Here is the sample ballot for the August 2 general election in Anderson County. There are also write-in candidates who have been campaigning for some of these offices, although they don’t appear on the ballot.
The county general election includes selections for mayor, sheriff, county commission, trustee, circuit court clerk, county clerk, register of deeds, road superintendent, and school board, among other positions. Some of the candidates have no opposition. [Read more…]
Note: This story was last updated at 10:35 a.m.
Today, August 2, is Election Day in Anderson County. The election includes the Anderson County general election and state and federal primary elections.
It’s the second of three elections this year. The first was the county primary election on May 1, and the last is the municipal election and state and federal elections on November 6.
Here are notes about Anderson County candidates in today’s county general election from a forum at Oak Ridge High School in July. The county general election includes selections for mayor, sheriff, county commission, trustee, circuit court clerk, county clerk, register of deeds, road superintendent, and school board, among other positions. Some of the candidates have no opposition.
Anderson County Sheriff [Read more…]
Moshin Agha
A defendant was apprehended overseas in Dubai after being indicted on drug and money laundering charges in Anderson County, according to court records.
Moshin Agha, 30, was picked up by authorities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and then brought to the United States, according to a motion to increase bond and set bond conditions that was filed in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on July 18. After being brought to the United States, Agha was turned over to state authorities in New York.
Agha, who has an address listed in India, waived extradition and is now in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton, according to court and jail records. It’s not clear when he was apprehended in Dubai and brought to New York.
A writ of criminal capias that had been issued November 2, 2016, ordered Agha to be detained and brought to Anderson County. It was executed with Agha’s arrest by Simon Byrne, acting director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County, on Wednesday, July 18. [Read more…]
Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected tonight. Damaging winds, large hail, and lightning will be the main threats with the storms. (Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown)
A tornado watch has been issued for Anderson County until 4 a.m. Saturday. In addition to Anderson County, the watch applies to other nearby East Tennessee counties, including Blount, Campbell, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, Scott, and Union.
The tornado watch was issued by the National Weather Service in Morristown at 8 p.m. Friday.
A tornado warning has been issued for the areas west of Roane County, between Cookeville and Crossville in Middle Tennessee. Crossville is about 90 minutes west of Oak Ridge and Cookeville is farther west.
The National Weather Service in Morristown said strong to severe thunderstorms are expected Friday night. Damaging winds, large hail, and lightning will be the main threats from the storms, forecasters said. [Read more…]
Theresa Scott
Anderson County Commissioner Theresa Scott is seeking a second term on the County Commission.
“It has been my honor and privilege to serve the residents of District 7, and I am dedicated to continue to make a positive difference,” Scott said in a press release. “I humbly ask to continue to serve within our county government.”
First elected just four years ago, Scott continues to volunteer within the community through the Neighborhood Watch Program, Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board, the Secret City Civitan Club, and the Lavender and Secret City festivals, as well as other various projects within the city, the press release said.
Since its inception in 2013, Scott remains an active member of Anderson County’s Underage Drinking Task Force and Prescription Medicine Task Force, which are led by Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson (ASAP), the press release said. It said ASAP is proactive in educating the public of the harm of misusing alcohol and prescription pain medications. In 2016, Scott received the first runner-up of the Ally of the Year Award. Their prestigious Prevention Power Partner Award is given to a community member who staunchly supports prevention, and Scott said, “I am truly honored to have been named the recipient for 2017-2018.” [Read more…]
Steve Mead
Steve Mead is seeking re-election to Anderson County Commission in District 6.
The Sixth District includes the Oak Ridge City Hall, Robertsville, and West Hills precincts. Those include the Anderson County portion of Oak Ridge, including the areas around the Children’s Museum, the new Kroger, and Main Street Oak Ridge, and west to the Roane County line.
Mead and his family settled in Oak Ridge in 1987 after he served 21.5 years in the U.S. Submarine Force. Mead had worked his way up from seaman recruit to petty officer first class (E-6), and he was then selected for an active duty college program in which he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, a press release said. He returned as an officer to the submarine force, serving both at sea and overseas.
During his last tour as executive officer of a joint staff near London, England, he earned his master’s degree in business administration from Boston University. [Read more…]
Jonathan Presley
Two Maryville men have been indicted after being accused of pretending to be licensed contractors in Anderson County, authorities said.
Before the indictments announced Tuesday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had investigated a complaint of contractor fraud involving EPM Handyman Services. The business is owned by Jonathan Presley, 37, and Warren Presley, 45, both of Maryville. The investigation, which started in August 2017, was requested by Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark.
