Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Pies re-opens in new location, adds 10 employees

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Secret City Pies Staff

The staff at the new Secret City Pies location at Security Square at 979 Oak Ridge Turnpike is pictured above. Among those pictured are Leisa Hope, front right, and Terry Hope, back right.

 

Secret City Pies re-opened Monday, October 6, at its new location in Security Square. The new facility offers an expanded menu and dine-in seating.

Terry and Leisa Hope, who started the business two years ago in a take-out only location on the west end of town, are continuing their popular pies and desserts including pie-in-a cup, and bite-size pies, cookies, and their lunchtime favorites of chili dogs and a variety of sandwiches, a press release said.

“We will be adding pre-made salads, soups and stews, pinto beans and cornbread, and most of our sandwich meats will be cooked in house,” Leisa Hope said. Sandwich choices include, ham, turkey, roast beef, and bologna. Box lunches containing a sandwich, chips, dessert, and drink are also available.

“Secret City Pies can also cater lunches and brunches and can provide pie bites for all occasions, such as weddings, holiday parties, and more,” Hope added. The store would like a week’s notice on catering, but customers can call for shorter availability.

The new store is at 979 Oak Ridge Turnpike, across from the Methodist Medical Center entrance. [Read more…]

Feud over food: Documents on jail menus, orders

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Paul White

Paul White

CLINTON—Anderson County Sheriff Paul White and his challenger, Anthony Lay, have had a feud over the food served at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.

The feud started with a June 26 press release by Lay, a Republican challenging White, a Democrat, in the August 7 election. Lay said the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department appears to be operating a bakery, and he has suggested inmates are eating cookies and cobbler, and pies and pudding.

If elected, Lay said, he would “cut the fiscal fat from the sheriff’s jail budget by cutting out the pie.”

“Jail will be a jail, not a hotel or bakery,” said Lay, a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper.

A few days later, White responded in a statement that said “inaccurate and misleading information” was being circulated in the campaign for sheriff.

“The jail does not operate a ‘bakery,’” said White, who is running for his third four-year term as sheriff.

The jail menus are “quite conservative,” White said, and the average meal costs $1.10. [Read more…]

Sheriff candidates spar over jail food

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Anderson County Jail Sandwich Lunch

A hand-picked crew of nine inmates prepares peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches on white bread for lunch at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Wednesday. Oak Ridge Today was allowed to take pictures of the kitchen, food storage area, and coolers and freezers, but not the inmates.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1 a.m. July 25.

Sheriff: Despite campaign claims, jail menu conservative, with average meal $1.10

Challenger stands by his pie, ice cream claims

CLINTON—The menu at the Anderson County jail at lunchtime Wednesday was simple and spartan: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich and milk.

It doesn’t appear to be an unusual meal at the jail, at least not this week. In fact, the menu this week includes three similar lunches with 1/4 cup of peanut butter and jelly mix, two slices of bread, and 8 oz. of milk or chocolate milk.

Anthony Lay

Anthony Lay

Other meals on the menu—the jail can serve up to 8,000 per week—also call for small portions of meat and bread, fruits and vegetables, and beans and milk.

But Anthony Lay, a Republican candidate for Anderson County sheriff, has raised questions about what inmates are eating. He has suggested they’re eating luxuriously, enjoying pies, cobblers, cookies, and cake. Lay has said the jail appears to be operating a bakery, and taxpayers are footing the bill.

“Fresh baked (double chunk) cookies; cherry, blackberry, and blueberry cobbler; pumpkin and apple pie with Cool Whip—these are all delicious,” Lay said in a June 26 press release. “But at the end of the day, taxpayers foot the bill, and they don’t expect us to offer luxuries to folks who, let’s face it, are in jail for a reason.”

Paul White

Paul White

Sheriff Paul White, a Democrat seeking his third term in the August 7 election, has dismissed Lay’s claims as inaccurate and misleading.

“The jail does not operate a bakery,” White said in a July 1 statement.

He said the jail menus are quite conservative. They include a cold sandwich for lunch. The average meal costs $1.10, White said. [Read more…]

Secret City Pies celebrates new store in west Oak Ridge

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Secret City Pies Ribbon Cutting

Business leaders and workers celebrate the opening of Secret City Pies in west Oak Ridge at a Tuesday ribbon-cutting ceremony.

A new pie store in west Oak Ridge has its roots in food cooked for an international drag racing team.

Terry Hope is a member of Al-Anabi, and the new business, Secret City Pies, grew out of the cooking that he does for the racing team, his wife Leisa said during a Tuesday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Secret City Pies opened in August at 1990 C Oak Ridge Turnpike, next to United Grocery Outlet. It sells savory and sweet pies, some cookies and bread, and lunch boxes, sandwiches, and chili dogs, Leisa Hope said. [Read more…]