Oak Ridge Today

Anderson Commission to consider new fees for inmates

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Information from WYSH Radio

As the Anderson County Commission continues to try and find ways to generate sufficient revenue to staff the jail expansion scheduled to open early next year, commissioners on Monday will consider several resolutions drafted by the county law director assessing new fees for inmates incarcerated at the county jail. Law Director Jay Yeager says the new fees are in line with state law and would help take the onus of housing the inmates off of the taxpayers and place it on the offenders themselves.

Some of the proposed fees include charging prisoners for their jail-issued clothing and toiletries as well as instituting medical and dental co-pays and fees for having a jailer escort an inmate to the hospital to visit a sick relative or to the funeral of someone in their immediate family. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge students return to school, police enforce traffic safety; teachers, alumni welcomed

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Oak Ridge Superintendent Reception

Oak Ridge Schools had a reception last week for new Superintendent Bruce Borchers, center, and Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak. Borchers started in Oak Ridge on June 18. Also pictured above are James Hundertmark, right, who became Robertsville Middle School principal on July 1, and Christopher Scott, vice principal of curriculum and instruction at Oak Ridge High School.

Most Oak Ridge students returned to school on Monday, and police officers started a back-to-school traffic safety campaign. It’s known as “Operation Safe Start” and will focus on drivers who illegally pass school buses, speed in school zones, don’t wear safety belts or fail to ensure that their children do—or commit other unsafe driving actions near the schools.

Students at Willow Brook Elementary School and the Oak Ridge Schools’ Preschool returned to school in July. Oak Ridge will use an alternative schedule during the first week of school. (See the Oak Ridge Schools’ website for more information.)

In Anderson County, students returned to school on Wednesday, Aug. 7.

The resumption of classes in Oak Ridge caps a week in which school officials welcomed back representatives of graduating classes from 1946 to 2013, held a reception for new Superintendent Bruce Borchers and Assistant Superintendent Chris Marczak, and together with the Oak Ridge Police Department, announced a new agreement governing school resource officers, or SROs. [Read more…]

Seven arrested at alleged meth lab on Oliver Springs Highway

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Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Brittaney Michelle Blankenblicker

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Jamie Lynn Fleisch

Seven people were arrested Wednesday afternoon at an alleged methamphetamine laboratory on Oliver Springs Highway, authorities said.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the home on a drug investigation and found an active meth lab, Sheriff Paul White said in a press release. [Read more…]

Anderson Commission unable to resolve salary dispute between sheriff, mayor

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Note: This story was updated at 1:45 a.m. July 16.

CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission on Monday was unable to resolve a dispute between the county mayor and the sheriff over an annual salary agreement, meaning a judge could be asked to intervene.

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has refused to sign the proposed salary agreement for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. She said it includes about $7.66 million for salaries, which is roughly $1 million more than the $6.63 million approved by commission in June as part of this year’s budget.

“I cannot do anything more than what was passed,” Frank told commissioners Monday morning. “The only way I can sign that is if you go ahead and approve that new $1 million.” [Read more…]

Guest column: Independence Day traffic safety

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The Fourth of July may be America’s iconic holiday, but all too often the revelry ends in tragedy on the highways due to drunk driving. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department urges everyone to celebrate this Independence Day with a pledge to keep our community “independent” from drunk driving.

“The Fourth may be one of the nation’s most popular holidays, but, unfortunately, it’s also one of the most dangerous in terms of alcohol-related fatalities,” Sheriff Paul White said. “Too many people think they can get behind the wheel because they’ve only had a few drinks and just have a ‘buzz’ on. The truth is you don’t have to be ‘falling down drunk’ to be a menace to yourself and everyone around you on the highways. Remember: ‘Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving.'” [Read more…]

Anderson Commission unanimously approves budget with small tax cut

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Note: This story was updated at 1:12 p.m. June 18.

CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission unanimously approved a budget that cut the property tax rate by one-third of a penny on Monday.

It was a small but symbolic gesture, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said when she proposed the move, and commissioners endorsed it, during a special meeting last week.

For now, officials have resolved an impasse over whether there was enough money to cover the cost of new jailers hired in the past year by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department for a jail dormitory that is already open—and to pay for more than 30 new jailers needed when a 212-bed addition opens later this year or early next. [Read more…]

Anderson budget cuts tax rate; officials assure sheriff new jailers are covered

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CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission endorsed a budget Thursday that lowers the property tax rate, gives employees a day off, and is supposed to provide enough money to pay for jailers hired in the past year while allowing the sheriff to hire new ones for a jail addition that could open later this year.

The budget would also restore some funding for the relatively new Alternatives to Incarceration program, which Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank had proposed cutting by 80 percent, and add money to cover the cost of increased health insurance premiums for county employees.

The budget was endorsed in a 12-1-1 vote during a special meeting Thursday, the second this week. It could officially be adopted during the County Commission’s regular meeting on Monday. [Read more…]

Female pioneer in law enforcement dies after battle with cancer, sheriff says

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Peggy Murphy, a longtime deputy who was a pioneer in law enforcement, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday. She was 68.

“Deputy Peggy Murphy was a veteran law enforcement officer,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a statement. “One of the female pioneers in law enforcement, she began her career with the Clinton Police Department in 1966. Peggy served with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department from 1976 until 1986. She returned to the Sheriff’s Department in 2006 and served until her death. [Read more…]

Anderson officials develop plan to hire 15 jailers for jail expansion

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

CLINTON—For now, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has dropped her proposal to cut funding for the county law director, and she has worked with the budget director to put together a plan to hire 15 new jailers for a jail expansion that could open in November.

But it’s less than half the number of new jailers requested by Anderson County Sheriff Paul White for the 212-bed expansion of the Anderson County Detention Facility, which could be completed in November.

“They understand the budget constraints,” Frank said of the Sheriff’s Department. “In this tight economy, we’re doing the best we can.” [Read more…]

Police officers remembered, sworn in, honored, promoted during Memorial Day ceremony

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Oak Ridge Peace Officer Memorial Day Ceremony

Law enforcement officers from the Oak Ridge Police Department and Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies honor Peace Officer Memorial Day on Thursday.

Eight new Oak Ridge police officers were sworn in, two were promoted, and many were honored with new awards during a Peace Officer Memorial Day ceremony on Wednesday.

The annual May 15 ceremony is part of National Police Week, and it pays tribute to local, state, and federal peace officers, including those who died on the job.

Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said more than 20,000 officers have died while working since 1792, and on average, one is killed every 57 hours.

Last year, 127 died, and so far this year, 50 have been killed.

“Your unsung work is what binds us all together,” Akagi told several dozen officers gathered outside the Oak Ridge Municipal Building on a warm, sunny Wednesday afternoon. [Read more…]

Crime down 25 percent in Anderson County in two years, sheriff says

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The total number of crimes reported to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has dropped by about 25 percent in the past two years, Sheriff Paul White said.

He said overall crimes decreased by an even larger percentage, roughly 35 percent, from 2007 to 2012. Crimes against property, such as burglaries and thefts, fell about 20 percent over two years and close to 30 percent since 2007.

“This drop in overall crime can be directly attributed to proactive law enforcement and increased patrols of the rural areas of the county,” White said in a Monday press release. [Read more…]

Sheriff: Beer ‘sting’ nets four businesses

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Four businesses sold beer to an underage person during a compliance check at 19 local businesses last week, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a Tuesday afternoon press release.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department conducted the compliance checks at local businesses that sell beer on Wednesday, Feb. 13, with help from Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County, or ASAP, a press release said.

[Read more…]