Oak Ridge Today

ORPD accepting applications for Citizen’s Police Academy

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The Oak Ridge Police Department will be accepting applications for the Citizen’s Police Academy, which will begin on January 15, 2015, and run through March 19, 2015.

The Citizen’s Police Academy allows citizens to learn about how the Oak Ridge Police Department is organized and how it functions, a press release said. It also provides an improved understanding of the challenges in serving and protecting the community, the release said.

The academy requires a 10-week commitment from the participants and will be held one night a week on Thursdays beginning at 6 p.m. and ending at 9 p.m.

“The goal of the Citizen’s Police Academy is to create and develop a nucleus of responsible and well-informed citizens who have an enhanced understanding of the Police Department and how it serves the City of Oak Ridge,” the release said. [Read more…]

Neighborhood Watch, Police Department have pancake breakfast on Saturday

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Neighborhood Watch Pancake Breakfast

Nick and Pat Imperato are pictured above at a previous Neighborhood Watch pancake breakfast at Applebee’s. (Submitted photo)

 

Join your neighbors at a Community Pancake Breakfast on Saturday hosted by the Oak Ridge Police Department Community Resource Office and the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program.

The breakfast is scheduled from 8-10 a.m. Saturday, November 15. The breakfast will be held at Applebee’s at 1213 Oak Ridge Turnpike, and tickets are $5. Tickets are available at the door.

The breakfast offers residents an opportunity to meet Officer Brandan Sharp—the Oak Ridge Police Department’s community resource officer, who serves as a liaison to the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program—and to learn more about the city’s Neighborhood Watch crime prevention program.

[Read more…]

State officials, local agencies to crack down on seat belt use, impaired driving

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Kendell Poole

Kendell Poole

Traffic fatalities in Anderson County are up significantly this year, and Tennessee officials and local law enforcement agencies will announce a campaign on Monday to crack down on drivers not using seat belts or driving while impaired during the holidays.

The announcement is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday, November 10, at the Oak Ridge Civic Center at 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Among those participating will be Kendell Poole, director of the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office, and members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, as well as representatives of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Oak Ridge, Clinton, Norris, and Rocky Top police departments.

“There have been 16 traffic fatalities in Anderson County in 2014, which represents a 77 percent increase compared to 2013,” a press release said. “This is the third highest year-to-date difference in fatalities that an individual county has seen in Tennessee. Seventy-five percent of the fatalities were unrestrained. In an effort to prevent additional fatalities and injuries, Anderson County agencies will be increasing enforcement and conducting sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols.” [Read more…]

Follow-up: ORPD investigating suspicious ATM device that could be card ‘skimmer’

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Oak Ridge Police Department Logo

A suspicious device found on an ATM machine on Sunday could be a “skimmer,” and detectives are working with bank officials to determine if any debit or credit cards were compromised, the Oak Ridge Police Department said Wednesday.

A customer found the suspicious device on Sunday at the SunTrust Bank at 1188 Oak Ridge Turnpike, the ORPD said in a press release.

Police think it was a debit or credit card “skimmer.” A “skimmer” is a small device that is usually placed over the card slot of ATMs and gas pumps to steal debit/credit card information. “Skimmers” are sometimes accompanied by small cameras or keypad covers to steal PIN numbers associated with the cards. [Read more…]

ORPD investigating auto burglaries, offers prevention tips

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Oak Ridge Police Department Logo

The Oak Ridge Police Department is investigating a series of motor vehicle burglaries that have occurred throughout the city since August, and authorities are warning residents that vehicle break-ins increase during the holiday season, from late October to the new year.

The ORPD said there have been more than 25 reported auto burglaries from August through last week.

“The common thread is unattended vehicles left in fairly secluded parking lots, (with the) majority occurring around parks along Melton Lake Drive (and) Edgemoor Road,” the ORPD said last week. “The most current location is along Outer Drive. Time of day for each of the burglaries has varied, ranging from broad daylight, dusk, and dark. Items stolen from vehicles appear to have been in plain view.”

The most-stolen items include purses, cell phones, iPads and tablets, laptop computers, GPS units, other electronic items, and cash. [Read more…]

Animal Shelter reopens Tuesday; changes made after distemper outbreak

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Oak Ridge Animal Shelter

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter on Belgrade Road is pictured above.

Changes have been made, and the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter will reopen Tuesday after a temporary closure last week following the second distemper outbreak this year, city officials said.

The shelter staff will show reporters the changes that have been made to protect animals during an 8:30 a.m. Tuesday tour, and the shelter will open to the public at 11 a.m.

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter is located at 395 Belgrade Road.

