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Clinton City Graduation
The Clinton city school system’s annual 6th grade graduation ceremony will be held Tuesday May 22nd at 9 am at the Ritz Theater in downtown Clinton. The graduation speaker will be WBIR-TV Chief Meteorologist Todd Howell. For more information call Gwen Payne at 865-457-0159, extension 1112 or Staci Lollar at Clinton Elementary School at 865-457-0616.
Y-12 Documentary Available Online
The award-winning documentary film miniseries A Nuclear Family: Y-12 National Security Complex is now widely available. Aired on East Tennessee Public Broadcasting System in segments earlier this year, the four-part miniseries can now be viewed online at http://www.y12.doe.gov/about/history/video.php. Conceived and produced by Y‑12 Historian Ray Smith and Y‑12 Video Services, the documentary gives viewers never-before-seen glimpses into the world-changing work done in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As Y-12’s 70-year history is delineated, the camaraderie of the Y-12 work force stays in focus. The miniseries begins by describing how lives of East Tennesseans changed after the United States declared war following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The contribution Oak Ridge and Y-12 made to help win World War II and restore world peace is then explored, followed by Y-12’s efforts to meet Cold War challenges. The miniseries ends with Y-12’s response to the emerging threat of terrorism. The miniseries, which helps fulfill the National Historic Preservation Act’s requirements to interpret the history of U.S. Department of Energy sites, has already won two awards. Episodes one and two were submitted to the 45th Worldfest Independent International Film Festival held in Houston in April. Both won a platinum Remi, an award that recognizes the creative genius of artist Frederic Remington. A DVD set of the four episodes will be available at the Y-12 History Center starting in June. Plans are to also include a DVD of footage not used in the edited episodes. Schools, libraries and interested individuals may request complimentary copies of the DVD set by contacting Y-12 historian Ray Smith by email (smithdr@y12.doe.gov). East Tennessee PBS plans to rebroadcast the four episodes back-to-back in July. PBS is also considering airing the miniseries throughout Tennessee and possibly nationally.
Operation Safe Highways Conducted
The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security on Wednesday partnered with various state and local agencies to conduct Operation Safe Highways, a statewide safety enforcement and awareness exercise to help make Tennessee safer for motorists. Both the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) and the Office of Homeland Security organized the enhanced enforcement effort that incorporated a “team approach” to inspect commercial vehicles traveling to and throughout Tennessee. Operation Safe Highways was conducted with assistance from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) and local sheriffs and police departments. Enhanced inspection efforts were carried out at six Department of Safety and Homeland Security scale complexes. In addition to the routine inspection of commercial vehicles at the scale complexes, state troopers and other law enforcement officers also looked for seat belt violations, suspected drug or human trafficking and other Illegal activities, and hauling dangerous materials. Various units within the THP, including Interdiction Plus troopers and K-9 units, participated in Operation Safe Highways. “While the primary focus of Operation Safe Highways is enforcement, the other key element is creating awareness. We want the trucking industry to know it can help play an important role in ensuring the safety of the motoring public in Tennessee,” Commissioner Bill Gibbons said. State troopers informed commercial vehicle operators on the signs of suspicious activity and encouraged trucking industry professionals to be on the lookout for this type of behavior while on the road. Troopers distributed printed educational information to truck drivers, who have a unique perspective and can be key allies in the fight against crime in Tennessee. This information included important phone numbers to law enforcement across the state, and reminded commercial vehicle operators if they see something, to say something. During the four-hour operation, 12,646 commercial vehicles were inspected statewide and troopers issued 88 commercial vehicle citations, including 16 for registration violations, 14 overweight citations, and eight defective vehicle tickets. Additionally, 42 commercial vehicles and 16 commercial vehicle drivers were placed out of service.
OS Fire Damages Home, Injures None
A house fire at 219 Dellwood Lane in Oliver Springs sent firefighters from three departments to the scene. The owner had taken her children to school and upon returning home, found the fire. Apparently, according to witnesses, the fire started in the electrical box and quickly spread up the stairs into the upper level. Officials said that there were no visible flames when they reached the scene, but plenty of heavy, thick, black smoke. No flames were ever found by any of his firefighters but the stairwell was heavily damaged and a lot of the house sustained smoke and water damage. In addition to firefighters from Oliver Springs—who happened to be nearby preparing for a demonstration at Oliver Springs Elementary School and were able to respond within moments—crews from Oak Ridge and Blair also responded. Clinton Utilities and Powell Clinch both responded to cut utilities to the house. There were no injuries to the residents or the firefighters.
Walker To Succeed Young At Powell
43-year-old Bart Walker, a Powell High School alum, has been hired to coach the girls' basketball program at his alma mater. Walker will succeed Clay Young, who stepped down in April after winning over 260 games in 17 seasons and making four state tournament appearances. After high school, Walker played at Walters State Community College and then finished his playing career at Lincoln Memorial. He served as a men's assistant at Walters State for seven years before taking over the women's basketball program at Hiwassee College, where during his tenure his team made a pair of Elite 8 runs. He made another Elite 8 appearance during his four years coaching at Chattanooga State. His final stop was at Northwest Florida State College, where he coached for two seasons. He took off two years to move back to Tennessee and concentrate on being a father. Former Powell standout Caitlin Hollifield, who played collegiately at Alabama and Western Carolina player, will serve as Walker's assistant.
FORNL Kicks Off Lecture Series
The Friends of ORNL will open the 15th Annual Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series on Thursday May 24 featuring Dr. Michael Smith of ORNL who will offer a presentation on Exploding Stars and Atom Smashers. The lecture is free of charge and will be held at the American Museum of Science and Energy, 300 S. Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. A reception starts at 5:30 p.m. (snacks will be served) and the lecture starts at 6:30 p.m. This talk should be of interest to the general public, and high school science students and teachers are especially invited.
Driver In Fatal Campbell Wreck ID’ed
The Tennessee Highway Patrol has identified the driver of the tractor trailer who died in an accident Wednesday morning that closed down the main detour route for those diverted off of I-75 South by the ongoing earthslide repairs for about five hours. The THP says that 56-year-old Michael Eugene Simmons of San Diego, California had been headed south on Highway 25W in a tractor trailer hauling a load of shirts at around 3:45 am when the rig left the side of the road, struck a guardrail and tumbled down an embankment, where it came to rest against a tree. Simmons died in the accident and his passenger, 44-year-old David Cardwell of Los Angeles, was injured. Highway 25W is the primary detour route around the I-75 repair project and the road reopened at around 9:30 am. The repair project and the detours, which have caused problems for businesses and residents along the routes, were the subject of a public meeting this morning at Cove Lake State Park where TDOT officials gave residents more information about the project and the closure. During that meeting, officials said that one southbound lane and a second northbound lane in the slide area are still expected to be reopened on Monday May 21st. Campbell County road superintendent Dennis Potter has proposed an alternate detour route to avoid congestion along Highway 25W. Potter told WBIR-TV that he is proposing having detoured traffic get off the interstate at mile marker 144, get on Stinking Creek Road to Highway 63 and getting back on 75 at the Caryville exit. He says that route would bypass Lafollette, Jacksboro and Caryville but in order for it to work, Stinking Creek Road would have to be paved due to the fact that it’s currently a gravel road.
Murder Suspect Appears In Court
A motions hearing was held Wednesday in Blount County in the case against 50-year-old Jeffery Scott Long, who is accused of strangling and beating his estranged wife, 57-year-old Janas Long, to death on September 10th, 2009. Defense motions to prohibit Janas Long from being mentioned as a victim because Jeffery Long is claiming he killed her in self-defense were denied as were motions to exclude crime scene photos and videos. Long is being held at the Blount County on bonds totaling $526,500 as he awaits his trail later this year.
Rockwood Budget Omits City Administrator
Rockwood’s City Administrator Jim Miller will be out of a job if the budget proposed by Rockwood Mayor James Watts passes in its current form. The budget that will be considered over the next few weeks also calls for a 25-cent property tax increase from 75 cents per $100 of assessed value to $1. The budget proposal provides no funding for the city administrator’s position, which would mean that Miller, who was hired in December, would be let go upon passage of the budget. The budget provides money for the new position of parks and recreation director and funding for a $10,000 a year pay raise for recently-hired city recorder Becky Ruppe, the former Morgan County Mayor. The city’s charter does not require an administrator but does require a city recorder. Mayor Watts says that Council members had approached him about hiring a full-time parks and recreation director following the resignation earlier this year of Tom Pierce, who performed those duties as part of his role as public works director. Pierce resigned following an investigation into questionable purchases made on a city credit card. The proposed tax increase would still leave the budget $300,000 out of balance but Watts hopes that the sale of some city land and the elimination of overtime will make up that deficit. He says that the city’s financial problems stem from not having raised taxes in eight years.
CPD Wants To Question Pair
Clinton Police are searching for 21-year-old Christopher Lynn Harness and 31-year-old Crystal Amanda Poore for questioning in connection with a recent incident in the city, the exact nature of which has not been revealed due to the ongoing nature of the investigation. If you have any information on the whereabouts of Harness or Poore, call Detective Sgt. Carl Bailey at 865-457-3112. You can see pictures of them at the CPD’s website, www.clintonpolice.net.
Y-12 Day Of Volunteering
More than 1,000 volunteers comprised of employees of the Y-12 National Security Complex, their families and friends plan to lend helping hands to some 60 projects throughout the area – painting, landscaping, cleaning, repairing, and even providing learning experiences for young people this Friday and Saturday (5/18 & 5/19). This year marks the tenth anniversary of the program, and participation has grown each year. Our annual projects at spots such as Volunteer Ministry Center, Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knox Area Rescue Ministries, are still going strong, but some new ones have been added this year. Projects include several at schools, churches and non-profit agencies in Anderson, Roane, Knox, Loudon, Morgan and Roane counties. ___________________________________________________________ PlanET Releases Blount Survey Results
(PlanET) As we reported Tuesday (5/15), Plan East Tennessee, or PlanET, on Monday released the results of a recent survey measuring opinions about challenges and opportunities facing the region and priorities for future growth – all tied to PlanET’s regional focus on jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment and community health. The University of Tennessee conducted a telephone survey for PlanET with residents from Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties. PlanET is a regional partnership of communities in these five counties building a shared direction for the future. Yesterday we gave you the highlights from the Anderson County survey, and now we take a look at the highlights from Blount County. Blount County Survey Highlights:
Blount County respondents also expressed what aspect of living in East Tennessee they valued most. A variety of features were offered, but as was the case in all five surveys, those most frequently cited were the mountains and natural beauty of the area. Other highly valued aspects of life in East Tennessee were the character of the people and sense of community, the small town feel of the area, as well as the importance of family being nearby. A number of respondents reflected they appreciate being able to live in a smaller community but having easy access to the activities and amenities of a city. “This research gives us a comprehensive snapshot of opinions among all residents of the five-county PlanET area,” said Mark Donaldson, director of the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC). “As we couple these survey insights with community input online as well as PlanET’s series of community forums, we are gaining a full picture of the focus areas and foundation to base a regional plan for the area.” In addition, PlanET recently completed its second round of community forums in each of the five counties in April. For more information about the community forums, survey results and PlanET, visit www.planeasttn.org. CCWF Awards College Scholarships The Coal Creek Watershed Foundation has announced that three Coal Creek students will be receiving college scholarships totaling $25,000. To qualify for the scholarships, these former students of Briceville Elementary School have participated in CCWF community service projects and completed essays on improving the quality of life in the watershed. Seth Taylor will receive our $10,000 Nantglo Scholarship. Nantglo is Welsh for Coal Creek and this scholarship recognizes the contributions of the Welsh miners who helped East Tennessee rebuild after the Civil War. Samantha Randolph and Ryan Vandergriff will each receive Rev. Roy Daugherty Memorial Scholarships for $7,500. Rev. Daugherty was a founding board member of CCWF who passed away in 2006. CCWF's goal is to give Briceville students the incentive to excel in middle school and high school, knowing they have the potential to get a college education. Since 2002, thirty-two students from Briceville have received CCWF scholarships as described at www.coalcreekaml.com/ScholarsProgramPage.htm. The 2012 CCWF scholarships were presented at the Anderson County High School awards ceremony on Saturday (5/12). Disgraced Former Judge Hit With Federal Charges
A federal grand jury in Knoxville returned a seven-count indictment on Tuesday (5/15) against former Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard R. Baumgartner, 65, of Knoxville, charging him with seven counts of misprision of a felony. Baumgartner was arrested and appeared in court Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges in the indictment. He was released pending trial, which has been set for July 18, in U.S. District Court, in Knoxville. Terms of his release include staying out of trouble, surrendering any firearms and avoiding drugs and alcohol. The indictment alleges that Baumgartner, while having actual knowledge of the commission of violations of federal drug trafficking laws, did not report the commission of those crimes and committed acts of concealment in attempts to enable a particular member of the conspiracy to continue to engage in the crimes. He allegedly gave misinformation to two Anderson County judges, a Knox County judge, a juvenile court magistrate, hospital workers at Mercy Medical, a YWCA director and a Knox County Assistant District Attorney, primarily connected to Deana Castleman, the Drug Court graduate who the TBI says Baumgartner used to get pills and had a sexual relationship with. If convicted, Baumgartner faces a term of three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count. This indictment is the result of an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Our JJ Stambaugh, who has covered news in East Tennessee for over two decades, says this is the first time he has ever seen misprision charges filed and called the decision “curious” as Baumgartner’s attorney could argue that his client had no obligation to report his own alleged criminal activity under the right against self-incrimination provided by the Fifth Amendment.
TVA Fuel Adjustment Charge Increasing
(AP) TVA is increasing its fuel adjustment charge in June. A typical household power bill should increase by about 80 cents for the same amount of use. A TVA spokesman says the mild winter allowed the federal utility to credit some of the savings to the monthly fuel charge in February, March and April. But now, those savings have been used up.
Fatal Wreck Snarls I-75 Detour
A fatal tractor-trailer accident in Campbell County early this morning exacerbated an already bad traffic situation as it closed down the main detour route for southbound travelers diverted off of I-75 South while crews work to repair damage caused by a March rockslide. The Tennessee Highway Patrol reports that the accident occurred at around 4:30 am on Highway 25W near Chaska Lane when a tractor-trailer left the side of the road and rolled down an embankment, killing the driver, whose name had not been released at the time this report was filed. Highway 25W is the primary detour route for those affected by the rockslide repair project on I-75 South. The roadway was reopened at around 9:30 am but emergency workers left the truck where it came to rest until later when its retrieval will not disrupt traffic flow.
Blount Wreck Injures Two
Two people were injured in a single vehicle accident Monday morning (5/14) in Blount County. The Blount County Sheriff’s Office says that 46-year-old Ivy Shelton had been traveling west on Clendenen Road in Maryville at around 11:30 am. Deputies reported that she had been traveling too fast as she entered a right-hand curve, causing her 1993 Ford Taurus to leave the road and collide with a utility pole. Shelton avoided injury but two passengers in the vehicle, including a ten-year-old boy were treated for minor injuries at Blount Memorial Hospital and released. A 13-year-old in the car was not injured. No other vehicles were involved.
OR Company Unveils Solar Farm
A ceremony in Oak Ridge on Tuesday (5/15) celebrated the area’s newest solar array. The solar farm was built near the entrance of the Heritage Center on the former site of K-25 by restoration Services Inc. at a cost of $800,000. Electricity generated at the 200-kilowatt farm will be sold to TVA and officials estimate that the solar array could generate about $50,000 worth of electricity a year and offset greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 400,000 pounds annually. RSI calls the solar farm Brightfield One and officials said Tuesday that a larger version is in the works that could be built on 30 acres on the Oak Ridge reservation and a third project could be built out of the state at an Air Force base in the future as well. The solar array celebrated Tuesday uses four rows of south-facing solar panels on an acre and a half of land.
National EMS Week Picnic
UT Lifestar will help observe National EMS Week, which is next week, with a special event Monday May 21st at Anderson County EMS station 1 on Public Safety Lane in Clinton. The event will run from 11 am to 2 pm and is open to the public, who will get an opportunity to meet and thank the county’s first responders for their hard work keeping the community safe. Subs will be provided by Firehouse Subs and there will also be chips, drinks and dessert.
Missing Virginia Teen Spotted In ET
A missing Virginia teen has reportedly been spotted in two East Tennessee towns and officials are asking for the public’s help in locating her. 16-year-old Shaylyn Castle was reported missing in Washington County, Virginia on May 1st after she reportedly left with a man identified as Josh Luttrell. The pair was last seen in a 1994 Ford Explorer with license plate number 351WZQ. Shaylyn has reportedly been spotted on Cumberland Avenue in Knoxville and at the Wal-Mart in Maryville. She is described as a white female, about five feet seven inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes, pierced ears and a scar above her navel. If you have seen Shaylyn or the vehicle call the Washington County (VA) Sheriff’s Office at 276-676-6000 or call your local law enforcement agency.
Knox Girl Killed In OR Wreck
A 7-year-old Knoxville girl died as the result of injuries sustained in a two-car accident Friday afternoon (5/11) in Oak Ridge. The accident occurred at around 5:30 pm on Edgemoor Road near Solway Park when a westbound Toyota Corolla driven by 32-year-old Suzanne Revels attempted to make a U-turn. As she made the turn, her car was hit on the rear driver’s side door by a Toyota Tundra driven by a 17-year-old Oak Ridge girl. The impact spun the Corolla around and it came to rest on an embankment. Revels was buckled up but suffered injuries in the crash. Her seven-year-old daughter Evlin was properly restrained in a booster seat in the middle of the backseat and taken first to Methodist Medical Center and later flown to UT Medical Center by Lifestar but succumbed to her injuries later that evening. Revels and the teen driver were taken to Methodist by ambulance but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
Briceville Fire Displaces Family
Five people escaped without serious injury late Monday night (5/14) after a fire started in the laundry room of their home in Briceville. The five people, all members of the same family, were able to get out of the house but one woman was taken to an area hospital for medical attention but was released a short time later. The fire at the home at 531 Lower Briceville Road was reported at around 11:30 pm and no other injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
OR School Chief Presents Balanced Budget
Oak Ridge School Superintendent Tom Bailey has presented a balanced budget proposal to the Board of Education. Bailey did so on Monday (5/14) and told School Board members that to balance the budget, he had to cut almost 10 full-time teaching positions, almost seven teacher assistants, one maintenance and one custodial position. The budget will be gone over in detail this afternoon at 5:30 pm in the boardroom of the School Administration Building on New York Avenue.
OR Council Approves First Reading Of Budget
The Oak Ridge City Council approved the Fiscal year 2012-2013 budget on first reading Monday night (5/14). The budget keeps property taxes the same while providing 1.5% pay raises for city employees. The budget proposal adds nine new positions to help the city stay in compliance with an EPA order requiring the city to address problems in the sewer system by 2015 as well as $500,000 to help with necessary repairs at Woodland Elementary School, the second $250,000 donation toward the expansion of Roane State Community College’s campus and $280,000 to match a state grant for the revitalization of Jackson Square. The budget will be considered on second and final reading on May 29th.
Claxton Business Burgled
Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating an early-morning break-in at the BP gas station on Edgemoor Road in Claxton. Deputies responded to a burglar alarm at the business Sunday morning (5/13) at around 3:30 am and found the glass front door broken. The suspects had fled by the time deputies arrived. The culprits made off with a total of 45 cartons of USA Gold, Doral, L&M and Sonoma-brand cigarettes valued altogether at $1795 as well as $5 in rolled pennies. Damage to the door was estimated at around $600. The CID will follow up.
PlanET Releases AC Survey Results
Plan East Tennessee, or PlanET, released the results of a recent survey measuring opinions about challenges and opportunities facing the region and priorities for future growth – all tied to PlanET’s regional focus on jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment and community health. The University of Tennessee conducted a telephone survey for PlanET with residents from Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties. PlanET is a regional partnership of communities in these five counties building a shared direction for the future. Anderson County Survey Highlights: · The results showed that 75.8 percent of survey respondents in Anderson County rated the quality of life in their community as “good” or “excellent,” with the lack of good-paying jobs surfacing as the most serious problem facing the community with 54.6 percent of Anderson County respondents citing it as a “major problem.” · Manufacturing and science/technology jobs were reported to be the most important types of jobs to attract to Anderson County. Providing educational programs for new career opportunities is the preferred strategy for creating new jobs in the region, selected by approximately one-third of residents. Although still positively viewed by more than 85 percent of respondents, providing building sites or land to support growth was the least popular option chosen by participants. · When it comes to choosing a place to live, the availability of high-quality public schools emerged as the most important factor. In addition, being within a 30-minute drive to work was “extremely important” or “somewhat important” to 78.6 percent of respondents. Living in a community with people at all stages of life are the least important factor when choosing a place to live. · Residents reported the most serious problems facing Anderson County (after lack of good-paying jobs) include empty commercial buildings, pollution in the rivers and lakes, low achieving schools, lack of affordable housing and lack of quality healthcare. Overall, Anderson County respondents also expressed what aspect of living in East Tennessee they valued most. A variety of features were offered, but those most frequently reported were the mountains and natural beauty of the area. Other highly valued aspects of life in East Tennessee were the character of the people and sense of community, the small town feel of the area, as well as the importance of family being nearby. A number of respondents reflected they appreciate being able to live in a smaller community but having easy access to the activities and amenities of a city. “This research gives us a comprehensive snapshot of opinions among all residents of the five-county PlanET area,” said Mark Donaldson, director of the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC). In addition, PlanET recently completed its second round of community forums in each of the five counties in April.
Operations Committee Approves Library Loan Resolution
Monday (5/14), the Anderson County Commission’s Operations Committee voted to pass along with a recommendation for approval a resolution to accept funds and authorize the execution of the necessary paperwork so that a $125,000 USDA loan can be issued to help pay for the construction of a new Briceville Public Library, a project several years in the making. The loan application was recently accepted and the resolution that will be considered next week by the full County Commission will authorize officials to finalize the loan agreement, which is for 38 years with a 3.375% interest rate.
Former Maryville Football Coach Donates $50K To Field Upgrade
Retired Maryville High School football coach Don Story, who retired in 2005, recently donated $50,000 toward the $500,000 project currently underway to make improvements to the Rebels’ football stadium. The project will improve drainage at the stadium, a video scoreboard will be installed and synthetic turf will be laid on the field. Work has already begun on the project and fundraising efforts are also underway. Students, parents, alumni and the business community are being encouraged to donate to the stadium project through a campaign called “Red-to-Black.” Funds raised will help repay the capital improvement funds being used on the project and you can find out more by visiting www.maryvillecityschools.k12.tn.us/mhs.
Congressmen Visit OR
Last week, Congressman Doc Hastings of Washington State, the chairman of the House Natural resources Committee, paid a visit to the federal facilities in Oak Ridge. Hastings was hosted by Tennessee Congressman Chuck Fleischmann. It was Hastings’ first visit to Oak Ridge and he came to get a first-hand look at how cleanup efforts on the reservation are progressing. Tennessee’s Congressional delegation is working to get more funding allocated for the cleanup activities currently underway in Oak Ridge. In addition to pushing for additional cleanup money, Hastings, whose home district includes Hanford, Washington, the site of another federal energy outpost, has also come out in favor of an effort to create a multi-site national park dubbed the Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include Hanford and Oak Ridge as well as the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
BCSO IDs 6 Meth Suspects
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office has identified the six people arrested at the scene of a meth lab discovered in the basement of a home on Wildwood Road in Maryville Sunday night (5/13). Deputies were sent to the home shortly before 9 pm Sunday and found ten people inside the residence as well as an active one-pot meth lab, the “gasser” of which was still emanating fumes into the house. The house was cleared and vented while the ten individuals were decontaminated outside by the Blount County Fire Department and Rural/Metro. Three people—30-year-old Edward Ross Maples, 55-year-old Russell Sterling McGhee and 26-year-old Reinaldo Velasquez—were charged in connection to the lab with Maples and Velasquez facing charges of initiating the manufacture of meth and McGhee facing a charge of maintaining a dwelling where controlled substances are being used, sold or manufactured. 31-year-old Christine Charlene Poole was charged with promoting the manufacture of meth from a separate, ongoing investigation. 26-year-old Brooke Adale Helton and 49-year-old Vicki Stephens Berry were both arrested on several outstanding warrants. The other four people discovered at the home were released after being decontaminated and the Tennessee Meth Task Force responded to take custody of the lab components after investigators at the scene stabilized the materials. This makes 11 meth lab busts so far this year in Blount County, which saw 12 such incidents all of last year. Officials cite the number of meth cooks who also teach others how to do it as well as other factors as reasons for the increase.
Maryville Tomato Head To Close
The Maryville location of the Tomato Head restaurant will soon close and the owners will open a new location of the popular eatery in West Knoxville in August. Tomato Head will move into the space currently occupied by the Silver Spoon restaurant in the Gallery Shopping Center on Kingston Pike. Owners Scott Partin and Mahasti Vafaie say they chose to close the Maryville location after being presented with an opportunity to open a new location in West Knoxville and determining that it would not be feasible to operate three locations. The current employees of the Maryville location have been offered jobs at the West Knoxville location. The Tomato Head opened its first location in 1990 on Market Square in downtown Knoxville.
“Proud To Be An American” Parade
The annual “Proud to be an American Parade” will be held in Maryville on Sunday June 10th at 3 pm. The parade is held each year to enhance patriotism and knowledge of the American flag by bringing together the community while honoring all citizens, members of the military and veterans as well as their families for their sacrifices ensuring our freedom. Participation in the parade is free and entry applications will be accepted through Sunday May 20th. The parade will begin in front of the CBBC Bank in downtown Maryville, head down East Church Avenue, turn on to Court Street and end at the Maryville Ampitheatre. For more information call event director Bethany Brown at 865-556-9280 or e-mail her at bujub821@aol.com. You can also search for “Proud to be an American Parade” on Facebook to find out more.
May Is Foster Care Awareness Month
May is Foster Care Awareness Month and East Tennessee residents have an opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child. Youth Villages is looking for caring people in Clinton and the surrounding areas to become foster parents to children who have suffered abuse, neglect, abandonment or other issues and need a home. These children need families who will care for them until they can return to their birth families or an adoptive family is found for them. If the children become available for adoption, foster parents often have the first right to adopt, and adoption through Youth Villages is free. Youth Villages' foster parents receive a monthly stipend to help them offset the costs of adding a child to their household. Candidates should be single or married adults over the age of 25 and living in the East Tennessee area who are interested in becoming foster or adoptive parents. For more information about how you can change the life of a child, contact Mariah Parton, foster parent recruiter at 865-560-2558 or visit www.youthvillages.org.
UT-Battelle Scholarship Awarded
Adam LaClair, a senior at Oak Ridge High School, is the recipient of the 2012 UT-Battelle Scholarship, a four-year scholarship to the University of Tennessee (UT) awarded by the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The $20,000 scholarship, presented annually to a graduating senior with a parent who works at ORNL, is designed for an outstanding student who plans to study science, engineering or mathematics at UT. LaClair, who is the son of Tim and Sabina LaClair of Oak Ridge, is described by his teachers as "highly motivated and ambitious," "incredibly intuitive" and "everything a teacher could hope for in a student." His senior year has included a double load of advanced placement (AP) calculus and calculus II in addition to AP physics, AP chemistry, and AP English. In his junior year his schedule included five advanced placement courses and two honors courses. He also has experience with ORNL research: He has worked with researcher David Christen on a project examining theoretical properties of high-temperature superconductors, modeled by equations. LaClair is a member of the National Honor Society and Spanish Honors Society and is active in the Science Olympiad and Scholars Bowl. The Eagle Scout volunteers in the Ben Atchley Tennessee State Veteran's Home, and enjoys scuba diving, bicycling and games of strategy. LaClair plans to major in mathematics or physics, although his experiences in the veteran's home have inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. The UT-Battelle scholarship is a competitive award, distributed in $5,000 increments over four years of undergraduate study at UT. ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Fraterville Mine Explosion Anniversary Activities
(CCWF) Here’s an updated list of what’s planned to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Great Fraterville Mine Explosion this Friday and Saturday: Friday, 18 May 2012 – Briceville students and UT archaeologists will perform a ground-penetrating radar study at the Fraterville Itinerant Miners’ Cemetery as described at http://www.coalcreekaml.com/BricevilleFieldTripINVITE2012.htm.
Saturday, 19 May 2012 – Free public tour of Fraterville Mine disaster
sites starts at
9:00 am as described at
http://www.coalcreekaml.com/Fraterville110thPRESS.htm.
The scheduled publication date for the book, The Welsh of Tennessee, is 19 May 2012 to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Fraterville explosion. You will be able to order the book from various on-line distributors, including Amazon as shown at http://www.amazon.com/Welsh-Tennessee-Eirug-Davies/dp/1847714293.
TDOT: I-75S In Campbell To Remain Closed Through May 21
In order to repair the massive landslide that has occurred near mile marker 143 on I-75 in Campbell County, I-75 South will remain closed, and one lane of I-75 will remain open. The target date for one southbound lane and a second northbound lane to reopen is Monday, May 21st. TDOT will continue to monitor the situation, and adjust the schedule accordingly. Contract crews are excavating and constructing a soil nail wall, which will require nails to be drilled as many as 50 feet beneath the interstate. This is being done in order to stabilize the rock slope. Currently, a three mile stretch of I-75 North is down to one lane of traffic, from mile marker 141 to mile marker 144. Motorists should expect potential long delays and use extreme caution while traveling through this area. Detour Route for I-75 South: Take Exit 160 in Jellico, follow US 25W to LaFollette and back onto I-75 South at Exit 134 in Caryville. Wide Load Detour Route for I-75 South: Take Exit 160 in Jellico, turn right and follow SR 297 West to SR 63 and back onto I-75 South at Exit 141. Suggested Alternate Route for I-75 North: Take Exit 134 in Caryville, follow US 25W to LaFollette and back onto I-75 North at Exit 160 in Jellico. For travel and TDOT construction information, please visit the TDOT SmartWay web site at www.tn.gov/tdot/tdotsmartway, or call 511 from any landline or cellular phone. You can also receive traffic alerts via TDOT’s multiple Twitter feeds, including statewide traffic tweets. Smart phone users can use the TDOT SmartWay Mobile website at http://m.tdot.tn.gov/SmartWay/ to access TDOT’s SmartWay cameras and information on construction related lane closures and incidents on interstates and state routes.
