Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Festival: ORHPA has history exhibit at Midtown Community Center on Friday, Saturday

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The first 100 visitors to the History Exhibit at the Midtown Community Center on Friday, June 2, 2017, and Saturday, June 3, 2017, get a free 43-page Pocket Guide from the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. (Submitted photo)

The first 100 visitors to the History Exhibit at the Midtown Community Center on Friday, June 2, 2017, and Saturday, June 3, 2017, get a free 43-page Pocket Guide from the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. (Submitted photo)

 

Submitted

Bring the family by the historic Midtown Community Center next to Kroger from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, June 2, and Saturday, June 3, during the Secret City Festival—to enjoy the fascinating story behind the creation of U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear complex and the City of Oak Ridge. The Midtown Center is located at 102 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge.

As a special treat, the first 100 visitors on each day will get a free Manhattan Project Secret City pocket guide from the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association.

The pocket guide, a $5 value, has 43 pages packed with “Wow-Facts” and photos on early Oak Ridge and the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a press release said. The guide also includes a map of historical locations in the city and a driving tour.

This year is the 75th anniversary of both the DOE nuclear complex and the “Secret City” of Oak Ridge. Both were created by the federal government in the difficult year following the Pearl Harbor attack, 1942, during the super-secret Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was President Roosevelt’s effort to build the very first atomic bomb and end World War II. [Read more…]

Secret City Festival: Seven days of celebration

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Two weekends, counting Fridays. Two weekdays. Seven days of celebration, from June 2 through June 10, 2017, mostly at A. K. Bissell Park. And admission to all events is free of charge. (Photo and caption courtesy Celebrate Oak Ridge and Carolyn Krause)

Two weekends, counting Fridays. Two weekdays. Seven days of celebration, from June 2 through June 10, 2017, mostly at A. K. Bissell Park. And admission to all events is free of charge. (Photo and caption courtesy Celebrate Oak Ridge and Carolyn Krause)

 

Two weekends, counting Fridays. Two weekdays. Seven days of celebration, from June 2 through June 10, mostly at A. K. Bissell Park. And admission to all events is free of charge.

The new Secret City Festival, brought to you by Celebrate Oak Ridge, will be bookended by two special weekends. The first weekend will celebrate Oak Ridge and World War II history. A free family movie will be shown on Tuesday, June 6; the arts will be celebrated on Wednesday, June 7; and music and art are the focus of the second weekend, June 9-10.

Celebrate Oak Ridge June 2017 Schedule Web

On Friday, June 2, tours of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with shuttles running to and from the American Museum of Science and Energy and New Hope Center. U.S. citizenship and pre-registration are required for tours. Graphite Reactor tours at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will also be held then on a first-come, first-served basis, with departure on buses from AMSE.

Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch will officially open the festival, and the crew of the U.S.S. Oak Ridge will present and ring the U.S.S. Oak Ridge bell at 8:30 p.m. At 9 p.m., the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” will be shown free of charge.

Overnight, approximately 200 re-enactors will be setting up an overnight encampment with World War II-era tents in Bissell Park. [Read more…]

ORHPA has Museum Appreciation Day at AMSE today

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American Museum of Science and Energy Sign

Come out on May 11, 2017, and show appreciation for the American Museum of Science and Energy and express your personal appreciation to the staff, ORHPA said. (Photo by ORHPA)

 

The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association is having a Museum Appreciation Day for the American Museum of Science and Energy on Thursday, May 11.

The Museum Appreciation Day is is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 11, at AMSE, which is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The Museum Appreciation Day is being held in place of the ORHPA’s regular monthly meeting normally, which is in the evening on the second Thursday of each month.

“The ORHPA encourages all its members and the public to come out and thank the AMSE staff for decades of excellent work, creating a museum that is a top destination for visitors to Oak Ridge,” a press release said. “While visiting, you’ll have a chance to give comments on what the AMSE means to you.” [Read more…]

Updated: Four lawsuits filed after fatal July 4 parking lot crash

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Pictured above during a hearing on lawsuits filed against Lee Cromwell, second from left, are attorneys Jason Fisher, left James Y. "Bo" Reed, second from right; and Bruce Fox. Personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Cromwell, 68, an Oak Ridge resident convicted of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault for a fatal crash in a crowded parking lot at Midtown Community Center after fireworks on July 4, 2015. The hearing was Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in Anderson County Circuit Court in Clinton. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Pictured above during a hearing on four lawsuits filed against Lee Cromwell, second from left, are attorneys Jason Fisher, left; James Y. “Bo” Reed, second from right; and Bruce Fox. Personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Cromwell, 67, an Oak Ridge resident convicted in February of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal crash in a crowded parking lot at Midtown Community Center after fireworks on July 4, 2015. The hearing on the lawsuits was Wednesday morning, April 12, 2017, in Anderson County Circuit Court in Clinton. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 11 a.m. April 13.

