Two teenagers died and two were injured in a single-vehicle crash into a tree in Roane County on Sunday afternoon, state troopers said.
The fatal crash was reported at about 2:42 p.m. Sunday on Orchard Valley Drive at Dyllis Road in Roane County. That’s north of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.
The two male passengers who died were Austin J. French, 18, and Joshua A. Freels, 16, according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol report.
[Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Police Department said road closures due to flooding on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019, include eastbound Highway 95 east of the Highway 95/58 split, pictured above; Gum Hollow Road; and Jefferson Avenue at Jefferson Circle and Royce Circle. (Photo courtesy ORPD)
Note: This story was last updated at 2:45 p.m.
Days of continuous, heavy rain are causing widespread flooding and road closures in the area, including in Oak Ridge.
Late Saturday morning, the Oak Ridge Police Department said road closures include Gum Hollow Road, eastbound Highway 95 east of the Highway 95/58 split, and Jefferson Avenue at Jefferson Circle and Royce Circle.
“There are a number of flooded roads in Oak Ridge right now,” the ORPD said. “Please avoid areas with standing water and obey any road or lane closures for your own safety.”
Saturday afternoon, the Oak Ridge Fire Department said the ORPD conducted a water rescue at a partially submerged vehicle on Oak Ridge Turnpike (Highway 95) in west Oak Ridge.
The Police Department cited the advice that law enforcement officers and weather forecasters often give during flooding conditions: “Turn around, don’t drown.” [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
Monday night, the Roane County Commission overwhelmingly voted against the long-discussed school consolidation project. Commissioners voted 11-2 with two abstentions to reject the approximately $63 million plan that would have consolidated Harriman, Kingston, and Rockwood high schools into one large central facility that would be built near Roane State Community College’s campus in Harriman.
Since discussions began on the possibility of consolidating the three high schools and making renovations to Midway and Oliver Springs high schools, which would remain open under the proposal, school officials have been fighting an uphill battle. [Read more…]
MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT—A layout plan has been submitted for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, and now officials are waiting for a response from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The response could arrive any day, said Bill Barley, vice president of CHA Consulting, which has an office in Louisville. Barley and Mike Reiter of Michael Baker International, an architectural firm, gave an update about the Oak Ridge Airport project during a meeting of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners at McGhee Tyson Aiport in Alcoa on Wednesday.
The letter from the FAA could be a conditional approval, which is standard, Barley said.
If approved and funded, the airport would have a 5,000-foot runway, and it would be built on the south side of the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. It would be near Highway 58, on 170 acres of land that have been declared excess by the U.S. Department of Energy. The runway could run roughly parallel to the highway.
The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today.Â
Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.
Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:
Basic
Pro
Temporary
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:
Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831
Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.
Cheyenne Patton
Note: This story was updated at 4:45 p.m.
Update:Â The teenager reported missing in Roane County has been located, the Oliver Springs Police Department said Sunday.
“Thank you all for the help!” the OSPD said. [Read more…]
The League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge will sponsor a candidate forum on Thursday, October 25, at 7 p.m. in the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater. This forum will feature candidates running in the Tennessee state general election for Tennessee Senate District 5 and Tennessee House Districts 32 and 33, and information on the Roane County wheel tax referendum, a press release said. Patrick Bryan, former League co-president, will moderate.
The two candidates for the Tennessee Senate District 5—which includes Anderson, Loudon, and part of Knox counties—are Randy McNally, the Republican incumbent, and Stuart Starr, his Democratic challenger. The two candidates for the Tennessee House District 32, which includes parts of Roane and Loudon counties, are Kent Calfee, the Republican incumbent, and Mary Ellen Blencoe, his Democratic challenger. The two candidates for Tennessee House District 33, which covers most of Anderson County, are John D. Ragan, the Republican incumbent, and Richard Dawson, his Democratic challenger. [Read more…]
Pat Postma, left, presents the Postma Young Professional Medal to Wade Creswell, chief executive officer of Roane Alliance, during an East Tennessee Economic Council meeting on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. (DOE photo courtesy Lynn Freeny)
Note: This story was updated at 2:25 p.m.
Wade Creswell, president and chief executive officer of Roane Alliance, is leaving his position to begin work with an area business. His last day at the Alliance will be September 21.