BC Authorities Find Meth Lab
Blount County authorities discovered a recently-used meth lab in the basement of a home on Wildwood Road in Maryville. Officials say that a family had been having Mother’s Day dinner Sunday night (5/13) at around 8 pm when they heard someone trying to break into their garage. A neighbor reportedly followed the suspects back to a home on Wildwood and called 911. When the authorities arrived, the discovered 10 people inside the house as well as a one-pot meth lab that had been recently been used to cook the drug. All 10 people were decontaminated at the scene but it remains unclear how many of them will be charged in connection to the lab. The Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force responded to dispose of the lab. Officials say this is not the first time the home has been searched as a search warrant was served there about a month ago.
AC Budget Update: Mayor, Sheriff Still At Odds
The budget process in Anderson County and has been underway for several weeks now but the biggest hurdle to adopting the new financial plan is still a standoff between County Mayor Myron Iwanski and Sheriff Paul White over the Sheriff’s budget. The major issue continues to be staffing the minimum-security dormitory at the Anderson County Jail being built to alleviate overcrowding. Sheriff White is asking for money to hire and train 15 new jailers to staff the new 14,000-square foot facility when it is scheduled to open in mid-June. Without those new jailers, the sheriff says that he will not be able to open the dormitory due to state guidelines on jail staffing levels. Mayor Iwanski last week suggested giving the Sheriff’s Department an additional $200,000 in the budget to hire and train five new jailers, which he says will be enough as the new dormitory is designed so that only one officer is needed per shift thanks to video surveillance technology. The Budget Committee, however, rejected that proposal and voted 3-2 to have the sheriff find money in his existing budget to hire more jailers. Sheriff White has said that one proposal floating around—that he bring deputies off the road and into the jail—is not feasible because the department does not have enough deputies on the road now. The sheriff is asking the University of Tennessee’s County Technical Assistance Service—or CTAS—to analyze the staffing needs at the jail and report back to him. White has said that the additional $2 million in funding he is asking for in this year’s budget is primarily to address the needs of the jail—staffing, feeding and providing medical care for inmates and utilities—as well as the rising cost of fuel. The budget process will continue over the next few weeks.
Highland Games Return This Weekend
Organizers promise a variety of Celtic entertainment at the annual Smoky Mountain Highland Games May 18-20 at Maryville College. Last year about 7,000 visitors attended the games, which were held for the first time at the college. Hosts for the event along with the school are the city of Maryville and the Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau. Among the activities will be Scottish country dancing, pipe and drum band competitions, border collie demonstrations and various competition such as the caber toss, the “kilted mile” and Scottish hammer throw. There are also a host of kids’ activities as well as vendors selling Scottish-themed food, clothing, jewelry, books and music. Scottish clans also set up tents to showcase their family histories and help attendees learn more about their Scottish heritage. Tickets are available now for purchase online at the Scottish festival and games’ website http://smokymountaingames.org . Tickets are also available at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce in Maryville and the Clayton Center for the Arts box office at Maryville College.
TDOT Announces New I-75 Detour
In order to help alleviate the traffic strain on local communities, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) has worked with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to establish a new detour route for wide loads to bypass the I-75 landslide in Campbell County. This route will also serve as an alternative for passenger vehicles. I-75 Southbound wide loads: Take Exit 62 (Mt. Vernon) in Kentucky and follow U.S. 25 to State Route 461 to State Route 80 to State Route 914 (Bypass) to U.S. 27 into Tennessee and follow SR 63 back to I-75 at Exit 141 (Oneida/Huntsville). I-75 Northbound wide loads: Take Exit 141 (Oneida/Huntsville) in Tennessee and follow State Route 63 to U.S. 27 into Kentucky. Then take State Route 914 (Bypass) to State Route 80 to State Route 461 to U.S. 25 back to I-75 at Exit 62 (Mt. Vernon). Currently, a three mile stretch of I-75 North is down to one lane of traffic, from mile marker 141 to mile marker 144. The target date for one southbound lane and a second northbound lane to reopen is Monday, May 21st. Motorists should expect potential long delays and use extreme caution while traveling through this area. Detour Route for I-75 South (passenger vehicles): Take Exit 160 in Jellico, follow US 25W to LaFollette and back onto I-75 South at Exit 134 in Caryville.
Suspicious Fire Extinguished, Investigated
The Medford Volunteer Fire Department worked a structure fire Sunday morning (5/13) at 176 Moser Lane. The fire was contained to the one mobile. Initial reports were that the home owner was still inside but those were quickly dispelled and no one was found inside. Anderson County Rescue Squad was in the area and was first on scene. Fire was threatening other structures in the area. Initial units on-scene knocked the fire down quickly and contained it. Mutual Aid was requested from Briceville and Clinton. The damage was contained to one room thanks to the quick response of emergency crews. The fire is being investigated as suspicious.
AC Memorial Day Observance Announced
The Director of Veterans Services for Anderson County would like to invite everyone to Anderson Counties 4th Annual Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, 28 May 2010 at 10 a.m. (Rain or Shine) with Guest Speaker Tennessee State Senator Randy McNally and a wreath laying at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Anderson County Courthouse to pay tribute to the men and women of the U.S. Military who have given of their lives to protect the freedoms we all enjoy everyday. The day itself is sacred and war veterans need no reminder of the reason for it, but what about the general public, and more importantly the next generations? Do non-veterans really recognize and understand the importance of a day honoring their fellow Americans killed in wars around the world? Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance. Everyone is invited to attend and show their support of our military past, present and future. Blount Trailer Burns, Occupant Escapes Safely A Walland man escaped injury early this morning (5/14) when his mobile home burned. Firefighters say the trailer on East Millers Cove Road had no power to it. The resident was able to call 911 as he fled the burning home, but firefighters had difficulties getting to it because the road to it was narrow and muddy. The trailer was destroyed. The cause of this morning’s fire is under investigation. Haslam Signs Prescription Drug Bill In AC
Governor Bill Haslam was in Clinton today (5/11) to sign the recently-passed prescription drug bill into law. The measure came from the governor’s Public Safety Action Plan announced in January that is described as a comprehensive, multi-agency plan aimed at improving public safety across the state. The bill will improve the existing database to identify health care providers, individuals and dispensers who may be abusing the system. The bill will require all prescribers and dispensers to register with a drug monitoring database and require prescribers to check that database for a patient’s controlled substance history before prescribing certain medications. In addition, the Prescription Safety Act of 2012, which was sponsored by Roane County Senator Ken Yager, also authorizes the Commissioner of the Department of Health to share information from the database with other states and makes the practice of doctor-shopping in which people visit several doctors in order to obtain prescriptions of narcotics a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Governor Haslam was joined by elected officials at the city, county and state levels including several senators and representatives as well as by a host of law enforcement officers representing the Anderson and Knox County Sheriff’s Departments and police departments from Clinton, Lake City, Oak Ridge and Oliver Springs and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Governor Haslam explained the importance of this bill and why he chose to sign it in our area: “Today if you’re in an emergency room being treated for a drug overdose, it’s just as likely to be from prescription drugs as what we think of the street drugs—the illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin. There are babies being born all over Tennessee, and maybe the worst here in East Tennessee. If you go up to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital [you will] find a baby that was born addicted to prescription drugs through the mother’s use. It is a scourge across our state and we’re in East Tennessee today because quite frankly, it’s a little worse over here.” In addition to the local and state dignitaries, a large crowd gathered in front of the Courthouse and applauded as the governor signed the bill into law.
AP: FBI Nabs Suspected Bank Robber
According to the Associated Press, a man suspected of robbing two banks in East Tennessee has been arrested in Ohio. Billy Joe Dugard, age 36, of Crothersville, Ind., was taken into custody without incident May 2 in Columbus, Ohio, according to an FBI news release today. He is suspected of robbing both the BB&T Bank in Loudon and the Bank of America in Kingston on May 1. Dugard will be charged in federal court here with two counts of bank robbery. The robberies were investigated by a joint task force of the FBI, the Kingston and Loudon police departments.
TBI Probing OS Break-In
The TBI has been called in to investigate a burglary case in which the daughter of Oliver Springs Police Chief Kenneth Morgan was arrested. 20-year-old Caitlin Joanna Morgan was arrested along with Casey Danielle Gulley on Tuesday evening (5/8)after the pair allegedly broke into a home on Lookout Avenue with Gulley’s three-year-old daughter in tow. The women are accused of handing the toddler out a window of the home when police arrived and reportedly had packed items from the home in clothes baskets and a suitcase for transport. Both are facing burglary charges and the TBI was called in by DA Russell Johnson at the request of Chief Morgan.
DA: Grand Jury Better Route For Child Death Charges
Roane County DA Russell Johnson says that charges have not yet been filed against a couple accused of letting their two-year-old son starve to death because he is still awaiting the complete autopsy results, toxicology tests and the investigative file from the Sheriff’s Office. Two-year-old Clifford Dotson died last Thursday (5/3) shortly after his mother brought him to a Lenoir City hospital and initial autopsy results showed that the toddler, who weighed only 12 pounds at the time of his death, had died from malnutrition. Parents Matthew and Amanda Dotson admitted to investigators that Clifford had spent much of his young life locked in a car seat and had only been fed once a day. The couple’s six-year-old son was removed from the home and is in DCS custody. Johnson says that the autopsy results will rule out any other possible cause of the boy’s death and could influence the type of charges that will be filed. The Roane County Child Protective Investigative Team comprised of representatives from DCS, law enforcement, the DA’s office and the Children’s Advocacy Center must also meet before the case moves forward. That meeting should occur within the next couple of weeks. Johnson says that taking the case to the grand jury, while it may delay the filing of charges, will likely be faster than filing an arrest warrant since that route would require a preliminary hearing that would likely not occur until after the grand jury meets on June 18th. The grand jury will not meet again after that until October.
Follow-Up: Roane Toddler Dies Of Malnutrition Roane County authorities are investigating the death of a two-year-old boy from malnutrition. Investigators with the Sheriff’s Office say that the toddler, Clifford Dotson, was brought to a Lenoir City hospital by his mother Amanda Dotson last Thursday morning (5/3) and was pronounced dead a short time later. An autopsy determined that the child had died from malnutrition. The boy weighed only 12 pounds at the time of his death, just five pounds more than he weighed at birth. Sheriff Jack Stockton has called the case the worst instance of child abuse he has seen in 30 years in law enforcement. The parents—Matthew and Amanda Dotson—were interviewed Tuesday (5/8). Investigators say that the child had been neglected, spending most of his life in a car seat and only being fed once a day. Officials have said that there was plenty of food in the house and neighbors say that the family received food stamps every month. The couple’s six-year-old son was removed from the home and placed in protective custody by the Department of Children’s Services. No charges have been filed yet but the case will be presented to the grand jury when it convenes on June 18th. Follow-Up: Roane Boy Recovering After Dog Attack
A four-year-old Roane County boy is recovering after being attacked at his home on Emory Heights Road just outside Harriman by his family’s three dogs on Monday (5/7). The dogs were two young male pit bulls and a yellow Labrador retriever and officials believe that the boy was attacked after falling on one of the dogs while playing with them in the backyard. The boy was taken to UT Medical Center with injuries to his face and ears including having most of one of his ears torn off. He is said to be healing well at home after the ear was successfully reattached. The dogs will be quarantined for 10 days and after that, will be euthanized at the request of the boy's parents. No charges are expected to be filed.
CPD Investigating Meth Lab
Clinton Police are investigating the Wednesday afternoon (5/9) discovery of discarded chemicals and components commonly found in meth labs in a wooded area off of Jarnigan Street. A person was looking at an adjacent piece of property with a real estate agent on Wednesday at around 3 pm when they spotted the suspicious items and called police. Clinton Police and Fire units along with members of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and the Methamphetamine Task Force responded to the scene and the cleanup efforts lasted until around 11 pm. No arrests have been made but an investigation is continuing.
BCSO Arrests 2 For Friday Meth Lab
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two people in connection to a meth lab discovered in a field on Ellejoy Road on Friday (5/4). 36-year-old Daniel Warren Viefield and 30-year-old Tiffany Marie Edge, both of Maryville, each face charges of initiating the manufacture of meth. Viefield was also served with two attachments for contempt on prior charges, as well as five probation violation charges and a failure to appear charge. Both will appear in court next week. They were arrested Wednesday (5/9) at a campsite in a field off of East Lamar Alexander Parkway. In Friday’s incident, a “one-pot” method meth lab was found in a field behind a home on Ellejoy Road along with several personal items belonging to Viefield and Edge.
OR Airport Study Continues
A feasibility study being conducted to determine if a general aviation airport will be built in Oak Ridge is continuing. Development plans were approved by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority in March for the proposed airport, which would be built in the Heritage Center Industrial Park on the former site of K-25. The airport as proposed currently would have a 5000-foot runway but could be expanded to 6000 feet to accommodate larger planes. Supporters of the plan say that an airport in Oak Ridge would be beneficial to the regional economy by helping to attract current and potential clients to the industrial parks in Anderson and Roane counties as well as the federal facilities in Oak Ridge. We will keep you posted as developments warrant.
THP: Click It Or Ticket
Motorists who refuse to wear their seat belts – Beware! The 2012 Tennessee Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement mobilization kicks off May 11 to help save lives by cracking down on those who don’t buckle up. It will kick off nationally on May 21, 2012. The Governor’s Highway Safety Office is joining with other state and local law enforcement officers and highway safety advocates across the country to help save more lives by strongly enforcing seat belt laws around the clock. In 2010 across the nation, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 61 percent of the 10,647 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes overnight (6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m.) were not wearing their seat belts, compared to 42 percent during daytime hours. “Too many drivers and passengers on the road at night are not wearing their seat belts, and it all too often ends in tragedy,” said Kendell Poole, Director of GHSO. “Our goal is to save more lives, so state and local law enforcement agencies will be out enforcing seat belt laws around the clock.” In Tennessee alone, 2011 preliminary data shows that 189 unrestrained passenger vehicle occupants were killed at night, compared to 160 who were unrestrained and killed during daytime crashes. Seat belt use saves thousands of lives across the U.S. each year and GHSO is helping spread the word. NHTSA statistics show that in 2010, seat belts saved an estimated 12,546 lives nationwide. In 2010, passenger vehicle occupants totaling 22,187 were killed in motor vehicle crashes, according to NHTSA, and 51 percent of them were NOT wearing seat belts. Preliminary data for 2011 in Tennessee mirrors the same percentage. Younger motorists and men are particularly at risk. NHTSA 2010 data shows that among teen and young adult passenger vehicle occupants ages 18-34 who were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes, 62 percent were not buckled up at the time of the crash. The number jumps to 66 percent when only men in this age group are included. While this year’s Click It or Ticket enforcement mobilization runs from May 11 through June 3, motorists should know that officers are out enforcing seat belt laws year-round. “We will be out cracking down on seat belt violators. Motorists should buckle up every time they go out, both day and night,” said Colonel Tracy Trott of the Tennessee Highway Patrol. “State troopers are prepared to ticket anyone not buckled up…no warnings and no excuses. Click It or Ticket.”
Man Given Probation For Animal Cruelty
According to the Daily Times, a Maryville man was placed on probation Monday (5/7) after pleading guilty to a charge of aggravated animal cruelty. 21-year-old Hank Anthony Stropp was sentenced to two years of supervised probation, ordered to surrender any companion animals he may have and pay restitution to the veterinary hospital that took care of the dog that was rescued from his custody. Earlier this year, a neighbor of Stropp’s called authorities to report that his shepherd/chow mix Bruno was being neglected. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sent investigators to the house and found the dog starving and barely alive. The dog is continuing to recover from his ordeal.
Clinton Library Announces Summer Reading Club
(Clinton Public Library) It’s coming…the Summer Reading Club 2012 at the Clinton Public Library! Studies show that when kids aren’t reading over the summer, they lose a lot of skills by the time they go back to school. What better way to prevent this than by exercising your brain at the library? This year, the theme is all about dreaming big…so we will start off with a BANG: Kick-Off Party, Friday, June 8, at 1pm. It’s your first day to register and get your bag full of goodies. There will be a magic show, balloon animals, face painting, and more. Then we will keep it going through the summer, with more special events than ever before! If you can’t make it to the kick-off, or for more information, check us out online at clintonpubliclibrary.org, like us on Facebook (facebook.com/clintonpubliclibrary), or call us at (865) 457-0519.
Clinton Woman Indicted
A Clinton woman who reportedly admitted that she had taken methadone and oxycontin during her pregnancy while skipping prenatal visits to avoid those drugs being detected in her system has been indicted on charges of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. 28-year-old Jamica Nicole Maples had originally been charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect but the grand jury opted for the assault and reckless endangerment charges. After the baby was born last year, the infant started showing signs of drug withdrawal and was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital for treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome. The indictment says that the drug use lasted from April of 2011 to June 29th, when the baby was born. At that time, Maples tested positive for methadone. She is free on bond and will be arraigned on May 25th.
Willow Brook ES Principal Reassigned
Mardee Miller has been removed as principal at Oak Ridge’s Willow Brook Elementary School and placed on paid administrative leave. The decision was made Monday (5/7) but so far, school leaders have not divulged the reason for the move, saying only that the school needed a change in leadership. Miller had been Willow Brook principal for seven years and officials say that she will be reassigned at the start of the next school year to another position within the system. Susan Armstrong, a member of the central office staff, will be the acting principal through the end of the school year. She is part of the system’s curriculum team and a certified administrator.
Morgan Meth Lab Found In Cave
Morgan County Sheriff’s deputies uncovered what they are calling the biggest meth lab the county has ever seen inside cave in the Lancing community on Monday (5/7). Deputies say that over 85 gallons of meth-making chemicals as well as components and other materials commonly found with meth labs were found and seized. The department has found six labs in the past two weeks, mostly in the woods, and they chalk that up to the cooks seeking out sparsely populated areas to avoid detection. No arrests have been made in any of these incidents but investigators say that some of them are believed to be connected.
OR Officials Probing 2 Arson Fires
As we reported to you Tuesday (5/8), Oak Ridge fire and police officials are searching for the person or persons who deliberately started a fire inside the former home of Paragon Athletic Club Saturday afternoon (5/5), causing $10,000 worth of damage. It is the second arson fire in the city in the past week and the fourth since Christmas. Last Wednesday (4/30), a fire caused $5000 to a storage building at Big Turtle Park. In both cases, witnesses reported seeing juveniles between the ages of 10 and 18 leaving the scene shortly before the fires were reported. Authorities do not believe that the cases are connected as they occurred in different parts of town. A $1500 reward is available for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction in these cases and you can phone those tips in to the state arson hotline at 1-800-762-3017.
OR Man Charged After Chase
Oak Ridge Police say that a 24-year-old man was arrested Friday (5/4) after fleeing a traffic stop, crashing his car and tossing about seven ounces of cocaine into a wooded area as he ran. The incident happened near Oak Ridge High School when an officer tried to pull over Christopher Black because the windows on his car were too darkly tinted. Black drove through a yard on West Pasadena Lane and crashed into a tree. He bailed out and tried to run but was caught quickly by officers, who also found seven ounces of bagged cocaine in a wooded area about 35 feet away from the car. Officers also seized $1947 in cash from Black, who was charged with two counts of the manufacture/delivery/sale or possession of drugs and evading arrest. He was released on Monday after posting a $450,000 bond.
Airport Hilton On Blount Tax Rolls
The Airport Hilton has been added to the Blount County tax rolls after dropping its appeal of a recent decision that determined that it was not tax-exempt. The hotel will pay about $55,000 in property taxes going back to 2010-2011 and will likely pay a similar amount each year from now on. The hotel had been exempt from paying county property taxes because it sits on land owned by the tax-exempt Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. In 1985, county officials tried to have the hotel added to the tax rolls but the owners appealed and won its case for exemption. Two years ago, Blount County officials notified the hotel’s owners that they would have to begin paying property taxes because, while the land may be tax exempt, the building itself is not because it is not owned by the Airport Authority. The hotel made appeals at the county and state levels and in December, an administrative judge sided with the county. Hotel owners Cooper Hotels from Memphis had planned to appeal that decision later this month but has instead decided to drop its appeal and begin paying the taxes. Ex Roane Firefighter Admits Arson A Roane County grand jury will consider filing charges against a former firefighter who has confessed to setting nine fires. Keith L. Hephner Jr. was a member of the South Roane County Volunteer Fire Department when investigators became suspicious following a deliberately set fire at his own home on Laurel Bluff Road on April 20th. Under questioning, he admitted to setting that fire and eight others, according to the Roane County Sheriff’s Office. Obviously, Hephner was terminated from the fire department. OR Man Named United Way Volunteer Of Year
Oak Ridge historian D. Ray Smith has been named the United Way of Anderson County’s 2011 Volunteer of the Year. Smith has served as president of the United Way board of directors in the past and has also served as campaign chairman. He remains very active in United Way, serving on the board among other duties. Smith is the historian for Y-12 and is also a member of the boards of several area non-profit organizations including Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County and ADFAC.
ACSD Probes Suspicious Fire
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a suspicious fire at an abandoned mobile home in Briceville. The fire broke out in the trailer at 231 Andy’s Ridge Road shortly before 1 am Tuesday (5/8) and was extinguished by the Briceville Volunteer Fire Department. Firefighters reported that when they arrived the building was already engulfed in flames. Firefighters also told Sheriff’s deputies that they had found footprints in the mud leading away from the trailer. Those tracks, along with the fact that there was no power to the mobile home and a neighbor’s report that the trailer had been vacant for some time, led investigators to rule the fire as arson-related. The Criminal Investigations Division is following up.
ORHS Ranked #6 In State
According to US News, Oak Ridge High School is the sixth best high school in the state of Tennessee. The rankings were announced Tuesday (5/8) by the magazine. According to the rankings, the top four schools are located in and around Nashville while Farragut High School in Knox County is number five. In addition to its top ten finish in the state, Oak Ridge High was also ranked 709th nationally out of over 22,000 high schools across the country and earned a national silver medal. The survey evaluated 351 charter, magnet and public high schools in Tennessee. You can find out more about the rankings by visiting www.usnews.com/education/best-high-school/tennessee.
Fraterville Anniversary Events
(Coal Creek Watershed Foundation) Here’s an updated list of what’s planned to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Great Fraterville Explosion. Saturday, May 12th, Barry Thacker will make a presentation at Cumberland Gap National Historical Park at 2:00 pm as described at http://www.middlesborodailynews.com/view/full_story/18468828/article-Preserving-mining-history as part of the park’s Hidden History Lecture Series. On Friday May 18th, Briceville students and UT archaeologists will perform a ground-penetrating radar study at the Fraterville Itinerant Miners’ Cemetery as described at http://www.coalcreekaml.com/BricevilleFieldTripINVITE2012.htm. Saturday, 19 May 2012 – Free public tour of Fraterville Mine disaster sites starts at 9:00 am as described at http://www.coalcreekaml.com/Fraterville110thPRESS.htm. LAST CALL TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS ON THE BUS!! The scheduled publication date for the book, The Welsh of Tennessee, is 19 May 2012 to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Fraterville explosion. You will be able to order the book from various on-line distributors, including Amazon as shown at http://www.amazon.com/Welsh-Tennessee-Eirug-Davies/dp/1847714293. You can still reserve a seat on the bus for the Fraterville tour by contacting Carol Moore by e-mail at clmoore@geoe.com, or by phone at 865-584-0344 Ext. 102 or 865-660-2620.
TN Valley Fair Chief Certified
(Tennessee Valley Fair) Tennessee Valley Fair Executive Director Scott Suchomski has been designated a Certified Fair Executive by the International Association of Fairs and Expositions. “I am honored to be one of only two individuals in the state of Tennessee who have earned this designation.” said Suchomski, who has managed the Tennessee Valley Fair for over 6 years. Suchomski has also served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment with the Tennessee National Guard for nearly 20 years. The other CFE is his father, Larry Suchomski, who served as Executive Director from 2000-2005. The certification is based upon a rigorous scorecard examining education, management and leadership skills. Drawing from over 3,200 organized fairs in the United States and Canada, only 13 fair executives qualified for the coveted CFE designation in 2012. The award designation was made on April 25th in Des Moines, Iowa during the IAFE annual Management Conference. The 93rd annual Tennessee Valley Fair is scheduled for September 7-16, 2012.
GSMNP To Close Part Of Tremont Road
(GSMNP) Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials have announced
that the
OR Sending Out Parking Changes Info
The City of Oak Ridge is distributing informational flyers to help inform citizens and visitors about recent changes to two ordinances affecting on-street parking. The City will issue violations for offenses beginning Monday, June 18, 2012. During March and April, the Oak Ridge City Council passed two ordinances contained in the City Code pertaining to on-street parking, Ordinances 01-2012 and 03-2012. The changes support initiatives approved last fall as part of the Not in Our City conceptual plan. The purpose of addressing parking violations throughout the city is to provide adequate space for pedestrians to utilize the sidewalks and ensure the ability for emergency vehicles and other large vehicles to safely maneuver residential streets. Specifically, the new requirements: • Prohibit recreational vehicles and utility trailers from permanently parking in on-street parking spaces • Provide exceptions for on-street parking of recreational vehicles and utility trailers for specified temporary purposes • Provides clarifications to existing on-street parking requirements • Add additional “prohibited parking places” to the on-street parking provisions City Manager Mark Watson stated reasons for the change. ”The new ordinance provisions are needed to enhance public safety by keeping streets and sidewalks unobstructed. While the code amendments became effective last month, we want to allow additional time for staff to help educate the community on the new requirements. It will take some time for citizens to adjust to the new rules, so we are going above and beyond what the letter of the law requires.” The flyer, along with additional information, including photographs, is available in the “Featured Projects” section of the city’s website www.oakridgetn.gov. For more information, contact the Oak Ridge Police Department at (865) 425-4399.
Clinton Beer Board OKs S&K Application
The Clinton City Beer Board approved a beer permit application from the new management of S&K Market on Charles Seivers Boulevard on Monday night.
Nuisance Hearing Delayed, Homeowner Jailed
The initial court appearance in Anderson County Circuit Court for the nuisance abatement hearing for Kenneth Lamarr, who owns a residence on Henson Lane, was Friday (5/4). During Friday’s session, Lamarr asked that the hearing be delayed until he can hire an attorney. That request was granted but Lamarr was arrested in the courtroom by Sheriff’s deputies on two warrants returned by the Anderson County grand jury on charges of the manufacture/delivery/sale or possession of a controlled substance. The indictments were returned following a drug investigation conducted by the Sheriff’s Special Operations Unit involving the purchase of meth. As of this morning, Lamarr remained in custody on a $100,000 bond. Friday’s hearing was part of the process of the Anderson County District Attorney’s Office to declare Lamarr’s home at 126 Henson Lane a public nuisance for repeated incidents of drug and other criminal activity over the past 14 years. The end result, if the DA’s office is successful, will be the demolition of the mobile home. That house, you may recall, burned under suspicious circumstances last week.
Homicide, Theft Charges Sent To Blount Grand Jury
Charges of criminal homicide and auto theft against a Maryville man were bound over to a Blount County grand jury on Monday (5/7). 31-year-old Clinton Garrett Walton of Maryville is charged in the February 10th shooting death of 37-year-old Brian David Fann. Fann’s body was found inside his home on Davis Loop Road in Walland on February 10th and Walton was arrested the following morning by US Border Patrol agents as he tried to cross into Canada. He was incarcerated at the Wayne County (MI) Detention Facility until being extradited back to Blount County on February 18th. Following testimony by investigators, the judge determined that there was enough evidence to send the case to the grand jury. Walton remains in custody at the Blount County Jail on a $1.1 million bond.
OR Mall Can Be Yours…For $10.5 Million
The asking price for the former Oak Ridge Mall property—now known as the Oak Ridge City Center—has been set at $10.5 million. The mall sits on a 59-acre parcel of land and is mostly empty save for two anchor stores—JC Penney and Belk. The redevelopment of that property has been a thorn in the side of the city for several years and is described as one of the biggest economic development priorities in Oak Ridge. Commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield is marketing the property and officials with the company say that about 45 interested investors have looked at the site. The company’s brochure describes Oak Ridge as a “supply constrained and significantly underserved market with limited shopping center options” and describes the city government as “motivated and supportive” of the efforts to redevelop the mall property. The information being distributed by the company also notes that a town center redevelopment plan is already in place, making redevelopment more feasible. Officials with Cushman & Wakefield hope to have a purchase agreement in place for the mall by the second week of June.
DENSO Adding 75 Jobs In Maryville
DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee has announced that it plans to hire about 75 new workers over the next two years at its Maryville plant as the company begins producing a new type of automobile starter designed to improve efficiency. The Maryville facility currently employs around 3000 people. The jobs that will be available include electrical and mechanical maintenance technicians, engineers and other positions. The Maryville plant will make so-called start/stop starters, which increase a vehicle’s fuel efficiency by 2 to 5% by cutting the engine when the vehicles is stopped or idling. First shipments of the new starters is expected to begin by September. DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee is owned by Japan’s DENSO Corporation, which is a global supplier of automotive electronics, ignition systems and other auto parts to major manufacturers. Resumes are being accepted and you can e-mail them to densojobs@denso-diam.com, fax them to 865-981-5262 or mail them to DENSO Staffing, 1720 Robert C. Jackson Drive, Maryville Tennessee 37801.
