Oak Ridge Today

Street painting festival needs artists, sponsors

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2013 Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival

Winning chalk painting from the 2013 Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival. (Submitted photo)

 

Artists of all ages will “paint” sidewalk squares with chalk after community supporters “buy” squares by writing checks. In these ways, the 15th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival can be a big fundraising success, organizers say.

In addition, participants in this event can help improve East Tennessee’s economy by giving students the chance to learn valuable technical skills that companies require.

Artists and sponsors are needed for the 15th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival. It will be held Saturday, October 4 (the rain day is on Sunday, Oct. 5), at the Oak Ridge Branch Campus of Roane State Community College, 701 Briarcliff Avenue.

The purpose of the festival, organized and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, is to raise funds for scholarships for Roane State students. The festival is also a competition for the artists; first-prize winners in a variety of categories and the People’s Choice award winner will get $50 cash awards. [Read more…]

Sewer rehab work continues week of Sept. 15

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More rehabilitation work of the city’s sewer collection pipes is scheduled to continue this week, starting Monday, September 15.

The work is being done by Hurst Excavating and Morgan Contracting under contract with the City of Oak Ridge. It includes rehabilitating sewer collection pipes within city easements in yards and in roadways, a press release said.

Residents should already have received color-coded letters and door hangers (orange for Hurst Excavating and purple for Morgan Contracting) providing general information and each contractors’ contact information.

Motorists, pedestrians and cyclists are urged to use extra care and caution when traveling on the streets with sewer work areas, a press release said. Temporary road repairs will be made, and loose gravel should be expected until the patches are permanently paved. [Read more…]

Sewer rehab work continues week of Sept. 8

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More rehabilitation work of the city’s sewer collection pipes is scheduled to continue this week, starting Monday, September 8.

The work is being done by Hurst Excavating and Morgan Contracting under contract with the City of Oak Ridge. It includes rehabilitating sewer collection pipes within city easements in yards and in roadways, a press release said.

Residents should already have received color-coded letters and door hangers (orange for Hurst Excavating and purple for Morgan Contracting) providing general information and each contractors’ contact information.

Motorists, pedestrians and cyclists are urged to use extra care and caution when traveling on the streets with sewer work areas, a press release said. Temporary road repairs will be made, and loose gravel should be expected until the patches are permanently paved. [Read more…]

Letter: CONTACT Care Line helps those in need by phone, chat, text

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To the Editor:

Many articles in recent weeks have been reflecting on the suicide of Robin Williams and providing national help lines.

For over 40 years, right here in our community, CONTACT Care Line has provided a listening ear to those who are lonely, in crisis, having a bad day, or just need someone to talk to. CONTACT Care Line, serving the 865 area code and beyond, is a local nonprofit staffed by trained volunteers who are available to listen seven days a week, 365 days a year, from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The number to call to reach a listening ear is (865) 584-4424. All calls are confidential.

CONTACT recently added a local chat service (CONTACTCareLineTN.org/chat) and a text service ((865) 407-2TXT) available Monday-Friday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Chat/text specialists also take Suicide Prevention Line crisis chats from across Tennessee between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. weekdays. [Read more…]

Sheriff offers back-to-school traffic safety tips

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Anderson County Sheriff's Department Motor Squad

Another school year begins on Monday, August 4, for Anderson County high school students, and the first day of school for all students is Wednesday, August 6.

In a press release, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department offered tips to make school zones safer and improve traffic safety.

“With school in session, there will be significantly more traffic,” Sheriff Paul White said in a press release. “Pedestrians, buses, and parents all contribute to school zone congestion. Many schools in Anderson County are faced with traffic issues, especially during the first few days.”

White said motorists should have a heightened awareness in and around a school zone. [Read more…]

Temptations Revue featuring Nate Evans at ORHS for Aug. 9 fundraiser

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Temptations Nate Evans Theater

The Temptations Revue featuring Nate Evans will perform at Oak Ridge High School on August 9 in a fundraiser for the proposed revitalization of Jack Armstrong Stadium and Blankenship Field.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. August 9. The Temptations Revue will perform Motown hits like “My Girl,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Get Ready,” “Just My Imagination,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “I Wish It Would Rain,” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”

The concert is presented by the Oak Ridge Quarterback Club, with all proceeds going to the revitalization effort.

