comments

Information from WYSH Radio

Some postal customers in Oak Ridge have recently received letters from the U.S. Postal Service telling them that they need to install curbside mailboxes as part of the ongoing effort to help the federal agency stop hemorrhaging money.

The letters are being sent to postal customers who still use house boxes to receive their mail. The letter states that the request is being made because “letter carriers can service more mailboxes in their vehicles than they can by walking door-to-door.” The letter states that customers have 10 days from receiving it to switch to the curbside mailbox before “mail received at the box will be returned to sender” as if no mail receptacle existed. [Read more…]

Follow-up: AC budget debate continues

Posted at
By 2 Comments

Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Commission will hold a special-called meeting on Monday, June 10, at 6 p.m. in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton to continue their discussions of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1.

The main hurdles to passing a budget so far have been finding funds for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department to hire enough jailers to adequately staff the jail expansion scheduled for completion later this year and what to do with a program aimed at keeping the chronically overcrowded jail’s population down. The Sheriff’s Office has requested money to hire 34 jailers but so far funds for only 15 have been found. [Read more…]

USRowing Youth National Championships began today, end Sunday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

USRowing Youth National Championships

Photo courtesy of USRowing

By Ed Moran/USRowing

Starting earlier this week, trailers loaded with boats and equipment pulled out of the parking lots of junior and high school crew boathouses across the country and headed to Oak Ridge for the 2013 USRowing Youth National Championships, June 7-9.

Some 369 crews from 153 clubs representing 30 states began arriving at the Melton Hill Lake race venue Wednesday to compete for three days with the hopes of winning a national championship in one of the 18 events featured in both sweep and sculling boats.

Racing begins each morning at 8 a.m. and will continue through 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday with heats, reps, and semifinals leading up to the Sunday finals.

[Read more…]

Relay for Life moved indoors tonight, ends at midnight due to forecast

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Relay for Life will be held indoors at the Oak Ridge High School tonight due to the risk of bad weather, the American Cancer Society said.

“We will be in the corridor and the B Gym,” representative Kayla Shelby said in a statement Thursday. She said participants should enter through the doors they would use to go to the arena, and the event will be modified, ending at midnight.

[Read more…]