Report: Lawsuit Filed Against OS Company
According to the News-Sentinel, two former employees of an Oliver Springs company that tests products to determine if they are defective have filed lawsuits against their former employers alleging, among other things, that the company threatened to fire people if they did not alter reports to show that products had failed inspections when they had not. Diversified Product Inspections LLC is a company that tests items that are suspected of being faulty and gives their results to insurance companies, who in turn, use those test results to make manufacturers pay for damages caused by faulty products. 51-year-old William Clarke and 41-year-old James Sapp Jr. are both asking for $450,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages in the suits. Both men were fired on April 5th and in their lawsuits, claim they were fired in retaliation for refusing to participate in or keep quiet about what they called “illegal activities.” The suits also allege age discrimination in their dismissals. DPI as the company is known, is accused in the complaints of encouraging workers to alter inspection reports so that they indicated a product had failed inspection even though “there was little to no evidence to support a finding of product failures.” Officials with DPI denied the allegations, telling the News-Sentinel that Clarke and Sapp were let go only due to a lack of work and that they were about to be brought back in due a recent increase in business.
OR Fire Investigated As Arson
Officials in Oak Ridge are investigating a suspicious fire that occurred Saturday afternoon (5/5) at the former home of the Paragon Athletic Club on Emory Valley Road. The fire broke out in the vacant building Saturday afternoon and witnesses told investigators they had seen people leaving the building before the fire was reported. The fire was set in a hot tub and caused extensive smoke damage throughout the building. Oak Ridge firefighters reported heavy black smoke coming from the building when they arrived and it took crews nearly ten minutes to locate the source of that smoke. The fire was extinguished and no injuries were reported. Officials have not identified what was used to start Saturday’s blaze and the incident is being investigated by the Oak Ridge Police Department.
AC Commission Announces Budget Meetings
The Anderson County Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed Fiscal year 2012-2013 budget on May 24th at 6 pm in room 312 of the Courthouse in Clinton. The budget will also be the subject of two special called meetings, one on Monday June 4th, the other on Tuesday June 12th, both beginning at 6:30 pm and also being held in room 312 of the Courthouse. So far, most of the no-tax-increase budget proposed by County Mayor Myron Iwanski has met with support from the budget committee, but he is facing opposition from Sheriff Paul White, whose budget request for this year includes $2 million in new money to pay for staffing the new dormitory at the Jail as well as utilities, medical costs and food for inmates and the rising cost of fuel. We will continue to follow the budget process for you as it unfolds over the next few weeks.
Proposed OR Budget Contains No New Taxes
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson has proposed a no-tax-increase budget that includes 1.5% pay raises for city workers. If approved, Oak Ridge’s tax rate would remain at $2.39 per $100 of assessed value, the schools would receive $14.6 million—the same amount they received in this year’s budget—and the general fund budget comes in at roughly $19.5 million. The budget proposal eliminates the position of deputy city manager and includes funding for several capital projects including repairs at Woodland Elementary School and money for the new campus of Roane State Community College. The City Council will consider the budget on first reading on Monday May 14th at 7 pm.
AC GOP To Meet May 15th
The Anderson County Republican Party’s May meeting will be held on Tuesday May 15th at 7 pm at 103 Jefferson Avenue in Oak Ridge. The meeting is open to the public.
OR Man Violates Probation, Sent To Jail
An Oak Ridge man was sent to prison Friday (5/4) for ten years after violating his probation on child sex charges. 47-year-old Scott Frank Busbash was originally charged with raping a girl less than 13 years old in 2006 but later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted child rape. He was placed on supervised probation on January 13th but court records indicate he violated the terms of that deal by cutting off his court-ordered electronic monitoring device and leaving the state without telling his probation officer within two weeks of his sentencing. Busbash was arrested in South Carolina in February on a probation violation warrant and on Friday, admitted to violating his probation and was ordered jailed for the remainder of his original ten-year prison sentence.
BC Investigators Probe 4th Meth Lab Of Week
Blount County authorities are investigating a fourth meth lab found within a week. Friday evening (5/4), a one-pot lab was found in a wooded area behind a home on Ellejoy Road. The lab was found inside a tent along with other personal belongings and the Tennessee methamphetamine Task Force responded to dispose of the items.
Blount Event Touts No-Kill Shelters
The Blount County Humane Society held its sixth annual Smoky Mountain Critter Fest on Sunday (5/6) at Maryville College. The event featured dogs and cats available for adoption from a wide range of rescue groups, as well as music, food, games and items for sale. The goal of the festival is to promote the importance of no-kill animal shelters. Over 70 rescue groups and vendors took part in the event.
Report: 3-Vehicle Wreck Injures 4
A three-car wreck in Alcoa Sunday afternoon (5/6) sent four people to the hospital. The Daily Times reports the accident happened at the intersection of Cusick Street and North Wright Road shortly before 4 pm Sunday. Alcoa Police say that 20-year-old Holly Pendleton of Maryville was driving a Hyundai Sonata north on North Wright and tried to beat a traffic light that wasd turning yellow. Her car collided with a Saturn driven by 20-year April Henley of Maryville who was turning from the westbound lanes of Cusick on to North Wright. The Sonata then collided with a Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by 24-year-old Trevor Hartsell of Harriman that had been stopped at the light and sent the truck into a nearby telephone pole. Henley and her passengers—26-year-old John Henley and a three-year-old boy—as well as Pendleton were all taken by ambulance to UT Medical Center for treatment of their injuries. Henley was cited for driving without a license and a seatbelt violation while Pendleton was cited for disregarding a traffic signal.
BCSO, MPD Hold Joint Sobriety Checkpoint
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office and the Maryville Police Department conducted a joint sobriety checkpoint Saturday night (5/5) on US Highway 321 at the Blount County Courthouse. During the two-hour checkpoint, 432 vehicles passed through and 31 were stopped for further inspection. In all, one DUI arrest was made and 49 citations were issued for violations of registration, insurance, equipment, seat belt and child restraint laws as well as driving on a suspended license and violating the open container law. Both the Maryville PD and BCSO are required to hold a certain number of checkpoints each year to stay in compliance with the grant requirements set forth by the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office.
GSMNP: Firefly Parking Passes Sold Out
As of Satuday morning (5/5), all of the mandatory vehicle passes to park
at Sugarlands Visitor Center to see the synchronous fireflies are gone -
EXCEPT that 25 passes for each date (June 2 - 8) have been held back to
accommodate last-minute bookings. These last passes will become
available on
www.recreation.gov starting at
10a.m. the day before you want to go. The Park will issue a
total of 175 car passes each day for the parking at
Sugarlands
Visitors
Center.
That equates to about 600 individuals who will be transported to the
viewing area via the mandatory shuttle buses (@$1.00
McNally Recognizes Locals For Fight Against Lupus
(Sen. McNally’s Office) Senator Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) recently recognized the efforts of two local residents for raising funds to fight Lupus. McNally recognized Tom and Donna Sullivan and their daughter, Katie, on the Senate floor where he presented a check to them to help in their efforts to raise funds to fight the disease. Also attending the Senate Session was Sherry Hammond, President of the Lupus Foundation of America’s Mid South Chapter. The Sullivan’s, whose daughter is afflicted with Lupus, organized the “Butterflies for Hope 5K Run and Bike Ride.” The benefit, which took place on April 6-7, was conducted in conjunction with the state’s 4th Lupus Awareness Day on April 11. “Tom and Donna Sullivan were able to raise $8,200 from the two-day event,” said Senator McNally. “I wanted to present this check to them and thank them for the good work they do. We appreciate all of their efforts to conquer this painful disease. I am pleased that my Senate colleagues could join me in thanking them for their work.” “On behalf of the 35,000 Tennesseans who live with lupus everyday, I am really excited to accept this check for our programs and services and especially for east Tennessee,” added Hammond.
USEC Project Reaches Milestone
(USEC) USEC Inc. has announced that its American Centrifuge project for uranium enrichment has surpassed one million hours of machine run-time in its Lead Cascade test program. USEC has operated centrifuge machines at its American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility in Piketon, Ohio since August 2007. USEC continues work on a research, development and demonstration (RD&D) program proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE) to enhance the technical and financial readiness of the centrifuge technology for commercialization. The proposed RD&D program scope is to construct and operate a demonstration cascade of 120 commercial centrifuge machines. The RD&D program is expected to establish the high-confidence level in cascade reliability required by DOE to support loan guarantee financing for the commercial plant. The RD&D program will also build out and demonstrate the redundant cascade support systems that will be installed in the commercial plant. USEC has already invested more than $2 billion in the American Centrifuge project, and will continue funding the RD&D program through the end of May. After May 31, the company’s credit facility will impose tight restrictions on American Centrifuge project spending absent a definitive agreement with DOE for federal funding of the RD&D program. While Congress is pursuing program funding as part of the fiscal year 2013 budget process, federal funding for the RD&D program is not yet available from June 1 through October 1. Without federal funding, USEC will likely begin to demobilize the project in June. When commercially deployed, the American Centrifuge project will support approximately 8,000 jobs across the country, especially in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Michigan and Indiana. It will also preserve the U.S. government’s ability to produce enriched uranium to support U.S. national security needs.
AC Community Action Announces Distribution
Anderson County Community Action will be distributing commodities on Thursday May 24th at the National Guard Armory in Clinton from 10 am to 1 pm. Participants will need their blue commodity card and six brown paper bags. For more information on this equal opportunity program, call 865-457-5500.
Maryville Man Charged In Meth Probe
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office says that a 28-year-old Maryville man was charged Thursday (5/3) in connection with a meth investigation. 28-year-old Aaron D. Horsby was charged with criminal attempt to manufacture a Schedule II controlled substance (methamphetamine) in a Drug Free Zone. Investigators with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force were alerted to a suspicious person who was attempting to purchase precursors for the manufacture of methamphetamine at several businesses in Maryville and Alcoa. Task Force investigators initiated a traffic stop in the parking lot of a church on East Lamar Alexander Parkway for a traffic violation. During the course of the investigation, investigators were given consent to search the vehicle. They found a non-operational meth lab in the vehicle. The Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force responded to Blount County and took possession of the lab. A woman in the vehicle was released without charges pending the outcome of the continuing investigation.
OS Still Looking For City Manager
The Oliver Springs City Council will likely hire its next city manager when it meets in two weeks, according to BBB-TV. One more interview with one of the three finalists for the position will be conducted on Tuesday (5/8). City officials had originally indicated that they wanted to hire someone to replace David Bolling, who resigned earlier this year to take a similar position in Maine, by the end of April but now it appears that decision will not be made until later this month. The Oliver Springs Council also decided Thursday (5/3) to hold off on choosing someone to serve in Ward 1 on an interim basis until after the new city manager is hired.
Roane School Board Stays In-House In Superintendent Search
Thursday (5/3), the Roane County School Board voted unanimously to offer the job of superintendent to Gary Aytes, who currently serves as the supervisor of elementary education in the system’s central office. Aytes will succeed Dr. Toni McGriff, who is retiring at the end of June after leading the school system since 2005. Final interviews with two finalists took place last weekend. He will likely earn about $110,000 a year in his new post and the School Board and its attorney will begin hammering out the details of his contract. Aytes, who has been with the Roane County central office staff for five years, was chosen from a pool of 33 people who initially applied for the post.
Group Hails Townsend As Electric Car-Friendly
A group in Townsend says that Blount County town is now the most electric car-friendly city in the US. The Black Bear Solar Institute, working with the Department of Energy, recently installed 18 electric car charging stations in Townsend and six more in Maryville. The group unveiled five charging stations at the Shops at Trillium Cove on Thursday (5/3). Officials with BBSI say their primary goal with the charging stations is to educate the public about black bears and hope to use future proceeds from the car chargers to build a wildlife rehabilitation center. The chargers are free to use for the next six months thanks to a DOE program, but when that funding runs out it will cost between 50 cents to $2 an hour to use. BBSI will share the profits with the DOE and use their share for the rehab center. Each charger costs around $3000 to install with the DOE paying for half and BBSI paying the rest and for maintaining and operating the systems.
Domestic Assault Charges Dropped
Domestic assault charges against Oliver Springs High School assistant principal Donna Moore were recently dropped. Moore had been arrested in January and accused of hitting her husband but the charges were thrown out after he did not show up for a court date.
2 Communities Say Good-Bye
Hundreds of people gathered Thursday night (5/3) at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Oliver Springs to say goodbye to 17-year-old Aaron Brady Walls, who died Monday after falling out of the back of a moving pickup truck on Sunday night in Morgan County. Walls once attended and played football at Coalfield High School before transferring to Oliver Springs and members of both communities were on hand last night to pay their respects to his family. He was laid to rest this morning at the Mt. Pisgah Cemetery. Community members raised about $900 to pay for headstone.
EPA: Blount, Knox, Part Of Anderson Smoggy
The EPA has ruled that Blount, Knox and part of Anderson County do not meet federal air quality standards for smog. State officials, however, say the agency’s ruling is incorrect, saying that regulators relied too heavily on just one of the 18 ozone monitors across the state, this one in the Smoky Mountains. Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation officials say that monitors in and around Knoxville and Memphis—which along with Shelby County was also found to be out of compliance—show that those areas actually are in compliance with the more stringent air quality standards adopted in 2008. Officials say initially that the EPA also wanted to include the rest of Anderson County, Loudon and Sevier and part of Cocke County in the non-compliance designation but the state was able to negotiate with the agency to lift their non-attainment status. The only part of Anderson County included in the designation is the air immediately around TVA’s Bull Run Steam Plant in Claxton. Officials with TVA say that the EPA includes power plants in non-attainment areas because of the potential size of their emissions but that Bull Run has lowered its ozone-forming emissions, the ones that lead to smog, by 95%. Officials in the non-attainment areas worry that the designation will harm economic development efforts as some companies will not locate in counties that do not meet those air quality standards.
Maryville College Adds, Subtracts Majors, Minors
Officials at Maryville College have announced that the school will add eight new majors and two new minors while eliminating two majors and two minors. The elimination of majors in chemical physics and art history and minors in French and physics will result in three faculty members and one staff member losing their jobs. The school’s business and organization management degree is being replaced by four majors that school leaders say will offer a more focused area of study, namely management, marketing, finance/accounting and human resources management. Beginning next year, students will also be able to earn a minor in business as well as a major and minor in design. Majors will also be added in neuroscience, exercise science and biopharmaceutical sciences, which will be a dual-degree program with the University of Tennessee’s Health Sciences College of Pharmacy. In that program, students will spend three years at Maryville College and four years at UT to earn a doctorate of pharmacy. The school says in a release that the new majors reflect the expressed interests of current students and prospective students alike.
Report: Maryville OKs New Tourism Venture
According to the Daily Times, the Maryville City Council on Tuesday night (5/1) ratified a private act approved by the state legislature to create the Smoky Mountain Tourism Authority, which proponents say will allow the county and all of cities to better promote the tourism and leisure activities in Blount County. The measure makes over the Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau by giving the cities of Alcoa and Maryville seats on the new 10-member board as well as authorizing the Tourism Authority to borrow money for projects. That board will include one representative each from the Alcoa and Maryville city governments as well as the county mayor or a designee of his choosing, one representative from the Blount County Chamber of Commerce and two residents each from Alcoa and Maryville and two residents of Walland or Townsend. The private act still needs to be ratified by the Alcoa City Commission and the Blount County Commission. In addition, the Council approved on second and final reading an ordinance allowing electronic message signs at schools, the library and in high traffic areas of the city. The Council also gave its final approval for Maryville High School’s installation of a large screen TV on the scoreboard at the football stadium.
Rogers Trial Delayed
Anderson County Chancellor William Lantrip has delayed the start of the trial in a lawsuit filed by residents of Norris and the Bethel community aimed at preventing paving company the Rogers Group from moving forward with its plans to reopen a rock quarry and build an asphalt plant on its property near exit 122 off of I-75. The trial had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday (5/1) but has been delayed until Wednesday May 30th at 9 am. The lawsuit is challenging the legality of Clinton’s rezoning of the company’s land to allow for their new operations following its annexation several years ago. In the meantime, Rogers is prevented from doing any work on the proposed rock quarry pending the outcome of the trial but can still work on the portion of its property zoned for commercial use.
Roane Celebrates New Hospital
Wednesday (5/2), elected officials and representatives of Covenant Health celebrated the progress that has been made on the new hospital being built on 40 acres of land near the Harriman/Midtown exit off of I-40. The company chose to hold a ceremony at the midway mark of the project because a traditional groundbreaking would have been complicated by the parcel’s hillside. The $72 million hospital will replace the current Roane Medical Center and will feature 54 private patient rooms, larger nursing units, improved lab and imaging capabilities and electronic patient record-keeping. The facility will also be home to the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center’s local outpatient office, a sleep center, a women’s center and a medical office building. The new hospital is expected to be complete by next February.
Tennessee Named 1 Of 5 Best States For Business
Chief Executive magazine has named Tennessee one of the top four states in the nation for business today in its eighth annual survey of Best and Worst States for Business. More than 650 chief executive officers rated all 50 states in three general categories: taxation and regulation, quality of workforce and living environment. Tennessee ranked fourth for the second consecutive year. Rounding out the top five were Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Indiana. “It is an honor to be recognized by Chief Executive magazine for the hard work beginning done in our state,” Bill Hagerty, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, said. “Governor Haslam is a successful business man himself, so he understands exactly what companies are looking for when relocating and expanding. It’s with his insight and leadership that we are continuously working to create and maintain a business friendly environment that encourages companies to grow and invest in Tennessee.” The Chief Executive magazine honor is the latest in a number of awards Tennessee has received for its economic development efforts recently. In March, Trade & Industry Development magazine named Amazon.com, Inc., General Motors, Quaprotek USA, MANN+HUMMEL USA and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development among the recipients of its 2012 Corporate Investment & Community Impact (CiCi) Awards, totaling the most for any state. Tennessee earned a strong ninth place finish in the annual Site Selection magazine’s Governor’s Cup for economic development and was ranked among the top 10 states in the U.S. for best business climates. The magazine also recognized Amazon.com, Inc. as one of the Top Deals of 2011. To read the full Chief Executive magazine’s Best and Worst States for Business article, visit http://chiefexecutive.net/best-worst-states-for-business-2012.
State Legislature OKs Welfare Drug Testing
The General Assembly this week passed a major initiative to implement drug tests for those individuals seeking certain public benefits. The measure requires applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program benefits to undergo a drug test before receiving such benefits. Under the bill, the Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS) must develop a plan to implement a program of suspicion-based drug testing for each applicant who is otherwise eligible for TANF benefits. Following an initial positive drug test, the applicant would undergo a confirmation test using the same urine sample from the initial positive test prior to determine TANF eligibility. The results of the confirmation test would be used to determine final eligibility of these benefits. In these cases, "drug" shall mean marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and opiates such as morphine. The DHS Commissioner may add additional drugs by rule. No drug for which an applicant has a current valid prescription will be a basis for denial of TANF benefits under this amendment. The implementation would occur in phases over a two year period. The bill passed the Senate on April 25th with a vote of 24-9 and is now going to the Governor to become law. To view a full summary of HB 2725, click here.
AP: Bank Branch To Open In Maryville
According to the Associated Press, regional banker Renasant Corporation will be opening a new branch here in East Tennessee, namely Maryville. The Tupelo, Mississippi-based bank says that the new bank will be open by the end of this month. This is the bank’s eighth expansion in the past 18 months and Renasant operates about 75 financial institutions in four Southeastern states.
Report: EPA Fines Lowered In OR
According to the News-Sentinel, after negotiating with the EPA, Oak Ridge will pay only $171,000 in fines related to its aging wastewater system rather than face fines of anywhere between $4 and $5 million. The City Council will consider the settlement proposal when it meets on Monday night (5/7). The EPA had levied the fines in connection to approximately 200 incidents where the city’s wastewater collection system overflowed between 2005 and 2010, alleging violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The EPA has since mandated that improvements be made to the aging city sewer system, much of which was installed during World War II during the creation of the then-Secret City. Those improvements carry an estimated $18 million price tag and forced city officials to approve water and sewer rate increases of anywhere between 27 and 32% last month. The EPA took into consideration the fact that the city has been making efforts to improve the system since their order was handed down in deciding to settle with the city on the fine amount. The city will make a cash payment to the EPA in the amount of $102,600 under terms of the proposal and set aside $68,400 for a “supplemental environmental project.” City officials tell the News-Sentinel they plan to use those funds to assist Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties—or ADFAC—in helping low income families in Oak Ridge repair the sewer lines at their homes.
Blount Authorities ID Assault, Meth, Bomb Suspects
Authorities in Blount County have identified two men allegedly involved in an assault at a Maryville condominium complex, the investigation of which led officers to a meth lab and an explosive device. 29-year-old Anthony Lynn Jarnagan of Jefferson City faces charges of initiating the manufacture of meth and possession of an explosive device and 41-year-old Charles James Dumont of Knoxville is charged with possession of meth. Both are expected in court next week. Maryville Police were called to a condominium complex on Casey Lane Monday evening (4/30) on a report of two suspicious individuals. Before police were called, two men who live in the condos approached the two suspects to see what they were up to and one of the suspects allegedly pulled a knife and a brief struggle ensued before the two men fled on foot. The two victims suffered minor injuries and were treated at he scene by EMS personnel. When officers began searching for the men, they came across a campsite in a nearby field where they found two backpacks. One of the backpacks contained an explosive device that was dismantled by the Knox County Bomb Squad and the other contained a one-pot meth lab that was processed and seized by the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force and the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force. Jarnagan and Dumont were apprehended at separate locations a short time later and taken into custody.
No Tax Increase In Clinton’s Budget Proposal
The proposed Clinton city budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year will not require a property tax increase, according to city officials. Mayor Scott Burton says that a 7 percent increase in sales tax collections, buoyed in part by the addition of 25 businesses to the city’s tax rolls after an error identified them as being outside the city limits and the savings from the refinancing of city debt will keep property tax rates level and allow for 2 percent pay raises for city employees. The budget proposal also includes increased funding for the purchase of new police vehicles as well as street paving projects. The City Council will hold a public hearing on the budget on Monday (5/7) and the budget is expected to be passed in June.
Harriman Council Shrinks By One
The city of Harriman is looking for a new City Council member following Tuesday night’s (5/1) announcement by Councilman Chase Teddar that he will be stepping down. Teddar asked Mayor Chris Hepler to read his resignation letter at the end of the meeting and in it, stated that he has accepted a new job that will force him to move out of the state. Teddar has been training to be a ranger with the National Park Service. The Council agreed to try and get a special election for his replacement on the ballot for later this year and encouraged anyone interested in serving as a Council member to call City Hall at 865-882-9414 for more information.
FBI, Kingston PD, Loudon PD Searching For Bank Robber
Police in two East Tennessee cities as well as the Knoxville office of the FBI are searching for a man suspected of robbing two banks within an hour of each other on Tuesday (5/1). The first incident occurred shortly after 3 pm at the BB&T Bank branch on Grove Street in Loudon. The second took place less than an hour later at the Bank of America in Kingston. In both cases, the suspect gave tellers a note demanding money and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect is described as a white male in mid to late 30s, about five feet eight or five feet nine inches tall and weighing approximately 150 pounds. He was wearing blue jeans in both robberies but apparently changed from a black t-shirt after the Loudon heist to a white t-shirt before hitting the Kingston branch. He has multiple tattoos on his arms, hands and neck including a distinctive tattoo on the back of his right hand. A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect and if you have information call the Knoxville office of the FBI at 865-544-0751, the Loudon Police Department at 865-408-0412 or the Kingston Police Department at 865-376-2081.
Vigil Held For Teen Killed In Accident
Hundreds of people turned out Tuesday night (5/1) for a vigil to remember 17-year-old Aaron Brady Walls, the Oliver Springs and former Coalfield High School football player who died Monday morning from injuries he sustained when he fell out of the bed of a pickup truck on Sunday night. The vigil was held at the Oliver Springs High School football field and the home bleachers were filled with people holding candles in Walls’ memory. Football players from Coalfield and Oliver Springs stood with Brady’s family on the field and prayed, friends shared special memories of the young man and at the end of the event balloons were released into the sky. The balloons were sold at the vigil and all proceeds will go to the Walls family. His family will receive friends on Thursday from 4 to 8 pm at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Oliver Springs with the funeral service to follow at 8 pm.
Report: OR BOE OKs Debt Resolution
According to the Oak Ridger, the Oak Ridge School Board unanimously approved a joint resolution with the Oak Ridge City Council regarding the repayment of the debt associated with the Oak Ridge High School renovation project on Monday night (4/30). The resolution in its current form was rejected last month by Council members but is expected to be revisited in the coming weeks. The debt stems from the 2004 referendum to increase the city’s sales tax to pay for the massive overhaul of Oak Ridge High School. In 2006, when voters in Anderson County voted to raise their local option sales tax meaning that a new sales tax distribution formula went into effect for the schools in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Anderson County. The City Council wants revenue from both tax increases to be used to repay the remaining debt as the School Board was supposed to be sending a portion of their revenue to the city for that purpose. That stopped in 2009 after a School Board attorney said the payments to the city were not legal without a written agreement. That money has been set aside and will be paid the city once the written agreement is formally adopted by both bodies.
Protest Sign Outside School Office Turning Heads
Drivers headed through downtown Clinton may have noticed a large banner in front of the Robert Jolley Building bearing the words “Shame on Larry Foster.” The sign has been erected by representatives of the Mid-South Carpenters Regional Council, a labor union involved in a dispute with one of the subcontractors on the construction of the Anderson County school system’s new alternative school. The Jolley Building houses the schools’ central office. The union claims that one of the subcontractors hired by Rouse Construction does not meet area labor standards by not providing or paying for family health care for its carpenter employees. Last week a representative of Michael Brady Inc., the lead organization on the project issued a statement that says that Larry Foster had nothing to do with hiring the subcontractor and praised his efforts to improve education in Anderson County.
Clinton Woman Killed In Wreck
A 20-year-old Clinton woman was killed in a one-car accident early Saturday morning (4/28). Clinton Police Officer Dustin Hensley was on routine patrol on South Charles Seivers Boulevard at around 2 am when he spotted a wreck that occurred sometime earlier, although the exact time of the accident is not clear. The accident occurred near the intersection with Hicks Circle and Hensley reported that the Nissan Sentra had rolled over and lying on its passenger side. Shelby Wiggins was the lone occupant of the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS and Clinton Fire department personnel.
Teen Dies After Falling From Pickup
A 17-year-old Oliver Springs High School student died Monday morning (4/30) at UT Medical Center from injuries he sustained when he fell out of the back of a pickup truck Sunday night (4/29) in Morgan County. Aaron Brady Walls of Oak Ridge had also previously attended Coalfield High School and was a football player. The Tennessee Highway Patrol says the accident occurred shortly before 9:40 pm Sunday on Coal Hill Road in front of Coalfield High School. The THP reported that Walls and another teenage boy were riding in the bed of a Toyota pickup driven by another teen headed east on Coal Hill near Fairview Road. A juvenile girl was also in the cab of the truck. The two boys in the back were sitting on top of a dog box and Walls fell out of the bed of the truck and landed on the south side of the road. He was airlifted to UT Medical Center, but succumbed to his injuries Monday morning. The THP investigation found no indications that alcohol, drugs or reckless driving contributed to the accident and no charges are expected to be field. A memorial vigil for Brady Walls will be held Tuesday night at 8 pm on the Oliver Springs High School football field.
Assault Leads Blount Investigators To Meth Lab, Explosives
Two men are in custody in Blount County following an assault that led investigators to a meth lab and an explosive device of some sort. The names of the suspects and the charges against them had not been made available at the time this report was filed. Maryville Police were called to a condominium complex on Casey Lane Monday evening (4/30) on a report of two suspicious individuals. Before police were called, two men who live in the condos approached the two suspects to see what they were up to and one of the suspects allegedly pulled a knife and a brief struggle ensued before the two men fled on foot. The two victims suffered minor injuries and were treated at he scene by EMS personnel. When officers began searching for the men, they came across a campsite in a nearby field where they found two backpacks. One of the backpacks contained an explosive device that was dismantled by the Knox County Bomb Squad and the other contained a one-pot meth lab that was processed and seized by the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force and the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force. Both men were taken into custody within a short time of one another and as soon as more information becomes available, we will pass it along to you.
Maryville Woman Dies In Maryland
Police in Baltimore, Maryland are investigating the death of a Maryville woman that occurred over the weekend. Baltimore Police say their officers were on routine patrol at around 1 am Sunday (4/29) when they came across security personnel from a nightclub performing CPR on 25-year-old Karen Huskey on a sidewalk. She was taken to an area hospital but later died. Police say they are no signs of foul play and add that she had attended a rave party in the city sometime earlier in the night. An autopsy will be conducted.
Maryville Apartment Fire
A downtown Maryville restaurant will remain closed for the next day or so while employees clean up water damage from a fire that broke out Sunday night (4/29) in an apartment above the business. The fire occurred above Sullivan’s Fine Foods on West Broadway Avenue shortly before 10 pm and firefighters say that sprinklers in the apartment where the fire is believed to have started helped contain the fire until they arrived. No injuries were reported but the apartment residents were displaced. The restaurant suffered some water damage and should be open later this week.
