Oak Ridge Today

Electrical problem blamed for Andersonville house fire

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Information from WYSH Radio

A Tuesday morning fire destroyed a house in Andersonville but injured no one, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies were among those who responded to a fire at 334 Brooks Gap Road shortly after 7 a.m. Tuesday.  When deputies arrived, they found crews from the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department battling the blaze, which had completely engulfed the structure.

The home’s owner, Darryl Webber, told officials that his father had passed away last year and left him the house, which he said he checked on every day to make sure it was okay, adding that three lights were continuously left on inside the home. [Read more…]

AC woman arrested in Knoxville assault

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Information from WYSH Radio

An Andersonville woman has been arrested and charged in an attack that critically injured another woman at a North Knoxville motel this week, according to the Knoxville Police Department.

Denise Henry, 38, was arrested Wednesday night at a home on Strawberry Plains Pike and is being held on a $30,000 bond on a charge of aggravated assault for allegedly beating a woman outside America’s Best Value Inn and Suites on Merchant Drive.

KPD officers found 36-year-old Diana Trent unresponsive with severe head trauma about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Trent was rushed to UT Medical Center, where she underwent emergency surgery.

No one injured, but three briefly trapped by factory roof collapse

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Pharma Packaging Roof Collapse

The factory roof at Pharma Packaging in Andersonville collapsed on Saturday night. Three workers were briefly trapped, but no one was injured.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10:47 p.m.

ANDERSONVILLE—No one was injured, but three workers were briefly trapped when a roof collapsed at a factory in Andersonville on Saturday, possibly because of ice and snow buildup, authorities said.

The roof collapse was reported at about 7:40 p.m. Saturday. Seven people were inside the Carton Service/Pharma Packaging building on First Quality Drive at the time, said Del Kennedy, chief of the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department.

Four workers were able to make it out, and firefighters had to help the other three escape from a break room, near the front of the building, at the edge of the factory space behind it. All the workers were in or near the break room at the time of the collapse, Kennedy said.

He estimated that 50 percent of the roof, which was about 40 feet above the factory floor, had collapsed over that portion of the building. There was only a small crew working at the time, Kennedy said. [Read more…]

Andersonville home destroyed by fire

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Information from WYSH Radio

A fire early Wednesday morning destroyed a home in Andersonville.

The Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department was called to the home on Foust Hollow Lane at around 1 a.m. and had the fire extinguished about an hour and a half later.

One person inside the home at the time of the fire was able to make it out safely, and no injuries were reported. Officials deemed the house a total loss and are continuing to investigate to determine the cause of the early-morning blaze.

Updated: Sharps Chapel man dies in Andersonville shooting

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A Sharps Chapel man died in a Sunday afternoon shooting in Andersonville, authorities said.

James Alvin Russell, 58, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said.

The shooting was reported at 4:35 p.m. Sunday at 1229 Sequoyah Road. In a Sunday evening statement, Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said the victim was dead when deputies arrived, and the shooter was still there.

In a statement later Sunday night, Lucas said Sheriff’s Department investigators were processing the crime scene and interviewing the person responsible for the shooting, as well as a witness. [Read more…]

Body found in Andersonville; death ruled suicide

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Information from WYSH Radio

A 56-year-old Knoxville woman committed suicide in the woods off of Indian Gap Road in Andersonville, according to a report from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle in a gravel pull-off on Indian Gap found the car unoccupied on Tuesday evening with a woman’s identification and other personal belongings inside the vehicle.

Deputies contacted the Knox County Sheriff’s Office since her information identified her as a Knox resident, and they learned that the woman and her husband had been involved in a domestic dispute the previous night. Her husband told investigators that he had called the KCSO, but that his wife had left their home before deputies arrived. [Read more…]

New details revealed in search warrants in missing woman case

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Nichole Burgess

Nichole Burgess

Information from WYSH Radio

Search warrants released last week have provided new information about what led investigators from Nashville to search the Anderson County home of a man who is now a person of interest in the disappearance and possible death of a Hermitage woman.

The documents indicate that a friend reported Nichole Burgess missing from her home in Hermitage on May 25 after she was unable to reach Burgess by phone or text message. The friend said Burgess’s last text message, sent on May 23, indicated she had been in an altercation with the father of Burgess’s child, 32-year-old Andersonville resident Caleb Cannon.

The friend told detectives that they had gone to Burgess’ home in Hermitage and noticed her car was parked out front and her dogs were walking around freely instead of in their crates. A neighbor said he/she saw two people carrying something out of the home’s back door on May 24.

Cannon, who has custody of his and Burgess’s 10-year-old son every other weekend, picked the boy up from school on May 23. The warrants say a friend of the boy’s said that Cannon had been at Burgess’s home earlier in the afternoon, loading two black bags into a car parked in the driveway. The friend said he asked the 10-year-old where his mom (Burgess) was, and the boy said he was pretty sure his mom was dead and that his dad had killed him. [Read more…]

Nashville police search Andersonville home in case of missing mother

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Nashville Police on Anderson County Search Warrant

 

Nichole Burgess

Nichole Burgess

Nashville detectives investigating the disappearance of Nichole Burgess were in Andersonville on Thursday to execute a search warrant at the home of Caleb J. Cannon, the father of Burgess’ 10-year-old son, authorities said.

