Oak Ridge Today

Guest column: Independence Day traffic safety

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The Fourth of July may be America’s iconic holiday, but all too often the revelry ends in tragedy on the highways due to drunk driving. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department urges everyone to celebrate this Independence Day with a pledge to keep our community “independent” from drunk driving.

“The Fourth may be one of the nation’s most popular holidays, but, unfortunately, it’s also one of the most dangerous in terms of alcohol-related fatalities,” Sheriff Paul White said. “Too many people think they can get behind the wheel because they’ve only had a few drinks and just have a ‘buzz’ on. The truth is you don’t have to be ‘falling down drunk’ to be a menace to yourself and everyone around you on the highways. Remember: ‘Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving.'” [Read more…]

Three arrested, crowd pepper-sprayed during arrests at fireworks show

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Information from WYSH Radio

Three people were arrested Saturday night during the “Fire on the Water” fireworks show at Sequoyah Marina on Norris Lake after a disturbance that ended with an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy deploying pepper spray on an allegedly angry crowd of onlookers.

The incident began at around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when a homeowner on Sequoyah Drive approached three deputies assigned to a special detail to monitor the festivities and told them that he was having a private engagement party on his property. He told the deputies that two men and a woman had come onto the property from the public area roped off for fireworks viewing, taken beer, threatened party guests, and refused to leave. [Read more…]

ACSD probing Tuesday fire

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a fire that destroyed a mobile home on Old Lake City Highway as suspicious.

The Medford Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene of the fire at around 10 p.m. Tuesday. [Read more…]

Deputies arrest man accused of beating uncle with bat

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Joseph Allen Huskey

Joseph Allen Huskey

A Clinton man accused of beating his uncle with a wooden baseball bat on Saturday and stealing his prescription medications, including Xanax and oxycodone, was arrested Wednesday, authorities said.

Joseph Allen Huskey, 30, has been charged with especially aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, and theft, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said. He is being held in the Anderson County Jail under a $152,500 bond.

Huskey allegedly beat his uncle at the Belmont Lane home they shared, breaking a bone in his right leg and bruising his shins, arms, and hands, according to a Sheriff’s Department incident report. [Read more…]

WYSH: Nephew allegedly assaults uncle, steals pills

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Clinton man reported that he had been assaulted and robbed by his nephew late Saturday night, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

An ACSD deputy was sent to Tennova North Medical Center in Knoxville early Monday morning, where he spoke with the victim, William Scarbrough, 53. Scarbrough told the deputy that at around midnight Saturday, his 30-year-old nephew Joseph Allen Huskey—who lives with him—had come in to his bedroom and hit him several times with a baseball bat before stealing his prescription oxycodone and Xanax pills and fleeing the scene. [Read more…]

Anderson Commission unanimously approves budget with small tax cut

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Note: This story was updated at 1:12 p.m. June 18.

CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission unanimously approved a budget that cut the property tax rate by one-third of a penny on Monday.

It was a small but symbolic gesture, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said when she proposed the move, and commissioners endorsed it, during a special meeting last week.

For now, officials have resolved an impasse over whether there was enough money to cover the cost of new jailers hired in the past year by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for a jail dormitory that is already open—and to pay for more than 30 new jailers needed when a 212-bed addition opens later this year or early next. [Read more…]

Anderson Commission considers small tax cut, re-established alternatives to jail

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CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission could officially approve a budget tonight that lowers the property tax rate by one-third of a penny, and commissioners will consider re-establishing the Alternatives to Incarceration program under the direction and control of the Sheriff’s Department.

Commission will also consider selling 22.4 acres in the David Jones Industrial Park, with a 4.27-acre swap. The land would be sold for $13,500 per acre, with 2.9 acres removed from the original parcel to be retained by Anderson County.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Room 312 at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. [Read more…]

Anderson budget cuts tax rate; officials assure sheriff new jailers are covered

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CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission endorsed a budget Thursday that lowers the property tax rate, gives employees a day off, and is supposed to provide enough money to pay for jailers hired in the past year while allowing the sheriff to hire new ones for a jail addition that could open later this year.

The budget would also restore some funding for the relatively new Alternatives to Incarceration program, which Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank had proposed cutting by 80 percent, and add money to cover the cost of increased health insurance premiums for county employees.

The budget was endorsed in a 12-1-1 vote during a special meeting Thursday, the second this week. It could officially be adopted during the County Commission’s regular meeting on Monday. [Read more…]

Guest column: County mayor proposes restructuring alternatives to incarceration

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Created by an Anderson County Commission resolution in 2011, the Alternatives to Incarceration, or ATI, program has been batted around as a political hot topic. Though there appears to be disagreement regarding the program, there seems to be agreement on the purpose, intent, and merit of the program. As is the case with most programs, debate centers on implementation.

After much study of ATI as currently structured, I offered steps in our budget proposal to allow us to step away from the mistakes or misunderstandings that took place at the program’s inception in 2011, restructure with more modest and measurable goals, and allow room for growth in the number of clients the program will serve. Small steps forward will allow for much needed growth in trust and credibility of the program itself. The program also needs more realistic, tangible goals to achieve success, and it needs a cooling-off period to allow the mission to depoliticize.

Success requires the confidence of participants, that is, ATI stakeholders like our public defender, our district attorney general, our judges, and our law enforcement community.

The proposed restructuring emphasizes the original mission of the program—offering true alternatives to alleviate jail overcrowding—but it also redirects 1.62 cents on the tax rate to immediate needs: more detention officers. [Read more…]

Follow-up: AC budget debate continues

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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…]

Female pioneer in law enforcement dies after battle with cancer, sheriff says

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Peggy Murphy, a longtime deputy who was a pioneer in law enforcement, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday. She was 68.

“Deputy Peggy Murphy was a veteran law enforcement officer,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a statement. “One of the female pioneers in law enforcement, she began her career with the Clinton Police Department in 1966. Peggy served with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department from 1976 until 1986. She returned to the Sheriff’s Department in 2006 and served until her death. [Read more…]

Anderson budget: Funding for jailers, jail alternatives program obstacles to budget plan

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Information from WYSH Radio

Last week, the Anderson County Commission held a public hearing on the budget, and the biggest obstacles to having a fiscal plan in place for the new fiscal year are finding funding for the Sheriff’s Department to adequately staff the soon-to-be-completed jail expansion and what to do about the embattled alternatives to incarceration program.

The Sheriff’s Office has requested funding for 34 jailers but as it stands now, the budget contains money for 15 jailers. [Read more…]