OR Assistant Superintendent Moving On To State Job
Ken Green, the Oak Ridge school system’s Assistant Superintendent, has accepted a job with the state Department of Education. Green will become the chief district support officer for the department, meaning that he will be responsible for nine Field Service Centers and will help support local school districts in curriculum, assessment, instruction and leadership. He will also oversee the Office of School Innovation, which is responsible for STEM schools, charter schools, home school, school improvement and district innovation across the state. Green will be replaced by Marian Phillips, who has served for several years as principal of the system’s Preschool, on an interim basis.
House Marked For Destruction Damaged By Suspicious Fire
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a suspicious fire that damaged a house on Henson Lane marked for demolition by the District Attorney’s office due to its history as a haven for drugs and other illegal activity. The fire occurred at around 10 p m Monday (4/30) at 126 Henson Lane and no injuries were reported. Due to the history of the house and other factors, the fire was labeled suspicious and the CID is investigating.
Plea Entered In 2010 Death
Last week, a Morgan County man entered a surprise guilty plea to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of a 60-year-old man in April of 2010. 32-year-old Dustin Wayne Morgan had originally been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Bill Miller, which occurred on April 4th, 2010 at Miller’s home on Glades Road. Morgan was sentenced to 15 years in prison in exchange for his plea, which eliminated the need for the trial that had been scheduled for this June. Miller was apparently showing Morgan his extensive gun collection when he handed a pistol to Morgan, who then shot him in the back of the head.
BCSO Arrests One On Meth Charge
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office announced that a 20-year-old man was charged Monday (4/20) in connection with a methamphetamine investigation. 20-year-old Dillon Marcum Honeycutt of Madisonville was charged with promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine. He is being held in the Blount County Detention Facility. Investigators with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force received information that a suspicious person was attempting to purchase pseudo ephedrine, a precursor in the manufacture of methamphetamine, at local businesses. Task Force investigators initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle on Morganton Road near William Blount Drive. During the course of the traffic stop, investigators were given consent to search the vehicle, and they found other precursors used to manufacture methamphetamine inside of a bag containing baby clothes. Investigators determined the precursors were going to be taken to another county for the purpose of manufacturing methamphetamine. The driver of the vehicle, 24-year-old Candice Michelle Gibby of Madisonville, was cited with driving on an expired driver’s license. There was also a one-year-old in a car seat. The Sheriff’s Office has seen an increase in meth-related activity in 2012 from previous years. On Sunday, an individual walking on Old Niles Ferry Road found a “gasser”, a plastic bottle with a hose attached to top, taped to the base of the bottle. A “gasser” is one part of the “shake and bake” method of manufacturing methamphetamine. It will usually contain a rock salt substance that is clear or milky in color. This material is hazardous. Individuals who find a bottle that fits this description, or any other suspicious items that look like they could be part of a meth lab, are asked to NOT touch the items, and call 911 immediately.
Blount Drug Take Back Nets 286 Pounds Of Old Medicines
Blount County residents dropped off 286 pounds of unused, expired or unwanted medication during Saturday’s (4/28) drug collection event at the Blount County Justice Center. The effort also generated 72 pounds of recyclable plastic bottles as well.
NPS Seeking Robbery Info
National Park Service rangers and special agents are investigating an armed robbery occurring last Wednesday April 25, on the Foothills Parkway-East near Cosby Cocke County, Tenn. A man and woman, both from Newport, Tennessee, reported that at approximately 4:25 p.m., while they were sitting in their vehicle at an overlook, they were confronted by two subjects dressed in dark clothing and wearing ski masks. One of the subjects assaulted the male victim by spraying him with pepper spray and hitting him on the head with a silver colored handgun. The two suspects then took the victim's 2004 maroon Nissan sedan and drove east on the parkway towards I-40. A park employee came across the victims a short while after the attack and reported the incident. Cocke County deputies and Park Rangers responded and recovered the car which had been abandoned along the Parkway. A search of the area, with the assistance of a Sheriff’s Department K-9, resulted in the recovery of clothing articles and other forensic evidence believed to belong to the suspects. The male victim was taken by ambulance to Newport Medical Center where he was treated and released. Park investigators do not believe this was a random crime against a park visitor. Chief Ranger Clay Jordan stated, “We are pursuing leads in the case suggestive that the victims may have been specifically targeted in a preplanned robbery.” Park officials are asking anyone with information concerning this incident to call park investigators at (828) 497-1936.
BBB: Rockwood Robbery Suspect Captured
Rockwood Police and the FBI have arrested a man in connection to last week’s robbery at US Bank. BBB-TV 12 reports that 26-year-old Jeremy Solock was taken into custody on outstanding warrants Thursday evening, (4/26) one day after the Wednesday afternoon robbery, but not officially charged until Saturday morning. Solock reportedly confessed to the robbery under questioning and local authorities say that he has a lengthy arrest history in Roane County.
THP: Blount Man Dies In Knox Wreck
A Louisville man died Saturday afternoon (4/28) in a motorcycle accident in Knoxville. The THP reports that 62-year-old William J. Fritz had been headed west on John Sevier Highway near the intersection with Twin Creek Road at around 2:45 pm Saturday when he lost control of his motorcycle and skidded off the roadway. He struck a guardrail and an embankment before the bike finally came to rest in a center turn lane. Troopers reported that Fritz had been wearing his helmet and reported that drugs and alcohol played no role in the wreck.
Fire At Bull Run
A fire near the coal belt conveyor system at TVA’s Bull Run Steam Plant kept firefighters and other officials busy this weekend. The fire was discovered at around 10 am Saturday (4/28) near the conveyor belt system used to carry coal into the facility and crews from Claxton and Oak Ridge responded to the scene. The fire, described as a smoldering coal fire, broke out below the coal stack and burned for much of the weekend, before being brought under control by early Sunday morning. A handful of firefighters remained at the steam plant through much of Sunday, monitoring for hot spots and dousing them with foam and water when spotted. The plant was not in operation at the time of the fire and operations are not expected to be affected. TVA says the extent of the damage is not known at this time but that there were no injuries and no harm to the environment or people. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
ACSD IDs Deputies Involved In Fatal Shootout
Anderson County Sheriff Paul White has released the names of the two deputies involved in the deadly shootout that left two Indiana residents dead in February. On February 29, two sheriff's deputies were involved in a shooting after a pursuit of a stolen truck. In it, Shanna Richardson and Michael Baker of Indiana were killed. The initial officer involved in the pursuit of the stolen truck was Deputy Jonathan Bryant. Bryant has been with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department since May of 2009. Prior to that, he was a reserve deputy and corrections officer with the Loudon County Sheriff's Department from March 2005 until he attended the law enforcement academy in 2009. The off-duty, back-up officer was Corporal J.D. Powell. Powell is a 22 year law enforcement veteran and has worked with the Morgan County Sheriff's Department and the Oliver Springs Police Department along with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department since beginning his career in 1990. At the time of the shooting incident, Powell was assigned to our Criminal Investigations Unit as an investigator. He had applied for a corporal's position and the promotional process was on-going. After his return to work, the promotional process continued. After a review of all candidates, Powell was selected for the position, was promoted to corporal, and is now a patrol supervisor. Other than interrupting the process, the promotion was unrelated to the shooting incident. Both Deputy Bryant and Corporal Powell received several critical incident stress debriefings after the shooting incident. They returned to duty on April 9 and worked a brief period at the office, then rode with other deputies, and have now returned to full duty. Since the shooting most likely will be the most traumatic event they will ever experience as a law enforcement officer, officials wanted to ensure they were ready to return to their day-to-day duties. The shooting continues to be reviewed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Sheriff’s Office says it has been informed that it may be some time before the TBI probe is complete.
Correction: ALL Clinton Council Members Could See Terms Extended
The May meeting of the Clinton City Council will be held on Monday May 21st rather than Monday May 28th at 5:30 pm, also at City Hall. During that meeting, there will be a public meeting on a proposal to shift the city elections from December of odd-numbered years to November of the even-numbered years to coincide with the federal election cycle. If the measure is approved by the Council, the question would be placed on this November’s ballot as it would require a change to the city’s charter. If approved, it would mean that the terms of all Council members would be extended, including Mayor Scott Burton and Council members Charlie Lyons, Jerry Shattuck and ET Stamey, whose terms would be extended from December of 2013 to November of 2014. Council members Larry Gann, Rob Herrell and Jim McBride's terms would be extended to November of 2016 from their current expiration date of December 2015. The move is expected to save about $10,000 per election as well.
Legislators Honor Goff
Roane State Community College President, Dr. Gary Goff, was honored by the Tennessee General Assembly recently as State Senator Ken Yager (R-Harriman) presented him with a congratulatory resolution. Yager was joined at the presentation in the Senate Chamber in Nashville by Senators Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and Charlotte Burks (D-Monterey) and Representatives Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown), Julia Hurley (R-Lenoir City), John Ragan (Oak Ridge), John Mark Windle (D-Livingston) and Dennis Powers (LaFollette). Dr. Goff recently announced he will retire from Roane State on October 31. “Without a doubt, Dr. Gary Goff has been one of the best Presidents ever to have served Roane State,” said Senator Yager, prime sponsor of the resolution. “Dr. Goff’s vision and his extraordinary motivational skills have resulted in unprecedented growth, both in enrollment and academically. Under his leadership the college has earned several distinctions, including being ranked number six nationally for producing technicians and technology degrees, being ranked third statewide for producing registered nurses and ranking 27th among the nation’s top 500 community colleges.” “Dr. Goff has served his country ably,” said Senator McNally. “He has served this state and most importantly to us, he has served his community. We appreciate his service and wish him well in his retirement.” Senate Joint Resolution 695 states “WHEREAS, his career in higher education followed his more than thirty years of valorous service to these United States as a proud member of the Army Rangers; and WHEREAS, Dr. Goff exemplifies the spirit and allegiance community that are characteristic of a true Tennessean; and WHEREAS, throughout his estimable career, Dr. Gary Goff has demonstrated the utmost professionalism, ability, and integrity, winning the unbridled respect and admiration of his colleagues; now, therefore, we extend to Dr. Gary Goff our heartfelt wishes for a happy and fulfilling retirement and every continued success in his future endeavors.” During Dr. Goff’s seven-year tenure, the college developed several partnerships, including those cultivated with the Advanced Materials and Training Education Center, the Cumberland Incubator, and the America’s Veterans to Tennessee Engineers Program. The college also partnered with the City of Harriman to create the Channel 15 television station and to renovate the historic Princess Theater; and finalized plans to expand Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus. “On behalf of the 13,000 student graduates that Roane State has put into the workplace in Tennessee and the faculty and staff, I accept this gracious honor with tremendous humility,” said Dr. Goff. “If it wasn’t for our students, our faculty and staff who carry me on their shoulders day in and day out, they have made this award possible. I thank them for it and I thank the Senate and the House for this unbelievable honor.”
TDOT Reports Dramatic Increase In Traffic Deaths
After record-setting reductions in the number of highway fatalities in Tennessee, the state is now seeing a dramatic increase in crash deaths so far in 2012. Preliminary reports show 288 people have died on Tennessee roadways from January 1 through April 27, 2012. During the same period last year, there were 27 fewer crash fatalities across the state. Beginning today, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will begin running a daily roadway fatality count on overhead Dynamic Message Signs in the state’s urban areas, along with targeted safety messages reminding motorists to wear their seatbelts, obey the speed limit, and to not text and drive. The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) is also working to reduce fatalities. THP has instituted large scale seat belt enforcement efforts in each district in conjunction with increased DUI enforcement efforts. THP Colonel Tracy Trott noted, “Nearly half of this year’s fatalities involved motorists who were not wearing a seat belt, and we know many of those victims would have likely survived had they been. Troopers will be out in force and if you’re not buckled up – you will get a ticket.” TDOT’s Governor’s Highway Safety Office (GHSO) will also be working with local law enforcement agencies across the state on targeted enforcement campaigns and safety education. “Another startling statistic so far this year is the rise in motorcycle fatalities,” said GHSO Director Kendell Poole. “We know the mild winter and warm spring has likely led more cyclists to hit the roads earlier in the year. As we head into summer, we want to raise awareness in hopes of reversing this trend.” TDOT is also using the preliminary crash data to determine where roadway safety improvements can be made. This includes installing additional rumble strips that alert drivers when they leave the travel lane, and the addition of reflective raised pavement markers that increase visibility. TDOT is also working with the Federal Highway Administration to develop a program that identifies locations where multiple fatal crashes have occurred. There were 16 more fatalities in January 2012, compared to January 2011. In the month of March alone, there were 104 fatalities across the state, compared to 80 during March 2011. So far in April 2012, there have been 45 fatalities, 30 fewer than in April 2011.
CRCTU Meeting For May
How to fish the Clinch River tailwater for trout -- spin casting and fly casting -- will be the topic Saturday, May 12, of a free, public on-the-river seminar sponsored by the Clinch River Chapter, Trout Unlimited. Experienced Clinch River anglers will introduce newcomers to fishing the Clinch through on-shore classes and guided fishing in the river. The program will be outdoors, next to the Family Life Center of Second Baptist Church, 777 Public Safety Lane, Clinton. Participants are asked to provide their own fishing gear (rods, waders, boots, flies/lures) plus lawn chairs, picnic lunches and beverages. The group will gather at 8:30 a.m. behind Second Baptist Church at the end of Public Safety Lane, which runs north from Highway 61 just west of the Clinch River bridge. On-the-bank classes start at 9 a.m., with John Thurman discussing the Clinch tailwater and its history, trout biology and what trout eat; Buzz Buffington discussing fishing sportsmanship and safety; Steve Brown leading a class on fly fishing; and Scott Hahn and Bill Shipman leading a class on spin fishing. From about 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., newcomers will be paired with experienced anglers and disperse along the river to fish. From 12:30 to 1:30, participants will picnic and discuss the day's events before heading for home. For more information, please contact the seminar organizer, Jerry Van Fossen, at jerryvanfossen@comcast.net or 865-463-8999. The Clinch River Chapter's mission is to conserve and protect the Clinch River tailwater trout fishery and its watershed, through conservation projects and through education of children and adults in aquatic natural resources. Meetings are held the second Thursday of the month in the parish hall at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 158 W. Norris Road, Norris, except when outdoor activities are scheduled.
Bowl For Kids’ Sake Raises $175K
The 30th Annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake held this April was a winning event for the children served by Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, with the fundraiser bringing in $175,000. EdFinancial Bowl for Kids’ Sake is Big Brothers Big Sisters' signature fundraising and awareness event. Participants from Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Maryville, Oak Ridge and Tri-Cities hit the lanes, had fun and raised money, with a total of more than 1,000 bowlers contributing to this year’s success. All funds raised by bowlers directly benefit the programs of Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee. “We are thrilled and grateful for the continued support from this community for Bowl For Kids’ Sake, which raised $175,000 this year,” said Myra Yeatman, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee. “Bowl for Kids’ Sake helps us continue to put the guidance, friendship and fun of mentors in the lives of children, and through the support of East Tennesseans we will be able to support 180 children with mentors.” Edfinancial Services is a national student loan service provider headquartered in Knoxville and the presenting sponsor of Bowl For Kids’ Sake. Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee has been changing the community through the power of one-to-one mentoring since 1970. Mentored children have a better chance of succeeding in school, are less likely to use drugs or violence and are better able to get along with family and friends.
Controversy In Congressional Race
The Republican primary election in Congressional District 3 is not until August but is already generating controversy. Michael Mayfield, the son of Mayfield Dairy president and congressional candidate Scottie Mayfield, who is running against incumbent Chuck Fleischmann and others for the GOP nomination, confessed Thursday (4/26) to tampering with the tire of Fleischmann’s campaign manager’s car and was cited for vandalism by Kingston Police. The incident happened Tuesday morning (4/24) following a Mayfield campaign stop in Kingston. Michael Mayfield was caught on video surveillance cameras kneeling at the back of Tyler Threadgill’s Audi and doing something to the tire according to Kingston Police, who have not yet released that video footage. A few minutes later, Threadgill and Fleischmann spokesman Jordan Powell were sitting by the side of the road near I-40 in Kingston looking at a map as they prepared to drive to a campaign stop in Morgan County, a passerby knocked on the car window and told Threadgill he had a flat tire. A police report was filed and on Thursday morning, Michael Mayfield confessed to police that he was responsible for the damage. Scottie Mayfield issued an apology, in which he said that he is “truly sorry and embarrassed” and says that Michael will make full restitution to pay for the damage to Threadgill’s tire.
2 Nabbed For Meth In Blount County
The Blount County Sheriff’s said arrested and charged two men on Thursday (4/26) in connection with a methamphetamine investigation. Danny Ray Lovingood, 46, of Madisonville, and Jerry William Lovingood, 51, of Philadelphia, are being held in the Blount County Detention Facility on charges of promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine. Investigators with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force received information that suspicious persons were attempting to purchase pseudo ephedrine, the main precursor in the manufacture of meth, at local businesses. Investigators approached the individuals in the parking lot of one of those businesses and found everything needed to cook meth in the vehicle. It was determined the items were going to be taken to another county for the purpose of manufacturing meth. They are being held on $75,000 bonds pending hearings in Blount Count General Sessions Court at 9 a.m. May 2.
AC Chamber To Present Seminar On Government Contracts
The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce is partnering with the Tennessee Small Business Development Center and the University of Tennessee CIS-PTAC for the first in a series of small business seminars to introduce you and your small business to “How to Do Business with the Government”. How can you become one of the Federal Government's suppliers? Attend this seminar that covers the basics of government contracting. Some of the topics include: How to market to the Federal Government, how to find government business opportunities, information regarding federal codes, how to find information on the Internet related to government contracting, and understanding the government contracting process. The facilitator for this seminar will be Paul Middlebrooks, Marketing Consultant, University of Tennessee, Center for Industrial Services (CIS), Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). The Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) helps Tennessee companies find bid opportunities, understand government contracting processes, meet quality control standards and bid successfully in the government marketplace. The seminar will be held at the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce located at 245 N. Main St., Ste. 200, Clinton, TN, on Thursday, May 17, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. There is no charge for this seminar. Seating is limited. Call Chamber to register at 865-457-2559 or email: accc@andersoncountychamber.org.
New Winery In Works For Townsend
Blount County could be getting a new winery. Three Tennessee Valley Winery employees are hoping to open a new winery next to the Apple Valley Country Store in Townsend. Cades Cove Cellars would be a fully-functioning winery producing everything from cabernet to chardonnay to muscadine. The group is currently in the licensing phase and is working with the city to work out all the details. If all goes as planned the winery could be open as early as August 1st.
Report: Blount Man Accused Of Murder Plot
According to the News-Sentinel, a Blount County man has been accused of plotting to kill a woman who was getting ready to testify against him in federal court. Michael Linginfelter, according to the paper, was incarcerated in late March when he allegedly conspired to kill Virginia Dome to prevent her from testifying against him on charges that he possessed ammunition in December despite being a convicted felon and a domestic violence suspect. Court documents do not provide details of the alleged plot but indications are that since he waived his right to a grand jury review of the case, Linginfelter may be working out a plea bargain.
ACSD Request Could Provide Budget Fireworks
Monday (4/23) the Anderson County Budget Committee got its first official look at the budget proposed by County Mayor Myron Iwanski. While last year’s budget debate focused on finding money to build a new alternative school and expand the overcrowded jail, this year’s budget debate will apparently be focused on the Sheriff’s Department’s budget. Sheriff Paul White and his staff submitted a budget request of $11.2 million for the fiscal year that begins on July 1st, an increase of some $2 million from the current levels. Iwanski said Monday that would require a 14-cent property tax increase to fund. Following last year’s 16-cent tax increase to fund the jail and school capital projects, any tax increase would likely face strong opposition not only in the community but also among commissioners. The new money included in the sheriff’s budget proposal would be used to hire and train 15 new jailers to staff the soon-to-be-opened dormitory at the jail, to fill several vacant positions in the department, cover expenses related to medical care and food for jail inmates, utilities and maintenance at the jail and 12 new patrol cars. Iwanski said during Monday’s workshop that he sees four options for balancing the sheriff’s budget, namely raising taxes, dipping into the county’s fund balance, cutting the budgets of other departments or having the sheriff get creative with his budget, including moving patrol officers to the jail. The budget debate will begin in earnest on May 1st when the Budget Committee meets at 4 pm in room 312 of the Courthouse in Clinton.
ACSD Probes Car Fire As ‘Suspicious’
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a suspicious vehicle fire that occurred Tuesday afternoon (4/24) in Claxton. Deputies were called to the scene on Mehaffey Road shortly before 6 pm Tuesday after Claxton firefighters determined that there were signs of foul play and that arson was suspected. The car’s owner, John Clark, told Deputy James Erskine that he had purchased the gray BMW sedan two weeks ago in Knoxville and that he had noticed that heater was malfunctioning when he went to work on Tuesday morning. After he returned, he told Erskine that he had turned off the car and gone inside his house until 30 minutes later, when he heard a loud noise, looked outside and saw the car fully engulfed by flames. The incident report does not specify what led officials to label the case as arson but the Criminal Investigations Division is now probing the incident. No one was injured.
AC Pursuit Ends With Arrest
A Powell man is facing charges of evading arrest after fleeing from Clinton Police and an Anderson County Sheriff’s deputy. Tuesday night (4/24), Anderson County deputies were informed that the CPD had been pursuing a van driven by 27-year-old Brandon Taylor but had discontinued the chase on Blockhouse Valley Road. Taylor was allegedly intoxicated and had made threats against someone in Knox County, where authorities believed he was heading. Instead, while searching for Taylor, Deputy Bradley Prewitt spotted the unoccupied van parked along the side of East Wolf Valley Road. Based upon previous encounters with Taylor, Prewitt went to a home on East Wolf Valley and spoke with the homeowners, who told them that Taylor had been there but had fled out the back door when the deputy had shown up. Prewitt located Taylor lying face down in a wooded area behind the home and tried to take him in to custody but Taylor tried to flee on foot only to be apprehended moments later. According to the incident report, Taylor admitted that he had drunk a fifth of whiskey earlier in the night and had run because his license was revoked and he “didn’t want to go to jail.” He is currently facing two counts of evading arrest and one count of driving on a revoked license and as of this morning is being held on bonds totaling $10,500.
Motorcycle Flees Traffic Stop, Apprehended
An Andersonville man was arrested Monday afternoon (4/23) after fleeing from Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies on a motorcycle. Deputy Jonathan Bryant clocked a Suzuki motorcycle traveling at 75 miles an hour in a 45-mile per hour zone near the intersection of Andersonville Highway and Cross Pike Road at around 3:15 pm Monday. Bryant turned around to pull him over and the rider accelerated away, passing cars on the shoulder of the road. The pursuit was halted at that point but after running the bike’s registration through dispatch, Bryant made contact with Daniel McCoy about 20 minutes after the conclusion of the pursuit. McCoy admitted that he had been driving the motorcycle and had fled because he does not have a motorcycle license. He was charged with evading arrest and released from jail after posting bond.
Pancakes For The Playground Coming To Lake City
(Lake City Chamber) The Lake City Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the Pancakes for the Playground on Saturday, May 12, 2012 from 7 to 11 a.m. at Lake City Elementary School. The purpose of this event is to raise funds to make improvements to one of the Lake City Elementary School’s playground. The playground needs new mulch and timbers to ensure that the playground meets the new safety standards. The school will be working on the playground this summer and hope to have it completed by the time school starts this fall. This is a partnership between the Lake City Chamber of Commerce, the Lake City Elementary School and the Boys and Girls Club of North Anderson County. The school and Boys and Girls Club have received $10,000 in grants to fund a portion of the project but they need $10,000 more to complete the project. The students are already helping by selling tickets which are five dollars and the PTO will be sponsoring inflatables at the breakfast. There will be a charge for the inflatables. Tickets can be purchased in advance and donations can be made by called 865-426-9595. If you would like to purchase your tickets or make a donation with a debit or credit card, you can do so online by visiting www.lakecitychambertn.com and clicking on the Pancakes for the Playground button. Once you go to the Pancakes for the Playground page, there will be two options, one to purchase tickets and the other is to make donations. You can visit our website at www.lakecitychambertn.com and download a flyer to display at your place of business or to share with your family, friends and co-workers. We appreciate any help that you can offer. We feel that it is important that the elementary school not only have a nice playground for the students but also a safe playground.
Prescription Drug Measure Approved In State Senate
(Office of Senator Ken Yager) The State Senate gave final approval to legislation today that requires doctors or their designees to check Tennessee’s Controlled Substance Monitoring Database before initially prescribing an opioid or benzodiazepine substance or at every six months thereafter for the same episode of treatment. Senate Bill 2253, sponsored by Senator Ken Yager (R-Harriman), comes after a Tennessee Drug Diversion Task Force report showed 56 percent of patients who receive opioid prescriptions have filled another opioid prescription within the previous 30 days. “Tennessee ranks second in the nation in regard to the overutilization of prescription pain medications, with an average of 20 Tennesseans losing their lives each week from drug overdose,” said Senator Yager. “Last year, there were more deaths in Tennessee due to drug overdoses than motor vehicle accidents, homicide or suicide. This bill is a huge step in the right direction in curbing this major state health epidemic.” Currently, Tennessee’s database includes basic patient information, the identity of the prescribing practitioner, the pharmacy that filled the prescription, and the name, amount and form of medication that the patient received. Although the database requires doctors, pharmacists or their designees to report, there is currently no requirement that they check the database before prescribing or dispensing scheduled drugs to patients. This legislation requires pharmacies to collect a patient’s prescription information and report that information to the database within seven days. Currently it must be reported within 40 days. The bill also enhances penalties for doctor shopping from a Class A misdemeanor offense to a Class E Felony when it involves 250 or more pills. The stiffer penalties allow law enforcement officials to go after dealers who distribute the drugs illegally. The bill awaits action in the House of Representatives before going to Governor Haslam for his signature.
Pursuit Ends In Crash, Arrest
A Wednesday morning (4/25) police pursuit in Claxton ended with a collision between the suspect’s vehicle and a Clinton Bedding delivery truck. The suspect, identified as Joshua Ray Patterson, allegedly stole his estranged wife’s car early this morning and was spotted by deputies on Clinton Highway a short time later. The pursuit turned on to Edgemoor Road, where near Valley Drive, the car collided with the back of the delivery truck. Patterson was found unresponsive and smelling of alcohol when police reached the vehicle. Patterson was injured and taken to Methodist Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries while the two occupants of the delivery truck were checked at the scene by EMS and did not require a trip to the emergency room. Patterson, who has an extensive arrest history in Anderson County, is facing felony charges including theft, evading arrest and reckless endangerment as well as charges of DUI, reckless driving, driving on a revoked license and numerous other, minor charges. He remains in custody at the Anderson County Jail, where he was taken following his release from MMC.
OR Apartment Fire Injures None
An early-morning fire in Oak Ridge displaced six families at an apartment complex. Oak Ridge firefighters were called to the Manhattan Apartments on North Purdue Avenue shortly before 1:45 am Wednesday (4/25) and when they arrived, found a third-floor apartment engulfed by flames. All residents were evacuated and no injuries were reported. Fire officials say that the blaze most likely started accidentally when someone was cooking. The flames were contained to that one apartment but nine people in all were displaced and will receive lodging and meal assistance from the Red Cross for the next three days. When the scene was cleared at around 4:30 am, residents on the first and second floors were allowed back into their apartments.
Rockwood Gets New City Attorney, Judge
Monday (4/23), the city of Rockwood swore in new city attorney Greg Leffew and new city judge Mark Foster. Leffew previously served as the city judge and succeeds Elmer Rich, who died last month after serving as Rockwood’s attorney for over 40 years. He will be paid $75 a month for attending council meetings and $100 an hour for any legal work done on the city’s behalf. Foster will receive $700 a month as city judge.
CHS Mock Crash Drill
The Clinton Police and Fire Departments, along with the Anderson County EMS and Lifestar, took part in a mock vehicle accident drill at Clinton High School on Friday (4/20). Students and teachers staged a mock two-car accident involving at least one drunk driver and several injured passengers. More than 150 Clinton High students looked on as police, fire, EMS and Lifestar units responded to the scene. Students played the role of the injured while firemen and EMTs treated the injuries and prepped the patients for transport to the hospital. Police officers conducted sobriety tests on one of the mock drivers and even simulated an arrest, all as part of an effort to educate students about the dangers and consequences of drunken driving.
OR Council Rejects Joint School Resolution
Tuesday night (4/24) the Oak Ridge City Council rejected a proposed joint resolution between the city and the School Board connected to retiring the debt on the Oak Ridge High School renovation project. The debt stems from the 2004 referendum to increase the city’s sales tax to pay for the massive overhaul of Oak Ridge High School. In 2006, when voters in Anderson County voted to raise their local option sales tax meaning that a new sales tax distribution formula went into effect for the schools in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Anderson County. Mayor Tom Beehan, writing an editorial in the Oak Ridger last week, stated that “this past year, members of the Oak Ridge Board of Education let it be known they believed an agreement, not written anywhere, had been made to send the Anderson County portion to apply to the school debt for only five years, and they had, in fact, been sending the funds for the past seven years. It was their position that they were no longer obligated to contribute these funds for the high school bond repayment. In fact, they were holding the Anderson County money in their account, and had not transferred it to the city.” Because no agreement between the city and the school board was ever written, the resolution currently being considered will rectify that and provide a blueprint moving forward for city and school officials to work together on issues such as this. Mayor Beehan says that it is a certainty that the school system will transfer some of that Anderson County sales tax money to the city to make this year’s payment but what remains unclear is how much the schools will be sending to the city. He does say that if the money transferred to the city is not enough to match this year’s debt payment he feels that a tax increase to come up with the difference is not feasible and that those funds would likely come from deep cuts in the city budget. We will continue to follow this story for you.