City officials said last week that 51 animals were euthanized because of this month’s distemper outbreak, and the shelter was temporarily closed after canine distemper tests came back positive. All dogs that tested positive were euthanized to prevent the disease from spreading. [Read more…]

Animal Shelter closed temporarily after canine distemper confirmed

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Oak Ridge Animal Shelter

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter on Belgrade Road is pictured above.

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter is temporarily closed after canine distemper tests came back positive.

All dogs in the Animal Shelter that tested positive have been euthanized to prevent the disease from spreading, and the shelter staff is taking measures to prevent widespread infection within the canine community, a City of Oak Ridge press release said. Those preventive measures include cleaning and disinfecting.

The canine distemper tests were conducted by the University Of Tennessee College Of Veterinary Medicine. The Animal Shelter could reopen at 11 a.m. Tuesday, October 28.

The Animal Shelter had a distemper outbreak in March of this year, and the staff started taking precautions by vaccinating all animals on intake, the press release said. However, this time the animal was turned into the Animal Shelter already infected with distemper. [Read more…]

After four years, Lincoln’s closes, cites economic conditions

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Lincoln's Sports Grille

After more than four years, Lincoln’s Sports Grille on South Illinois Avenue has shut down, citing economic conditions.

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:30 a.m. Oct. 22.

Lincoln’s Sports Grille has shut down, citing economic conditions. The closure was announced in a sign posted on a front door of the four-year-old restaurant and bar on Monday and in a press release on Tuesday.

The popular restaurant and bar on South Illinois Avenue had had a series of five sometimes-contentious show cause hearings before the Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board. In the last show cause hearing on August 28, members revoked Lincoln’s permit.

Lincoln’s regained the permit after a temporary agreement imposing new conditions was worked out with the city and Beer Board and approved by Anderson County Chancellor Nicki Cantrell, pending an appeal of the Beer Board’s revocation.

But in an interview earlier this month, Scott Green, one of Lincoln’s owners, said the inability to sell beer between late August and early October had a substantial impact on the business. The restaurant and its staff had also been hurt by the bad publicity, Green said.

“It’s been a significant hit on us,” he said. [Read more…]

Shelter cleaned after two dogs diagnosed with canine distemper, others tested

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Oak Ridge Animal Shelter

The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter on Belgrade Road is pictured above.

 

Two dogs recently taken in by the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter have been diagnosed with canine distemper. The Animal Shelter was closed Friday and Saturday to allow for thorough cleaning of the facility. Dogs in the shelter are being tested to see if others have contracted the disease.

Test results are expected to be received by today (Tuesday, October 21). If none of the dogs test positive for canine distemper, the Animal Shelter will reopen at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

As a precaution, all animals brought into the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter will be vaccinated on arrival, the Oak Ridge Police Department said in a press release. Dogs with any kind of cough or nasal discharge will be kept separate from dogs available for adoption. [Read more…]

Two drivers injured in head-on, rollover crash on Turnpike

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Oak Ridge Turnpike Crash at West Lincoln Road

Oak Ridge police say the westbound 2013 Ford Focus, left, crossed the median and struck a 1996 Ford Ranger head-on in the eastbound lanes of Oak Ridge Turnpike near West Lincoln Road on Sunday night. The pickup rolled over into the ditch on the south side of the Turnpike, and one of the back wheels of the upside-down Ford Ranger is visible at right.

 

Note: This story was updated at 3:13 p.m.

Two drivers were injured in a head-on rollover crash on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Sunday night.

The crash was reported at about 10:54 p.m. Sunday near West Lincoln Road.

The Oak Ridge Police Department said Jeffery Wooten, 40, of Oak Ridge was traveling west on the four-lane Turnpike in a 2013 Ford Focus when the car crossed the median and struck a 1996 Ford Ranger head-on. The pickup was driven by Dexter Selby, 19, of Crossville. [Read more…]

Car once owned by ‘Sound of Music’ actor catches fire in OR

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Glenn Bell Car Fire Sound of Music

A 1965 Studebaker station wagon once owned by Dan Truhitte, who played the German officer Rolfe in “The Sound of Music” in 1965, caught fire in Oak Ridge on Friday. Above Oak Ridge Fire Department firefighter Steven London, left, sprays water on the bottom side of the four-door wagon. At right is ORFD firefighter Sandra Sila-Massengill.

 

A classic car once owned by an actor in “The Sound of Music” movie caught fire in Oak Ridge on Friday afternoon.

Oak Ridge resident Glenn Bell, who now owns the car, smelled gas as he left a doctor’s appointment at Jackson Square Plaza in the green 1965 Studebaker four-door station wagon early Friday afternoon. Bell decided to head home.

As he turned onto Tyler Road from Oak Ridge Turnpike, he saw smoke under the hood and dash, and he jumped out. The car rolled a short distance to the intersection of Tyler and Talmeda roads. [Read more…]