A sewer line that runs underneath Oak Ridge Turnpike will be replaced, and two roads on the east end of town could occasionally be closed starting today and ending in January, a city press release said.
The two roads, Science.Gov Way and Brisbane Road, could also have intermittent traffic interruptions or temporary lane closures through Jan. 11, the release said.
Team UT-Battelle volunteer Heather Terry sorts Angel Tree gifts donated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees. (Submitted photos)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Team UT-Battelle Angel Tree effort delivered clothing and gifts to area community agencies and schools this week. The items will brighten the holiday season for 240 needy children.
The gifts range from bikes to toys to clothes. Employees can also make monetary donations. In fact, members of the Atomic Labor and Trades Council, the laboratory bargaining unit, contributed $500.
The laboratory’s Angel Tree is electronic: Lab staff members can access a web page that offers anonymous selections of children from surrounding counties including Anderson, Roane, Loudon, Morgan, Union, Blount, Campbell and Knox. The donor can then donate a gift based on the child’s age, gender, size and interests provided by the website. As in past years, all 240 of the tree’s virtual “ornaments” were selected.
Representatives of Oak Ridge Associated Universities and the U.S. Department of Energy at a recent ceremony recognizing their partnership in the management of a high school science bowl. Among those pictured are DOE Program Manager Greg Mills (center back), ORNL Site Office Manager Johnny Moore (second from left), and ORAU President and CEO Andy Page (third from left). (Submitted photo)
Oak Ridge Associated Universities was recently recognized for its continued support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Tennessee Science Bowl, an annual competition to encourage high school students to excel in science and math and pursue careers in those fields.
Johnny Moore, DOE’s site office manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, presented a commemorative plaque to ORAU for its support of the science bowl.
In a letter to ORAU President and CEO Andy Page, Moore emphasized that coordinating the event—which in 2012 hosted more than 300 students, coaches, and volunteers over a two-day period—was a “huge undertaking and (ORAU) staff performed in an incredible manner to make it happen.”
More than 100 businesses, clubs, and community organizations have registered for the Oak Ridge Christmas Parade on Saturday.
The parade will start at 6 p.m. Saturday at Corporate Center on the corner of Lafayette Drive and Laboratory Road. From there, it will travel down Lafayette to the Oak Ridge Turnpike. It will continue west on the Turnpike to Oak Ridge High School.
Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation Executive Director Lila Metcalf presents a $402,611 check to Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson to help pay the debt on the renovation of the Oak Ridge High School. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation recently made its eighth annual contribution for the rebuilding and renovation of Oak Ridge High School, a project that was completed in 2008.
In November, Lila Metcalf, the foundation’s executive director, presented a check for $402,611 to Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson to assist in the high school debt repayment. Since the payments began in 2005, the Education Foundation has presented the city with more than $3.5 million for the high school.
The Education Foundation raised $8 million in private funds for the high school, and that money provided the leverage for special bonds available for public schools. Together, the private funds and bonds provided the final piece of funding that made the renovation of Oak Ridge High School possible.
The Emory Valley Center recently received a $477 donation from the M.R. Foundation of Tennessee Inc., a Tennessee Knights of Columbus Clinton Chapter charity. EVC President Jennifer Enderson accepted the donation from Michael Haka of the Knights of Columbus. (Submitted photo)
The Emory Valley Center in Oak Ridge recently received a $477 donation from Knights of Columbus Clinton Chapter.
The Emory Valley Center is in the middle of a fund-raising campaign to build a new facility next to its current offices on Emory Valley Road.
EVC President Jennifer Enderson accepted the recent donation from Michael Haka of the Knights of Columbus.
The money came from the M.R. Foundation of Tennessee Inc., Tennessee Knights of Columbus Clinton Chapter charity, a press release said.
The American Museum of Science and Energy is offering free admission to three more movies on Friday nights in December.
It’s part of the “Movies at the Museum” series that started in November.
This Friday night, AMSE will show ”The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.” This 1953 film (NR) follows a carnivorous dinosaur that resulted from an arctic nuclear test, thawed out, and started making its way down the east coast of North America, a press release said.
Trina Baughn
After asking Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan to consider resigning, new City Council member Trina Baughn requested trip and cost information for all of his city-related travel in the past five years.
She asked Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson for the trip information in a Wednesday afternoon e-mail.
Baughn requested the mayor’s travel records for the dozen boards and committees she knows about, as well as any she doesn’t. She asked Watson to also give the total cost of each trip, including mileage, per diem, hotel expenses, entertainment, and other charges, as well as the funding sources.
Terry Frank
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has asked the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department to postpone its controversial proposal to switch to a subscription-based plan.
The AVFD currently relies on donations, but Fire Chief Jeff Bagwell has proposed switching to a membership-based department on Jan. 1. Residents would pay a tax-deductible fee of 0.08 cents per square foot. The fire department would still respond to all fires, but non-members would be billed for service, Bagwell said in an Oct. 22 letter and list of frequently asked questions.
The first hour of a response to a structure fire could cost $1,900, Bagwell said.
“Fires could result in several thousands of dollars,” he said.
The three anti-nuclear weapons activists pictured above allegedly cut through fences and vandalized a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and now face federal charges of property destruction, property depredation, and injuring national defense premises. From left to right the three are Michael R. Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (Submitted photo)
A new federal charge has been added against the three protesters who allegedly cut through fences at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on a uranium storage building.
A three-count indictment returned against Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli adds a new count of injuring national-defense premises, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a Wednesday morning press release. The new charge carries a longer prison sentence of up to 20 years.
The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Knoxville on Tuesday supersedes the earlier three-count indictment from August.
The new indictment does not include the earlier trespassing charge. However, it does include the previous charges of property destruction and property depredation. Including all the charges, the protesters, who are opposed to Y-12’s nuclear weapons work, now face jail sentences of up to 35 years and fines of up to $750,000.
Anderson County has been awarded almost $30,000 in federal funds under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program.
The money will be used to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the county, the United Way of Anderson County said in a Wednesday morning press release.
Trina Baughn
Tom Beehan
New Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn has asked Mayor Tom Beehan to drop his bid for a third term as mayor and consider resigning.
In a column posted on her website and submitted to local media, Baughn lobs accusations at the mayor that range from his alleged public encouragement of “backroom meetings” on the high school debt to the alleged benefits he received from the $30 million Kroger Marketplace shopping center.
“An overwhelming percentage of Oak Ridgers have lost all confidence in Tom Beehan’s leadership abilities,” Baughn said. “They elected me to be their voice, and with this letter, I am keeping the only campaign promise that I specifically made: I will not cast my vote for Tom Beehan as mayor.”
The seven-member council is expected to appoint a mayor to serve a two-year term during a Monday, Dec. 10, meeting.
It’s Baughn’s first major move as a new City Council member, and Beehan dismissed it with dismay this week.
“If you had to fact-check that whole column and label it, it would be ‘pants on fire,’” Beehan said. “It’s mostly fiction.”