Roane Business Awards
The Roane County Chamber of Commerce presented its prestigious annual business awards Friday (4/20) at its annual springtime banquet at Whitestone Country Inn. The awards were presented, along with recognition of Chamber board members, before a capacity crowd of community and business leaders from all across Roane County. Winning this year's Business of the Year award was Coldwell Banker, Jim Henry & Associates, for years of outstanding community service – broker Kathy May Martin accepted; The Paul E. Goldberg Young Professional Award was presented to Wade Creswell, vice president of development and public relations for Michael Dunn Center, for his unusual contributions to his community as an under-40 professional; Roane County Schools Director Dr. Toni McGriff was recognized with the International Athena Award for her professional achievements, years of community service and mentoring to women; and The prestigious Distinguished Service Award was presented to Johnny Griffin, of Griffin Insurance, for his lifetime of community service and his outstanding contributions both to Roane County and the Chamber. Of this year's Business of the Year award winner, Leslie Henderson, Chamber President and The Roane Alliance CEO, said, “Coldwell Banker Jim Henry & Associates walks the walk and talks the talk. From the owner, Jim Henry, to the broker, Kathy May Martin, to the many Coldwell Banker realtors who show their support for their community in so many different ways.” In presenting the award, Henderson detailed some of Kathy May Martin’s “long list of community service activities” as well as Jim Henry’s many contributions to Roane County, calling him “…our statesman…one we are proud to call our own.” Next, Henderson announced the Chamber's Paul E. Goldberg Young Professional award, now in its third year. Henderson explained that this under-40 award was created to honor outstanding contributions from the up-and-coming young professionals in our county in the name of the late Dr. Goldberg, who was instrumental in the Roane County Leadership program’s inception and whose name has become synonymous with leadership in Roane County. This year’s award was presented to Wade Creswell, whom Henderson called “kind of a special guy, whose interests seemed to have always tended toward caring for others.” A trained registered nurse who handles public relations and development for Michael Dunn Center, Creswell was said to be “a good family man who really cares about his community”, and one who “epitomizes young leadership in our county…” Henderson said, “with more people like him our world would be a better place.” The Athena Award was presented next to Dr. Toni McGriff, the director of Roane County Schools. The award honors individuals for professional achievements, community service, and for assistance to women in reaching their full potential. Charlotte Branson, of ERA Executive Choice Real Estate - this year's sponsor of the prestigious award – said after presenting the award: “Dr. McGriff has been a long-time influence on the education system in Roane County...she exemplifies a perfect example of responsibility to our community, education, and professional duties as human beings.” Roane County Chamber's Distinguished Service Award, one of the most prestigious of the Chamber's annual business awards, was then presented to Johnny Griffin. This award, Henderson said, "honors a Chamber member who has demonstrated outstanding performance or unusual contribution to our County and our Chamber and is highly respected in his or her field." In presenting the award to Griffin, she said, "This year’s winner has provided a lifetime of service to Roane County. As the nomination form said, ‘One would have to stop for a breath if attempting to list all’ of this man’s ‘many civic, community and church activities at once.’” The awards are an integral part of the annual Roane Chamber banquet which has been held at Whitestone Country Inn for years and is the spring social event of the year in Roane County. This year's event was attended by a record 200 business and community leaders. The event’s sponsor this year was PermaFix Environmental Services. The Chamber is a partner in The Roane Alliance - Roane County's economic development organization. The partners who operate under the Alliance umbrella along with the Chamber include the Industrial Development Board and the Visitor's Bureau.
4th OR Carjacking Suspect Pleads
Last week the fourth suspect in a 2008 carjacking and robbery pleaded guilty in Criminal Court. 39-year-old Anthony Hudson of Knoxville joined Asia Hunter, Travis Boyd and Whitney Johnson in pleading guilty to aggravated assault, theft, reckless endangerment and robbery. All four had their sentences suspended to time served but were placed on supervised probation. The four were accused of dragging a man out of his SUV in a parking lot in Oak Ridge in October of 2008, pistol-whipping the man and stealing money and his pants.
Ex-Cop Pleads Guilty To Poker Attack
A former Lafollette police officer pleaded guilty Monday (4/23) in Anderson County Criminal Court to aggravated assault in connection with an incident that happened during a poker game in Clinton in March of 2010. Justin Lowe received a three-year suspended sentence and was ordered to take anger management classes and perform 80 hours of community service. Lowe was on the Lafollette police force on March 6th, 2010 when he was playing poker at a home in Clinton and got into an argument over winnings with another player. Lowe won a hand and when he went to collect his money, Christopher White reached in and grabbed some as well. White would later tell police Lowe owed him money from a previous game but Lowe pulled a handgun and pointed it at White before hitting him over the head with the gun three times and threatening to kill him. Lowe was suspended from the Lafollette PD a short time after the incident and later resigned.
Assault = Arrest
A Clinton man was arrested last week and charged with aggravated assault after he allegedly punched his girlfriend, bit her face and cut the side of her head with a knife. 36-year-old John Harold Green had reportedly been drinking on Thursday night (4/19) at his girlfriend’s home on Bethel Road when the assault occurred. An Anderson County Sheriff’s deputy reported that the woman had a bite mark on her face and a cut on the side of her head when he spoke to her after she managed to get away and call for help. Green was released Monday after posting bond.
Pierce Resigns In Rockwood
Longtime Rockwood Public Works Director Tom Pierce resigned that position Monday (4/23) amid an investigation into questionable purchases he allegedly made on a city-issued credit card. Mayor James Watts had recommended that he be fired after 15 years on the job but Pierce resigned before the City Council could vote on that recommendation. Pierce was placed on unpaid administrative leave in late February while officials investigated purchases of weapons and clothing that had not been approved. Mayor Watts said Monday that he expects a replacement to be hired soon.
Highland Games Return To Maryville In May
The Smoky Mountain Highland Games return to Maryville College for the weekend of May 18th through the 20th. Now in its 31st year, the regional event is returning for a second year to the campus. The annual games, which celebrate the culture and heritage of Scotland, kicks off with a gala reception including a formal dinner of Scottish fare, followed by a traditional haggis ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on May 18 at the Clayton Center for the Arts. Tickets for the gala must be purchased in advance at the games' website. The games themselves get underway at 8 a.m. on Saturday May 19th. Activities will include Scottish country dancing, border collie demonstrations, children's activities and plenty of athletic events including the Kilted Mile, Bonniest Knees, Haggis Toss and tug-of-war contests. Piping and drumming bands also will perform. A Scottish worship service tentatively is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on May 20. The service will include a "Kirking of the Tartans," a Scottish-American custom that involves a parade and roll call of the clans in attendance. Tickets are available online at smokymountaingames.org. Tickets also can be purchased at the Blount County Chamber of Commerce in Maryville and at the Clayton Center for the Arts box office at Maryville College.
Ice Cream Trip Ends With Wreck, DUI Arrest
A man was arrested following a two-car accident in Clinton Friday night (4/20). The collision occurred at around 7:40 pm Friday at the intersection of HiWay Drive and Clinch Avenue when a car driven by Christina Whitson failed to stop for the red light on Clinch at the intersection with HiWay Drive and struck a car driven by Michael Stair. Stair had been turning from HiWay Drive to go north on Clinch at the time of the accident. His wife was taken to Tennova North for treatment of minor injuries and his daughter was uninjured. The juvenile was released to family members after officers determined that her father had been drinking. Stair admitted that he had consumed alcohol shortly before the wreck, which occurred while he was taking his wife and daughter to get ice cream. Stair was charged with his first DUI, vehicular assault and reckless endangerment and was cited for not having proof of insurance and a child restraint violation. Whitson was not injured.
ACSD Nabs 5 In 2 Burglaries
According to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, five people are in custody after deputies spotted suspects in two separate burglaries. The first incident occurred on Friday (4/20) when Corporal Wally Braden stopped a car for speeding on Mountain Road in Andersonville. Braden noticed a flat-screen television in the back seat of the car and reported that the vehicle’s occupants became nervous and evasive while being questioned. While Braden and other deputies investigated, burglary was reported at a home on Hinds Creek Road. One of the items reported stolen was a flat screen TV, the serial number of which matched the one found in the backseat of the car. Deputies also recovered other items stolen from the home. 26-year-old James Kevin Robinson of Andersonville and 21-year-old James Dustin Coker of Oak Ridge were arrested and charged with burglary and theft. Both are in custody on bonds totaling $100,000. The female driver of the car was questioned but no charges were filed pending further investigation. The second incident occurred on Saturday (4/21) after a residential burglary was reported on Ross Cemetery Road near Lake City. Neighbors reported seeing a suspicious vehicle parked outside the home and two men carrying items from the house to the truck. A description of the suspects and their vehicle was sent out and Deputy Jeremy Baker pulled the vehicle over on Lovely Bluff Road. Two of the four people in the vehicle were arrested and charged with burglary and theft. They are identified as 34-year-old Curtis Lynn Lowe and 44-year-old Dillard Alan Welch, both of Clinton. A third man, 28-year-old Teddy Mack Huckaby of Powell was arrested on an outstanding warrant for a drug charge and is being on a $10,000 bond. A fourth person gave deputies a fake name and will be charged at a later date. Lowe and Welch are being held on $50,000 bond each.
TDOT Says “Don’t Barrel Through Work Zones”
(TDOT) The Tennessee Department of Transportation is joining states across the nation to remind motorists not to barrel through work zones. The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will spread that message statewide during National Work Zone Awareness Week (April 23-27) in an effort to improve safety in Tennessee’s interstate and highway construction and maintenance work zones. “We are heading into the busiest construction time of the year, and there will be hundreds of active work zones across Tennessee,” said TDOT Commissioner John Schroer. “Reducing speeds, staying alert, and exercising caution is the best way to ensure workers and motorists stay safe on our roadways.” The spring and summer months provide perfect weather for highway work, and motorists will encounter work zones across Tennessee in downtowns, along interstates and in rural areas. Highway work zones can change frequently, making it even more important to pay attention to the road. Last year in Tennessee, fifteen people died in work zone crashes, twelve were either drivers or vehicle passengers, and three were construction workers. The Tennessee Department of Transportation to date has lost 108 employees in the line of duty, most recently, two employees in 2011. TDOT HELP Operator Robert Nowicki was killed while assisting a motorist on Interstate 55 in West Memphis on June 20, 2011 and Highway Maintenance Worker Michael Dalton was killed setting up a work zone on Interstate 40 in Shelby County on September 8, 2011.
Hackworth Formally Announces Run For Old Seat
(Jim Hackworth) Jim Hackworth has formally announced his election bid for the 33rd Legislative District in the Tennessee General Assembly. “No issue weighs heavier on people right now than the economy. Tennesseans are angry and fearful. They’re worried the American Dream is disappearing for their families. They’ve seen friends, neighbors and family members lose jobs through no fault of their own and small businesses shut down because there is no one left to buy their goods and services,” Hackworth said. “People are waiting desperately to hear common sense solutions from the politicians running our state and our country. Our current State Representative promised us a bright and shiny future two years ago. Unfortunately, all we have received thus far is a total eclipse. It’s no secret what needs to be done. We need an economy that creates jobs for all Tennesseans. We need leaders who will fight for the middle class and everyone who is trying hard to work their way into the middle class. It's time to get back to basics. We must work together to create opportunities for all Tennesseans by attracting and maintaining good jobs and strengthening our schools,” Hackworth said. “The past 18 months have been a story of missed opportunity. Our leaders have passed laws that protect special interests and spent too much time on distractions that hurt our families. We should be focused on creating new jobs and improving our schools. I’m ready to get back to what’s important: growing our economy by partnering with small business, supporting our families and keeping Tennessee a low-tax state by holding the big special interests accountable,” Hackworth said. Hackworth has a strong record on fiscal responsibility, supporting schools and bringing new job opportunities to Anderson County. “I listen to all citizens, and I work hard to represent the values of our families,” Hackworth said. “I have been a champion for balanced budgets, investing in our children and bringing new jobs to Anderson County and East Tennessee.” Hackworth emphasized his proven track record of working across party lines to get real results for Anderson County. “Tennesseans have seen enough partisan bickering, they want leadership who will work with both parties to make progress on what matters — getting people back to work and making sure our children get a high-quality education so they can compete for the jobs of the future,” Hackworth said. “I’ll consider a good idea from anyone because good ideas are just that, good ideas and they don’t come with a party label.” Jim and his wife, Brenda, have two sons, one grandson, and two granddaughters. Jim presently serves on both the CORRE and the Emory Valley Business Advisory Board of Directors. He is a past president of the Claxton Optimist Club and the Anderson County Habitat for Humanity. Jim and Brenda are members of the First United Methodist Church in Oak Ridge. Hackworth is the son of James Marshall and Peggy Saunders Hackworth of Clinton. He lived in Oak Ridge, Clinton and Dutch Valley prior to graduating from Clinton High School in 1969. He received an associate's degree in supervision and management from Roane State Community College and received bachelor's and master's degrees in applied organizational management from Tusculum College.
PlanET Enters Phase 2
(PlanET) Plan East Tennessee, or PlanET, urges community members throughout the region of Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties to participate in its upcoming Regional Forum Series 2 events in all five counties, to take place the week of April 23, 2012, focusing on five areas of long-term livability: jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment and community health. PlanET is a regional partnership of communities building a shared direction for the future of Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties. The initiative is about to conclude Phase One of the process, which began in late summer 2011 and will continue through late 2013. During Phase One, which officially concludes this spring, PlanET hosted regionwide Series 1 events in all five counties to gather citizen input and to identify common themes about regional assets and challenges. A written summary of these themes is located on PlanET’s website (www.planeasttn.org). “While PlanET’s Phase One process asked citizens ‘where are we now?’ as a region, Phase Two will ask, ’what kind of East Tennessee do we want future generations to inherit?’” said Mayor Tom Beehan, City of Oak Ridge. The Regional Forum Series 2 dialogue events will take two hours each, beginning with a 30-minute open house to welcome citizens, who will be able to visit five stations relating to the PlanET focus areas and view presentation boards and hand-outs about the Phase One findings for each focus area. Participants can also talk individually with members of the PlanET team as well as local leadership who are involved. Next, a 10-minute presentation will recap the top strengths and challenges identified in Forum 1 and highlight the PlanET Livability Report’s “scorecard.” From there, 50-minute small-group discussions will enable participants to answer three questions related to a regional vision. Following a short break, group responses will be consolidated, and members of each small group will be able to vote on priorities they think are most important. As a final point, the forum meeting will conclude with an overview of what will happen with that meeting’s results. Participants will also be urged to continue providing their ideas on PlanET’s free online “town hall” tool, MindMixer (http://engage.planeasttn.org/), which provides continuous access for citizens to contribute their ideas – whether or not they attend an actual forum meeting. The next Blount County forum will be held on April 23rd at 6 p.m. at the Alcoa Service Center at 725 Universal Street in Alcoa. The next Anderson County forum will be April 24th at 5:30 p.m. at Anderson County High School, 130 Maverick Circle | Clinton. Doors open 15 minutes prior to forum; public invited to come early.
No Arrests During Y-12 Protest
No demonstrators were arrested during a Saturday protest outside the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Over 70 people took part in the rally against the Uranium Processing facility proposed to be built at Y-12. Organizers had participants sign a petition calling on Senator Lamar Alexander to vote against funding to accelerate the project, which would replace the 60-year-old facility where uranium is currently processed. Unlike past protests, no demonstrators crossed the blue line outside Y-12 that represents the border of the federal facility, so no protesters were charged with trespassing.
Report: Development Company Land Purchases Stir Controversy
According to a report in the News-Sentinel, only a couple of property owners in Oak Ridge are refusing to sell their homes to a developer eyeing their neighborhood for a proposed retail development. The paper reports that developers with Blanchard & Calhoun have agreed to contracts with over 40 homeowners in the area near the intersection of the Turnpike and South Illinois Avenue but that two, including George Royster, who spoke with the paper, are refusing to sell. Royster, who lives on Iris Circle, says that he has received so many what he calls “harassing” calls from the development company that he has blocked their number from his phone. He also gave the News-Sentinel e-mails between himself and Oak Ridge County Commissioner Steve Mead in which Mead encouraged him to take the company’s offer and not stand in the way of economic development. Developers say several other sites in Oak Ridge were considered for the site of the new shopping center but that all of them had problems of one sort or another that eliminated them.
Report: Coulter Grove Well Under Estimated Costs
According to the Daily Times, Maryville’s Coulter Grove Intermediate School was constructed for over $1.1 million less than the project’s estimates. Four years ago, it was estimated that it would take over $30 million to build the school, but thanks to the work of those in charge of the project, the final estimate came in at $26.1 million. The paper reports that the project cost actually came in at around $25 million. The school project was accompanied by road improvements near the campus including adding a turn lane in front of the school, adding a westbound deceleration lane, installing a traffic signal, widening Kitrrell Avenue and performing stormwater work around the school. Officials say that the savings on the school building itself helped pay for those needed road improvements. The school will open this fall with 750 students and has a maximum capacity of 950.
BCSO Investigation Yields 4 Arrests, Drugs & Cash
(BCSO) Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong announced today four men were arrested and charged with drug-related offenses, and almost two kilograms of cocaine with a street value between $52,700 to $74,400, as well as more than $50,000 was seized following a five month long investigation by the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force. The following individuals were charged: · Saul Eugenio Sanchez, 26, Avalon Drive, Louisville, charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to resell; three counts of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance (cocaine), and possession of drug paraphernalia. He is being held on bonds totaling $101,000. · Jose Luis Meza-Rosas, 28, Pleasant Ridge Road, Knoxville, charged with possession of a Schedule II controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to resell. He is being held on a $25,000 bond. · Rudolfo Alarcon-Jinez, 19, Pleasant Ridge Road, Knoxville, possession of a Schedule II controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to resell. He is being held on a $25,000 bond · Juan Hernandez, 28, Pleasant Ridge Road, Knoxville, possession of a Schedule II controlled substance (cocaine) with intent to resell. He is being held on a $25,000 bond. All four individuals are scheduled for a hearing in Blount County General Sessions Court at 9 a.m. April 25. The arrests are the culmination of a five month long investigation initiated by the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force. Over the past five months, including yesterday, investigators seized a total of 1.75 kilograms of cocaine (62 ounces, or 3.8 pounds). This investigation led to a search warrant at Sanchez’s residence Wednesday night, where FJDTF members, along with members of the DEA Task Force (Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, and Knoxville Airport Authority), found ¾ of a kilogram of cocaine, $50,050 cash, digital scales, and other paraphernalia used to repackage cocaine. “We are very excited about the outcome of this investigation because the disruption of this organized drug ring will have a big impact on helping to make Blount and surrounding counties becomea drug-free communities,” Sheriff Berrong said. The Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force is comprised officers and deputies from Alcoa and Maryville Police Departments and the Blount County Sheriff’s Office.
Accused Pawn Shop Shooter Deemed Incompetent, Committed
During a brief hearing Thursday (4/19), accused South Clinton Pawn Shop shooter James Green was found to be incompetent to stand trial and ordered confined to the Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute in Chattanooga. Mental evaluations determined that Green is “psychotic with auditory and visual hallucinations and paranoia” but also indicate that because he was aware of what he was doing on November 7th when he allegedly shot and killed pawn shop employee Larry Snellings an insanity defense cannot be supported. At this time, though, he was found to be incapable of assisting in his own defense. Green will be re-evaluated every six months while at Moccasin Bend and will return to Anderson County to stand trial once he is deemed competent. Green is accused of walking into the store on Clinch Avenue, asking to see a .410 shotgun, loading it with shells he brought from home and shooting Snellings in the neck at close range. Store owner Ron Webber II opened fire on Green as he fled, hitting him twice. Green was arrested after returning home covered in blood and his wife called 911 because she feared he had tried to kill himself.
BC Wreck Sends One To UT By Chopper
A man was flown to UT Medical Center by Lifestar Thursday night (4/19) following a two-vehicle accident on Morganton Road. The accident involving a sedan and a minivan occurred shortly before 8:30 pm, pinning the sedan’s driver inside his car. He was airlifted to UT and no word on his identity or condition has been made available. No other serious injuries were initially reported and when we learn more we will pass it along to you.
Report: BCEA Sues BC BOE
The News-Sentinel reports that the Blount County Education Association has filed a lawsuit against the School Board alleging that teachers were not given their state-mandated pay raises from local funds each of the last two years. The lawsuit says that in each of the last two years, the school board has violated state law by making changes that resulted in teachers receiving less money from the local portion of their salaries as well as preventing numerous educators from getting the full benefit of the across-the-board 1.6 % state pay raise approved last year. The News-Sentinel reports that the suit is seeking back pay and interest paid to the affected teachers. The suit was filed on April 9th in Blount County Chancery Court.
AC Mayor Submits No-Tax-Increase Budget
Interim Anderson County Mayor Myron Iwanski has submitted a budget proposal for the 2012-2013 fiscal year that does not require a property tax increase. Highlights of the budget package that will be officially presented to the Budget Committee on April 23rd include using no money from the general fund balance for a second consecutive year, keeping most departmental budgets at their current levels and allowing some leeway for either small salary increases or a possible 10% increase in the cost of medical insurance. Iwanski writes that funding requests for this year totaled over $3 million more than anticipated revenue, largely due, according to the mayor, to a $2 million request for additional monies for the Sheriff’s Office. Iwanski writes that his budget proposal “allows the Sheriff to decide how to make minor adjustments in his $10 million dollar budget and assignments of the 175 employees he is authorized for. These adjustments will allow the jail dormitory to be staffed until the new pod is built. This pod will provide extra bed capacity for growth that can be rented to generate the revenue to hire more jailers – as is done successfully in Blount and other counties.” The budget proposal also calls for the school system to submit a balanced budget without a tax increase. You can read Mayor Iwanski’s budget summary and find a link to the proposed budget on the Local Information news page of our website.
Mayor Iwanski’s Budget Summary
“My proposed 2012-2013 budget is submitted for Budget Committee consideration. A budget summary and the entire budget is available to County Commission and the public on the andersontn.org home page or using the following link http://andersontn.org/budget%20documents/2013%20Budget%20in%20PDF.pdf . Last year's budget required some difficult decisions and included $1 million in cuts in operating budgets from the previous year and a tax increase to solve some long-standing capital project problems. These decisions put the county on sound financial footing and in my opinion will allow us to avoid the need for tax increases for the next several years. With revenues flat and some expenses rising, this year’s budget required some difficult decisions. Funding requests for this year totaled over $3 million more than anticipated revenue, mostly because of the Sheriff’s expectations that funding for the Sheriffs’ Department will continue to have the kind of large increases that resulted in his budget doubling over the last 6 years. After careful review with the Accounts and Budget staff and with input from departments and elected officials I am proposing a no tax increase budget. The following are some highlights of my recommended budget. This budget:
The attached provides additional background information regarding my budget recommendation. Please contact me or Chris Phillips if you have questions regarding the proposed budget. We will be prepared to explain this budget at the Monday April 23 budget meeting at 4:00.”
AC DA Seeks Order To Demolish Meth House
Thursday morning (4/19), Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark announced that his office had filed the first legal action of its kind in the county to close and demolish a property repeatedly used as a place to make meth, sell drugs and conduct gang-related activities. Clark did not identify the property in a release sent to media members today but says that while this is the first case of its type, “we are looking at other properties in Anderson County that have been chronic blights on their communities and havens for criminal activity. This particular property was nominated by the Sheriff’s Department, which found that since 1998, there had been 76 calls for service to the property and 36 arrests. The property has been quarantined several times because of the hazardous chemicals used in making meth. Clark states that “no neighborhood, no property owner and no children should have to live with a house like that next door,” adding that “law abiding citizens do not have any cause for worry about their property being taken. The law and the courts only allow the use of this new initiative in the worst cases of repeated criminal activity at the same address.” We will find out more about this when Clark joins us on the Friday edition of “Ask Your Neighbor,” an appearance during which he is expected to be joined by Sheriff Paul White.
Report: Jury Finds Maryville Schools At Fault In Molestation Case
According to the Daily Times, a jury deliberated for about six hours before finding the Maryville school system at fault for a case involving the molestation of their son on a school bus. The jury awarded Scott and Patty Meadows $25,000 on Wednesday (4/18). The couple had sued the school system, bus driver Wendell Allen and bus owner Richard Pass for $750,000, alleging that all three parties were negligent on November 2nd, 2007 when their then-six-year-old son was molested on the special education bus on a trip back from the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville by a 17-year-old boy who reportedly had a history of inappropriate touching and aggressive behavior. In the 2007 incident, he allegedly unzipped the younger boy’s pants and molested him. The jury found that the bus driver and owner were not at fault and laid the blame solely on the school system.
Suspects Enter Carjacking Pleas
Two men accused in a 2008 carjacking and assault in Oak Ridge pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the case during a hearing on Wednesday (4/18) in Anderson County Criminal Court. The incident occurred in October of 2008 and the victim told investigators that he had been dragged out of his SUV, pistol-whipped and stripped of his pants and underwear. His vehicle was later found in a Knox County trailer park. Wednesday, 26-year-old Asia Hunter and 31-year-old Travis Boyd pleaded guilty to reduced charges of reckless endangerment, robbery, theft of over $1000 and aggravated assault. They received four-year prison sentences that were suspended to time served and placed on supervised probation. They had originally been charged with carjacking, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery and theft over $10,000. A fourth defendant, 39-year-old Anthony Hudson, is scheduled to enter a plea in the case later today and a fourth suspect, 24-year-old Whitney Johnson, pleaded guilty in 2009.
Buffett Tribute Band To Play Secret City Fest
Organizers of the 10th annual Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge have announced Friday night’s musical headliner for this year’s event, scheduled for June 15th and 16th. Earlier this week it was announced that Southern rockers 38 Special would headline Saturday night’s concert and now, organizers have announced that the Jimmy Buffett tribute band, A1A, will be the main attraction on Friday the 15th at 7 pm. Local artist Dave Landeo will open the show. For more information, visit www.secretcityfestival.com. Tickets for both concerts go on sale on May 7th with early-bird ticket prices of $15. After June 4th, tickets will cost $20 each.
Chimney Tops Trail Closed For ‘Major Facelift’
(GSMNP) Officials at Great Smoky Mountains National Park have announced that the popular Chimney Tops Trail will be closed each Monday through Thursday from Monday, April 30 through Thursday, October 18 while the trail undergoes a major facelift. The Chimney Tops Trailhead is along Newfound Gap Road about 8 miles south of the Park’s Gatlinburg, TN entrance. The work is expected to take two seasons to complete. The combination of heavy use, abundant rainfall, and steep terrain has turned the Chimney Tops trail into a badly eroded obstacle course of slick, broken rock, exposed tree roots and mud. The hazards that now exist on the trail encourage hikers to pick their way across the uneven surface or to divert them off the edges of the trail, causing extensive soil erosion and resource damage. The Park’s Trails Forever Crew and will be rebuilding the trail using rock and timber. The planned work includes: Constructing rock steps to carry hikers up the steepest areas and prevent erosion; building elevated “turnpikes”- logs laid parallel and packed with dirt, to carry the trail across wetland areas, and creating numerous “waterbars” – logs or stone partially buried diagonally across the trail to divert rainwater off the trail before it can erode the walking surface. Park managers say that the extensive use of durable stone and rot-resistant black locust timbers in the reconstruction will stabilize the trail for decades to come, reducing annual maintenance, and greatly improving the visitor experience. The Park is scheduling the work so as to allow the Chimney Tops Trail to be re-opened for peak visitor use each Friday through Sunday. During the closure days the Park is suggesting alternative trails including: Alum Cave Trail which is two miles south of Chimney Tops along Newfound Gap Road, the Appalachian Trail north to Charlies Bunion, the Rainbow Falls Trail from the Cherokee Orchard Road to the falls, or the Forney Ridge Trail from the Clingmans Dome Parking Area two miles to Andrews Bald. Park managers are especially encouraging people to hike the Forney Ridge Trail, because until recently it had the same sort of problems as the Chimney Tops Trail and is an example of the kind of work that is ongoing at Chimney Tops. The Park’s Trails Forever Crew is funded through a partnership between the Park and the Friends of the Smokies. The Friends are donating $121,000 this year to support the program. The Park’s professional Trails Forever crew will also be reinforced by volunteers who sign up to work with the crew on scheduled workdays, as individuals or part of organized groups. The Park invites interested trail work volunteers to visit the Trails Forever website at www.smokiestrailsforever.org or contact the Trails & Facilities Volunteer Coordinator at (828) 497-1949 for more information.
