Oak Ridge Today

Links between religion, violence, gender to be discussed at Lunch with League

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Rosalind Hackett

Links between religion, violence, and gender will be discussed during Lunch with the League on Tuesday, November 7.

Lunch with the League is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.

The November 7 talk is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

“All are welcome to bring their lunch or purchase a boxed lunch for a nominal fee,” a press release said. “Coffee and tea will be served. The presentation will begin at noon.”

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Family Resource director to discuss ‘Breaking the Cycle of Violence’

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Jo Bruce

Jo Bruce

Jo Bruce, director of the Family Resource Center at Oak Ridge Schools, will discuss “Breaking the Cycle of Violence” during a Monday morning forum in Oak Ridge.

The community forum starts at 11 a.m. Monday, October 6, in the fellowship Hall of Grace Covenant Church, Trinity Center, at 320 Robertsville Road. It’s presented by the Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge.

Bruce has held the director’s position at the Resource Center since its inception, a press release said. The local center, housed in Willow Brook Elementary School, is one of the original family resource centers established by the state of Tennessee in the fall of 1993.

In a summary of her presentation, Bruce said she will discuss the services she provides to families and students of the Oak Ridge school system in an effort to build trust and resilience. [Read more…]

ASAP Youth Coalition joins other young leaders at Teen Institute

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ASAP Youth Coalition at Tennessee Teen Institute

Front row from left to right are Olivia Kelly, Reagan Wolfe, and Courtney Sharp.
Second row from left to right are Emma Berry, Hope Hicks, Jake Wade, and Kaylee Hunley.
Third row from left to right are Mary Tuskan, Jacob Reed, Ryan Wiggins, and Gabe Merritt.
Top row from left to right are Michael Beal, Cameron Moore, and Michael Foster. (Photo courtesy ASAP)

 

Students from Anderson County joined more than 400 youth leaders from across the state at a recent Tennessee Teen Institute. The Tennessee Teen Institute is a five-day youth leadership and prevention camp sponsored by the Jackson Area Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency.

The Anderson County Health Department and ASAP (Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention) sponsored two teams of six youth to participate in TTI, one from Anderson County High School and one from Clinton High School.

“This is the third year we have been able to sponsor youth to attend the Teen Institute, and it has shown an excellent return,” said Stephanie Strutner, ASAP executive director. “Students return energized to serve as peer leaders and make positive changes in their schools.”

This was the 27th year of the Teen Institute Program in Tennessee, a press release said. The program addresses teen issues such as bullying, violence, suicide, teen pregnancy, distracted driving, teen health, and substance abuse prevention through a five-day, peer-led prevention camp designed to provide teen participants with the skills and education necessary to develop and implement alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs in their own communities. [Read more…]

Community forum: Not in Our Town

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Valerie Hughes

Valerie Hughes

The founder and executive director of an Oak Ridge chapter of the national Not In Our Town organization will be the featured speaker at a community forum in September.

The “Not in Our Town” presentation by Valerie Holland Hughes will start at 11 a.m. Monday, September 8, at Grace Covenant Church. It’s sponsored by the Women’s Interfaith Dialogue.

Grace Covenant Church is at 320 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge.

Hughes began working to establish the Oak Ridge group just over a year ago, a press release said. Her goal has been to ensure that Oak Ridge is a community that models “safety, acceptance, and inclusion as an effective method to address hatred, bullying, and violence.”

The press release said Hughes and NIOT members in Oak Ridge traveled to Billings, Montana, birthplace of the movement 20 years ago, to attend a national gathering of NIOT chapters from June 20-24. [Read more…]

Corker returns from Middle East, visits East Tennessee on Tuesday

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Bob Corker Meets Nouri Al-Maliki

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, left, a Tennessee Republican, meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, second from right. (Submitted photos)

After a week-long trip to the Middle East that ended Saturday, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said the recent expansion of violence there threatened the region’s security and America’s national interest.

Corker is a Tennessee Republican and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From Aug. 10-17, he visited with U.S. and foreign officials in Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan. The trip focused on regional political and security issues important to the United States, including the violence in Egypt, the conflict in Syria, and the threat of sectarian violence and terrorism in the region, a press release said.

Corker will be in East Tennessee on Tuesday, with stops in Knoxville and Maryville. He spent the first week of the Senate’s August recess in Middle Tennessee and will be making stops throughout Tennessee this coming week. [Read more…]

Police chief declines to comment on use of his memo in Baughn’s letter

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James T. Akagi

James T. Akagi

A memo he wrote in May was used by an Oak Ridge City Council member who wrote a controversial letter that has sparked a heated, week-long debate about drugs and violence in the city’s schools.

But Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi declined to elaborate on the memo on Monday—or discuss how it was used in the letter published last week by Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn. Her letter, which also relied on conversations with current and former school staff members and parents of students, alleged drugs are rampant in many schools, children are at risk of being assaulted, and a “culture of terror” has saturated the system.

Asked for his views on the letter, which was sent to new superintendent Bruce Borchers, Akagi said he couldn’t comment. [Read more…]

Debate erupts over drugs, violence in Oak Ridge schools

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Oak Ridge Schools Press Conference

Keys Fillauer, Oak Ridge Board of Education chair, left, and Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan reject allegations by City Council member Trina Baughn that, among other things, there is a “culture of terror” in Oak Ridge Schools and students are at risk.

The fiery debate erupted last week, with one Oak Ridge City Council member alleging drugs are rampant in many schools, students are at risk of being assaulted, and a culture of terror has saturated the school system.

It continued this week, with two school officials and the city’s mayor holding a press conference at the Oak Ridge High School to rebut the allegations. They were joined by a throng of several dozen administrators, officials, and teachers.

Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn sparked the debate last week in a letter to new school superintendent Bruce Borchers, who started June 18. Baughn told Borchers that countless parents, school staff, and students have shared stories with her that paint a picture of an “inner-city school system run amuck.”

“I’ve heard so many stories of assaults occurring at the middle schools and high school that I am heartbroken,” Baughn said.

But a half-dozen other local officials—including City Council members, school board members, and teachers—said they haven’t heard many complaints, if any, from parents regarding drugs and assaults in Oak Ridge Schools. They called some of Baughn’s claims inaccurate, exaggerated, or untrue. [Read more…]

‘Culture of terror’ in Oak Ridge schools, Council member says; not true, education leader says

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Note: This is a copy of a letter that Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn sent to new Oak Ridge Schools superintendent Bruce Borchers. It is followed by a response from Steve Reddick, who teaches American history to eighth-grade students at Jefferson Middle School and is co-president of the Oak Ridge Education Association.

Here is the letter from Baughn to Borchers:

Trina Baughn

Trina Baughn

Dr. Borchers,

Shortly after the Sandy Hook tragedy, Oak Ridge city and school officials began discussing the need to shore up security within our schools. Your Board of Education (BOE) immediately demanded the city provide an officer in every school while simultaneously declining our police chief’s offer to conduct the risk assessment needed to identify facility and policy vulnerabilities. Our police department has also repeatedly offered to provide safety/emergency training to your staff. All of those offers have been declined by members of your administration.

Seven months later, we have made very little progress. At the center of it all is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was initially drafted months ago to address the lack of cooperation by school administrators and their frequent interference with requisite police work. I am told that school attorneys refuse to agree with the parameters that, at their very core, enable our officers to uphold the law and maintain the safety and security of the public.

The incidents that have led to the need for this MOU are disturbing and give me reason to fear that the original emphasis of protecting our children from external threats is less of a need than that of protecting them from internal threats. [Read more…]

Guest column: Did God initiate the invention of the atomic bomb?

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

I hear the siren. It’s noon on May 1, the first Wednesday of the month. What a coincidence, as I sit at my computer reading the Washington Post article “The Prophets of Oak Ridge.” It mentions that siren and reveals the circumstances of the Y-12 security system breach last year. The article links Oak Ridge’s first known prophet, John Hendrix to the nun, painter, and drifter who made national news.

I think to myself, “God WAS responsible for the creation of the atomic bomb….and there ARE real prophets in Oak Ridge – still today!”

“What?” your mind must be responding, as you wonder how I could think such a thing. Well, if you’ll stick with me, you’ll see the path to my conclusion. [Read more…]

Faith column: The things that stalk us

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With the advent of the Internet, you might have already noticed that intelligent, rational conversation about religion is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Online identities have been constructed somewhat anonymously and disconnected from any real “community,” thereby allowing many to pass off opinion for fact, with an absence of accuracy, honesty, and personal integrity.

For example, I cannot begin to count the number of times I have read this on an Internet message board: “Religion kills more people worldwide than anything on the planet.”

Of course this is nonsense, but proof that if we repeat something loud enough and frequently enough, we can get a majority of people to believe it. Let’s leave the debating about what is “religiously-motivated” violence versus “ethnically-motivated” violence for the scholars to debate. The lines are always going to be blurry there, although I believe the evidence from these scholars would be more than enough to put this disinformation to rest. Still, we don’t even need to dig that deep—all we need to do is crack open a beer.

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