To the Editor:
I read the article in Wednesday’s The Oak Ridger where the reporter contacted the five candidates who were not endorsed by the Progress PAC for comments. I wonder why The Oak Ridger did not contact all the candidates.
Either way, I found most comments professional, and in particular Mike Mahathy’s and Jean Hiser’s and in general Andrew Howe’s. Both Andrew Howe’s and Laurie Paine’s, however, referenced me so I feel necessary to respond. [Read more…]
A. Paige Marshall, left, one of eight candidates for the Oak Ridge School Board, answers a question during the League of Women Voters’ Candidate Forum Wednesday night. To her right are candidates Mike Mahathy, Andrew Howe, Jean Hiser, and incumbent Bob Eby, with WUOT radio host Matt Shafer Powell, who posed the questions. (Photo by Rebecca D. Williams)
Fielding public school questions about technology, tax increases, and the teaching of science versus religion, eight candidates for the Oak Ridge School Board tried to distinguish themselves from one another Wednesday night at the League of Women Voters’ Candidate Forum held at the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater, to a crowd of about 150.
Board candidates offered largely similar answers, with the greatest difference of opinion posed by Aaron Wells. He spoke against school tax increases and one-to-one technology in schools.
“The biggest impact on me growing up was when my teachers gave me one-to-one education,” Wells said. “How many hours a day are kids staring at a screen? It’s too many. We need to do more with less, because money’s tight. We’ve got to get back to the basics.”
Also participating in the forum were two candidates who are opposing incumbent Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican, for the District 3 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mary M. Headrick, a Democrat, and Cassandra J. Mitchell, an Independent, answered questions. Fleischmann was not present.
Also, Tennessee House Representative for District 32, Kent Calfee, the Republican incumbent, and Joe Kneiser, his Democratic opponent, fielded questions about four referendum questions on the ballot Nov. 4.
Three seats on the five-member Oak Ridge Board of Education are open. Bob Eby is the only incumbent running for re-election. Other candidates include Jean Hiser, Andrew Howe, Mike Mahathy, A. Paige Marshall, Laura McLean, Laurie Paine, and Wells. [Read more…]
Andy Howe
Andrew Howe, a musician and software engineer, is running for Oak Ridge Board of Education in the November 4 election.
Howe said some people might recognize him from his performances singing and playing with bands around town, including at community festivals, or on the Oak Ridge Playhouse stage.
“That’s just one side of me though,” Howe said. “By day, I’m normally a software engineer, degree from MIT, but presently I’m taking a hiatus from that career while I pursue other options. I’m married to my best friend, Kat, and our son Maguire is a junior in the high school.”
In a press release, Howe said the family has taken a fairly run-down looking old “A” house on the end of a vine infested cul-de-sac and turned it into their own little country paradise, The 100 Acre Woods. He called it a small performance and gathering space in the woods that has always been open for anyone to make use of.
Howe said he and Kat started a nonprofit this year, Project Sunflower, to get some gardens in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m.
Ten candidates have qualified to run for Oak Ridge City Council in the November 4 municipal election, and there are nine candidates for Oak Ridge Board of Education—a total of 19 candidates.
It’s the largest field of candidates in recent memory, and it’s not immediately clear when, or if, there has been a field as large.
The deadline to qualify as a candidate in this fall’s municipal elections in Anderson County was noon Thursday.
There is a mix of incumbents and newcomers in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Rocky Top (Lake City), Norris, and Oliver Springs.
In Oak Ridge, two incumbents, including Mayor Tom Beehan and Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller, are not seeking re-election. Meanwhile, the other two incumbents whose terms expire this November, Anne Garcia Garland and David Mosby, are running for another four-year term.
In addition to Garcia Garland and Mosby, the other Oak Ridge City Council candidates are:
Thursday is the deadline to qualify for municipal elections across Anderson County, and so far, there appears to be a mix of incumbents and newcomers in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Rocky Top (Lake City), Norris, and Oliver Springs.
Eleven people, including the four incumbents, have expressed an interest in running for four seats on Oak Ridge City Council in November, and seven candidates have qualified so far.
Meanwhile, three people, including one incumbent, have qualified to run for three seats on the Oak Ridge Board of Education. A total of nine potential candidates, including the three who have qualified, have picked up petitions to run for Oak Ridge school board.
The November 4 election is the last in a series of three elections this year. The deadline to qualify is noon Thursday, August 21. A candidate needs 25 verified signatures on a nomination petition to qualify.
Those who have qualified to run for Oak Ridge City Council are: [Read more…]
I’m very glad there is positive forward movement on redevelopment of the Oak Ridge Mall. However, I feel that the current layout proposed will fall far short of the ideal design, one that will best do what Oak Ridge wants it to.
I recently returned from my honeymoon through the Carolinas and Georgia, and along the way it dawned on me precisely what elements are in play regarding our gut “feelings” about downtown shopping, dining, and nightlife architecture—what makes one place more appealing than another. [Read more…]