Follow-Up: OR Water, Sewer Rates To Rise As we reported Tuesday, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday night approved water and sewer rate increases in a unanimous vote during a special called session. Residential customers will see their water rate increase from $11.50 for the first 2000 gallons of water used to $13.50 while their sewer rate will increase from $13.50 to $18.50. Rate increases for those who use a lot of water will be phased in. That represents a 28% increase. Commercial customers will see their rates increase by a total of about 32% following the vote. The rate increases are being necessitated by an EPA mandate that the city upgrade its aging sewer and water systems at an estimated cost of $18 million. The rate increase goes into effect on May 1st but some larger customers will see their rates increase in phases to ease the transition. RSCC’s OR Expansion Growing The expansion of Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus just got a little bigger as the state Planning Commission has approved adding a third story to the building that is the centerpiece of the project. Officials asked for the change after determining that they would need more space and figuring out that adding the third story later would cost almost twice as much. Groundbreaking for the campus expansion project is set for June. The additional story means that the new building, which will serve health sciences and technology programs, will have about 64,000 square feet of space. Adding the third story before construction begins carries a $1.3 million price tag while waiting to do it later would have cost an estimated $2.5 million. The new building will include lab and office space as well as classrooms. The school received $2.5 million in local contributions as they worked to secure an additional $9 million from the state for the project that will now cost an estimated $12.8 million. Construction projects at other Roane State campuses will be put on hold in order to pay for the Oak Ridge expansion, which is necessary as the campus was designed for 1800 students but now serves approximately 2700. 38 Special To Headline Saturday At Secret City Festival The Secret City Festival has announced its headlining musical act for the second night of the festival and it will be legendary Southern rockers 38 Special. The band will perform on Saturday night June 16th at 7 pm and Mic Harrison and the High score will open the show that night. Tickets for the festival concerts are $20 each and will be available beginning on May 7th. From May 7th to June 4th, you can take advantage of an early bird special that will bring the ticket price down to $15. The Secret City Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and, as always will feature tours of Manhattan Project sites, arts and crafts vendors, special events at the American Museum of Science and Energy as well as the South’s largest World War II re-enactment and a host of other fun things to do for kids of all ages. For more information, visit www.secretcityfestival.com or check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SecretCityFestival. Half-Hearted Attempt To Foil Drug Test Backfires A Clinton man was arrested after he allegedly tried to falsify a drug test. An Anderson County Sheriff’s deputy was called to the Courthouse to transport a prisoner and when he arrived made contact with another deputy and a representative of PSI Probation Services. They told him that 32-year-old Robert Eugene Shope had been ordered to give a urine sample as part of a plea agreement but instead of urinating in the cup as we supposed to, he is accused of simply dipping the cup into the toilet and giving plain water to his probation officer. Shope was arrested and charged with falsifying a drug test. Man Arrested On DUI, Other Charges An Anderson County man was arrested on DUI and other charges following an incident that occurred Saturday night. A deputy on patrol along Clinton Highway clocked a driver doing 65 miles an hour in a 45 mile per hour zone and pulled him over in the parking lot of Clinton Auto Repair. The deputy made contact with 68-year-old Charles Robert Bolden, who told the deputy that he did not have his driver’s license with him, but would show it to him if he followed him back to his house. The deputy reported that Bolden appeared to be nervous and that he could see he had bloodshot eyes and could smell an odor of alcohol coming from the man’s mouth. Bolden failed field sobriety tests and as the deputy went to cuff him, he began to resist. Once in custody, he was taken to the Anderson County Jail and charged with his first DUI offense, violating the implied consent law and resisting arrest. Clinton Man Jailed On Burglary, Vandalism Charges A Clinton man was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly breaking into a woman’s home on Lake City Highway and smashing her windshield with a piece of steel. Jamie Hayes reported that she had spent Friday night at her mother’s house and returned home Saturday morning. When she arrived, she found the front door unlocked but thought she may not have locked it when she left. As she pulled back a curtain into a back bedroom, she said that a man later identified as 50-year-old Jackie Westmoreland was standing in her room. She told deputies that she yelled and punched the man in the face, causing him to flee the home. As he fled, Westmoreland is accused of picking up a metal object from the yard and using it to smash the windshield of a pickup truck parked in the driveway. Westmoreland was soon apprehended and brought back to the scene, where Hayes identified him as the culprit. He was charged with aggravated burglary and vandalism and is being held on a $100,000 bond. OR Water, Sewer Rates To Increase
The Oak Ridge City Council voted Monday (4/16) to raise the city’s water and sewer rates. Residential customers will see their monthly bills increase by an average of $7—or 28%--on the first 2000 gallons of water used. The increase is necessary due to an EPA-mandated upgrade of the city’s aging wastewater system.
AC Commission Clears Way For Convenience Center Move
The Anderson County Commission voted 11-3 Monday (4/16) to rescind restrictive covenants at the David Jones Industrial Park to clear the way for the relocation of the Glen Alpine Convenience Center from its current location on Seivers Boulevard in Clinton. Current tenants of the park including Pharma Packaging Solutions, Seneca Medical and Clayton Homes have expressed opposition to the plan and some say that if they had known that something like this could happen, they may not have considered locating in Anderson County in the first place. They are concerned about the likely increase in litter and traffic in the park but one of the amendments approved Monday by the Commission ensures that any litter along roadways leading to the convenience center would be picked up quickly. An attorney for Pharma Packaging indicated during Monday’s meeting that the company may take legal action on the issue. The convenience center needs to be moved from its current location due to accessibility and environmental issues and the county and city of Clinton have worked out an agreement to relocate the center within the next two years.
AC Commission Denies Funds For New Jailers
Monday (4/16), the Anderson County Commission voted to deny a request from the Sheriff’s Office for additional funds to pay for the hiring and training of 15 new jailers to staff the soon-to-be-completed minimum-security dormitory at the Jail. The 128-bed facility is scheduled to open at the end of June but with Monday’s decision, Sheriff’s officials say they will not be able to open it due to a lack of adequate staff. That is because it takes time to test, interview, hire and train new officers. The County Commission approved spending money to build the minimum security dorm and a major 240-bed expansion last year but left questions about how to staff it unanswered. Instead of agreeing to the Sheriff’s request, the Commission sent the issue back to the Budget Committee for consideration. Interim County Mayor Myron Iwanski says it would take the equivalent of four cents on the tax rate to fund the request and he and many Commissioners are opposed to any tax increase this year following last year’s 16.2 cent tax hike that went toward the jail expansion and school construction projects.
BCSO Arrests Three On Meth Charges
The Blount County Sheriff ‘s Office says three people were arrested in connection with three separate "one pot" meth labs found in a house Saturday night (4/14). Deputies responded to a residential burglary call at a house on Garrett Lane Saturday night shortly before midnight. Upon their arrival, they discovered the residence was actually a vacant property that was being remodeled. Deputies found 22-year-old Joseph Nicholas Barto of Maryville, 23-year-old James Alexander Gregory of Greenback and 33-year-old Nahala Dean Rader of Maryville inside the residence, along with items consistent with the manufacture of methamphetamine. Investigators discovered three separate "one pot" meth labs, and several other items consistent with the manufacture of methamphetamine. Investigators also discovered that some of the commercial substances had already been mixed in order to start the extraction process for manufacturing methamphetamine. The Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force was called to the scene to dispose of the hazardous materials. The Blount County Fire Department and Rural/Metro Ambulance Service were also on the scene for decontamination of the suspects, all three of whom are charged with aggravated burglary and promoting the manufacture of meth.
Report: Five Arrested On Meth Charges Involving Kids
According to the Oak Ridger, five people were arrested last week on charges of making meth in a home where children were present. Deputies went to the home on Blacksferry Road Thursday (4/12) looking for a wanted man and responding to reports of a possible meth lab. When they knocked on the door, deputies reported hearing people scurrying around inside and when the door was finally opened after several minutes they detected a strong odor of chemicals associated with meth production. 31-year-old Tony Lee Taylor Jr. and 36-year-old Jacqueline Kay Suits were both arrested and charged with child abuse and neglect and initiating the manufacture of meth. Taylor was also charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence after he allegedly threatened to kill one of the occupants of the house if they opened the door to the police. Three other people—20-year-old Makayla Curtis of Missouri, 19-year-old Rebecca Myers of Knoxville and 22-year-old Adrienne poole of Sevierville were all charged with child abuse and neglect and initiating the manufacture of meth. Myers was also jailed on a warrant and a charge of filing a false report. The child abuse charges stem from the admission of Suits that her two children—ages 5 and 12—had been at the house earlier before leaving for school and that they had been exposed to the chemicals from the production of the drug.
Indictment Dismissed, Brooms Remains Jailed
Last week, one of the three people indicted on charges related to the murder of a 22-year-old man in what police described as a drug deal gone wrong had the indictment against him dropped and his case sent back to General Sessions Court for a preliminary hearing. 23-year-old James Stephan Brooms of Oak Ridge had been indicted on charges of aggravated robbery and first-degree murder but because he did not receive a preliminary hearing last year, Judge Don Elledge dismissed the indictment while ordering Brooms held without bond until the hearing. Brooms, along with 22-year-old brother Brandon and 18-year-old Bronx Washington, is accused in the August 2011 shooting death of 22-year-old Antonio Phillips during a marijuana deal inside Phillips’ Oak Ridge apartment.
Jaguar Getting An Upgrade
Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s powerful Jaguar supercomputer is getting an upgrade that will bring its performance capability to as many as 20 quadrillion calculations per second later this year. “We can solve a lot more physics and get a whole lot more higher resolution in our models -- whether it is advanced climate modeling in simulation or modeling and simulation with our new nuclear energy hub,” said ORNL Associate Laboratory Director Jeff Nichols. Jaguar is currently the world’s third most powerful supercomputer. The upgraded Jaguar will be renamed Titan. UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit www.science.energy.gov.
ACSD Investigating Shooting
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a shooting that seriously injured a Clinton man on a gas pipeline service road off of New River Highway in Briceville on Saturday night (4/14). Deputies, along with Rescue Squad, EMS and Briceville firefighters were sent to Gas Pipeline Service Road P9 at around 8 pm Saturday on a report that said that someone had been shot and the shooter was still on the scene. Deputies arrived first and secured the scene for the emergency responders and Sgt. Robert Mansfield reported that when he arrived, he had found 33-year-old Christopher Pruett lying on the ground near an SUV that had crashed into a ditch suffering from a gunshot wound. Pruett was reportedly pointing at 30-year-old James Matthew Boyd and screaming that Boyd “had shot [him] for no reason.” Pruett was taken to an area where a Lifestar medical helicopter picked him up and flew him to UT Medical Center for treatment of a "life threatening" injury. There is no word on his condition as of this morning. Deputies spoke with Boyd and another witness. When asked where the gun was that had shot Pruett, Boyd told investigators that he had thrown it into the nearby woods, explaining that he “was scared and knew the law was coming.” A K-9 found a .40-caliber Taurus pistol in the woods. Boyd was arrested on a charge of tampering with evidence and further charges could be pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation. The Sheriff’s Office says that the three had been driving around trails and service roads in the area in an SUV at the time of the incident. After sorting out what happened, investigators will consult with the District Attorney’s office to determine what charges will be filed.
Report: TVA Purchases Land For Landfill
TVA has purchased 155 acres of land including 24 homes in Claxton south of Edgemoor Road for its planned expansion of the landfill at the Bull Run Fossil Plant. The utility says that the proposed landfill will give Bull Run enough space to store coal ash and gypsum for another 20 years. The current landfill has about five years of space remaining. 118 acres of the land is on one parcel known as the horse farm and will provide space for the majority of the landfill itself. TVA officials say that ten homes on Isabella Lane were purchased to set up a 500-foot buffer zone between the proposed landfill and other residential areas while five homeowners on New Henderson Road sold their property to TVA because a planned haul road from the plant to the landfill would run near their homes. TVA officials tell the News-Sentinel that the property owners were given fair market value for their homes but County Commission Chairman Chuck Fritts, who represents Claxton, says he has heard from some constituents that they received less than the appraised value of their homes and said they felt like they were give no choice but to sell to TVA or live next to a coal ash storage facility. Fritts also told the News-Sentinel that he believes that with those properties coming off the county tax rolls, TVA should make payments in lieu of taxes to make up that loss of revenue. TVA must still conduct environmental testing at the proposed site, hold public hearings and consider other options before the new landfill becomes a reality.
Maryville Woman Killed In Wrong-Way Wreck
A 25-year-old Maryville woman was killed in a head-on traffic collision early Saturday morning (4/14) on Alcoa Highway in Knoxville. The KPD says that Tiffany Tate had been headed north in the southbound lanes of Alcoa Highway near IC King Park at around 3:30 am when her car collided head-on with a minivan owned by Royal Taxi. Both drivers underwent emergency surgery at UT Medical Center but Tate died during the procedure. The taxi driver, whose name has not been released, suffered what were described as serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The investigation is ongoing.
Bicyclist Hit By Car
A woman was flown to UT Medical Center Sunday night (4/15) after she was struck while riding her bike in Townsend by an allegedly drunk driver. The THP says that Beverly Kiewert of Townsend had been riding her bike along Highway 321 near Wears Valley Road with her 12 year-old twin daughters at around 8:30 pm last night when she was hit from behind by a Lexus driven by Jason Von Latham. Kiewert landed on the car’s hood, cracked the windshield and fell on to the roadway. She was flown to UT by Lifestar with what have been described as non-life-threatening injuries. Latham was arrested at the scene by state troopers and refused a field sobriety test. He was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital, where blood was drawn, and then to the Blount County Jail, where he was charged with DUI.
ACSD Rounding Up Drug Suspects
49 indictments against 41 people on drug related charges were returned by an Anderson County Grand Jury earlier this month after investigations by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Special Operations Unit. Since Monday, April 9, deputies have been making arrests on these indictments as well as continuing investigations on drug activity related to these individuals. The Special Operations Unit conducted these drug investigations over the last few months. Persons indicted for manufacture, sales, delivery, or possession either sold to undercover agents or were in possession of illegal drugs for resale. The indictments also include charges resulting from meth lab investigations and the purchase of pseudoephedrine. Charges include sale or possession for resale of prescription or legend drugs, cocaine, and methamphetamine related offenses. Of the forty-one people indicted, twenty-three were charged with prescription narcotics offenses and fourteen for methamphetamine related charges including seven pseudoephedrine purchase violations. One person was charged with sale of cocaine, one was charged with both prescription narcotics and cocaine offenses, and two were charged for prescription narcotics and methamphetamine. As of April 12, twenty of the forty-one persons indicted have been arrested by sheriff’s deputies or were already in jail on unrelated charges. Investigators will continue to search for the remaining offenders. These indictments come after long hours and hard work by investigators of the Sheriff’s Special Operations Unit. The District Attorney General’s Office also spent many hours assisting investigators by preparing and presenting these cases to the Grand Jury.
ACSD Stresses Prom & Grad Safety
Once again it's that time of year. Proms, graduations, and other special occasions mark the end of the school year. Memories of these wonderful events will be with our youth for the rest of their lives. Our young students headed to the prom and from graduations are reminded not to drink and drive. Deputies with the Anderson County Sheriff's Department will be out in force on prom nights and after graduations. DUI, illegal drugs, and underage drinking will get you a ride to jail. The Sheriff Department also reminds teens that getting caught drinking while under the age of 21 can result in losing a driver's license, getting suspended from school, ejected from sports teams, and even banned from graduation ceremonies. Establishments that sell alcohol are reminded to ID. Underage sales and purchases will be prosecuted. Sheriff's deputies will conduct an information campaign with our local beer permit holders to remind them of the importance of carding to ID all beer purchases. Spot checks of beer sellers will also be done and not only will the clerks who sell beer be cited but underage purchasers will be charged as well. The Anderson County Sheriff's Department, in cooperation with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and our local police agencies, will be conducting saturation patrols throughout the prom and graduation weeks. This effort is supported by a grant from the Governor's Highway Safety Office. The Anderson County Sheriff's Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol want to remind youth and their parents to celebrate safe during the prom and graduation season.
Clinton Man Facing TennCare Fraud Charge
A Clinton man is facing a TennCare fraud charge in Knox County. 44-year-old Anthony Eugene Morgan is accused of attempting to use his son’s TennCare benefits to pay for the prescription painkiller Percocet. He was arrested earlier this week in Knox County and charged with one count of TennCare fraud and if convicted, could face up to two years in prison.
OR Council OKs Parking Ordinance
The Oak Ridge City Council recently approved zoning and parking code ordinances as part of City Manager Mark Watson’s “Not In Our Town” campaign, aimed at cleaning up neighborhoods while addressing other issues including housing and crime. The measure had been approved in March but the City Council wanted clarification on a few issues. All vehicles in Oak Ridge parked on a street will have to fit inside the marked parking space or else would be considered in violation of the new ordinance. The city will be publicizing the new ordinance in the coming weeks. Junk vehicles were identified as a problem in some Oak Ridge neighborhoods and this ordinance was drafted to address those issues.
Report: Judgment Awarded In Lawsuit
According to the News-Sentinel, five couples living in the Arcadian Village subdivision in Andersonville have been awarded a $3.5 million default judgment against the developers of their neighborhood after promised amenities including a lake near their homes never materialized. The suit was filed against Kenneth and Linda Anderson of Williamsburg, Kentucky. They developed the property, planning to construct 250 homes, a large man-made lake, walking trails, a retail area and other amenities. However, today there are only 65 homes in the subdivision, the promised lake is a dry field and a large portion of the project remains incomplete. The plaintiffs’ attorney said that the Andersons had never even applied for the necessary permits to build the lake. The default judgment was issued after the Andersons failed to show up for multiple court dates and finds that they committed fraud and misrepresentation. The order, which is still awaiting a judge’s signature, also orders the Andersons to pay for the plaintiffs’ legal fees. A lawsuit filed by the neighbors against the real estate agent who sold them the property is still pending and the News-sentinel reports that mediation is expected to begin soon.
THP Announces Roadside Safety Checkpoints
The Tennessee Highway Patrol will be conducting sobriety roadside safety checkpoints during the week of May 5th on State Route 62 at the Knox/Anderson Line in Anderson County. The Tennessee Highway Patrol will be conducting sobriety roadside safety checkpoints during the week of May 25th on State Route 61/ Richards Lane in Anderson County. Impaired driving is a serious crime that kills more than 16,000 people and injures 305,000 others every year in the United States. Troopers will evaluate drivers for signs of alcohol or drug impairment. Troopers will target those who operate a vehicle while impaired and take corrective actions for other violations observed while ensuring the protection of all motorists. The Tennessee Highway Patrol recognizes that sobriety checkpoints are highly visible and effective tools in the battle against impaired driving.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol will be conducting driver’s license roadside safety checkpoints on the following dates and locations: It is requested that you publicize this notification. Date (s): Location (s): 05-11-2012 Park Lane @ Red Hill Road 06-22-2012 Hillvale @ Peach Orchard 06-29-2012 SR 61 @ Victory Church Recognizing the danger presented to the public by unqualified drivers, Troopers will concentrate their efforts on vehicles being operated by drivers who violate the driver’s license laws of Tennessee. The Tennessee Highway Patrol has found these drivers license roadside safety checkpoints to be an effective means of enforcing driver license laws of Tennessee while ensuring the protection of all motorists.
4 Hit With Meth Charges In Blount
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday evening (4/9) that four people were charged in connection with a methamphetamine investigation earlier in the day. The following individuals were charged: 40-year-old Annette Barnes McNabb of Madisonville was charged on an attachment for contempt and is being held on a $750 bond pending a court hearing in Blount County General Sessions Court on Wednesday April 18; 41-year-old Larry Joe McNabb of Madisonville is charged with promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine and is being held on a $50,000 bond pending a hearing in Blount County General Sessions Court on the 18th; 43-year-old Angela Grimes Thomas of Madisonville is charged with promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine and is being held on a $50,000 bond pending a hearing in Blount County General Sessions Court on the 18th; and 44-year-old Lonnie Truman Lawrence, Jr. of Madisonville was charged with promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine and violation of the sex offender registry. He is being held on bonds totaling $52,500 pending a hearing on the 18th. Investigators with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force received information that suspicious persons were attempting to purchase pseudoephedrine, a precursor in the manufacture of methamphetamine, at a local business. Investigators approached the individuals in the parking lot of the business. During the course of the investigation, other precursors were found in the vehicle. It was determined the pseudo ephedrine and other precursors were going to be taken to another county for the purpose of manufacturing methamphetamine. All four of the individuals were arrested, and the vehicle was seized.
Effort Underway To Get VA Hospital In Roane
Efforts are underway to get the Veterans Administration to open a new hospital in Roane County. City officials in Harriman are hoping to lure a new VA hospital to serve veterans from 10 different East Tennessee counties to the Roane Medical Center location. The city says it would be willing to lease the 75-bed facility to the VA for $1 a year. In addition to providing easier access to health care for military veterans, a new VA hospital could create up to 250 jobs in Harriman as well. Saturday (4/7), hundreds of people gathered in Harriman and signed petitions indicating their desire for the new hospital. The next step will be to lobby state and federal lawmakers and we will keep you updated on the effort to bring a new VA hospital to Roane County. Interested veterans in Anderson County can sign the petition by stopping by Anderson County Community Action at 149 North Main Street in Clinton during regular business hours.
OR Youth Advisory Board Accepting Applications
The Oak Ridge Youth Advisory Board (YAB) is currently accepting applications for board members for the 2012-2013 school year. The selection of the board members will take place at the July 9, 2012 City Council Meeting. Sixteen applicants will be confirmed and appointed by City Council to serve a one-year term of office that commences on August 1, 2012. To be considered, applicants must be residents of Oak Ridge and entering grade levels 8th through 12th. Participation on the YAB requires attendance at bi-monthly meetings on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m., as well as at special events that are held throughout the year. All interested students are encouraged to fill out the new, on-line application which is available on the City Clerk’s Departmental Website or at http://tiny.cc/yab. Paper applications are available in the Guidance Offices at Jefferson Middle School and Robertsville Middle School, the Student Affairs Office at Oak Ridge High School, and at the front desk of the Civic Center. Applications and on-line submissions are due on Friday, June 1, 2012 by 5:00 p.m. to the locations listed above. The purpose of the YAB is to serve as a liaison between Council and the youth of the community on issues affecting youth. The Board's function is to encourage the positive growth and development of youth by involving them in social, cultural, recreational, and other drug- and alcohol-free activities. For more information, please contact the City Clerk’s Office at (865) 425-3411.
Blount Murder Suspect Back In ET
The Blount County Sheriff announced Tuesday (4/10) that the man accused of murdering a Blount County woman in June 2011 arrived at the Blount County Detention Facility on Tuesday. Upon his arrival, 43-year-old James Howard Harmon, Jr. of Powell was served warrants for criminal homicide and theft of property. Harmon is being held on bonds totaling $1.1 million pending a hearing in Blount County General Sessions Court at 9 a.m. April 13. Harmon is charged with homicide in connection with the death of 60-year-old Dilrea Sue Lett. She was found dead in her burned out home on East Cumberland Drive in Louisville in the early morning hours of June 20th. Ms. Lett’s 1999 white Chrysler Sebring was also missing. Harmon became a person of interest soon thereafter, but wasn’t located until August 26th when he was picked up in Huerfano County, Colorado, during a traffic stop. Harmon remained in the Huerfano County Jail, where he faced drug and weapons charges until being returned to Anderson County on April 1st on criminal warrants including aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape and was transferred to Blount County on Tuesday. OR Man Sentenced To 97 Months On Child Porn Charges An Oak Ridge man was sentenced Monday (4/9) in federal court to 97 months in prison after his conviction on charges that he possessed a large amount of child pornography. 65-year-old George Stephen Russell came to the attention of the FBI last year after bragging to an undercover officer online that he had an extensive collection of child pornography. A search of his computer later revealed almost 4000 photos and 33 videos of child pornography. Russell will serve a life term of supervised release following his release from prison as well as be required to participate in a program of sex offender mental health treatment. Additionally, as a result of his conviction, the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act requires Russell to register with the state sex offender registry anywhere he resides, is employed, or is a student following his incarceration. The full press release from the US Attorney’s Office can be found on the Local Information News page of our website. (US Attorney’s Office) “KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – George Stephen Russell, 65, of Oak Ridge, Tenn., was sentenced on April 9, 2012, to serve 97 months in prison by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Russell pleaded guilty on October 17, 2011, to knowingly possessing child pornography that had been transported in interstate and foreign commerce by any means, including by computer. Upon his release from prison, Russell will serve a life term of supervised release following his release from prison as well as be required to participate in a program of sex offender mental health treatment. Additionally, as a result of his conviction, the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act requires Russell to register with the state sex offender registry anywhere he resides, is employed, or is a student following his incarceration. Russell’s possession of an extensive collection of child pornography, which he made accessible via the Internet to others who wished to trade child pornography with him, was discovered through an online undercover investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI executed a federal search warrant at Russell’s residence in Oak Ridge and seized his computers. Forensic examination of the seized computers revealed that he had possessed 3841 images and 33 videos of suspected child pornography. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identified 48 known victims of child pornography among the images and videos that Russell had possessed. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a Department initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information visit ProjectSafeChildhood.gov. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Morris represented the United States at sentencing.” State Senate Recognizes OR’s Westcott
(Senator McNally’s office) The Tennessee State Senate recently approved a resolution sponsored by Senator Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) honoring James Edward “Ed” Westcott, the first government photographer for the Manhattan Project, on the celebration of his ninetieth birthday. “Ed Westcott is a great American, a great Tennessean, and a cherished friend to so many of the people in Oak Ridge that it is only fitting to pay tribute to him,” said Senator McNally. “It is my privilege to know him and to honor him through passage of this resolution.” The resolution honoring Westcott states, “Mr. Westcott served with valor and distinction in the United States Armed Forces and, in December 1942, the Army Corps transferred him to the Clinton Engineer Works at the then-secret Oak Ridge site. Ed Westcott became the twenty-ninth employee hired for the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, where he served with acumen and alacrity as an official government photographer from 1942 to 1966.” According to the resolution, much of Westcott’s work was deemed classified for many years and has slowly been released to the public. His work has been reproduced and exhibited throughout the world in matters regarding the Manhattan Project. Over 5,000 of Westcott’s negatives have been archived by the National Archives and Records Administration. During Westcott’s 35 year career, he photographed lead scientists on the Manhattan Project, military and governmental agency officials, U.S. Senators and Presidents. Westcott spent the majority of his life in East Tennessee and has resided in Oak Ridge since his retirement. “Ed Westcott celebrates a rich ninety years of living life to its fullest. We wish to grasp this golden opportunity to specially recognize one of Tennessee's most outstanding citizens on this very special occasion. We join with the family and friends of James Edward "Ed" Westcott in celebrating his ninetieth birthday and extend to him our best wishes for many happy returns,” the resolution concluded. Many of Mr. Westcott’s iconic historical pictures are now viewable at http://www.flickr.com/photos/doe-oakridge/.
AC Commission Gets New Tech
All 16 Anderson County Commissioners and their top administrative aide will be trained Monday (4/16) on how to use the new iPads that have recently been purchased. The new devices cost $499 each and were paid for using unspent commission travel money and no money from the general fund was used. The iPads will be used for county business, namely allowing commissioners to access agendas and past minutes online. They should help the commission cut down on the cost of copying the sometimes large amount of documents they receive prior to their monthly meetings. A mandatory training class on how to use the iPads will be held on Monday.
Circus Train Hits Dump Truck
A train carrying about 300 employees of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus and several circus animals struck a dump truck hauling a trailer that got hung up on the tracks Monday night (4/9) in Anderson County’s Marlow community. No injuries were reported and all the animals remained secured after the accident. The collision happened just after 10 pm Monday near the intersection of Marlow Circle and Powder Mill Lane. THP troopers say the accident appeared to be relatively minor and that the train would be able to continue to its destination. The train was just passing through the area as there are no shows planned locally in the near future.
Blount Wreck Injures 3
A two-car accident Saturday night (4/7) in Blount County injured three people. The Sheriff’s Office says the accident occurred shortly after 8:30 pm Saturday as 16-year-old Saranna Marie Simmons of Maryville had been headed west on East Broadway Avenue when her Kia Sportage crossed the center line, struck a guardrail and flipped over. The SUV struck a Chevy HHR headed in the opposite direction driven by 28-year-old Judy Michelle Rule of Knoxville. Both drivers and a passenger in Simmons’ car identified as 16-year-old Cora Lynn McCulloch of Maryville were taken to UT Medical Center for treatment of what were described as non-life-threatening injuries.
August Ballots Set
The deadline to qualify as a candidate in the August elections was noon on Thursday (4/5). At the state level, incumbent Republican District 33 State Representative John Ragan is being challenged by the man he unseated for that office in 2010, Democrat Jim Hackworth. Neither man is opposed in their primary and will face off in the general election in November. District 32 State Rep Julia Hurley is being challenged in the Republican primary by Kent Calfee and the winner of that primary will square off in November against Democrat Jack McNew and independent Allen Cole. State Representative Bob Ramsey, who represents Blount County’s 20th District, will be challenged by Tona Monroe while District 8 State Senator Art Swann will face Grady Caskey. State Senator Doug Overbey of Maryville will be challenged for his District 2 seat by Scott Hughes. At the local level in Anderson County, Republican Terry Frank and Democrat Warren Gooch will square off in August for the final two years of former Mayor Rex Lynch’s term in office while Democrat Rick Marlowe will face Republican John Alley Jr. for the office of Property Assessor. Current interim County Mayor Myron Iwanski, who was appointed to serve in that post last year, will run for his old County Commission seat against the man chosen to replace him Buzz Patrick and Richard Burroughs. Chuck Hope, who was appointed to the Oak Ridge City Council through the August election following the resignation of Tom Hayes, will run against Trina Baughn for a special term that will expire in November. There is only one contested race on the Anderson County School Board, where District 3 incumbent Dail Cantrell will face challenger Scott Daugherty. Four School Board members are unopposed: John Burrell of District 4, Rickey Rose of District 5, Scott Gillenwaters of District 6 and Glenda Langenberg of District 8.