Crime scene specialists from the Nashville Police Department’s Identification Unit were also at the home at 306 Lambdin Road assisting in the search warrant process, a press release said.

Detectives have traveled to Anderson County several times over the past week as part of the investigation. On Tuesday, a search warrant was served on Cannon for a DNA sample, the release said.

In seeking the search warrants, lead Detective Steve Jolley from the police department’s Homicide-Cold Case Unit told an Anderson County judge that based on the investigation thus far, Burgess is likely dead and that Cannon is considered a person of interest, the Nashville Police Department said in the release. [Read more…]

Andersonville man dies in head-on collision with tractor-trailer

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Edgemoor Road Fatal Crash Truck Cleanup

Workers clean up and the Tennessee Highway Patrol investigates after a fatal two-vehicle crash between a pickup truck and tractor-trailer rig, pictured above on Edgemoor Road in Claxton on Wednesday morning.

CLAXTON—A 39-year-old Andersonville man died on Wednesday morning when the westbound pickup truck he was driving collided head-on with an eastbound tractor-trailer rig on Edgemoor Road in Claxton.

Michael T. Utley was headed west in a 2001 Dodge Dakota pickup at about 6:11 a.m. Wednesday when he crossed the center line into the eastbound lane and hit a 2000 Freightliner semi pulling a trailer loaded with heavy steel coils, according to preliminary information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The driver of the semi, Edmund E. Wood, 57, of Madisonville, was not injured, the THP said. [Read more…]

Andersonville man finds alcohol, shotgun bad mix

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William Scott Williams

William Scott Williams

Information from WYSH Radio

An Andersonville man was arrested Tuesday night after his wife called deputies to their home following an incident that allegedly involved alcohol and a shotgun.

William Williams, 41, was charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment and remained in custody at last check at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

His wife told deputies that her husband had choked her after consuming an excessive amount of alcohol and fired a round from a shotgun through the front door of their mobile home from inside. The woman was not seriously injured and was treated at the scene by emergency personnel, authorities said. [Read more…]

Most Anderson commissioners seek re-election, six running in District 7 in OR

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Anderson County Courthouse

The Anderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Clinton is pictured above.

There are six candidates running for Anderson County Commission in District 7 in Oak Ridge in August, and a Democrat has joined the race for Tennessee House of Representatives in the 33rd District.

Meanwhile, an Independent, Bradley S. Rickett, has joined the race for Anderson County mayor, competing against Democrat Jim Hackworth and the winner of the May 6 Republican primary, either the incumbent, Terry Frank, or her challenger, Commissioner Zach Bates.

Fourteen of the 16 Anderson County commissioners are seeking re-election to a four-year term. But Bates, from District 4 in the Lake City area, is not. And neither is Commissioner John Shuey. Shuey is one of two commissioners in District 7, which includes the Glenwood, Highland View, and Pine Valley precincts in Oak Ridge.

District 7 is the most competitive in terms of number of candidates. In addition to the incumbent, Jerry Creasey, other candidates include Jimmy Bouchard, Michael Marsh, Denny Phillips, Kevin Rice, and Theresa Scott.

District 3—which includes Andersonville, Fairview, Glen Alpine, and Norris—has five candidates, including the two incumbents, Steve Emert and Dusty Irwin. The other three candidates are Josh Anderson, David Farmer, and Philip Warfield. [Read more…]

AC Water Authority completes Lake City project; Park Road extension almost done

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Lake City Water Authority

Officials with the Anderson County Water Authority, Lake City, and Anderson County governments gather at the new waterline extension valve control station in Lake City. (Photo courtesy of Anderson County government)

CLINTON—The Anderson County Water Authority has completed a water line extension project near the Lake City Industrial Park and is nearing completion of the five-mile water line extension on Park Road in Andersonville, a press release said.

Representatives of the Water Authority and government officials from both Anderson County and Lake City recently gathered to celebrate the completion of the water line extension. The water line extension and control valve station in front of the nursing home was part of the effort to provide increased water pressure to that area.

The Lake City project included installing between 700 feet and 1,000 feet of new six-inch water pipe off an existing eight-inch line and the valve control station, according to Jack Shelton, ACWA board member.

“It’s an exciting time for Lake City as we are striving to improve our water distribution system for our town,” said Andrew Howard, a Lake City Council member. “Lake City is very proud of our Water and Sewer Department as well as Anderson County Water Authority. Our own Water and Sewer Superintendent, Travis Thrasher, worked closely with ACWA to strive to provide efficient services to our community. We are thankful to be a part of community utilities that are able to work together closely.” [Read more…]