CLINTON—Four lawsuits, including personal injury and wrongful death complaints, have been filed against Lee Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault in February after a fatal crash in a crowded parking lot at Midtown Community Center after fireworks on July 4, 2015. The four lawsuits seek up to about $7.5 million in damages. The amount could be larger because one of the lawsuits doesn’t specify a damage amount.

Three of the lawsuits have been settled or are pending settlement, attorney James Y. “Bo” Reed of Knoxville said in a hearing in Anderson County Circuit Court in Clinton on Wednesday morning. Reed represents Cromwell, 67, in the civil cases.

The terms of the settlements haven’t been publicly disclosed. One of the settlements, in the case of Janicia Henderson and four children, is listed in Anderson County Criminal Court Clerk records, but it remains under seal because there are juveniles involved.

A trial date has been scheduled for October 25 in the case that hasn’t been settled or where a settlement isn’t pending. That’s a civil complaint, a personal injury lawsuit, filed by Michael Eldridge and his wife Elizabeth Eldridge of Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

State asks for 11-year sentence in fatal July 4 parking lot crash

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Lee Harold Cromwell, 68, of Oak Ridge, has been charged with vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. Cromwell has been on trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton, starting Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, and continuing through Wednesday, Feb. 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, of Oak Ridge, was convicted of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. Cromwell was convicted at the end of a three-day jury trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton, starting Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, and continuing through Wednesday, Feb. 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—Prosecutors have asked for an effective 11-year sentence for the Oak Ridge man convicted of one count of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in the fatal parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after fireworks on July 4, 2015.

The crash killed a father of two, James Robinson, 37, of Knoxville, who was trying to push his daughters to safety, and it injured eight others. It’s one of the worst crashes anyone can remember in Oak Ridge.

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, was convicted of the vehicular homicide and aggravated assault charges after a three-day trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton in February, and he was scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday. But the sentencing hearing was postponed because Cromwell did not want private attorney James Scott representing him anymore. A public defender has been appointed instead.

A new date hasn’t been set yet for the rescheduled sentencing hearing. The public defender will need time to review the case and the transcript of the three-day trial in mid-February before he or she can represent Cromwell at sentencing. [Read more…]

Cromwell files $137 million in liens against law enforcement, IRS, Social Security

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Lee-Cromwell-Preliminary-Hearing-Jan-15-2016

Lee H. Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records. Cromwell, who was convicted after a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, is pictured above during a preliminary hearing in Anderson County General Sessions Court on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:15 p.m. Feb. 17.

Lee Harold Cromwell, the Oak Ridge man convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated assault on Wednesday, has filed $137 million in liens against local law enforcement officials and agencies, as well as against the Internal Revenue Service and a Social Security service center, according to state records.

Cromwell has been indicted by a grand jury in Davidson County in Nashville on Class A and Class E felonies. Officials announced those indictments after Cromwell was convicted at the end of his vehicular homicide trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation elaborated, saying that Cromwell was one of 11 people indicted in a 320-count indictment after a one-year investigation into fraudulent liens in East Tennessee that was conducted with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So far, 10 of the 11 people have been arrested on charges of unlawfully filing liens and making false entries into records, the TBI said. Multiple other state, county, and local law enforcement agencies participated in the arrests on Wednesday.

Seven of those arrested, or more than half of them, are from Anderson County. They claim to be “sovereign citizens,” or people who do not typically “believe that they have to abide by the rules everyone else follows because they have declared their personal independence from government,” said Dave Clark, Anderson County district attorney general.

TBI special agents began their investigation at the request of Clark in May 2016. They were helped by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. [Read more…]

Jury finds Cromwell guilty of vehicular homicide, aggravated assault

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Lee Harold Cromwell, 68, of Oak Ridge, has been charged with homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. Cromwell has been on trial in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton, starting Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, and continuing through Wednesday, Feb. 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, of Oak Ridge, was convicted in Anderson County Criminal Court on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault in a fatal parking lot crash at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge after fireworks on July 4, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 a.m.

CLINTON—An Anderson County jury on Wednesday found Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, of Oak Ridge, guilty of one count of vehicular homicide and eight counts of aggravated assault for killing one person and injuring eight others during a parking lot crash at Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015.