TBI Continues Probe In Fatal Deputy-Involved Shootout
The TBI is continuing its probe into the deputy-involved shootout that left two people dead on February 29th. 32-year-old Michael Baker and 25-year-old Shanna Richardson, both of Indiana, were killed in an exchange of gunfire with two Anderson County deputies at the intersection of Blockhouse Valley and Old Emory Roads following a pursuit that started when a deputy spotted their stolen pickup truck, which had also been involved in a gas theft at a Lake City convenience store earlier that morning. Autopsy results have not yet been made public and neither have the identities of the on-duty and off-duty deputies involved. Both deputies have been cleared to return to active duty. The TBI says its probe is expected to be completed and the findings turned over to the DA’s office within the next month or so. Sheriff’s officials say that so far, it appears that the deputies involved acted appropriately as they said at the time of the incident that the occupants of the fleeing pickup had opened fire on pursuing officers during the chase. As more information becomes available, we will pass it along to you.
Blount Meth Lab Seized, 3 Jailed
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office and investigators with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force arrested three people at a home in Walland after an active meth lab was found on their property. Investigators went to a home in the 4600 block of Nebo Road Tuesday morning (4/3) to investigate a report of a possible meth lab and discovered several pieces of an older lab in a building behind the house. While on scene, investigators say a man later identified as 28-year-old Michael Bishop left the house carrying a suitcase and tried to flee on foot, dropping the bag on the ground moments before being taken into custody. Inside the suitcase, investigators say they found evidence of a very recently used one-pot lab. Bishop was charged with initiating the manufacture of meth while 36-year-old Daniel Warren Viefeld Jr. was charged with possession of a schedule 2 narcotic and possession of drug paraphernalia and 24-year-old Jacqueline Kari Snyder was charged with promoting the manufacture of meth and possession of drug paraphernalia. The two male suspects were decontaminated on the scene by firefighters and taken into custody. The Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force arrived to process and dispose of the evidence.
OR Man Indicted On Home Invasion Charges
An Oak Ridge man was arrested Friday (3/30) on a warrant charging with being involved in a home invasion that occurred in October of 2010. 20-year-old Asante Harris was arrested Friday and released the following day on a $75,000 bond. He and two others—29-year-old Nicholas Conley of Rockwood and 24-year-old Treasure Threat of Oak Ridge—are charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, theft and aggravated assault. Threat also faces a charge of facilitating a felony as does 36-year-old Michele Sprague of Oak Ridge. The charges stem from an October 6th, 2010 incident in which Harris and Conley are accused of forcing their way in to the home of Tommy Spicer on Latimer Road and robbing him of prescription medication at gunpoint. Sprague is accused of going to the home earlier in the day, purchasing pills and then sending a text message describing where they were kept to Harris and Conley. All four suspects fled the scene in a car but were arrested a short time later in Roane County.
AC Mayor Summarizes Bond Spending, Says Commission ‘Frugal’
Anderson County Mayor Myron Iwanski has penned a letter to members of the County Commission and the media giving an update on the projects being funded by the bond resolution approved earlier this year. That $14.75 million bond was to be used on constructing, renovating and equipping the overcrowded jail; constructing, repairing and renovating the Courthouse and other public buildings; purchasing equipment for public works and public safety personnel and construction and improvements to roads and sidewalks. The complete letter is available on our website’s Local Information News page but in it, Mayor Iwanksi says that so far the main jail expansion project is on target budget- and time-wise. Architectural firm Michael Brady Inc. estimates that the project will cost $9.9 million plus their $597,000 fee and Iwanski estimates that the design phase will be finished shortly and the contract to build the expansion will be put out for bid this summer. Iwanski says that because of the scope of the jail expansion, officials have set aside a $500,000 contingency fund in case of cost overruns. That money can be re-allocated if there are no overruns at the end of the project. Construction of a $1.7 million jail dormitory is expected to be completed this summer and remain within its budget constraints. Other proceeds from the bond included $500,000 to purchase and equip 18 new Sheriff’s vehicles; $126,000 for replacing the leaky roof on the Courthouse and $115,000 in miscellaneous purchases of equipment such as new boilers at the jail, park equipment, computer equipment and sheriff’s radio equipment just to name a few. Original estimates for repairing the roof at the Health Department came in at $150,000 but the county was able to keep the cost down to $65,000 for that work and under $20,000 to replace failing HVAC equipment. Those expenditures, according to Iwanski’s figures, leave the county with $868,214 for other capital projects over the next three years not counting the $500,000 contingency fund. Iwanski recommends using a portion of the bond funds to aid with the relocation of the Glen Alpine Convenience Center, repairing the existing elevator in the Courthouse and adding a second one and setting aside some to cover replacement and other costs associated with the cooling units at the Jolley Building. Iwanski says that he believes the County Commission has been “very frugal” with how it has managed the funds and that what they have been used for is consistent with the original intent of the bond resolution. Again, the complete letter is available on the Local Information News page of our website.
Letter from Mayor Iwanski to County Commissioners
“Commissioners, Since it has been about 6 months since the bond resolution for $14,750,000 was approved for the General Fund I thought it would be helpful to give you an update on where we stood on the projects that County Commission has approved for funding -- and some recommendations on how to manage the remaining funds from this bond issue. First, as a reminder, the scope of projects in this bond issue that was approved on August 15, 2011 by County Commission included:
The attached table is a summary of the project funds approved or reserved, the actual or estimated costs for each project, and the status of committed funds from the bond issue. To further explain this table:
Thus so far the total funding approved or reserved as detailed above is $13,822,217. This leaves $868,214.64 for other capital projects over the next three years plus another $500,000 if we do not use the funds reserved for extra jail contingency. The following is a summary of the three remaining larger capital projects that I recommend some of these remaining funds be used for;
As the larger projects are completed, and consistent with how County Commission has funded the miscellaneous smaller capital projects over the last 6 months, I suggest continuing to fund projects out of the Bond funds rather than the Undesignated Reserve Fund. This should allow our Undesignated Reserve Fund to build to $4 million level over the next three years. To accomplish this we must continue to be very careful in how we spend these Bond funds. In summary, I believe County Commission has been very frugal in how it has managed the General Fund Bond Funds:
BCSO Tentatively IDs Teens Killed By Train
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office has tentatively identified the victims of Saturday’s (3/31) train accident in the Binfield community. The two William Blount High School students were identified through wallets found at the scene as well as tattoos. They have been tentatively identified as 18-year-old Jessie Hines Jenkins of Friendsville and 17-year-old Kevin Ray Stinnett of Maryville. Autopsies were performed on both young men Monday at the UT Forensics Center and the Sheriff’s Office says it is waiting for verification from UT on dental records before a final, positive identification can be made. The teens were killed early Saturday when they were struck by a CSX freight train at around 1:40 am near Clover Hill and Binfield Roads. While authorities say they are not sure why Jenkins and Stinnett were on the tracks friends and neighbors say the teens—described as best friends—often went coon hunting at night and regularly walked on the tracks. The train had two locomotives and was pulling 68 cars on its way from Cincinnati to North Carolina and required about a mile to come to a complete stop.
Whitt Indicted On Rape, Burglary Charges
A Clinton man was arraigned last week in Anderson County Criminal Court on charges of rape and aggravated burglary. 36-year-old Myron Scottie Whitt remains in custody at the Anderson County Jail and was indicted in February by an Anderson County grand jury in connection to an incident that occurred in Clinton in May of last year. Whitt—a former Clinton High School football standout who has been in and out of jail since his playing days ended—is accused of entering a woman’s house without permission on West Broad Street in Clinton and asking her for a cigarette. He then allegedly exposed himself, forced her into another room and raped her. He was apprehended a short time later asleep in a car near the crime scene. He had been out of prison on parole following convictions in drug-related charges at the time of the alleged assault and the state revoked his parole following the incident.
3rd Suspect In 2011 OS Stabbing Indicted
The lone female suspect in the death of an Oliver Springs man in what authorities called a drug deal gone bad was indicted in February on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. 31-year-old Tristan Dayon of Maine is in custody at the Anderson County Jail on a $500,000 bond. Two men were also indicted previously in the death of 55-year-old Paul Edward Cuthbertson, which occurred on May 5th, 2011 outside his home in the Green Acres Trailer Park. 28-year-old transient Scott Benjamin Pike and 22-year-old Ronnie Blake Hamrick of Oliver Springs also face charges of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. Pike remains in custody at the Anderson County Jail while Hamrick is free on bond. Last year, a judge dismissed all charges against Dayon while sending reduced charges to the grand jury against Pike and Hamrick for their consideration but the grand jury indicted all three on the more serious charges. Oliver Springs Police reported at the time of the murder that the trio had met Cuthbertson at a Laundromat in Oliver Springs and gone to his house to buy drugs when Pike allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed Cuthbertson six times. Cuthbertson died on the way to the hospital.
CPD Investigating Metal Theft
Clinton Police are investigating the theft of scrap metal from SL America. Officers were called to the company’s facility on Frank Diggs Drive early Sunday morning by a pair of employees who reported seeing a pickup truck pull into the parking lot at around 2 am. The two workers told police that the occupants of the truck had gotten out and started taking scrap metal from a dumpster and placing it in the bed of the pickup. A second truck arrived a short time later and the suspects continued placing the metal into both vehicles. The two workers approached one of the men, who said he had permission from a supervisor at SL America to take the metal but could not provide an individual’s name. Shortly after that conversation, the three suspects—two men and a woman—left the property. The value of the scrap metal was estimated at a little over $500. The witnesses provided officers with one of the truck’s license plate numbers and investigators are following up on that lead.
Powell Woman Indicted In AC
A Powell woman was recently indicted for allegedly stealing over $60,000 worth of jewelry from her mother, including a diamond ring that had been in the family for generations. The victim told an Anderson County Sheriff's deputy that she had hidden more than $100,000 worth of jewelry in a lockbox inside a Ford pickup truck because of daughter Dawn Marie Tilson-Conner's alleged drug abuse. Tilson-Conner, 37, is accused of stealing other items from her mother's Powell home, including a set of collectible Barbie dolls. Those burglaries occurred in August 2010. Tilson-Conner is also charged in a burglary from a home on Old Clinton Highway where jewelry, cash, an antique rifle and medication were stolen in September of 2010. Tilson-Conner was indicted March 20th by an Anderson County grand jury and will be arraigned April 13th in Criminal Court.
Sheriff’s Office Expanding Text-a-Tip To Include TipSoft Alerts
Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong has announced that the Sheriff’s Office is expanding the Text-a-Tip system to include the TipSoft alert system. All Blount County law enforcement, as well as all school systems in the county, is participating in TipSoft. TipSoft is a text messaging system and e-mail alert service, similar to the reverse 911 system, that allows law enforcement to communicate with the public via text messages and/or e-mails alerts regarding events in certain areas of Blount County, such as crime, fugitives, Amber Alerts, and other emergencies. TipSoft is currently active and ready for use, but users must register for the service at www.tipsoft.com, and clicking the link for the Citizen Sign Up page. Citizens can sign up for alerts that affect the area where they live, or can choose the option for all alerts affecting Blount County. The Blount County Communications Center will serve as a clearing house for the TipSoft alerts. “The TipSoft messaging system will be a great way to get information out quickly, and in real time,” Sheriff Berrong said. “Almost everyone has a cell phone now, while at the same time, people are doing away with traditional land telephone lines. TipSoft will help not only law enforcement, but the citizens of Blount County as well.” TipSoft is an extension of Text-A-Tip, which was implemented in all Blount County high schools in February of 2010, and in the county’s middle schools in February of this year. Text-a-Tip has proven to be a great prevention tool, and law enforcement has seen a decrease in drug and other criminal activity on the county’s school campuses. Both Text-a-Tip and TipSoft are at no cost to the citizens of Blount County, and are funded through a grant provided by the Blount County Substance Abuse Prevention Action Team, which is under the direction of the Blount Memorial Foundation and Community Outreach. The Sheriff’s Office is proud and excited for the opportunities afforded to the community because of their gracious funding, Sheriff Berrong said. "The Substance Abuse Prevention Action Team is very pleased to partner with the BCSO in this prevention effort and encourage all citizens to take advantage of this new technology," said Judy Clabough, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Blount Memorial Foundation and Community Outreach. Blount County is the first county in Tennessee to implement TipSoft. Anyone with any questions regarding either the Text-a-Tip or TipSoft systems can reach Sgt. Jeff Hicks at (865)273-5354.
ACSD Charges 3 In December Claxton Robbery
Three men have been arrested in connection to an armed robbery that occurred in December in Claxton. At approximately 7:45 am on December 1st, 2011, a 68 year old woman was robbed at gunpoint as she left her home on Foust Carney Road. Three men, one armed with a handgun, took her purse that contained jewelry and other items. The suspects fled on foot but were not located after a search. After a lengthy investigation by the Anderson County Sheriff’s department, three people have been charged in the case. 32-year-old Terry Allen Giles of Powell, 20-year-old Jeffrey Lynn Stotelmyer and 21-year-old Randall Scott Henderson, both of Andersonville, have all been charged with Aggravated Robbery and Theft of Property between $10,000 and $59,999. Giles was arrested Thursday (3/29) while Stotelmyer and Henderson were taken into custody on Wednesday (3/28). All three are being held in the Anderson County Detention Facility. Bond for Giles has been set at $400,000.00. Bonds are pending for Stotelmyer and Henderson.
BCSO: 2 Jailed On Meth Charges
Two people were jailed on meth-related charges Thursday (3/29) following the discovery of a meth lab at a mobile home in Maryville. 27-year-old David Shayne Parrott of Maryville was charged with maintaining a dwelling where controlled substances are manufactured or used. 56-year-old Gina Gail Bishop of Maryville was charged with promoting the manufacture of methamphetamine. No bond amounts or court dates had been set Thursday night. Investigators with the 5th Judicial Drug Task Force were called to a residence in the Kensington Mobile Home Park on Dewberry Drive shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday, where they discovered several chemicals and components used in meth production. A separate dump site was also found near the trailer where discarded components were located. The Blount County Fire Department and Rural/Metro Ambulance Service arrived to decontaminate Parrott and Bishop at the scene before they were taken to the Blount County Jail. The home was quarantined and the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force arrived to dispose of the components.
Letters Sent To Sinking Springs Property Owners Over Zoning Issue
About two dozen property owners on Sinking Springs Road have recently received letters concerning how their properties are zoned. Officials in the Anderson County Public Works Department tell us that it recently came to their attention that the parcels in question are currently zoned for commercial rather than residential purposes. They are looking into how these properties came to be zoned for commercial use and say that it is likely an error somewhere in the system. The letter encourages the homeowners to apply for their properties to be rezoned for several reasons, chiefly that while Tennessee state law does allow for homes on commercial land to be repaired in the event of damage, it does not guarantee individuals the right to rebuild their home on land zoned for commercial use in the event that it is destroyed. The zoning snafu can also create problems with homeowner’s insurance or refinancing as well as place limits on what modifications homeowners can make to their properties. The letter states that rezoning their properties from C-1 to A-2 (rural residential) will give the owners more options on the use of their land as well as simplifying the process to make those changes. Homeowners are encouraged to get in touch with the Public Works office by April 30th to get the process started and officials told us this week that process will be very easy for the homeowner as the rezoning requests will be presented as a block to county planners—who will likely recommend the rezoning—before being presented to the County Commission for its approval. It is not mandatory for homeowners to apply for rezoning but is being encouraged by county officials for the reasons listed above. The complete letter sent to the homeowners is posted on the Local Information News page of our website.
The following is the letter sent to property owners on Sinking Springs Road concerning the situation:
“Dear Property Owners: It has recently come to the attention of our office that your property, along with a multitude of surrounding properties, is currently zoned C-1 (General Commercial District) but is being used for residential purposes. If you intend on continuing to use your property for residential purposes, I would highly recommend that you contact me and apply for a rezoning of your properties to the A-2 (Rural Residential) zone. I make this suggestion for the following reasons:
I encourage you to consider rezoning your property. If you have any questions, concerns, or interest in this planning process, I encourage you to contact me by phone, email, or in person no later than April 30th, 2012. I would like to emphasize that if you, as a landowner, are not interested in rezoning your property at this time, our office will not further pursue it. We are simply offering it as an idea to further accommodate your planning and land use needs.”
Training Grant Awarded To OR Business
(State of Tennessee) Governor Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development Commissioner Karla Davis have awarded $21,680 to Protomet Corporation in Oak Ridge. “If Tennessee is going to become the number one location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs, then we must offer a well-trained workforce to employers,” said Governor Haslam. “This kind of training grant not only helps educate workers, but also provides incentive to employers looking to relocate or expand in Tennessee.” In their application for the grant, Protomet Corporation stated this grant will improve company processes by ensuring proper preventative maintenance is performed. With less downtime and maintenance cost they will be able to reduce cost to clients and grow sales, which will result in layoff avoidance. The East Tennessee Human Resource Agency played a key role in awarding the grant to Protomet Corporation. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development administers the Incumbent Worker Training program, which has been structured to be flexible to meet the business's training objectives. The business may use public, private, or its own in-house training provider based on the nature of the training. The following criteria must be met to qualify for the Incumbent Worker Training Program. Employers must be in operation in Tennessee for at least one year prior to application date. Employers must have at least five full-time employees, demonstrate financial viability and be current on all state tax obligations. Funding priority is given to businesses whose grant proposals represent a significant layoff avoidance strategy and represent a significant upgrade of skills.
Maryville Woman Killed In Motorcycle/Truck Collision
The Tennessee Highway Patrol says that a Blount County woman was killed Wednesday morning (3/28) when her motorcycle collided head-on with a pickup truck. Troopers say that 44-year-old Waynanne Suttles of Maryville had been headed south on US Highway 129 at around 11:45 am Wednesday when she crossed the double yellow line on a curve near Old Railroad Bed Road and collided head-on with a northbound 2005 Chevy pickup driven by 44-year-old Michael Anthony of Madisonville. Suttles was wearing her helmet but died in the accident. Anthony, who was wearing his seatbelt, was not injured. The accident report says there were no signs that either driver was under the influence but standard tests were ordered. No citations or charges are expected to be filed.
OR Teachers Seeking Pay Raises
Officials with the Oak Ridge Education Association presented their budget request to Oak Ridge School Board members on Monday (3/26). Teachers in the system are asking for 2.5 percent pay raises as well as an additional day off the day before Thanksgiving and a one-time bonus of $100 per year of service to teachers upon their retirement with a cap of $3000. City officials said this week that funding the request would mean the equivalent of a seven-cent increase in city property taxes. City Manager Mark Watson has let city department heads know not to expect an increase in funding this year as they begin to prepare their budget requests for the new fiscal year that begins on July 1st.
State Fines Premium Coal Over January Discharge
The state has fined a coal company $50,000 for improperly discharging 1 million gallons of untreated water and coal waste into the New River from its coal treatment plant in the Devonia community in Anderson County in January and not reporting it, which officials called the most troubling aspect of the incident. According to an order by Commissioner Robert J. Martineau Jr. of the Department of Environment and Conservation, Premium Coal Co. faces $146,000 in further fines for non-compliance of regulations. The company has told investigators that the discharge occurred for 12 hours Jan. 3. The discharge coated rocks and plants downstream for several miles and left iron deposits and suspended solids in the water for several weeks. State officials have said drinking water was not affected. State environmental officials said that a discharge pipe for a large impoundment pond where coal slurry settles was set too low and that heavy rains pushed the pond level up, allowing over a million gallons of untreated water and coal waste to spill into the waterway. Officials said that a new discharge pipe was being installed at the time but said that the company did a poor job of managing the transition from the old pipe to the new one. The facility was shut down for several weeks but was allowed to resume operations early last month by federal regulators. The New River is considered "Exceptional Tennessee Waters" because it's home to the threatened Ashy Darter and the Cumberland Rosemary, according to the state order. The company has 30 days to appeal the order, which was signed March 21st.
Blount Man Pleads To Child Rape
A Blount County man pleaded guilty Monday (3/26) to charges of raping a child and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. 62-year-old Floyd Noah Jr. of Maryville was indicted last year in charges that he had repeatedly abused the six-year-old granddaughter of his longtime, live-in girlfriend. Alcoa Police say they were called in to investigate by DCS after the girl told a friend she was being abused. During an interview with investigators at the New Hope Child Advocacy Center in Maryville, she reported that Noah had been abusing her for several months without knowledge of her parents or grandmother and that Noah would give her “rewards” to keep her quiet. Noah’s sentence contains no possibility for parole or early release.
Search Underway For New OR School Chief
During a work session Monday (3/26), members of the Oak Ridge School Board agreed that they prefer to use either a professional search firm or the Tennessee School Boards Association to conduct the search for a new Superintendent to succeed Tom Bailey, who is retiring after ten years as Oak Ridge schools’ chief at the end of this year. The timeline for finding Bailey’s replacement remains uncertain as some board members worry that it could be difficult to find a highly-qualified candidate for the position in the middle of the school year. If the Board opts to wait until July of next year to hire a new superintendent, someone from within the system would likely be appointed to serve on an interim basis. Another workshop will be held soon as Board members continue to examine their options.
2 Jailed After Violent Robbery
Two teenagers were arrested by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department last week after they allegedly beat a woman during a robbery at her home on Blowing Springs Road on March 18th. The 55-year-old victim told police that a suspect later identified as 18-year-old Tyler Scott Gallaher came to her back door on the 18th and asked if she was selling her car. While they spoke, a suspect later identified as 19-year-old Chad Ryan Chase allegedly came up from behind her and hit her on the head with a rock. She said that the attack continued while Gallaher ran inside the house and that Chase had hit her several times in the face and head. She told deputies that she had tried to press a panic button on a necklace she was wearing but that Chase had pushed her to the ground and tried to choke her with the necklace. After Gallaher exited the home, the two men fled. Deputies determined that the men had gotten a ride to an area near the woman’s home and had been dropped off at a nearby church. They spoke with the female driver and a male passenger, who told them that Chase and Gallaher had been wearing latex gloves when they got out of the car and that they were gone for about half an hour before they returned and Chase allegedly laughed about hitting the woman. The victim was taken to Methodist Medical Center for treatment of injuries to her head, face, ribs and back. Chase and Gallaher were arrested separately in Oak Ridge early on the morning of the 19th and remain in custody at the Anderson County Jail as of this morning on charges of especially aggravated robbery and aggravated assault.
BCSO Gains Re-Accreditation
(BCSO) Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong announced today (3/26) the Sheriff's Office has been granted re-accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). The announcement was made recently in Mobile, Alabama, at CALEA's spring conference. Approximately 85 law enforcement agencies throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico attended. This is the Blount County Sheriff's Office third re-accreditation. The re-accreditation was approved by CALEA after it sent an assessment team to the Sheriff's Office in December to examine the Sheriff's Office's operations for compliance with CALEA criteria. The Sheriff's Office was initially approved for accreditation in March 2003, and received re-accreditation in March 2006, and March 2009. Accredited law enforcement agencies undergo re-accreditation every three years. The Blount County Sheriff's Office is one of five sheriff's offices in Tennessee to be accredited through CALEA. "Accreditation assures the citizens of this community that we are providing the most professional law enforcement services possible," Sheriff Berrong said. "A lot of very hard work goes into the process, but we are a better agency because of it. I am very proud of our deputies." CALEA was established in 1979 to establish an accreditation process that provides law enforcement services an opportunity to voluntarily demonstrate they meet an established set of professional standards. This body of standards is designed to increase law enforcement agency capabilities to prevent and control crime, as well as improve agency effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of law enforcement services. These standards also increase cooperation and coordination with other law enforcement agencies, and raise citizen and employee confidence in departmental goals, objectives, policies, and practices.
OR Woman Indicted On Murder Charges
In March 2012, the Anderson County Grand Jury returned a multi-count indictment for Valerie Stenson, 208 Teller Village Lane, Oak Ridge, who was charged with First Degree Murder, Aggravated Child Abuse and Child Neglect. These charges were based on an investigation initiated by the Oak Ridge Police Department in April 2011, in connection with the death of her 18 month old granddaughter, Manhattan Inman. Police launched an investigation because the circumstances surrounding the child's death were deemed suspicious, Police Chief James Akagi said. One of the child abuse indictments alleges that on April 15, 2011, Stenson treated the toddler in such a manner to cause "serious bodily injury.'' On March 21, 2012 at 4:15PM, Oak Ridge Police Department Investigators and Patrol Personnel took Ms. Stenson into custody, without incident, at her residence in Teller Village, after which she was then transported to the Anderson County Detention Facility. At last check, she remained in custody on a $1 million bond.
ORPD Clears Officers Accused In Road Rage Incident
The Oak Ridge Police Department has concluded its investigation of two officers allegedly involved in a “road rage” incident in Knoxville last December. “Both officers involved were on duty and operating in their official capacities as Peace Officers when the incident occurred; contrary to what was earlier reported in area newspapers” stated Chief of Police James Akagi. Akagi did not specify what those official capacities may have been. Two exhaustive investigations were conducted by the Knoxville and Oak Ridge Police Departments, and overseen by the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office, which determined both officers acted within the confines of local ordinances and state statutes and broke no laws. Additionally, the Oak Ridge Police Department scrutinized if any Departmental regulations were violated. Chief Akagi added this investigation revealed both officers acted within the scope of Oak Ridge Police Department policy, consistent with their training and experience. He also stated both officers acted reasonably and should be commended for exhibiting remarkable restraint in how they dealt with Mr. Timothy Estep, who displayed menacing and threatening behavior when he confronted the officers. Estep had accused officers Roy Heinz and Bill Weaver of attempting to pull out in front of him while exiting the Waffle House parking lot on Papermill Road. Estep says that when both vehicles stopped at a light, the occupants of both vehicles had gotten out of their cars and that one of the officers had pulled a gun on him. Neither officer was disciplined and both have been restored to full duty status with no restrictions.
B&W Y-12 Releases Community Investment Report
B&W Y-12, the managing contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., recently released its 2011 Community Investment Report, published annually to summarize corporate and employee philanthropic activities. The report is distributed to several hundred stakeholders, from the local community up to Congress and the Department of Energy. B&W Y-12 is the second-largest manufacturing facility in East Tennessee, employing 4,600 people directly, in addition to subcontractors, and 2011 highlights include:
The report is online at http://www.y12.doe.gov/community/. If you would like a copy mailed to you, or would like to discuss our community involvement further, please contact Y-12 Public Affairs at 865-574-1640.
Maryville Soldier Receives Purple Heart
A Maryville soldier was honored with a Purple Heart delivered by President Barack Obama. Army Master Sgt. Michael Trost is now at Walter Reed Hospital, fighting to be able to walk. During his many surgeries, the endless support from loved ones and strangers is what keeps him smiling. But his visit from President Obama will also leave a lasting impression. He said when he gets down about his recovery, he doesn't have to go far to realize he's one of the luckier ones. The soldier is determined to recover as fast as possible so he can welcome his team of soldiers when they return from Afghanistan.
La Follette Couple Files Lawsuit
A La Follette couple is suing the Campbell County Sheriff's Office after one of its former detectives crashed his truck into their home last fall. Robert Hatfield and his wife, Janice, filed a negligence and assault lawsuit Wednesday in Campbell County Circuit Court in connection to the Sept. 5, 2011, incident at their home. Sheriff Robbie Goins fired former Chief Deputy Jonathan Finley and former Detective Jason Henegar after authorities say Henegar crashed his truck into the home at about midnight Sept. 5. Authorities have said they believe alcohol was a factor in the wreck. Henegar was fired Sept. 6. Goins fired Finley a day later. The sheriff has said Finley violated office policy. The Hatfields claim that Henegar was abruptly removed without explanation from the scene and his truck towed away, leaving them with a huge hole in the front wall and plenty of unanswered questions Janice Hatfield was watching TV on a love seat when Henegar's truck plowed through the wall and struck her. She suffered a fractured clavicle. Although prosecutors recommended charges and presented evidence against both former employees to a Campbell County grand jury in early December, jurors returned no true bill for either of them.
Possible Airport In Oak Ridge The City of Oak Ridge may soon get an airport. Yesterday the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority's Board of Commissioners voted to take the next step in the planning process. They voted to commission a study looking at demand and community support for the airport. The Department Of Energy intends to donate the land at the proposed site. The board heard five proposals at the meeting, and voted to proceed with contractor's recommendation of putting the airport at the old K-25 site, currently the home of the Heritage Center. Clinton's Hoskins Drug Store Awarded Grant
Clinton's Hoskins Drug Store received $2,500 grant from Save Our Signs. This grant is to be used towards the complete restoration of a free-standing neon sign. The second location of Hoskins opened in 1947, and was known as "the drug store of tomorrow." At the time it was unusual to do one-stop shopping. The drug store offered a pharmacy, a soda fountain and a beauty shop under one roof, along with selling fresh produce, gifts and sundries. Owner R.C. Hoskins provided fruit, vegetables and meats from his family's 400-acre farm in Anderson County. To help advertise the drug store and restaurant, a free-standing neon sign that read "Hoskins Restaurant – Good Food" was erected beside the building. Now the neon tubes are broken and the colorful paint scheme is faded and chipped. The grant will pay for a portion of the sign's restoration, including new painted surfaces and all new neon lighting. Save Our Signs grant applications are reviewed quarterly by a panel of local representatives. The maximum matching grant is $2,500.
