Oak Ridge Today

Traffic backed up for miles on I-75 after shutdown for fiery crash

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lifestar on I-75 Vasper Bridge

This picture by Charlotte Underwood is looking straight at the Vasper Bridge on I-75, near the 132 mile marker. The crash site is a bit north of the bridge on the southbound side of I-75, which is a couple of miles south of Caryville’s exit 134. (Photo and information courtesy Charlotte Underwood/1450 WLAF Radio and WLAF-TV 12)

 

A fiery fatal crash that shut down Interstate 75 in Campbell County on Wednesday afternoon has led to miles of backups heading north out of Knoxville and south from Kentucky.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation reports that traffic coming out of Knoxville on northbound Interstate 75 is backed up more than 7.5 miles from exit 129 at Lake City in Anderson County. Information on detours is available by calling 5-1-1.

Meanwhile, southbound traffic on I-75 coming out of Kentucky is backed up more than five miles from exit 134 at Caryville in Campbell County, TDOT said.

TDOT estimated the highway could be clear by 9 p.m. See TDOT’s Twitter feed here. You can also visit TDOT’s Smartmap for more information. [Read more…]

Nineteen candidates for Oak Ridge City Council, School Board

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Vote Logo

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.

Oak Ridge

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:

  • Kelly Callison,
  • R.G. “Rick” Chinn,
  • Warren L. Gooch,
  • Gary L. Love,
  • Pedro J. Otaduy,
  • Aditya “Doc” Savara,
  • Ellen D. Smith, and
  • Eric Tobler.

[Read more…]

Thursday deadline to qualify for municipal elections across Anderson County

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Vote Logo

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…]

Guest column: Anderson County election ballot explained

Posted at
By 2 Comments

Submitted

The August 7 ballot for the state primary and local general election will be an important and complex ballot. You will find three main sections to the ballot.

First will be the state and federal primary, second will be the county general election, and third will be the retention questions for Tennessee Supreme Court judges and appellate court judges.

The first eight offices on the ballot are the contests for the state and federal primary election. They are governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Tennessee Senate, Tennessee House of Representatives, and state executive committeeman and committeewoman. These eight offices are the ones a person must declare whether they are voting in the Democratic or Republican primary.

After these eight offices come the candidates for the Anderson County general election. It does not matter which party primary you selected to vote in, Democrat or Republican, you are now free to vote for the candidate of your choice no matter to which party you belong. The county general election offices are: [Read more…]

Lake City is now Rocky Top, Tennessee

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Lake City to Rocky Top Vote

The Lake City Council on Thursday agreed to change the town’s name to Rocky Top as part of an effort to attract a multi-million dollar development that could include a water park, interactive theater with children’s museum, and coal miners music theater, among other things.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:10 p.m. June 28.

LAKE CITY—Lake City is now Rocky Top, Tennessee.

For most people, Rocky Top has been, until now, the name of a bluegrass song that is wildly popular in East Tennessee and the unofficial anthem of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Hikers might know it as a sub-peak of Thunderhead Mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains. And shoppers might recognize it as the name of a bookstore, or gas station, or wine trail, or one of many other businesses registered in Tennessee.

But officials and business leaders here have worked for months to make their town to first to use it in a city name.

The idea is to use the name change to spur developments along Interstate 75 that could be worth up to $237 million. Proposed projects include an indoor and outdoor water park, interactive theater with a children’s museum, a coal miners music theater, and laser tag, among other things. Officials have said those developments—which have also included other options such as a hotel, restaurant, and candy company—won’t happen without the name change.

Residents hope the change and subsequent developments will create jobs, add sales tax revenues, and provide a vital economic boost to this depressed town of 1,800 people in northern Anderson County. [Read more…]

No change in Anderson County property tax rate, officials say

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Anderson County Commission in June 2014

The Anderson County Commission is pictured above during its Monday night meeting. (Photo by Sara Wise)

CLINTON—The property tax rate will remain unchanged in Anderson County in the fiscal year that begins July 1, officials said.

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and the Budget Committee had both presented a no-tax-increase budget, and on Monday, the Anderson County Commission set the property tax rate for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

The tax rates for the new fiscal year will stay the same as the rates for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Property owners within the city of Clinton will pay $2.50 per $100 of assessed value on their property, Oak Ridge property owners will see a tax rate of $2.347 per $100, and property owners in Lake City, Oliver Springs, Norris and unincorporated areas of Anderson County will pay $2.529 per $100 of assessed value.