The 12-person jury—six men and six women—unanimously returned the guilty verdicts just before 3 p.m. Wednesday. The case had been sent to the jury about four hours earlier, just before 11 a.m.

The jury verdicts came at the end of a three-day trial that started Monday morning in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton. Senior Judge Paul Summers heard the case because Judge Don Elledge had recused himself due to liens filed against him by Cromwell.

A sentencing hearing has been set for Cromwell for 9 a.m. April 11. [Read more…]

Fatal July 4 crash: Victim, mechanic again dispute stuck-throttle claim

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Lee-Cromwell-Trial-Paul-Summers-James-Scott-Ben-Higgins-Feb-13-2017-Web

Defense attorney James Scott, right, talks to potential jurors in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, during the homicide trial for Lee Cromwell, 67, who is accused of killing a Knoxville man and injuring others as he backed through the crowded parking lot at the Midtown Community Center after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015. Also pictured is Senior Judge Paul Summers, top left, who was appointed to hear the case after Don Elledge recused himself, and Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Ben Higgins, center front. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 6 p.m.

CLINTON—On the witness stand on Tuesday, a mechanic and victim again disputed a claim that a stuck throttle might have been the cause of a parking lot crash that killed a Knoxville man and injured other people, including children, after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015.

The two witnesses—victim Michael Eldridge and mechanic David Carey of Secret City Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram—were among 15 witnesses who testified from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon in the homicide trial of Lee Harold Cromwell, 67, in Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton.

The witnesses included victims, police officers, and the wife of the man who died as well as the couple’s two young children.

Presentation of the evidence concluded Tuesday afternoon, and closing arguments were given Wednesday morning. The case went to the 12-person jury late Wednesday morning.

Cromwell is accused of killing James Robinson, 37, of Knoxville; injuring others; and crashing into several vehicles as he backed his Dodge Ram pickup truck through the crowded parking lot at Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, after fireworks across the street at Alvin K. Bissell Park. He is facing a vehicular homicide charge and eight counts of aggravated assault. [Read more…]

Homicide trial starts for Cromwell, could last three days

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lee-cromwell-motion-hearing-sept-21-2016-2-web

The trial for Lee Cromwell, 67, the defendant in a fatal parking lot crash in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, has been set for the week that starts Monday, February 13, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—The homicide trial for Lee Harold Cromwell, the defendant in a fatal parking lot crash after fireworks in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2015, started Monday in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

The trial started with jury selection. About 115 potential jurors received instructions from Senior Judge Paul Summers on Monday morning.

A jury of 12 people and three alternates will be selected from among the 115 potential jurors.

Summers, appointed to hear the case after Judge Don Elledge recused himself because of liens filed by Cromwell, said he expects the trial to last three days, although that is not guaranteed.

The plea deadline for Cromwell was February 3.

The witnesses that are expected to testify include current and former Oak Ridge Police Department officers, victims of the crash, and Julia Robinson, the wife of James Robinson, 37, the Knoxville man who died in the crash.

[Read more…]

Get update on Manhattan Project National Park on Thursday

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Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson

 

You can hear an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a Thursday evening meeting.

The meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 9, at the Midtown Community Center’s Wildcat Den at 102 Robertsville Road. It’s open to the public.

Robert Johnson will present an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge. He will discuss the status of the park and announce upcoming events, a press release said.

Here are some links to website pages on the park, which also includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico: [Read more…]

McNally, the new lieutenant governor, to discuss growing up in Oak Ridge, public service

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Randy McNally

Randy McNally (Submitted photo)

 

Tennessee Senator Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican who is now lieutenant governor and speaker of the Senate, will discuss public service and growing up in Oak Ridge during a meeting this evening (Thursday, January 12).

McNally’s talk will be at a 7 p.m. meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association in the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road.

McNally, a legislative leader for nearly 40 years, became lieutenant governor and speaker of the Senate on Tuesday on the first organizational day of the 110th General Assembly. He is only the second Republican Tennessee Senate Speaker in modern history and the first from Anderson County in nearly 150 years. [Read more…]

Westcott’s 95th birthday will be celebrated Jan. 21

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Ed Westcott

Ed Westcott is pictured above. (Submitted photo)

 

The family of Ed Westcott, the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II, is inviting the community to celebrate his 95th birthday on Saturday, January 21.

The birthday celebration is at 2 p.m. January 21 in the Wildcat Den at Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Avenue in Oak Ridge.

Westcott was the only authorized photographer in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal project to build the world’s first atomic bombs—before Germany could. Oak Ridge was a production site for the Manhattan Project, and the city, which was then known as Clinton Engineer Works, enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime. [Read more…]