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Roane County will not require face masks

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Ron Woody (Screenshot from video posted by Woody)

Roane County will not require face masks or face coverings, County Executive Ron Woody said Friday.

In an online video, Woody said most essential businesses are now requiring face coverings. That means a mask requirement by the county may not be necessary anymore, Woody said. Stores that require face coverings now include Kroger, Lowe’s, and Walmart.

“The decisions were made the businesses, which we think was the best decision anyway,” Woody said. It’s better than a government mandate, which no one wants, the county executive said.

“Our businesses should step up and be the responsible party, and they were,” Woody said.

[Read more…]

Oak Ridge not authorized to require masks

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The City of Oak Ridge does not have the authority to require face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, officials said Wednesday.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County, which includes Oak Ridge, has increased significantly this month. The county had 178 total cases on Thursday—a 70 percent increase since July 2—and the number of active cases more than doubled in eight days.

As the number of cases has surged in the region, people have set up social media groups where members have reported on mask use at local businesses and offices and called for mandatory masks, including in Oak Ridge and its schools.

On Wednesday, the city said it is prohibited from enacting or enforcing a mask requirement because of a Tennessee attorney general opinion issued in April and an executive order from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in May. (The attorney general’s opinion is Opinion Number 20-07, and the executive order is Executive Order Number 38.)

[Read more…]

Roane County not requiring face masks, not clear if that could change

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As of Monday, Roane County had not invoked its ability to recommend or require face masks or coverings in the county, County Executive Ron Woody said in a video posted online.

On Friday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee granted county mayors in most of the state’s counties the authority to recommend or require face masks.

In a video posted on Facebook on Monday, Woody said there are two issues that have to be resolved before Roane County considers invoking the mandate.

First, Woody said the order, Executive Order 54, hasn’t been officially published, at least not as of Monday afternoon.

Second, the county will wait for guidance from the regional health director, Woody said.

“Generally, a regional health director would make a recommendation to a county saying (there) is a health issue to invoke a mandate or some type of action,” Woody said. “The health department has made no recommendation at this time.”

[Read more…]

Roane: Woody re-elected as county executive; Bowers wins Commission seat

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Ron Woody

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…]

Two Oak Ridge candidates qualify to run for Roane County Commission

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Two Oak Ridge candidates have qualified to run for two seats in District 4 on the Roane County Commission in the August 2 election.

The two Oak Ridge candidates, Charlotte Bowers and Cory Jenkins, are among five candidates who have qualified to run in the election.

The three other candidates are from Oliver Springs. They are James W. Brummett, an incumbent, and Thaxton H. “T.H.” Brown Jr. and Jerry W. White.

Former Roane County Commissioner Steve Kelley, an Oak Ridge resident, had occupied one of the District 4 seats since 2010, and he had been expected to seek re-election in August. But Kelley died in February. [Read more…]

Roane County Commissioner Steve Kelley of Oak Ridge dies at 63

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Steve Kelley

Steve Kelley

 

Roane County Commissioner Steve Kelley, an Oak Ridge resident, died Wednesday evening, February 21. He was 63.

Kelley, who lived on Oklahoma Avenue in Oak Ridge, represented District 4 on the Roane County Commission. That district includes the Oak Hills, Oliver Springs, and Orchard View voting precincts. Oak Hills is in west Oak Ridge.

Kelley was on the Budget Committee appointed by Roane County Executive Ron Woody.

“He was a great Budget Committee member,” Woody said Sunday. “He will be dearly missed as a Budget Committee member and as a Roane County Commissioner.” [Read more…]

Once like a small city, Happy Valley has been sold

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An early aerial photo of Happy Valley, a construction camp that was like a small city and used to help build the former K-25 in west Oak Ridge. This picture was taken May, 22, 1944, by Ed Westcott, the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II. (Photo courtesy Ed Westcott/Emily Hunnicutt)

An early aerial photo of Happy Valley, a construction camp that was like a small city and used to help build the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. This picture was taken May, 22, 1944, by Ed Westcott, the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II. (Photo courtesy Ed Westcott/Emily Hunnicutt)

 

It was once home to a large construction camp that was like a small city and housed workers building K-25 during World War II.

Now the 160-acre parcel known as Happy Valley has been sold.

Happy Valley was in west Oak Ridge, across State Route 58 from the K-25 site. One of three major sites in Oak Ridge, K-25 was built to enrich uranium for atomic weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II.

