Oak Ridge Today

Bridge repair project = lane closures

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Information from WYSH Radio

A bridge repair project on Highway 61 will reduce traffic to one lane in each direction on the bridge over Interstate 75 beginning Tuesday, July 14, and continuing until the project’s scheduled completion date of October 31.

Mid-State Construction, based out of Livingston, sent a letter as required by the Tennessee Department of Transportation to the Clinton Police, Fire, and Public Works departments, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, Anderson County EMS, the U.S. Postal Service, and both the Clinton and Anderson County school systems. All of them could be affected by the project, so they were informed of the upcoming lane restrictions. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge, Clinton teachers appointed to first Governor’s Teacher Cabinet

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Cathy Ginel

Cathy Ginel

Teachers in Oak Ridge and Clinton have been selected to serve on the first Governor’s Teacher Cabinet.

The Oak Ridge teacher, Cathy Ginel, is a seventh-grade science teacher at Robertsville Middle School. The Clinton teacher, Abbey Kidwell, is a fourth-grade teacher at South Clinton Elementary School.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam announced the appointment of the 18 teachers to the cabinet on Tuesday.

The cabinet will meet quarterly with Haslam and Education Commissioner Candice McQueen to share real-time information from the classroom, give advice on policy considerations, and provide a direct line of communication to schools and communities, a press release said. [Read more…]

Water advisory sent to wrong Clinton; city says water clean, safe to drink

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Clinton City Manager Roger Houck on Sunday said an apparent misrouting of information may be the reason at least one city resident received a “Notice of Water Advisory” this weekend.

“We have confirmed that the Web address and phone information included in the advisory is for Clinton, Utah…not Tennessee,” Houck said in a press release. “When you go to the Utah website, you will see that they, indeed, have issued an advisory for their area.”

A woman who lives on Mariner Point Drive in Clinton, Tennessee, told officials that she received an email and a phone call saying that local water samples had tested positive for E. coli, and customers should assume the water is unsafe to drink unless it is boiled. [Read more…]

Hibbett Sports store could open in Clinton this summer

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Hibbett Sporting Goods Inc., the national sporting goods retailer based in Birmingham, Alabama, plans to open a store in Clinton this summer.

The company announced on Tuesday that it had executed a lease for the new Hibbett Sports store at Centre Plaza, which is on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard near the Clinch River and across the Boulevard from Hammer’s.

The company expects to employ eight full and part-time workers at the new store. Currently, Hibbett has 62 locations in the state of Tennessee, including one in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

City, schools to present budgets to Council today

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Note: This story was updated at 9:23 a.m.

The municipal and school budgets will be presented to the Oak Ridge City Council during a meeting this evening (Monday, June 1).

The municipal budget will be presented by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson. The schools budget will be presented by Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. today in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue. See the agenda here.

City officials have been striving to present a budget that does not include a property tax rate increase. But it wasn’t clear as of last week if that would be possible because of a dramatic drop in sales tax revenues from the Roane County portion of the city. [Read more…]

Fire destroys Clinton home

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Clinton Fire Department Patch

Information from WYSH Radio

A fire early Friday morning destroyed an unoccupied home on Baker Avenue in Clinton.

The Clinton Fire Department was dispatched at 6:08 a.m. Friday and arrived within three minutes to find heavy smoke and fire coming from the rear of the home. The Clinton Utilities Board cut off electricity to the scene as fire crews began their attack.

After gaining entry into the house and battling flames in a back room, two firefighters were ordered back out due to the ferocity of the flames burning in the basement and the attic.

Continuing the battle from outside, crews eventually were able to get back in and finally brought the blaze under control.  Firefighters left the scene just after 8:15 a.m. No injuries were reported, but the house suffered extensive damage.

The owner’s son and some other family members arrived on scene and said that there were some items missing from the house, and the Clinton Police Department was called in to investigate.

Clinton Council OKs budget, 15.5-cent tax increase

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Clinton City Hall

Information from WYSH Radio

Note: This story was updated at 10:52 a.m. May 20.

The Clinton City Council voted on Monday to approve its budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 on first reading, and it includes a 15.5-cent property tax increase.

Last week, WYSH reported that a three- or four-cent tax increase would be necessary to pay for an increase in insurance costs and to pay for the salaries and benefits of four full-time firefighters. The costs associated with those firefighters were paid for by a FEMA grant for the past two years, but they became the responsibility of the city this year.

