Oak Ridge Today

Chocolate Evening will benefit Agape House on May 9

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Chocolate Desserts

Truffles, fudge, brownies, cake, and plenty of chocolate tastes to satisfy a sweet tooth will be offered at “An Evening of Everything Chocolate” on Saturday, May 9, in support of Agape House of Oak Ridge.

The evening, from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church will feature 10 tasting stations with a variety of chocolate culinary temptations, along with coffee and tea to wash them down.

Bakers and candy makers are invited to bring their best creations to the evening’s baking contest. For an entry fee of $10, bakers may enter any dessert containing chocolate, with celebrity judges tasting the entries and awarding a gold medal to the winning dessert. The dessert should contain eight servings. Contest judges will be caterer Judy Dodd, Oak Ridge City Council member Rick Chinn, and Oak Ridge School Board Chairman Keys Fillauer. [Read more…]

Children’s mental health film screening in Oak Ridge on May 7

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Sharon Boudreaux "Hear Our Voices" Poster

Sharon Boudreaux, member of the Grace Lutheran Church Mental Health Ministry team, puts up a “Hear Our Voices” poster. (Submitted photo)

 

In observance of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, the award-wining documentary, “Hear Our Voices: Transforming the Children’s Mental Health System,” will be shown at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 7, at the Pollard Auditorium on the Oak Ridge Associated Universities campus at 120 Badger Road. The screening is free and open to the public.

“Hear Our Voices” recounts the journeys of nine children and young people as they fight to overcome mental health issues and reach a place of recovery and wellness. Their stories are framed by comments from leading mental health professionals, who outline the need for change in children’s mental health care, a press release said.

As seen in the film trailer, one story features Naquisha, a 16-year old poet, who, “despite drive and ambition,” is held back by the mental health challenges of bi-polar and post-traumatic stress disorders. Given the opportunity to gather a network of support around herself, she is “taking control of her life and making plans for college and beyond.” [Read more…]

Report: Woman who fell into fountain and died had been ‘huffing,’ witness says

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Oak Ridge Civic Center Fountain

The Oak Ridge woman who fell into this fountain at the Civic Center on June 3 and died in a hospital 13 days later had been spotted “huffing” a can of keyboard cleaner next to a tree in the park, possibly just minutes before she was found floating face down in the water, authorities said.

The 26-year-old woman who fell into a fountain at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on June 3 and died in a hospital 13 days later had been spotted “huffing” a can of keyboard cleaner next to a tree in the park, possibly just minutes before she was found floating face down in the water, authorities said.

After she was pulled from the fountain, rescuers tried CPR on Sarah Christine McAdams, but she was unresponsive and given only a 10 percent chance of surviving the first night at Methodist Medical Center, hospital staff told Oak Ridge Police Department Detective Kevin Craig.

On June 6, ORPD Detective David Stephens reported that McAdams, who had lived on Manhattan Avenue in Woodland, had been placed in an induced coma and had not been able to communicate. She died at the hospital on June 16, according to a copy of the death certificate provided by her mother, Lori Holt, of Murrell’s Inlet, S.C. [Read more…]