You can buy tickets at www.temptationsrevueorhs.evenbrite.com.

Spotlight: Picture of Turnpike, Illinois Avenue shopping area in 1944

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Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike Shopping Area

The shopping area at Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike, where the new Kroger Marketplace is now, is pictured above in 1944. (U.S. Department of Energy photo by Ed Westcott)

 

The shopping center at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue where the new Kroger Marketplace is now was previously home to a shopping area.

Here is a picture of that area taken by Ed Westcott in 1944. Westcott was the official government photographer here during the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II, when Oak Ridge was built to help enrich uranium for the world’s first atomic weapons.

The photo is on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office page on Flickr.

The new Kroger store, which replaced a few businesses and a small neighborhood, is the company’s fifth in Oak Ridge, and it opened a few weeks ago. The new shopping center has been named the Westcott Center in honor of Westcott.

Note: Thanks to Ginny Boeing Manning at RSI for bringing this photo to our attention.

Photos: July 4 fireworks, Oak Ridge Community Band

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July 4, 2014, Fireworks in Oak Ridge

The July 4 fireworks in Oak Ridge were at Alvin K. Bissell Park. (Photos by Fred O’Hara)

 

The annual Independence Day celebration and fireworks display in Oak Ridge was Friday, July 4, at Alvin K. Bissell Park. The festivities started at 7:30 p.m. with a free concert by the Oak Ridge Community Band, and they ended with the fireworks display at 10 p.m.

It was the 70th anniversary of the Community Band’s first concert held on July 4, 1944.

Here are pictures by Fred O’Hara. [Read more…]

Roane State medical transcription program has new name

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Applications now being accepted

Roane State Community College has changed the name of its one-year medical transcription program.

The certificate program is now called healthcare documentation specialist. The name change reflects changes taking place in the medical transcription industry and the program’s emphasis on new skills that employers want.

While traditional medical transcription remains part of the program, students also practice editing reports generated by speech recognition software.

“Students still need to know transcription,” program director Linda Marsh said. “But the use of speech recognition software is growing. Editing reports generated by this software requires an additional skill set than traditional medical transcription. The job function is quickly going from transcribing to editing and very often the healthcare documentation specialist may edit documentation inside the electronic health record environment. They may also perform quality checks. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Reservation Communities Alliance meets at TDEC office

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The Oak Ridge Reservation Communities Alliance will meet on Thursday, June 26, at 1:30 p.m. at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s DOE-Oversight Office in Oak Ridge.

Fleischmann urges caution on U.S. response to Iraq

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U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann on Friday urged caution in responding to the rapid advance of militants who have taken control of a wide swath of Iraq and are pressing on toward Baghdad.

Fleischmann was in Oak Ridge during the annual two-day Secret City Festival.

The militants are known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The Sunni organization was once part of Al Qaeda, and it has effectively gained control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria during the past year, including Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. There have been battles in Baquba, less than 40 miles north of Baghdad.

Now, the United States and other countries are struggling with how to respond. Among the options that have been proposed are airstrikes and working with Iran to repel the rebels. [Read more…]

The Smithsonian, ORNL partner to advance science, education

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Smithsonian Wayne Clough, Thom Mason, and Jeff Nichols

Pictured above during a Thursday signing ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution’s Castle Commons are, from left, Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; ORNL Director Thom Mason; and ORNL associate lab director for computing and computational sciences Jeff Nichols. (Photo by John Gibbons/Smithsonian)

 

The Smithsonian Institution and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have announced a new partnership to support collaborative research programs and science education efforts. This is the first partnership between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Smithsonian, which was formalized during the signing of a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, on Thursday, June 12.

The Smithsonian and Oak Ridge National Laboratory both examine many of the world’s most complex and time-sensitive scientific problems and support many research programs that complement and reinforce each other. They also support science education to impact students and teachers from elementary school through post-doctoral studies. The MOU, signed by Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough and ORNL Director Thom Mason, creates a framework for future collaboration between the two organizations that leverages the strengths of each.

“The Smithsonian is proud to partner with another organization that realizes that basic research is vital to the future of the nation, and that knowledge about the natural world is inherently valuable to society,” Clough said. “This agreement will help us each maximize our strengths and achieve our common goals across a broad spectrum of scientific endeavor.” [Read more…]