Oak Ridge Today

Y-12 Construction team honored for safety milestones

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B&W Y-12 Construction Awards

Tom Morris, B&W Y-12 vice president of projects, presents construction safety awards to Monica Lewis, Y-12 craft safety lead representative, and Kevin Adkisson, Knoxville Building and Construction Trades Council president.
(Submitted photos)

A B&W Y-12 construction team was recently honored for two major safety achievements: working more than one million hours without a lost-time accident and having no recordable injuries in 2012, a press release said.

The B&W Y‑12 Direct-Hire Construction team achieved the one-million-hour milestone in June 2012. By January 2013, the team had reached 1.4 million hours (more than 800 days) without a lost-time accident, the press release said. The team’s last lost workday occurred in September 2010.

Jim Haynes, B&W Y-12 senior vice president and deputy general manager for projects, called it “a superb accomplishment.

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ORAU welcomes four new universities as sponsoring institutions

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Andy Page

Andy Page

Oak Ridge Associated Universities recently welcomed Colorado State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Utah, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Philadelphia University, and South Carolina State as its newest sponsoring institutions.

The new members were welcomed during the 68th annual meeting of the ORAU Council of Sponsoring Institutions in Oak Ridge, a press release said.

“We’re honored to have these six institutions join our growing university consortium,” said ORAU President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Page. “Membership in ORAU’s consortium broadens the already diverse opportunities these universities provide for students and faculty researchers in many critical areas of science and technology.”

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Man taken to hospital with facial cuts after head-on collision

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Edgemoor Road Crash

A Harriman man driving this Kia Optima was taken to a hospital after a head-on, two-vehicle collision on Saturday morning on Edgemoor Road near Solway Park. (Photos by Tom Scott)

A Harriman man was taken to the hospital with cuts on his face and forehead after a head-on collision between two vehicles on Edgemoor Road Saturday morning.

Sergio Apolonio Cruz, 25, was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, an Oak Ridge Police Department crash report said.

The other driver, Mark Allen Mays, 33, of Knoxville, was not injured, the report said.

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Energy Communities Alliance supports Manhattan Project park bill

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Tom Beehan

Tom Beehan

A group of local governments associated with U.S. Department of Energy sites has reaffirmed its support for a Manhattan Project national park.

Proposed through legislation in the U.S. Congress, the park would commemorate the Manhattan Project, the top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. The park would include Oak Ridge; Los Alamos, N.M.; and Hanford, Wash.

“We are thrilled to see this step toward making the new national park a reality,” said Steve Young, secretary of the nonprofit Energy Communities Alliance and mayor of Kennewick, Wash. “There’s no question that the story of the Manhattan Project and the contributions of the men and women who supported it are of high interest to the American public. This creates a real opportunity for our communities to share our collective history while realizing the benefits of the heritage tourism industry a national park is likely to create.”

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Central Baptist has Easter egg hunt on March 23

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The Central Baptist Church in Oak Ridge will have an Easter egg hunt on Saturday, March 23.

It starts at 1:30 p.m. at Central Baptist Church at 103 Providence Road, and it’s for children up to 12 years old.

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President Truman’s grandson to discuss decision to bomb Japan in World War II

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Clifton Truman Daniel

Clifton Truman Daniel

In a speech later this month, the oldest grandson of former president Harry S. Truman will discuss his grandfather’s decision to use the world’s first atomic weapons at the end of World War II, a momentous decision that depended, at least in part, on work done in Oak Ridge.

Clifton Truman Daniel will also share insights about his grandfather’s life after Truman left the White House, and Daniel will discuss a family trip to Japan in 2012 for the 67th anniversary of the World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

Daniel will be in Oak Ridge on Thursday, March 28. His speech is hosted by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. It’s open to the public, and tickets are $20.

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Anderson County committee endorses ‘In God We Trust’ signs

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Public Hearing on In God We Trust Motto

Philip Warfield of Andersonville says county residents should be able to decide what goes on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton during a Monday committee hearing on putting the national motto “In God We Trust” on the three-story building.

CLINTON—After hearing from the Anderson County law director, a county committee on Monday endorsed a proposal to put the national motto “In God We Trust” above each of the four doors at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

The motion by Anderson County Commissioner Robert McKamey was endorsed in a 5-3 vote at an Anderson County Operations Committee meeting on Monday evening. All three “no” votes came from Oak Ridge commissioners.

McKamey’s motion called for installing black metal signs above the doors with white lettering that says “In God We Trust.” The total estimated cost is $500 or less, and the signs would be installed by a professional firm.

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Robbery suspect allegedly threatened to kill Kmart cashier

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Devlin Seth Walker

Devlin Seth Walker

Arrested Friday, the suspect in two recent robberies at the Kmart  pharmacy in Oak Ridge allegedly used misspelled hand-written notes to demand drugs and money and threaten to kill cashiers, authorities said.

In the first robbery, which occurred on Feb. 26, suspect Devlin Seth Walker, 34, of Lancing in Morgan County, allegedly handed a cashier a note that said, “Give me all your money and a bottle of Percoset or I will kill you,” according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

The cashier handed Walker the money from the register and the note, the warrants said. Walker then allegedly walked around the pharmacy counter and threatened the pharmacist. The pharmacist was allegedly forced to open a locked cabinet where the narcotics are stored, and Walker took four bottles of 10mg oxycodone from the cabinet and fled the store, said the warrants, filed by Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Criswell.

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Anderson committee to discuss ‘In God We Trust’ motto, county vehicle

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An Anderson County committee this evening will discuss legal and liability issues associated with placing the national motto “In God We Trust” on the County Courthouse in Clinton.

The Anderson County Commission agreed in a 12-4 vote last month to put the motto on the courthouse, although there were some unanswered questions about design and legal liability. The commission referred the decision to the Anderson County Operations Committee, which will discuss it at 6 p.m. today in Room 312 of the County Courthouse.

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‘Girls of Atomic City’ author will be at March 19 lecture, book signing

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Denise Kiernan

Denise Kiernan

A March 19 community lecture will feature an author who has written about Oak Ridge women and the second world war.

Denise Kiernan is author of “The Girls of the Atomic City—the Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II.”

She will be the featured speaker during the Tuesday, March 19, lecture, which starts at 6 p.m. at the American Museum of Science and Energy. It’s part of the 16th Annual Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series.

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Fire Department, state Fire Academy hosting fire officer class

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The Oak Ridge Fire Department has been hosting the Tennessee Fire Academy for a Fire Officer I and II class, a press release said.

ORFD has been hosting the class with the Tennessee Fire Service and Code Academy. It started the first week of January and will end the last week of March.

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Seminar for small businesses on federal government contracting

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A Wednesday morning program will help small business owners understand how to do business with the federal government.

It’s presented by the Tennessee Small Business Development Center and University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services. It’s scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

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