“During the course of the investigation, agents learned the men were paid to build a garage at a location in Anderson County in April 2017 but never completed the job,” the TBI said in a press release Tuesday. “The investigation further revealed that the men were not licensed contractors authorized to conduct this type of business.” [Read more…]
There will be a Meet the Candidates event in Oak Ridge on Thursday, July 12. It will allow residents of Oak Ridge and Anderson County to become acquainted with the candidates for contested offices in the August 2 state and federal primary and Anderson County general elections, a press release said.
The Meet the Candidates event is scheduled from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, July 12, in the gymnasium at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. It’s sponsored by Democracy for East Tennessee.
Among the contested offices on the Anderson County general election ballot are mayor, commissioners for Districts 6 and 7 in Oak Ridge, Circuit Court clerk, sheriff, and trustee, the press release said. [Read more…]
A Family Drug Treatment Court, the first of its kind in Anderson County, launched this week, and there will be a ribbon-cutting next week, a press release said.
The Anderson County Family Drug Treatment Court will be called R2: The Recovery and Resilience Program, the press release said.
R2 is a program for juvenile offenders who have substance misuse issues and have not been successful in maintaining drug abstinence. The program is a minimum of nine months and will incorporate treatment, family therapy, and group therapy paired with accountability and goal setting, the press release said.
“By addressing barriers in the home, we will enable adolescents in Anderson County to break free from the grip of generational drug abuse, setting them up to be successful contributors to our society,” said Anderson County Juvenile Court Judge Brian Hunt.
The press release said the program has been a priority for a large number of stakeholders in the community for many years. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in December 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider a budget with a proposed two-cent increase in the property tax rate and what would generally be a 2 percent pay increase for employees.
If approved by Council, the tax rate change would be the first increase in years. Oak Ridge Today reported that the budget approved last year was the 10th one in a row without a tax rate increase.
The two-cent increase in the property tax rate, which would raise it to $2.54 per $100 of assessed value, would help fund the bond repayments for the new Oak Ridge Senior Center, Scarboro Park renovation, and Oak Ridge Preschool, and also provide the city some “breathing room,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. The Senior Center, Scarboro Park, and Preschool projects are expected to cost about $13 million total.
Municipal officials said there has been a $750,000 shortfall in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, in revenues from Roane County. That shortfall is attributed to some sales tax exemptions, and it is believed to mostly be from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the major taxpayer in the Roane County portion of the city. The shortfall affected Oak Ridge this year and has been resolved this year, but the city had to use reserves, which affected money that could be used for capital projects in the next fiscal year, fiscal year 2019, which starts July 1, Watson said. [Read more…]
Lee Harold Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide in a fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after July 4 fireworks in Oak Ridge in 2015, was sentenced to 12 years in prison during a hearing in Anderson County Criminal Court on Monday, June 19, 2017. In a separate case, Cromwell was convicted this week in Nashville along with four other defendants in a fraudulent liens case, and he will be sentenced June 27. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. May 4.
Five “sovereign citizens,” including Lee Cromwell of Oak Ridge, were convicted of more than 200 counts in Nashville this week in a case where the defendants had been accused of filing fraudulent liens against local and state officials in East Tennessee, including judges, prosecutors, and police officers in Anderson County, an official said Thursday.
Before the convictions, seven sovereign citizens from Anderson County had been charged in February 2017 with forgery and filing liens without a legal basis, Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release Thursday. Those charges came after an investigation that had been requested by Clark and was conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Many of the cases were tried in Nashville, and a jury returned a verdict this week of guilty on all counts, Clark said. Clark and his wife were both victims of the fraudulent liens, so Clark had requested another district attorney general to prosecute the case.
“As the liens were filed electronically at the Secretary of State’s Office in Nashville, it made sense to have the defendants indicted and prosecuted in Davidson County,” Clark said. [Read more…]
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank (Submitted photo)
Note: This story was last updated at 9 a.m. May 2.
CLINTON—Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank narrowly won the Republican Party primary on Tuesday, beating Anderson County Commissioner Steve Emert by 153 votes, according to unofficial results.
Frank, a former small business operator who was first elected in August 2012, had 4,771 votes, compared to 4,618 for Emert. That was a slim margin of 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent.
Frank has served one special two-year term as mayor and one full four-year term. There was no Democratic Party candidate for mayor in the Tuesday primary, meaning Frank won’t have a challenger on the ballot in the August 2 county general election and is essentially assured of serving again.
Emert is a small business owner who has served as Anderson County Commission chair. Like a previous candidate for mayor, former Tennessee Representative Jim Hackworth, Emert had emphasized what he characterized as dysfunction, including lawsuits, in the Anderson County Courthouse under Frank. Among other pledges, he had promised to restore civility to the county government.
But that and other campaign issues weren’t enough to give Emert the win, even if it might have helped to keep the election close. Emert initially had a narrow 63-vote lead after early and absentee voting results were counted. But the lead flipped when Election Day results started coming in from across Anderson County. [Read more…]