Today, Happy Valley appears to be mostly a rolling tree-covered landscape between Oak Ridge and Kingston along SR 58. To the public, there is little or no obvious evidence of what was once there—homes, a grocery store, schools, a post office, recreation halls, a gas station, and a bowling alley.

But those who have walked the property have seen evidence of the small city that was once there. [Read more…]

Council to consider supporting OS request to have state widen SR 61

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The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider supporting an Oliver Springs request to ask the state to widen nine miles of State Route 61 between Oliver Springs and Harriman, where 114 crashes—some of them fatal—were reported between February 2013 and December 2016.

In a January 24 email, Oliver Springs Mayor Cecil E. Crowe told several city and county mayors that Oliver Springs has asked that State Route 61, which is two lanes, be widened to four.

“This highway project has been discussed for a number of years, but it has lacked the support necessary to get it approved,” Crowe told Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, and Roane County Executive Ron Woody. “We need your support to increase the priority of this highway project to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities.”

The improvement could boost both the economies in Oak Ridge and Oliver Springs, as well as in Harriman and Anderson, Morgan, and Roane counties, according to Crowe and the Oliver Springs resolution. [Read more…]

Woody to discuss State of Roane County at Lunch with League on Tuesday

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Ron Woody

Ron Woody

Roane County Executive Ron Woody will discuss Roane County issues during Lunch with the League on Tuesday, February 21. The program will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Woody said he will talk about such topics as Roane County economic development, education, the impact of legislation, the county jail, and the impending airport. There will be time for questions from the audience following his presentation, a press release said.

Woody was first elected in August 2010. Formerly a consultant with the University of Tennessee’s County Technical Advisory Service, he is a certified public accountant with years of experience in county fiscal management jobs, the press release said. [Read more…]

Mayors, sheriffs also had fraudulent liens filed against them, indictment says

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More public officials, including at least two county mayors and two sheriffs, have been the victims of the allegedly fraudulent liens that led to the indictment announced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Nashville on Thursday, after arrests in East Tennessee on Wednesday.

Information about the liens is contained in the 302-count indictment filed in Davidson County on January 20. That indictment came after a one-year investigation by state and federal authorities into fraudulent liens filed by East Tennessee residents. The TBI said 11 people were indicted, and 10 had been arrested as of Thursday afternoon. Seven of those arrested were from Anderson County.

Among the officials that have confirmed that they they were the victims of liens alleged to be fraudulent are Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Roane County Executive Ron Woody, and Anderson County Sheriff Paul White and Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton.

Oak Ridge Today has already reported on some of the police officers and law enforcement officials and agencies in Oak Ridge and Anderson County that have been named in the $137 million worth of liens filed by Lee Harold Cromwell, who was one of the 10 people arrested Wednesday.

Other victims named in the 302-count indictment that haven’t previously been identified: Don A. Layton, Daryl R. Fansler, Jimmy Jones, Ronald Nathan Murch, and Steve R. Queener. [Read more…]

Opinion: How far can we move the needle?

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Ron Woody

By Ron Woody

The buzz around the Roane County Courthouse and School Board has been what will our leaders do about the future of education in Roane County? The initial discussions were about consolidation of high schools with an acceptable debate change to: What should the delivery of future education services look like? I applaud both the School Board, the County Commission, and the public for focusing the discussion on the future of education and not on consolidation.

So, here we are in 2017 having a discussion that we should have had in the late ’80s and early ’90s. What does education look like today? What should it look like the next 15 to 20 years? Two important meetings have taken place within the last eight months in order to answer these questions. Excerpts of these meetings can be found on http://www.roaneschools.com under district, then High School visioning process. Please take the time to read through these meeting notes to help arrive at your own conclusions. Here are a few of my conclusions from attending the meetings and reviewing the minutes. Roane County should work to:

  1. expose students to more career opportunities,
  2. expand the mentoring programs, and
  3. expand vocational class opportunities.

[Read more…]

Energy Communities Alliance publishes recommendations for Trump transition team

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The Energy Communities Alliance, an organization whose members include local governments adjacent to or affected by U.S. Department of Energy activities, has submitted its transition priorities and recommendations for the incoming Trump administration. They are included in “A Roadmap for Successful Local Government and Community Engagement.”

The document includes nine key priorities, each with their own set of recommendations, for the new administration to adopt as it engages in discussions regarding ongoing U.S. Department of Energy operations and performance, a press release said.

Here are the nine priorities, grouped into three areas: [Read more…]

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