Brian Galloway
Russell Barker, who will be sworn in as Anderson County sheriff on September 1, has named his chief deputy and jail administrator.
Brian Galloway will serve as chief deputy, and Richard Parker will serve as jail administrator.
Galloway will replace Mark Lucas, who is retiring August 31 after losing to Barker in the race for sheriff in the August 2 general election in Anderson County.
Parker will replace the current jail administrator, Avery Johnson. [Read more…]
James R. Baysinger
CLINTON—A Knoxville man pleaded guilty to reckless homicide on Friday in the death of a five-year-old boy in Anderson County about three years ago. The child was reported to have drowned after being reported missing.
James R. Baysinger, 63, pleaded guilty to the single count of reckless homicide in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Friday afternoon. As part of the plea deal, the state will not prosecute a second charge, aggravated child abuse or neglect when the victim, Odin Elwood Fitton, was less than eight years old.
Baysinger has a sentencing hearing scheduled for November 27.
There was no allegation in court on Friday that Baysinger intended to injure or kill Odin. Instead, the boy’s death was alleged to have resulted from recklessness.
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Yoonsik Jung
An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy and a prisoner were injured in a three-vehicle rear-end crash at Interstate 75 early Sunday, and a Clinton man is facing charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving, among other counts, authorities said.
The crash was reported at about 1 a.m. Sunday on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard (Highway 61) at I-75.
Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Gregory Stanley, 49, of Knoxville, was transporting a prisoner for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency in a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria, and he was stopped at the traffic light at the I-75 southbound exit ramp when he was struck in the rear by a driver reported to be intoxicated, ACSD Chief  Deputy Mark Lucas said. TWRA had made an arrest on Norris Lake for domestic assault, and the Sheriff’s Department had responded to transport the person who had been arrested to the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.
Stanley, the deputy, was stopped for the red light when his car was hit in the rear, Lucas said. Both Stanley and the prisoner, Eric Allen Rose, 25, of Powell, were taken to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge by Anderson County EMS for non-life threatening injuries after the crash, Lucas said. [Read more…]
Russell Barker
Note: This story was last updated at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 3.
Russell Barker, a Republican, won the race for Anderson County sheriff on Thursday, beating Mark Lucas, a Democrat, in a race decided by about 2,000 votes, according to unofficial results.
Meanwhile, four incumbents were re-elected in two Anderson County Commission districts where there was a challenger in Oak Ridge.
Barker is a detective sergeant with the Clinton Police Department who has served as director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County. Lucas is chief deputy of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.
Barker had 7,684 votes (57.79 percent), compared to 5,613 votes (42.21 percent) for Lucas, according to the unofficial results posted after all 27 precincts had been counted Thursday night.
Anderson County Sheriff Paul White is retiring at the end of his third four-year term, and he did not seek re-election.
In another contested race, Regina Copeland, the Republican director of the 911 center, defeated Ebony Capshaw, a Democrat, by a 69.74 percent to 30.26 percent margin (8,981 votes to 3,987). The last elected trustee, Rodney Archer, is now executive director of the County Officials Association of Tennessee, and Myron Iwanski, a former county commissioner and commission chair appointed to the trustee job through this August election, did not seek the job in the election. [Read more…]
Russell Barker
Note: This story was last updated at 8:50 p.m.
Russell Barker, who has served as director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force in Anderson County, leads in early and absentee voting for Anderson County sheriff, with a roughly 56-44 percent margin over Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas, according to unofficial results released Thursday evening after polls closed and before any precincts had been counted.
Barker, a Republican, had 4,182 early and absentee votes (55.72 percent), compared to 3,323 (44.28 percent) for Lucas, a Democrat.
It’s not clear if Barker’s lead will hold after all 27 precincts in Anderson County are counted. Early voting leads often or usually predict the eventual winner, but in prior elections, the lead has sometimes narrowed or even reversed. [Read more…]
Note: This story was last updated at 10:35 a.m.
Today, August 2, is Election Day in Anderson County. The election includes the Anderson County general election and state and federal primary elections.
It’s the second of three elections this year. The first was the county primary election on May 1, and the last is the municipal election and state and federal elections on November 6.
Here are notes about Anderson County candidates in today’s county general election from a forum at Oak Ridge High School in July. The county general election includes selections for mayor, sheriff, county commission, trustee, circuit court clerk, county clerk, register of deeds, road superintendent, and school board, among other positions. Some of the candidates have no opposition.
Anderson County Sheriff [Read more…]
Paul and Wanda White will host a BBQ Lunch in support of the Mark Lucas For Sheriff campaign on Saturday, a press release said.
