John Thomas Archives - Oak Ridge Today

(For members) Retiring Bull Run, Paradise could save millions, more than $1 billion in ‘lifetime costs’

Posted at 1:49 pm February 18, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The coal-burning Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton and Paradise Fossil Plant Unit 3 in Kentucky are not economical to operate, and retiring them will offer a savings of about $320 million and avoid more than $1 billion in capital costs, the Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday.

The TVA Board of Directors voted 6-1 to close Paradise Unit 3 and unanimously agreed to close Bull Run during a meeting in Chattanooga on Thursday. Paradise could close by December 2020, and Bull Run is expected to close by December 2023.

The Bull Run and Paradise closures will be the first 1,700 megawatts of coal plant retirements of the 2,600 megawatts that could be retired through 2033 under a 2015 integrated resource plan, TVA President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson told the board.

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Roane County man charged with stealing more than $250,000

Posted at 11:20 pm September 13, 2018
By John Huotari 1 Comment

Malbern Robert Edington

A Roane County man has been charged with the theft of more than $250,000 and knowing abuse, neglect, or exploitation, according to Anderson County court records.

Malbern Robert Edington, 37, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on August 7. He has an arraignment scheduled for Friday in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

Edington, who lives in Roane County north of Oak Ridge, was arrested August 24 by John Thomas of the Oak Ridge Police Department. He remained jailed at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Thursday night. His bond has been set at $100,000. [Read more…]

Golf tournament raises funds for new Roane State golf teams

Posted at 12:42 pm July 4, 2018
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

From left to right are Roane State alumni who were members of the original golf team at the community college: Chris Griffin, Eddie Evans, Bobby Tipton (in back), Tom Flynn, former Roane State Golf Coach Eddie Liskovec, Mike Emery, John Thomas, Mike Fuller, and Randy Button. (Photo courtesy Roane State Community College)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

A recent golf tournament at Oak Ridge Country Club raised funds to support a revived men’s golf team at Roane State Community College along with the startup of a women’s squad.

Proceeds from this year’s tournament will help in the purchase of equipment and supplies for the teams, and plans are in the works for future tournaments to support the teams, said Coach Chris Griffin, who is spearheading the effort.

Griffin and a special committee of staff and alumni, in partnership with the Roane State Foundation, organized the tournament, which also included a silent auction of items, events, and trips.

Contributions were received by the Roane State Foundation to support the effort, said Scott Niermann, executive director. The foundation is a not-for-profit entity that provides financial support for the college’s students and programs. [Read more…]

Knoxville man charged with attempted murder in Oak Ridge

Posted at 1:03 pm September 9, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Daniel Ray Price

Note: This story was updated at 11:45 a.m. Nov. 1.

A Knoxville man was charged with attempted first-degree murder in August after he allegedly traveled to Oak Ridge armed with two pistols, magazines, and ammunition, intending to kill an Oak Ridge man, according to court records.

Daniel R. Price, 35, who is listed as a transient in Knoxville, is also charged with aggravated assault, two counts of possessing a firearm during a dangerous felony, possessing drugs for sale, simple possession of drugs, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

In court records, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas said authorities responded on August 9 to a threat that someone could be harmed. Specifically, two people who live in Knoxville reported that Price was driving a maroon Mitsubishi sedan with an FOP sticker on the plate into Oak Ridge and traveling to one of two addresses to find a man named Maxim Fridman.

“Defendant (Price) was reported to be armed with handguns and intending to shoot Fridman,” Thomas said in affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

ORPD officers found Price in the vehicle that had been described to them by the two Knoxville residents, traveling in the general direction of one of the addresses, the affidavits said. [Read more…]

Warrants: Man charged with attempted murder threatened to kill fetus, pregnant teen girlfriend

Posted at 2:01 am March 22, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Khristoff Deshawn Lee

The Oak Ridge man who was charged with attempted first-degree murder on March 1 allegedly threatened to kill his pregnant teenage girlfriend and her fetus, and repeatedly punched her in the stomach, head, and back, authorities said.