While Anderson County Commission voted to approve the tax rate resolution, the legislative body has not yet approved an operating budget for the new fiscal year, the Anderson County Mayor’s Office said in a press release. [Read more…]

Guest column: D.A.R.E. graduates 395 students

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

DARE Logo

By Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Mark Whaley

The 2013/2014 Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program finished its instruction at the end of the school year. A total of 395 students successfully completed the curriculum. Each student earned a certificate of completion and was awarded a special D.A.R.E. T-shirt as an award.

For the first time, we were asked to start D.A.R.E. classes at the Clinch River Community School, where we introduced the program to the fifth and sixth grade students. The primary focus of this year’s D.A.R.E. classes was peer pressure and how important it is to make good choices. [Read more…]

Guest column: Anderson communications center very busy during Tuesday storm

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Anderson County Commission and Mark Lucas

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas is pictured above at right during a special County Commission meeting in November. Also pictured are Anderson County Commissioners Rick Meredith, center, and Jerry White.

To All:

(Tuesday) evening was very, very busy. From 3 p.m. until 11 p.m., our communications center received 589 telephone calls, of which 143 were on 911. The overwhelming number of calls were between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., when 365 calls came to our dispatch center. Of these 365 calls, 109 were on 911.

Comparing to last Tuesday from 3 p.m. until 11 p.m., we received 156 total telephone calls, of which 20 were on 911. The two-hour period from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. last week was only 41 total calls, of which five were on 911.

For the entire shift from 3 p.m. until 11 p.m., that was a 288 percent increase. For the two hours from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m., the increase was 790 percent.

We had four communications officers working (Tuesday) when the storm hit. A fifth came into work on her own to help out. Many of these 911 and non-emergency calls required dispatching of emergency personnel from law enforcement, fire, or EMS. Others required notifications to the state and county highway departments and the utility companies. It was non-stop for hours. [Read more…]

Lake City-to-Rocky Top vote set for June 26

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Tim Isbel at Hearing on Lake City Name Change to Rocky Top

Tim Isbel, president of the Rocky Top Marketing and Manufacturing Co., at a federal court hearing in May on Lake City’s proposed name change to Rocky Top.

Information from WYSH Radio

Officials in what is now called Lake City have announced that the City Council will meet on Thursday, June 26, at 5 p.m. to ratify the town’s name change to Rocky Top.

The name change is considered vital for the development of several attractions aimed at turning the sleepy town into a tourist destination for travelers along I-75, and it cleared its most significant hurdle a couple of weeks ago when a federal judge refused to issue an injunction to prohibit the name change from going forward.

The request for a preliminary injunction  had been filed by the owners of the copyright to the song “Rocky Top,” who had argued that the name change amounted to a trademark violation. [Read more…]

U.S. judge denies request to stop Lake City’s name change to Rocky Top

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Tim Isbel at Hearing on Lake City Name Change to Rocky Top

Tim Isbel, president of the Rocky Top Marketing and Manufacturing Co., at a federal court hearing in May on Lake City’s proposed name change to Rocky Top.

A federal judge on Wednesday denied for now a request to stop Lake City from changing its name to Rocky Top.

The preliminary injunction had been requested by House of Bryant Publications LLC, the Gatlinburg publisher of “Rocky Top,” a well-known bluegrass song closely identified with the University of Tennessee and its Volunteers athletics program.

The Lake City Council could reconsider the name change as early as June. The council endorsed the name change in November, and it was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly this year in a bill that has already been signed by Gov. Bill Haslam. Anderson County Commissioner Tim Isbel has said Lake City could become Rocky Top on July 3 under the new state law.

Isbel is president of Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing and Manufacturing Co. That company has proposed a development that could be worth up to $450 million over six years and include an indoor and outdoor water park, coal miners theater, children’s museum, train rides, restaurant, and a candy company on some 300 acres near two exits off Interstate 75. Officials have said it could bring 200 new jobs to Lake City and generate another $6 million in sales tax per year. But the project hinges on the name change. [Read more…]

ACHS Blue-Gray football game Friday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Anderson County Mavericks football team will be having a spring inter-squad Blue vs. Gray Game. The game will be played at 7 p.m. Friday at Lake City Football Field.

Tickets are available for $5 at the school office or at the gate.

Man flees from deputies in his underwear

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A Lake City man was in custody Wednesday after turning himself in after fleeing from deputies early Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Justin Lee McIntosh, 21, surrendered to jail officers Tuesday evening and was arrested on several outstanding warrants, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said.

Earlier Tuesday morning, at about 3:30 a.m., patrol deputies went to his residence on Bolin Road near Lake City in an attempt to serve the arrest warrants. McIntosh broke out a side window of the home and fled from deputies—in his underwear, the Sheriff’s Department said. [Read more…]