The lunch is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 30, at the Underwood-McRae Pavilion on the Anderson County Fairgrounds on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard in Clinton, the press release said.
“Please join us for good food and meet Mark Lucas for him to share his vision when elected sheriff of Anderson County,” the press release said.
Bradley Allen Thomas
Note: This story was updated at 10:30 p.m.
The suspect in the carjacking of a van occupied by a woman in a wheelchair on Saturday, followed by a police chase and crash, was arrested after he was released from a hospital on Thursday, authorities said.
Bradley Allan Thomas, 30, of Knoxville, was arrested by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies when he was released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said. Thomas, who was seriously injured, had been taken to UT Medical Center after the Saturday afternoon crash at Clinton Highway and Powell Drive in Knox County.
Thomas is the suspect charged in the carjacking in the parking lot of the Red Lobster restaurant on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge on Saturday afternoon, Lucas said.
“Oak Ridge Police officers served their warrants related to the carjacking, and Thomas was also served with warrants on the pursuit by deputies,” Lucas said after Thursday’s arrest. [Read more…]
You can meet candidates for county and state elected offices at Popcorn and Politics at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
It’s scheduled from 4:30-6 p.m. Monday, June 25. It’s hosted by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s Advocacy Committee. Popcorn and Politics will give you a chance to meet candidates running for office in the August election, a press release said.
“All local candidates as well as candidates running for state legislative offices have been invited to participate,” the press release said.
The public is invited. There is no charge to attend, but a reservation is requested. The event will be held in the Joyce Conference Room at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]
A fatal crash involving a pedestrian was reported in Marlow on Wednesday morning, and a a serious crash that required three ambulances and a medical helicopter was reported near Interstate 75, authorities said.
The first crash was on Andersonville Highway at Bethel Road just east of Interstate 75 around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, said Mark Lucas, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department chief deputy.
Three ambulances were needed, Lucas said. A UT Lifestar medical helicopter responded, and it flew one person to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Lucas said. Anderson County EMS drove two injured people to UT Medical Center as well. There were serious injuries, Lucas said.
The second crash, the fatal crash, was reported a few hours later, at about 10 a.m. Wednesday on Oliver Springs Highway at Old Batley Road. In that crash, a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle, Lucas said. [Read more…]
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank (Submitted photo)
Note: This story was last updated at 9 a.m. May 2.
CLINTON—Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank narrowly won the Republican Party primary on Tuesday, beating Anderson County Commissioner Steve Emert by 153 votes, according to unofficial results.
Frank, a former small business operator who was first elected in August 2012, had 4,771 votes, compared to 4,618 for Emert. That was a slim margin of 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent.
Frank has served one special two-year term as mayor and one full four-year term. There was no Democratic Party candidate for mayor in the Tuesday primary, meaning Frank won’t have a challenger on the ballot in the August 2 county general election and is essentially assured of serving again.
Emert is a small business owner who has served as Anderson County Commission chair. Like a previous candidate for mayor, former Tennessee Representative Jim Hackworth, Emert had emphasized what he characterized as dysfunction, including lawsuits, in the Anderson County Courthouse under Frank. Among other pledges, he had promised to restore civility to the county government.
But that and other campaign issues weren’t enough to give Emert the win, even if it might have helped to keep the election close. Emert initially had a narrow 63-vote lead after early and absentee voting results were counted. But the lead flipped when Election Day results started coming in from across Anderson County. [Read more…]
Steve Emert
Note:Â This story was last updated at 8:48 p.m.
CLINTON—Anderson County Commissioner Steve Emert had a narrow 63-vote lead over Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank in the race for a four-year term as mayor in early and absentee voting results released after primary election polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Emert had 2,997 votes (50.53 percent) compared to 2,934 (49.47 percent) for Frank, who was first elected in August 2012. Both are candidates in the Anderson County Republican Party primary.
Election day votes have not been tabulated, so results could change. The results that follow are from the Republican Party primary. There are two candidates in the Democratic primary, Mark Lucas for sheriff and Ebony Capshaw for trustee, but they are unopposed in the primary election and are assured a spot in the August 2 county general election.
In the three-person Republican race for Anderson County sheriff, Scott Barker, a Clinton Police Department detective sergeant and director of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force, had a significant lead over Lewis Ridenour, an Oak Ridge Police Department officer and former chief deputy. Barker had 2,841 votes (49.88 percent), compared to 1,992 (34.97 percent) for Ridenour, according to the unofficial results. [Read more…]