Following a late-week budget workshop, another seven cents was added to the proposed tax increase to pay for the city taking over all of the costs associated with school resource officers at the city’s three schools ($62,000), hiring a codes enforcement/police officer ($50,000), and to set aside $100,000 to start a street-paving fund aimed at preventing the city from having to borrow money for street improvement projects in the future. [Read more…]

Ten ORHS students to compete in 10 track, field events at state

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Malik Hardy 200-meter Dash

Senior Malik Hardy of Oak Ridge, right, finished first in the 200-meter dash during a Class AAA sectional track meet at Hardin Valley on Saturday. (Photo by Luther Simmons)

 

Ten Oak Ridge High School students will compete in 10 track and field events at the state meet in Murfreesboro in May after finishing in the top four in a sectional meet at Hardin Valley on Saturday.

Senior Malik Hardy will compete in three events: the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the long jump. Senior Lauren Smallwood will also compete in three events: the 200-meter dash, the 4×100-meter relay, and the 4×200-meter relay.

Senior Wesley Robinson will compete in two events—the 1,600-meter run and the 4×800-meter relay—and junior Tyler Boullie will also compete in two: the 800-meter run and the 4×800-meter relay.

Boullie finished first in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.27 during the sectional on Saturday, and Hardy finished first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.11. [Read more…]

Clinch River Spring Antique Fair on Saturday in Clinton

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Clinch River Antique Festival

Clinch River Antique Fair (Submitted photo) 

 

The 11th Annual Clinch River Spring Antique Fair will be held on Saturday, May 2, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in Historic Downtown Clinton.

The Spring Antique Fair will kick off with a party on Friday evening, May 1, from 6 to 9 p.m. in Hoskins/Lane Park on Market Street with live musical entertainment.

Back by popular demand are The Real McCoys. This trio is comprised of brothers Blake and Aaron McCoy, who play banjo and guitar, and bass player Nick Patterson.

These young men grew up in Lake City playing in church, and they have been a favorite at The Museum of Appalachia’s Fall Homecoming for the past five years, a press release said. They released their first album in 2010 and are currently working on their second one, hoping to include several songs they have written. Their true passion for bluegrass music drives them to make bluegrass appeal to everyone. Their spin on the classic “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” has made them a local favorite.

[Read more…]

2015 US 25 Yard Sale returns to Berea, also Clinton, AC

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One leg of the US 25 Yard Sale will return to Clinton, Rocky Top, and Anderson County for the fourth time in early June.

The yard sale is scheduled for June 4-6. It stretches 565 miles from Woodfin, North Carolina, and Clinton, Tennessee, to Covington, Kentucky.

“This event has quickly become the nation’s fourth-longest yard sale event,” organizers said.

“Our goal is to get folks off I-75 and get them to slow down and visit our downtowns,” a press release said. “And we encourage people to have a huge yard sale to get folks to visit! Almost very city, village and town along the route participates.” [Read more…]

3M gets permit to expand Clinton facility

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Food Lion Distribution Center and 3M Company Manufacturing

The 3M Company purchased the former Food Lion Distribution Center on J.D. Yarnell Industrial Parkway in the Eagle Bend Industrial Park in Clinton in December. (Photo courtesy Tim Thompson/Anderson County Economic Development Association)

 

Information from WYSH Radio

Clinton city officials confirmed Friday morning that the 3M Company, which announced late last year that it had purchased the former Food Lion Distribution Center in the Eagle Bend Industrial Park, has obtained a building permit to make roughly $18 million worth of upgrades and improvements to the facility and build a 45,000-square-foot addition.

3M, one of the world’s largest manufacturers, said that product for the oil, gas, and automotive industries will be made at the Clinton facility, but have not said exactly what they will be producing. [Read more…]

Repair work done, Johnson Gap Road bridge open again

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Johnson Gap Road Bridge

The repair work is down, and the Johnson Gap Road bridge re-opened last week. (Photo by Robert McKamey)

 

Information from WYSH Radio

The bridge on Johnson Gap Road in Anderson County’s Dutch Valley community re-opened last week, a year and a half after it was shut down due to safety concerns.

State inspectors ordered the 100-year-old wooden bridge closed in July 2013 after finding that the wooden support structures were compromised and posed a safety hazard.

The bridge is owned by CSX Railroad, and it is the primary shortcut that Dutch Valley residents use to get to and from Clinton and Oak Ridge, and the shutdown frustrated many.

Work to repair the bridge finally got under way last month.