Note: This story was updated at 6:39 p.m.
The director of an Anderson County program meant to save money and reduce crime and the jail population has resigned.
Mike Baker, director of the county’s alternatives to incarceration program, announced his resignation Thursday in a letter to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, Anderson County commissioners, and members of an advisory board. His last day will be April 4. [Read more…]
An Anderson County committee this evening will discuss legal and liability issues associated with placing the national motto “In God We Trust” on the County Courthouse in Clinton.
The Anderson County Commission agreed in a 12-4 vote last month to put the motto on the courthouse, although there were some unanswered questions about design and legal liability. The commission referred the decision to the Anderson County Operations Committee, which will discuss it at 6 p.m. today in Room 312 of the County Courthouse.
To the Editor:
I just wanted to thank Mayor Terry Frank for standing up for the people of Anderson County.
Mayor Frank has been in office since September 2012, and she stepped into a very dysfunctional, unorganized “business” that needs a lot of cleanup and reorganization.
Myron Iwanski
Note: This story was updated at 1:40 p.m. Feb. 27.
Anderson County Commissioner Myron Iwanski said the speech given by Mayor Terry Frank on Monday contained some “false and misleading” information.
Frank held a press conference at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton on Monday, saying she had to respond to accusations that she was taking advantage of taxpayers by using a county car and accepting travel payment.
In her speech during the press conference, Frank said the $400 per month that Anderson County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts has accused her of receiving is not travel money. Instead, it is a salary supplement that was added to the mayor’s salary back in 1988 when David Bolling was county mayor, Frank said.
Chuck Fritts
Anderson County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts continued to insist Monday that Mayor Terry Frank should either accept a $400-per-month travel supplement or use a county car—but not do both, as he alleges she has.
The $4,800-per-year salary supplement is offered in place of the mayor using a county car, a 1998 Ford Crown Victoria, Fritts said in an e-mail after Frank’s Monday morning press conference.
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank says the county commission chairman has made accusations against her related to county travel and vehicle policy, but she has violated no laws.
CLINTON—Her honesty has been questioned, and she has been the subject of a politically motivated smear campaign, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said.
Anderson County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts has accused her of taking advantage of taxpayers by using a county car and accepting travel payments, Frank during a Monday morning press conference at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.
Terry Frank
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has called a Monday morning press conference to address what she has called “false allegations,” a Thursday afternoon press release said.
“During that time, Mayor Frank will address false allegations brought against her by county commissioners,” the release said. “No other information will be released prior to Monday’s press conference.”
Members of the John Rice Irwin-Anderson County Chapter of Sons of the Revolution present Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank with a framed patriotic image in appreciation of her commitment to historic preservation. (Submitted photo)
The John Rice Irwin-Anderson County Chapter of Sons of the Revolution honored the county mayor earlier this month for her commitment to historic preservation, a press release said.
It said chapter members delivered a surprise token of appreciation at Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank’s office on Feb. 4.
Terry Frank
Pastors at about 50 churches in Anderson County have asked to put the motto “In God We Trust” on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton, the county mayor said in a report to county commissioners.
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said that putting the motto on the courthouse wouldn’t cost the county anything. Instead, it would be funded by donations from churches, businesses, and individuals, she said.
Kelly Beierschmitt, Oak Ridge National Laboratory associate lab director for neutron sciences, talks with Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank in the target building at the Spallation Neutron Source. (Photos courtesy of ORNL)
Five Tennessee legislators and Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank recently toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Frank toured the Spallation Neutron Source, the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. She had a briefing from Thom Mason on the modernization of ORNL as well as the lab’s regional economic impact, a lab statement said.
SL Tennessee, a company that manufactures automotive parts in Clinton, is expanding their operations, the Anderson County Economic Development Association announced Friday.
The company will lease a 65,000-square-foot building owned by the Hollingsworth Companies in the Eagle Bend Industrial Park. The building will be used primarily for warehousing and distribution and will house about 25 employees, a press release said.
The school shootings in Newtown, Conn., on Friday have focused attention on school security in Tennessee, led to pledges to increase the police presence at some schools, and bolstered calls for more school resource officers across the state.
It has also revived an intense debate about gun control in the United States.
The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last week killed 20 children, six adults, the gunman, and his mother. On Tuesday, the National Rifle Association said it was prepared to “offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again” and would have a major news conference on Friday.
In Tennessee, a few legislators have proposed requiring school resource officers in all schools, training at least one staff member to use firearms, or allowing teachers to carry handguns into schools not patrolled by armed police officers. But it’s not yet clear how much support—or funding—those proposals will have.
In Oak Ridge, Board of Education Chair Keys Fillauer said education officials will continue to advocate for more school resource officers, or SROs. But local officials said adding SROs could depend upon funding.
In Anderson County, Mayor Terry Frank sent out information on Tuesday on the positive measures taken this week by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department after last week’s shooting, including four walk-throughs at Dutch Valley Elementary School on Monday.