The pregnant 15-year-old female said she went to the Wakefield Road home of Khristoff Deshawn Lee, a 21-year-old with whom she had a relationship, on October 17, 2014, according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

After she arrived, the girl said, the two met in the bathroom, where Lee allegedly closed the door and told her, “(Expletive), you know what time it is,” according to the warrants, which were filed by Oak Ridge Police Department Detective John Criswell.

The girl, who was about two months pregnant at the time, said Lee then punched her in the stomach, head, and back multiple times, according to the warrants. [Read more…]

Woman escapes kitchen fire, taken to hospital; dog rescued

Posted at 8:38 pm February 15, 2016
By John Huotari 1 Comment

A resident of a Scarboro home escaped a kitchen fire on Sunday night, Feb. 14, 2016, and firefighters and police officers rescued a dog from the home. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A resident of a Scarboro home escaped a kitchen fire on Sunday night, and firefighters and police officers rescued a dog from the home.

The kitchen fire was reported at 7:12 p.m. Sunday at 247 South Benedict Avenue. Firefighters were able to extinguish it within about 10 minutes or less.

Marie Woolin, a resident who was home alone at the time, was outside when firefighters arrived, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said. Neighbors helped her to a car, and she was later taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge for evaluation. She was released later Sunday night, Kerley said.

The fire appears to have started on a stove and to be cooking-related, Kerley said. It was reported to have caused significant damage to the kitchen, where it burned cabinets, and there was reported to be smoke and water damage in the rest of the house. [Read more…]

Third arrest in shooting that injured woman’s liver

Posted at 11:04 am November 25, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Daniel Michael Rose

Police have made a third arrest in the November 13 shooting that sent two people to the hospital, one with an injury to her liver, authorities said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department announced two arrests in the shooting last week: Tyler Earl Gulley and Sedrick D. Davis.

The third person, Daniel Michael Rose, 25, of Utica Circle, was arrested Wednesday, November 18. Rose has been charged with aggravated assault. He was released Tuesday, November 24, in lieu of a $50,000 bond, according to court records.

Rose was one of the two people injured in the Friday, November 13, shooting near the intersection of Fisk and Dillard avenues in the Scarboro neighbhood. He was struck in the left foot, police said. [Read more…]

Party in the Park features family-friendly fun, crime prevention, music, food on Saturday

Posted at 10:43 am October 15, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas, front left, invites children to meet one of the ORPD’s K-9s at last year’s crime prevention celebration. Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi is pictured at back left. (Submitted photo)

The first annual Party in the Park on Saturday will feature family-friendly activities for children and adults, crime prevention presentations and information, free food, and more. It’s scheduled from 2-6 p.m. Saturday, October 17, at A.K. Bissell Park near the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

The Oak Ridge Police Community Resource Office and the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program will host the 2015 Party in the Park, with activities celebrating the partnership between the community and the police department. The focus of the event is crime prevention, safety, health, and wellness.

Kristine Kinsey will serve as master of ceremonies and comedian. Magician Danny Whitson will perform feats of magic during the celebration. Festivities will also include Oak Ridge Police K-9 demonstrations, safety and health exhibits, Oak Ridge Electric Department bucket rides, and drug abuse prevention information. [Read more…]

Police: Remains of suspected meth lab found during search of home

Posted at 7:54 pm July 10, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Arthur Wilson Jr.

Julia Wilson

The remains of a suspected methamphetamine laboratory were found during a search of a home on West Wadsworth Circle on Wednesday, authorities said.

Items found in a trash can in the basement of the home included coffee filters, a Coleman brand camp fuel can, lithium batteries that had been cut open, and lithium strips that appeared to have been chemically reacted, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas said in arrest warrants. He said other items included a sports drink bottle with a two-part liquid, a soda bottle with a white powdery substance and holes that appeared to have been burned through the bottle from a chemical reaction inside, and two empty boxes of Claritin-D medicine that originally each contained 2.4 grams of pseudoephedrine.