The departure was announced Wednesday by Chris Whaley, chair of the Roane Alliance Board of Directors.
Pam May, Roane Alliance vice president, will serve as interim president and CEO until the board decides on the long-term future of the position, a press release said.
“I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation of the great work that Wade has done in his four and a half years leading the Roane Alliance,” Whaley said in a statement sent to the Board of Directors for the Roane Alliance, Chamber of Commerce, and Industrial Development Board. “His passion, vision, and love for Roane County have fueled his tireless work for this county and region, and I sincerely appreciate all he has done.” [Read more…]
Ron Woody
Roane County Executive Ron Woody was re-elected to a third four-year term as county executive on Thursday, and Charlotte Bowers of Oak Ridge won one of two seats on Roane County Commission in District 4, which includes west Oak Ridge.
Woody was first elected to his office in August 2010. On Thursday, he beat challenger David Morgan, a former Roane County property assessor, 8,217 votes to 3,113 (72.52 percent to 27.48 percent). That’s according to unofficial election results reported after all 24 precincts had been counted.
Bowers, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County, was one of two Oak Ridge candidates to run for the District 4 seat on Roane County Commission in the August 2 election. The other was Cory Jenkins, general manager at Cumberland Utility District. They were among five candidates who qualified to run in the district.
The other three candidates were from Oliver Springs. They were James W. Brummett, an incumbent, and Thaxton H. “T.H.†Brown Jr. and Jerry W. White.
Brummett, a former chair of the Roane County Commission, was defeated Thursday, finishing third behind Bowers and White, who is also a new commissioner. (There is now a Jerry White on Anderson County Commission, and a Jerry White on the Roane County Commission; they are not the same person.) White has worked at K-25 and Y-12 in Oak Ridge, and he is currently employed providing security for the Roane County Sheriff’s Office at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston. [Read more…]
A revised layout plan for the Oak Ridge Airport at Heritage Center from a presentation to Oak Ridge City Council by project consultant Billy Stair on Feb. 20, 2018. (Image courtesy Billy Stair)
Officials working on the proposed Oak Ridge Airport could receive comments this week from the Federal Aviation Administration about a revised layout plan, a project consultant said Thursday.
Officials are finalizing an airport runway plan. If it is approved, that would be a very positive step, project consultant Billy Stair said.
In February, Stair said the FAA wanted project officials, who are proposing to build what is known as a Class B airport, to plan for a future expansion to a Class C airport—sometime around 2040.
“To plan for such a future expansion, we need to widen the runway and taxiway at the initial construction,” Stair said in February. “We do not need to lengthen the proposed 5,000-foot runway. The new runway alignment avoids encroachment by Highway 58.” [Read more…]
There is a Meet the Candidates Yard Party on Friday in Oak Ridge.
It’s scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. Friday, June 15, at 106 Oklahoma Avenue. It’s hosted by Roane County Commissioner Renee Kelley.
The event is primarily for the residents of the Fourth District of Roane County, but everyone is welcome to come and discuss the issues and have their concerns addressed, a press release said.
The event is not a fundraiser. Instead, it is presented in loving memory of Commissioner Steve Kelley, the press release said.
This press release was submitted by Renee Kelley.
The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in December 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider a budget with a proposed two-cent increase in the property tax rate and what would generally be a 2 percent pay increase for employees.
If approved by Council, the tax rate change would be the first increase in years. Oak Ridge Today reported that the budget approved last year was the 10th one in a row without a tax rate increase.
The two-cent increase in the property tax rate, which would raise it to $2.54 per $100 of assessed value, would help fund the bond repayments for the new Oak Ridge Senior Center, Scarboro Park renovation, and Oak Ridge Preschool, and also provide the city some “breathing room,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. The Senior Center, Scarboro Park, and Preschool projects are expected to cost about $13 million total.
Municipal officials said there has been a $750,000 shortfall in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, in revenues from Roane County. That shortfall is attributed to some sales tax exemptions, and it is believed to mostly be from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the major taxpayer in the Roane County portion of the city. The shortfall affected Oak Ridge this year and has been resolved this year, but the city had to use reserves, which affected money that could be used for capital projects in the next fiscal year, fiscal year 2019, which starts July 1, Watson said. [Read more…]
