Anderson County will have a Christmas open house on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.
The open house is scheduled from 2-4 p.m.
Employees will be collecting new stuffed animals for foster children in Anderson County.
Chamber of Commerce announces parade award winners
The Oak Ridge Christmas Parade on Saturday featured floats and more than 100 businesses, clubs, and community organizations. (Photo by D. Ray Smith)
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce has announced the winners of six awards at Saturday’s Christmas parade.
Here is a list of the winners:
- Spectacular Sparkles Award—TransTech
- Elfin Magic Award—Oak Ridge Civic Ballet Association
- Spirit Award—Girl Scouts
- Director’s Award—Oak Ridge High School WildBand
- Chamber Award—Calvary Baptist Church
- Judge’s Award—Oak Ridge Electric Department
Recreation and Parks Department selling gift certificates for swimming
The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department is selling gift certificates for 2013 swimming programs. Summer season passes, books of tickets, and swim lessons gift certificates are available at the 2012 rate until Jan. 1.
Certificates may be purchased at the Oak Ridge Civic Center front desk. The Recreation and Parks Department fee schedule will change Jan. 1, a press release said. For complete information on the new fee structure, visit www.orrecparks.org.
For more information, contact the Recreation and Parks Department at (865) 425-3450 or visit the city’s website at www.oakridgetn.gov.
Organizations help move Christmas toys for children
Members of the Oak Ridge Kiwanis, Enrichment Federal Credit Union, and Keys clubs in Oak Ridge and Clinton help move toys and gifts at the Holiday Bureau. (Submitted photo)
Members of the Oak Ridge Kiwanis, Enrichment Federal Credit Union, and Keys clubs in Oak Ridge and Clinton recently helped move toys and gifts at the Holiday Bureau, preparing them for distribution later to needy families.
The Kiwanis Club of Oak Ridge announced last month that it was collecting toys, games, books, stuffed animals, and movies through Dec. 4 to give to the Holiday Bureau.
The Holiday Bureau distributes them to families with children before Christmas, selecting recipients based on household income.
Roane State campuses closed Dec. 15-Jan. 1 for holidays
All Roane State Community College campuses will be closed Saturday, Dec. 15 through Tuesday, Jan. 1 for the holidays.
The campuses will reopen on Wednesday, Jan. 2, and spring classes will begin on Thursday, Jan. 17, a press release said.
Council to elect mayor, vice mayor; could hire shelter veterinarian
The Oak Ridge City Council will appoint a mayor and vice mayor on Monday, one month after the Nov. 6 election.
Council will also consider hiring a full-time veterinarian at the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter and approving a pair of $17,000 demolition contracts for two city-owned homes.
The current mayor, Tom Beehan, and vice mayor, Jane Miller, have both asked to be appointed to a third two-year term. In Oak Ridge, the mayor and vice mayor—officially called mayor pro tem—are also council members, and they are appointed after each municipal election.
There has been some public opposition to re-appointing Beehan as mayor. It has been led by new Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn.
Oak Ridge, Woman’s Club light Christmas tree
The Oak Ridge Woman’s Club and the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department had the annual Christmas tree lighting at A.K. Bissell Park on Friday night.
Several hundred people attended the annual Christmas tree lighting and concert at A.K. Bissell Park and Civic Center on Friday night.
It was sponsored by the Oak Ridge Woman’s Club and the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department.
Entertainment after the tree lighting included music by the Jefferson Middle School Orchestra, a Linden Elementary School chorus, and the Oak Ridge Community Band.
ETEC presents 2012 Muddy Boot awards, Young Professional Medal
Jim Campbell
Bonnie Carroll
The East Tennessee Economic Council on Friday named three new recipients of the Muddy Boot Award, a tribute to individuals who through their work and community activities make East Tennessee a stronger region. It also presented the eighth annual Postma Young Professional Medal.
This year’s Muddy Boot honorees were Bonnie Carroll, chairman of the board and chief knowledge officer of Information International Associates, or IIa; Jenny Freeman, vision implementation manager of Strata-G; and Jim Campbell, president of ETEC.
The 2012 Postma Young Professional Medal winner was Rebecca Crowe, small business advocate for Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
Opposed to nuclear weapons work, Y-12 protesters refused to plead guilty
Three anti-nuclear weapons activists who sneaked into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28 allegedly splashed human blood and, quoting Proverbs, sprayed paint on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. The protesters also hammered the building, causing it to chip, and strung up crime scene tape. (Submitted photo)
The three protesters who vandalized a uranium storage building at Y-12 National Security Complex in July said they would not accept a plea deal from the federal government earlier this year, even though prosecutors threatened to charge them with more serious sabotage crimes.
“We chose to exercise our constitutional right to a jury trial and refused to bow down to their threats,” the trio said in a statement released Wednesday. “We remain convinced that making and refurbishing nuclear weapons at Y-12 is both illegal under U.S. and international law, and it is also immoral. Ultimately, we are required to follow the law of love and our consciences.”
Calling themselves Transform Now Plowshares, the three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli— allegedly cut through fences at Y-12 before dawn on Saturday, July 28, entered a high-security area where deadly force is authorized, and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Knoxville returned a new charge against the trio for this summer’s unprecedented intrusion. The new count of injuring national-defense premises carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, longer than any of the earlier potential penalties.
Things to do in Oak Ridge this weekend
Activities in Oak Ridge this weekend include a free movie, Christmas tree lighting, and Children’s Museum gala tonight and the annual Christmas parade tomorrow.
There is also a CONTACT Helpline pancake breakfast, rides with Santa on the Secret City Excursion Train, and the Roane State Community College holiday concert in Harriman.
See the Oak Ridge Today events calendar for more information.
The calendar is updated as we receive more information.
Pancake breakfast to benefit CONTACT Helpline
A pancake breakfast at Lincoln’s Sports Grille on Saturday will benefit CONTACT Helpline.
The breakfast is from 8 to 10 a.m., and it will feature local “celebrity servers,” a press release said.
Science.gov celebrates 10 years
A federal science website that offers access to millions of web pages and is hosted by an organization with offices in Oak Ridge celebrates its 10th anniversary this month.
Science.gov was launched in December 2002. It has broken new ground in interagency collaboration, a press release said, and offers access to more than 200 million pages of scientific information, a “one-stop” shop for real-time science data.
It’s hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information, located in Washington, D.C., and Oak Ridge. Science.gov has more than 34 million page views per year, a 45-fold increase from the earliest days, the press release said. It can help users answer a range of scientific questions.