The two defendants, Arthur Wilson Jr., 50, and Julia Wilson, 49, are on probation for convictions for manufacturing methamphetamine in Morgan County, the warrants said. The two are under the supervision of the Tennessee Department of Correction, and one of the conditions of probation is that the home can be searched, Thomas said. [Read more…]

The numbers: ORPD turnover 2007-2015

Posted at 9:26 am May 4, 2015
By John Huotari 9 Comments

James T. Akagi

Turnover in the Oak Ridge Police Department is one of several issues at the heart of a contentious debate over the ORPD and its chief, James T. Akagi.

But since the debate started in late January, there hasn’t been much public discussion of how the turnover rate compares, in either numbers or percentages, to the rate before Akagi started on July 1, 2011.

Information requested by Oak Ridge Today and provided by the Oak Ridge Personnel Department and Personnel Director Penny Sissom sheds some light. That data goes back more than eight years, starting in Calendar Year 2007. That’s roughly 4.5 years before Akagi started and more than 3.5 years since.

Oak Ridge Today analyzed the data by calendar year (January-December) and fiscal year (July 1-June 30). The data shows that ORPD turnover ebbs and flows from year to year, with a high of 19 and a low of one.

Oak Ridge Police Department Turnover (2007-2015)

Here are the numbers by calendar year (CY), from January to December, based on city data: [Read more…]

MTAS: ORPD review to be extensive, but not clear who will be interviewed

Posted at 4:11 pm April 18, 2015
By John Huotari 21 Comments

Oak Ridge Police Department Review Protest

Protesters who want all officers to be able to speak to a consultant reviewing the Oak Ridge Police Department are pictured above outside the Oak Ridge Municipal Building before the Monday night City Council meeting.

Note: This story was last updated at 9:35 a.m. April 20.

The review of the Oak Ridge Police Department will be extensive, but it’s not clear yet who will be interviewed, an official said Friday.

The proposal submitted by the Municipal Technical Advisory Service and approved by the Oak Ridge City Council in March called for interviewing a randomly selected group of police department employees. It also called for interviewing other city employees and officers and possibly talking to community leaders not directly employed by the city.

But some have expressed concern that others who want to speak, including former officers and city residents, might not be able to under the limited 30-day review and random selection proposed by MTAS.

“These men deserve to be heard, all of them,” said Christen Thomas, wife of Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas.

The independent MTAS review will use Police Management Consultant Rex Barton, a former administrative captain for the Athens, Tennessee, Police Department. MTAS is part of the Institute for Public Service at the University of Tennessee. [Read more…]

After police standoff, woman charged with going armed while intoxicated

Posted at 1:12 pm May 13, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Patsy Lee Oliver

Note: This story was updated at 1:40 p.m.

The 62-year-old woman arrested after a four-hour police standoff on Jellico Lane on Monday morning has been charged with possession of a handgun while intoxicated.

Patsy Lee Oliver, of 123 Jellico Lane, had allegedly approached a neighbor carrying a “small frame small caliber handgun” on Monday morning, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. The victim and a witness who lives at the same address as the victim said Oliver appeared to be under the influence of an intoxicant.

The Oak Ridge Police Department responds to a Monday morning standoff on Jellico Lane that started after a report of a disturbance involving a gun.

The victim had a cell phone video of Oliver standing at the end of Jellico Lane concealing something behind her back that appeared to be a small black handgun, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer John Thomas said in the affidavit.

“Also in the video, defendant’s actions are as that of an intoxicated person,” Thomas said.

ORPD officers responded to the reported disturbance at about 6:48 a.m. Monday. They eventually made contact with Oliver on her porch and “observed that her speech was slurred and slow,” Thomas said in the affidavit. “Her demeanor was at times erratic, and she was slow and shuffling in her movements.” [Read more…]