Blount County Woman Pleads Guilty
A Blount County woman arrested on a gun possession charge while visiting New York City has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Meredith Graves, a registered nurse from Louisville, was spared jail time under the plea deal. She pleaded guilty Monday to criminal possession of a weapon. She was originally charged with felony gun possession; Graves posted a $2,000 bond and faced a minimum sentence of 3½ years in prison after reportedly requesting to check her loaded, .32-caliber handgun with police at the World Trade Center Memorial back on Dec. 22
ANDERSON COUNTY WOMAN CHARGED WITH TENNCARE FRAUD An Anderson County woman is charged with TennCare fraud for using TennCare benefits to pay for what officials say was a fraudulent prescription. The Office of Inspector General (OIG), with the assistance of the Anderson County Sheriff, today announced the arrest of Sylvia R. Wills Sharp, 21, of Clinton. Sharp has been charged with three counts of TennCare fraud for allegedly using TennCare benefits to obtain prescription drugs by means of concealment of material facts and false statements. The drugs involved were the painkiller Oxycodone and Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication. Sharp is currently being held in the Anderson County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bond. Maryville Fines Pellissippi State Over Discharge
The city of Maryville has fined Pellissippi State Community College $40,000 over an unauthorized discharge of coolant chemicals into the city sewer system from the college’s Blount County campus. The discharges occurred over a four-day period between March 5th and 8th, according to city officials. School officials said Thursday that they are currently reviewing their options. Danny Kimsey, the city’s environmental compliance officer says that employees at the campus located on Lamar Alexander Parkway knowingly disposed of glycol from the school’s HVAC system even after being told in December that such a discharge was illegal and would not be allowed. Kimsey says he told Alan Carpenter, PSCC’s HVAC supervisor, in December that glycol was considered a prohibited substance and that dumping the chemicals into the sewer system could possibly cause problems at the city wastewater treatment plant. On March 8th Kimsey received an anonymous tip from a citizen who told him that school maintenance personnel were draining coolant from the HVAC system into the sewer system and he went to investigate. Kimsey reported seeing water draining from a pipe into a floor drain and asked Carpenter about it. Carpenter confirmed that it was coming from the HVAC system and told Kimsey that he had been told by his supervisor, director of facilities Dave Walton, to have the system drained and recharged to replace glycol that was no longer functioning as it should. Based on those instructions, Carpenter had the school’s water treatment contractor come in to begin a trickle discharge of about 450 gallons of glycol from the system into the sewer. The school has 30 days to appeal the $10,000 a day fine.
PlanET Unveils Draft Of ‘Existing Conditions Memo’
(PlanET) Plan East Tennessee, or PlanET, recently conducted its first series of consortium “working groups,” including scores of people across the region with specific technical knowledge or interest in each of the five focus areas that PlanET’s regional plan will address: jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment and community health. PlanET is a regional partnership of communities building a shared direction for the future of Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties. The working groups, meeting for the first time in late February, will help inform PlanET’s “Existing Conditions Memo” – a snapshot of how the five-county region exists today in all five focus areas, providing a basis of needs assessment for the future. A full working draft of the Existing Conditions Memo is available online (www.planeasttn.org). While the Existing Conditions Memo addresses key findings about the region as a whole, it also identifies similarities and differences between the five counties and, in some cases, individual communities within those counties as well. “We want to take situational factors currently in play throughout the region and synthesize them into a broader ‘Livability Report’ for the region, which we are working on this spring,” said Mark Donaldson, director of the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission. According to Donaldson, the Livability Report will serve as the foundation for a regional strategic action plan to be developed in 2012-2013. At a regional level, several key highlights of the Existing Conditions Memo include the following: ECONOMY AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT The PlanET region has a larger proportion of higher-skill jobs than Tennessee as a whole, but it lags behind the national average. Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) training and continuing education are increasingly important for the region’s high-skill jobs. HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS While housing costs generally are affordable within the region, combined transportation and housing costs are very unaffordable for many families in the PlanET region. The region’s rental market remains strong amid a regional residential construction / sales market that has declined sharply during the economic recession. However, regional housing demand is projected to increase, with the University of Tennessee’s Center for Business and Economic Research estimating a regional population increase of more than 27 percent in the next two decades. TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE The PlanET region has a high rate of single-occupancy vehicle use, and a large percentage of the region’s workforce commutes to another county in the region for employment. Rising transportation costs have outpaced regional household income growth, largely due to increased gas prices. Opportunities exist for new residential and mixed-use development in Knoxville and other parts of the region, such as the UT campus and Market Street areas in Knoxville and areas like Maryville as well as Jackson Square in Oak Ridge. ENVIRONMENT Among some of the PlanET region’s environmental challenges are air quality, water supply (particularly during severe droughts), non-native plant/animal species, and some impaired lands (brownfields). The region has an extensive green infrastructure system that contains forests and woodlands, waterways, and public and private open space – all important resources for environmental benefits, recreational opportunities and contributors to the region’s identity. Preservation of agriculture and farmland is challenged, given that farms in the PlanET region generally are growing smaller, and the amount of land devoted to farming has decreased by 15 percent during the past 20 years. HEALTHY COMMUNITIES With Knox County as the medical center of the region, the full PlanET area has several medically-underserved areas, such as Union County not having a hospital facility and low-income residents in Anderson and Knox counties not having good access to dental care. Residents living in the region’s middle-income households are more likely not to have health insurance than those in lower-income households. Health problems in the region include asthma (the region has been named the nation’s top “asthma capital” for several years over the past decade), obesity (the Centers for Disease Control cited growth of the region’s obese adults population from 26 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2008), diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. While the PlanET region contains a world-class system of destination-oriented state and federal parks and recreational opportunities, local parks are not evenly distributed throughout the region, with local parks constituting only nine percent of the region’s parkland, located mainly in Anderson and Knox counties (Union County has no local parkland at all). The working groups will meet again in the May-June 2012 timeframe, followed by three other meetings from fall 2012 to fall 2013. They will continue helping to prioritize issues, identify opportunities and challenges, and look for ways to implement ideas as part of the regional planning process. About PlanET Plan East Tennessee (PlanET) is a regional partnership of communities building a shared direction for the future of Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties. PlanET seeks ideas about preserving valuable resources and addressing challenges regarding jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment, and community health. The goal: to create long-term solutions for investments in the region and to define the next chapter in the region’s rich history, leaving a legacy of optimism and opportunity for future generations. PlanET is overseen by the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) and managed through the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), through a grant awarded from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program.
CPD Offers Online, Phone Scam Prevention Tips
In an effort to prevent online scams and other internet crimes, the Clinton Police Department is offering tips online. Visit www.clintontn.net/Police/index.htm and you will find internet crime prevention tips dealing with topics such as auction fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, those infamous letters from “Nigerian princes” and a host of others. That link also provides you with a link to a joint venture of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center called the “Internet Crime Complaint Center” where you can file a complaint about suspected internet crime. The site also features a printable pamphlet that you can keep by your phone or computer with a list of things to do and no to do when confronted by a suspected scammer as well as a list of resources to learn more about how to avoid falling victim to scam artists. You can find a link to the CPD’s website on our website.
Serial Bank Robber Pleads Guilty
A serial bank robber who hit banks in three different East Tennessee counties between August of 2011 and January of this year pleaded guilty to all three robberies in US District Court on Tuesday (3/13). William Steven Curtis will be sentence don those charges on June 12th. Curtis admitted during Tuesday’s hearing that he robbed the Home Federal Bank in Pigeon Forge in August, the TN Bank in Oak Ridge in November and the Tennessee State Bank in Jefferson City in January. During an interrogation by the FBI, Curtis reportedly admitted to robbing the Citizens Bank of Blount County branch on Kingston Pike in Knoxville in November but he was not charged in that case. Prosecutors say that in at least two of the robberies—in which no one was hurt, Curtis gave the tellers a note indicating that he needed the money because his wife had left with their children.
LC Man Pleads To Assault, Civil Rights Charges
A Lake City man pleaded guilty in Anderson County Monday (3/12) to civil rights intimidation and aggravated assault charges. Ricky Lynn Hawkins was sentenced to eight years on the aggravated assault charge, five years on the civil rights charge and an additional year for a previous attack on victim Michael Gipson. Those sentences will run concurrently and Hawkins will be placed on supervised probation after serving 90 days in jail. Hawkins was also ordered to pay Gipson’s medical bills and take anger management classes. Hawkins was charged in July of 2010 with hitting Gipson on Main Street in Lake City and in October of that year, he was seen by a deputy chasing Gipson with a bat and hitting him twice. As he was taken into custody, Hawkins—who is white—yelled several racial slurs at Gipson—who is black. At the time of his arrest, Hawkins told officers he was a member of the white supremacist group the Aryan Nation and that he was mad because Gipson had dated a white woman who Hawkins was dating at the time and enjoyed taunting him about it.
ORNL Cuts 17 Jobs
Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials say that 17 workers in the lab’s neutron sciences division have received layoff notices. The layoffs are said to be part of the lab’s overall plan to reduce costs and streamline lab operations as they prepare for what are expected to be tight budgets over the next few years. As part of that initiative, about 250 lab employees applied for a voluntary separation program late last year and are now off the payroll. Officials say that this latest round of layoffs is not directly tied to budget cuts but are more about making sure they have the right mix of people and skills to work on the Spallation Neutron Source. Most of the layoffs are being made in the accelerator division and those associated with hardware operations at the SNS. Officials say that their efforts to cut overhead at ORNL have saved some $100 million over the past two years.
Eschenberg Named UPF Project Director
Monday (3/12), interim DOE-Oak Ridge Office manager John Eschenberg was named the federal project director for the multibillion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility—or UPF—at Y-12. The project is estimated to carry a price tag of anywhere between $4.2 and $6.5 billion and is the largest construction project in the history of Tennessee. The UPF has been called the cornerstone of efforts to modernize Y-12 as it would replace outdated production facilities that date back to the Cold War. The design phase is nearly complete and construction is expected to begin later this year. The National Nuclear Security Administration is making the new facility a priority and President Obama’s budget for Fiscal year 2013 contains about $340 million in additional money. Eschenberg came to Oak Ridge over two years ago to oversee the DOE’s environmental cleanup program, was later promoted to deputy manager of the Oak Ridge Office before being named interim manager. Eschenberg will begin his new duties with the UPF next month and Larry Kelly, currently the acting deputy manager of ORO will take over the manager’s spot until a permanent successor is named by the DOE.
Report: Wrongful Termination Suit Filed Against PCUD
According to the News-Sentinel, the whistleblower who notified the state of alleged financial misdeeds by the former president of the Powell Clinch Utility District has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that he was wrongfully fired last month after being the target of retaliation and harassment. David Kenton “Kent” Strunk, the utility’s former controller, filed the wrongful discharge suit in US District Court on Friday (3/9). The suit states that he notified the state Comptroller’s Office about alleged improprieties involving then-utility president Del Roberts and his use of a utility credit card in late 2009. That complaint led to an audit that has resulted in criminal charges against Roberts. Strunk’s lawsuit alleges that utility officials then began trying to identify the whistleblower. The suit claims that in an employee meeting in May of 2010, board chairman Charles Taylor said that the whistleblower would be fired when identified and that acting utility president Richard McIntosh told Strunk that he would be fired if it was discovered that he was the whistleblower. The suit further claims that an employee of the DA’s office inadvertently identified Strunk as the whistleblower and that shortly thereafter, McIntosh’s assistant began preparing a document containing what the suit calls exaggerated claims about Strunk’s job performance. The suit claims that after Robert Neil was hired as president in January of 2011, Neil gave Strunk his first-ever negative performance review. The lawsuit alleges that last month, Strunk was fired and that Neil had presented him with a separation agreement stating that he would forfeit over $15,000 in severance pay unless he agreed not to help the state prosecute claims of wrongdoing against the utility. Strunk refused and filed the suit last week. In the suit he asks to be reinstated, asks for unpaid overtime, unspecified punitive damages and the removal of Neil as utility president.
OR School Chief To Retire Dec. 31
Oak Ridge school superintendent Tom Bailey will retire at the end of the year after a 42-year career in education. Bailey has been the Oak Ridge school chief since 2002 and his contract dictates that he give the School Board six months’ notice in the event of his departure. He hand-delivered his retirement letter to School Board members earlier this week, stating that he wants to spend more time with his family and that he and his wife will move to Connecticut to be closer to their daughter and her family, including a new five-month-old granddaughter. The School Board will likely schedule a work session before their meeting later this month to begin discussing how to find his successor. Among the accomplishments of Bailey’s term are the massive renovation of Oak Ridge High School and the introduction of more technology in to the city’s schools.
Maryville Council OKs New Turf For High School
The Maryville City Council this week approved a measure to allow Maryville High School to replace the natural grass surface at its football field with artificial turf. The turf installation will cost somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000 and will be paid for in part through savings on current field maintenance. The field currently has serious drainage issues that prevent it from being used by other school groups.
Knox Woman Pleads To Anderson Robbery
A Knoxville woman pleaded guilty Wednesday (3/7) in Anderson County to charges that she was involved in a robbery at a Claxton drug store in December of 2010. 20-year-old Jillian Oliva Armas received five years in prison in exchange for her plea, which also calls for her to testify against her two co-defendants. Armas and the other two individuals robbed Mac’s Pharmacy on Edgemoor Road at knifepoint on December 27th of 2010 and are accused of robbing a CVS Pharmacy in Knoxville the following day. The robbers targeted prescription drugs. Armas has been in custody at the Anderson County Jail since October 31st.
AC Primary Results In Tuesday’s (3/6) primary election, Terry Frank defeated County Commissioner Tim Isbel for the Republican nomination for Anderson County Mayor. Frank, running for her first public office, garnered 4459 votes, or 68% of the vote to Isbel’s 2067, or 32%. She will face Democrat Warren Gooch in the August special election for the final two years of former Mayor Rex Lynch’s term. Lynch resigned in January of 2011 following his indictment on sales tax fraud and other charges and was replaced on an interim basis by Myron Iwanski. Gooch was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary and picked up 1019 courtesy votes. In the races for the nominations for Property Assessor, both candidates were unopposed and republican John Alley Jr. received 5115 courtesy votes and Democrat Rick Marlowe received 994. They will face one another in August to succeed Vernon Long, who is not seeking re-election. In the Presidential primary, Anderson County voters chose Rick Santorum as did the state of Tennessee. For results, visit www.acelect.com. BC Primary Results In Blount County on Tuesday (3/6), voters also selected Rick Santorum in the Republican primary for President. Locally, challenger Tim Helton unseated longtime Property Assessor Mike Morton in the Republican primary for that office with 5928 votes to Morton’s 5282 votes, a split of 53 to 47%. There is no Democrat on the ballot for the August election, so Helton will take office in September. Morton has served as Property Assessor since 2000. Helton is a former employee of the Property Assessor’s office but was one of five people let go last year as part of budget cuts. In other races, Division I Circuit Court Judge Tammy Harrington received 8404 courtesy votes in an unopposed race and will continue to serve in that post. District 1B County Commissioner Tab Burkhalter was unopposed and will continue to serve in the post to which he was appointed after receiving 394 courtesy votes. For results, visit www.blounttn.org/election. Knox Finance Director Headed To Alcoa
Knox County finance officer John Troyer has announced his departure from the Knox County government to the city of Alcoa, where he will serve as that city’s finance director. Troyer was appointed Knox County Finance Officer in 2007 in the wake of a scandal involving county government purchasing cards. Prior to that, he served as the county comptroller for six years. His last day on the job in Knox County will be April 13th, which he says will allow him time to finalize the county’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. In Knox County, Troyer is responsible for a $653 million budget and in his new position will be responsible for a budget of around $120 million.
THP: 1 Dead, 2 Hurt In AC Crash One driver was killed and another driver and her passenger were injured in a two-car wreck Saturday morning (3/3) in Anderson County according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The head-on collision occurred at around 11 a.m. at the intersection of Highway 25W and Pumphouse Road. Troopers reported that 58-year-old Eddie Rexx Raby of Clinton died in the crash and that the other driver, 64-year-old Evelyn l. Poore of Briceville, and 50-year-old passenger Rickey L. Poore of Briceville were injured. The THP reported that Raby's 1987 Honda Civic was southbound on Highway 25W, and it crossed the centerline and struck the northbound 2003 Ford Escape driven by Evelyn Poore. It is unclear if drugs or alcohol were involved but tests were requested. TBI IDs Dead Suspects In Shootout As Indiana Residents
The man and woman killed in a shootout with Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies have been identified as Indiana residents. The TBI says that 25-year-old Shanna Richardson and 32-year-old Michael J. Baker of Linton, Indiana were killed in the gunfight that occurred Wednesday afternoon in Claxton. The names of the deputies involved in the county’s first deputy-involved fatal shooting in almost 20 years have also not yet been released but they do remain on paid administrative leave while the TBI investigates the incident. As we have reported, Wednesday’s incident began in Lake City at around 10:45 am when the suspects drove off from the Pilot gas station after stealing almost $150 worth of gas for the stolen pickup truck they were in. The truck had been reported stolen the previous day from a veterinarian in Linton. The owner of the truck told police there that he had left a shotgun and a pistol in the vehicle along with drugs and syringes used for animals. A deputy located the truck about two hours after the gas drive-off on Raccoon Valley Road and a pursuit ensued, during which one of the suspects fired shots at the pursuing officer. The chase ended at the intersection of Old Emory Road and Blockhouse Valley Road in the parking of a Claxton Volunteer Fire Department station after the truck ran off the road after blowing a tire. A second, off-duty deputy arrived on the scene and a gunfight erupted during which Richardson was killed and Baker mortally wounded. He died later at UT Medical Center. The last fatal shooting by an Anderson County deputy occurred in May of 1992 when Robert Higgs Jr. shot and killed 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Jones while responding to a domestic disturbance on Island Ford Road. Higgs said Jones had threatened him with a cane and the case eventually led to a wrongful death lawsuit that was settled out of court. Higgs was later demoted and fired. In August of 2000, a deputy shot and wounded a man in the leg after he pointed a rifle at the two deputies near Bush Rd in the Marlow community. The last deputy killed in the line of duty was Deputy Ray Brown of Lake City. Deputy Brown, who was also a constable, was shot to death in the Fratersville community near Lake City in June 1981. His assailant was also shot and killed after an extensive manhunt. The most recent shooting of an Anderson County deputy was in April 1993 where Deputy David Louria was shot and wounded with a shotgun after being ambushed by two juveniles at an abandoned school on Sulphur Springs Rd near Clinton. The TBI is continuing their investigation in this case. The investigation will take several months to complete at which time it will be turned over to the District Attorney General for review. As soon as more information on Wednesday’s incident becomes available, we will pass it along to you.
Severe Weather Warnings Available To Clinton Residents
Wednesday’s (2/29) severe weather in East Tennessee spared us much of the damage that was seen in middle Tennessee, where three people were killed. In our listening area, Blount County seemed to have seen the most damage, with dozens of trees reported down, scattered power outages and some localized flooding but no injuries were reported locally. Today will be very nice with sunny skies and highs near 70, but more severe weather is possible late Friday into early Saturday. Officials recommend getting a weather radio to receive severe weather watches and warnings but if you live in the city of Clinton and do not have a weather radio, you can still receive those storm warning notifications. Simply visit the city’s website at www.clintontn.net and follow the links to the sign-up page for the Code RED system. All city residents’ land lines are included in the database to receive notifications in the event of emergencies such as major water problems, major fires and natural disasters just to name three but in order to receive severe weather messages, you will need to sign up for them. You can have those notifications sent to your cell phone or land line but only if you sign up. If you do not have internet access, you can call the Clinton Police Department Dispatch Center between 10 am and 5 pm weekdays to sign up for CodeRED emergency weather notifications.
2 Suspects Dead, No ACSD Deputies Hurt In Chase, Shootout
Two people are dead following a pursuit and shootout involving Anderson County Sheriff’s deputies. The incident began Wednesday morning (2/29) in Lake City when a man and a woman in a pickup truck drove off from the Pilot gas station in Lake City without paying for gas. A customer wrote down the truck’s license plate number and Lake City Police determined it had been reported stolen in Indiana. Officers searched for the vehicle in the I-75 area but were not able to locate it. The truck was BOLOed and around 1:00pm, the truck was spotted on Raccoon Valley Rd by a Sheriff’s deputy. He attempted to stop the vehicle but it fled from Raccoon Valley Rd onto Clinton Hwy and then onto West Wolf Valley Rd. From there the truck turned onto Old Emory Rd. At some point during the chase one of the suspects began shooting at the pursuing deputy. They ran off the road after blowing a tire near the intersection of Blockhouse Valley Rd. into the parking lot of the Claxton Fire Station. The suspects exited the truck and the TBI says that a shootout erupted in a nearby field between one of the suspects and the initial deputy who pursued the truck as well as a second deputy who had arrived to assist. Both suspects were shot. A woman died at the scene and a man died at UT Medical Center. Neither deputy was injured. Officials have not released the names of the dead or the deputies, both of whom have been placed on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated by the TBI as is standard procedure. Both have received initial critical incident stress debriefing and officials will provide resources such as counseling to ensure they are OK both physically and emotionally, according to Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Lucas, who also expressed gratitude to all the law enforcement agencies that came to assist. These included the Clinton Police Department, the Oak Ridge Police Department, the Knox County Sheriff's Office, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The Claxton Fire Department also assisted with traffic control and other duties at the scene. As more information becomes available we will pass it along to you.
PlanET Launches Free Online Town Hall
As Plan East Tennessee, or PlanET, broadens its 2012 regional planning efforts for Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties with continued community face-to-face dialogues, the initiative also has launched a free online town hall tool to spur citizen participation, “MindMixer.” A regional partnership of communities building a shared direction for the future, PlanET is seeking ideas about protecting valuable resources and addressing local challenges in five key areas: jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment and community health. “We have been pleased with the turnouts throughout the five counties to gather citizen input from all walks of life about the long-term direction of our regional community,” said Mayor Tom Taylor, City of Maryville, PlanET Board of Mayors Vice-Chair. “While our face-to-face input sessions are an ideal way to gather peoples’ ideas, we also offer a supplement to these in-person forums through our online town hall, MindMixer,” Mayor Taylor said. MindMixer is a virtual town hall forum that facilitates community planning dialogues online. Accessible through the PlanET website (http://engage.planeasttn.org/), anyone can join the dialogue and contribute ideas. “The PlanET virtual town hall is a great way for folks to weigh in with their own ideas, in their own words, about specific regional issues,” Mayor Taylor said. “For people with busy schedules who can’t attend a meeting, it provides terrific interactive access to the PlanET process of generating community input.” The online forum allows participants to help prioritize ideas by voting with “Love it!,” “Like It!,” “It’s OK,” or “Neutral” feedback buttons – with a certain number of points assigned to each level of feedback. This forum enables community-supported ideas to rise to the top of the discussion. Participants online also can earn their own points for a variety of prizes such as gift certificates and free passes by registering with MindMixer, contributing ideas, responding to others’ ideas, and referring friends to participate – making the system fun and motivational. Citizens also can view a schedule of all upcoming community events on PlanET’s online calendar, http://www.planeasttn.org/Participate/EventCalendar.aspx. “A big part of our goal with PlanET is to hear from a diverse and active base of citizens and organizations throughout the region and maintain their participation in this long-term planning effort,” Mayor Tom Beehan, City of Oak Ridge, PlanET Board of Mayor’s Chairperson said. “We want them to get fully engaged in this process and become active partners for the most ‘livable’ East Tennessee possible, from now through many decades in the future.” While a key result of PlanET centers on developing an actual plan for the region, one of the most important outcomes is to establish a committed coalition of leaders, organizations and individuals who will follow through the plan to implementation and continue regional involvement that extends beyond the 36-month PlanET project, Mayor Beehan said. According to Mayor Beehan, one of the most common misperceptions is that PlanET is simply a repeat of “Nine Counties, One Vision,” which isn’t accurate. Unlike “Nine Counties,” PlanET focuses on a more cohesive economic region – the Knoxville region, defined in part by worker commuting patterns showing a strong degree of economic interdependence across county lines. While “Nine Counties” was based on an immediate regional visioning process, PlanET is focused on long-term community involvement and actual implementation of a plan that will continue long after the three-year PlanET grant ends in 2013. Over the three-year PlanET process, which began in late summer 2011, three phases will lead to a targeted, meaningful outcome. Phase One (August 2011 – July 2012) will bring East Tennesseans together to establish a shared identity and vision. Phase Two (April 2012 – March 2013) will take that vision and will develop a shared direction with continued citizen input. Phase Three (January 2013 – December 2013) will produce and report the final product, again with continued citizen input, and focus on implementation activities. Plan East Tennessee (PlanET) is a regional partnership of communities building a shared direction for the future of Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and Union counties. PlanET seeks ideas about protecting valuable resources and addressing challenges regarding jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment, and community health. The goal: to create long-term solutions for investments in the region and to define the next chapter in the region’s rich history, leaving a legacy of optimism and opportunity for future generations. PlanET is overseen by the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission (MPC) and managed through the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), through a grant awarded from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program.
ACSD: 3 Charged With Arson, Attempted Murder
Three people are in custody following an investigation into an arson and attempted murder that occurred in January. The Anderson County Sheriff’s Office says that deputies were called to the Old Lake City Highway home of 73-year-old Luther Byrge on January 6th after a report of a suspicious fire. Investigators say that it appeared the fire had been set inside the residence but had extinguished itself, allowing Byrge to escape without injury. Following a lengthy investigation, detectives determined that Byrge’s stepson, 47-year-old Raymond Randolph Lane; his stepdaughter 50-year-old Dorothy Roxanna McFarland and her boyfriend 42-year-old David Lee Suddeth were all involved in setting the fire with Byrge inside the home in an attempt to kill him. The trio had been living with Byrge for several days after moving back from out of state. Lane is being held without bond in Roane County on unrelated charges but will face charges in Anderson County of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated arson, theft and a pending charge of animal cruelty. McFarland and Suddeth are each charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated arson and a charge of criminal responsibility is said to be pending against each of them as well. Suddeth also faces a theft charge. McFarland’s bond has been set at $200,000 while Suddeth’s is $203,000.
Box Tops Award Shared By Two AC Schools
Two schools finished in a dead heat – with barely a box top between them – as Ray Varner Ford announced a $5000 donation to Anderson County Schools Friday (2/17). The donation was part of the national "Ford Drives Box Tops" campaign, a partnership between Ford Motor Company and General Mills, and originally called for one winner and two runners up. “Andersonville Elementary School, with 333 students, and Dutch Valley Elementary School, with 134, came so close in their per capita totals we decided to award two first-place prizes and name one runner up,” Varner said. Both AES and DVES will receive a grand prize of $2000 in box tops, and both schools will have a pizza party personally delivered by Varner and his associates. There was a little more than one box top’s difference in the two schools’ totals: AES collected 18,150 box tops, or 54.5 box tops per student; DVES brought in 7,154, or 53.4 box tops per student. Fairview Elementary finished as runner-up, with 12, 487, or 46.2 box tops per student, and will receive $1000 in box tops. “We were astonished by the level of excitement and participation by the schools,” Varner said. “It shows how much our kids appreciate their education and want to do everything they can to build a better learning experience for everybody. I’m sure the pizza party prizes helped as well.” In addition to the donation by Ray Varner Ford, the competition resulted in nearly $9000 in General Mills box tops being collected at the elementary schools. “The resources the schools have are simply not enough to get our kids the education they deserve. Hopefully, what we’re doing can go a long way in getting them more of what they need,” Varner said. He initially announced participation in the Box Tops for Education program in November with an award of $4,000 to Anderson County Schools. The school system determined that the number of box tops each school turned in by Dec. 1 would be divided by the number of students enrolled. “We wanted to – literally – level the playing field,” explained Karen Bridgeman, ACS director of communications, who helped coordinate logistics for the school system. “With nine elementary schools that range from fewer than 120 to more than 600 students, it only seemed reasonable to give everyone a fair chance.” Other schools and their totals were: Briceville, 4683 box tops, 40 per student; Norris, 10,645, 37.1 per student; Grand Oaks, 8738, 33.2 per student; Claxton, 12,530, 20.8 per student; Lake City, 9,702, 20.3 per student; and Norwood, 3,876, 11.5 per student. A total of 87,965 box tops, with a value of $8,796.50 to the schools was reported after the Dec. 1 deadline. The funds can be used by the schools to purchase technology equipment and other items. In addition to local collections, online registration in Ford’s contest to “drive” dollars to schools earned extra “eBox Tops” for the schools and a chance at $25,000 in additional prizes. Ford, the first automotive company to partner with General Mills on its Box Tops for Education® initiative, hoped to generate $1 million in support for schools throughout the U.S. with the competition. Its online registration, which asked the participants to designate the schools to which credit was given, also entered the schools in another $20,000 grand prize drawing or one of five $1,000 drawings. Those results will be announced later this year.
AC Schools Announce Valedictorians, Salutatorians
(Submitted) Anderson County Schools named its 2012 valedictorians and salutatorians at the Board of Education meeting Feb. 9, taking note of an unusually close competition at Anderson County High School and recognizing newly-minted National Merit scholars at ACHS and Clinton High School. Director of Schools Larry Foster announced that Ethan Roeder, the CHS salutatorian, was named a National Merit finalist on Wednesday. He joins Emmalee Mariner of ACHS, a student member of the board of education, in achieving that distinction. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation says finalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors. Approximately 1.5 million high school juniors took the preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in 2010 to enter the competition. Ethan is the son of Dennis and Beth Roeder of Powell. He is the president of both the CHS Drama Club and the school’s chapter of the International Thespian Society. Ethan has been a member of the Sound Company Children’s Choir for nine years. He plans a college major in either musical theater or linguistics and literature. “With several auditions coming up in the next few weeks, he hasn’t yet made a decision about where he will study next year,” Foster said. Grace Long is the CHS valedictorian. She is the daughter of Darryl and Karen Long of Heiskell. Grace attended the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Sciences last summer. She was the drum major the CHS marching band and is president of National Honor Society. “Grace hopes to attend either Duke University or University of Virginia to pursue a career in civil engineering or architecture,” Foster said. Anderson County High School will have two valedictorians this year, Lydia Lowe and Kristopher Reynolds. “All the available tie-breakers available were used, and these two students still finished together,” Foster said. “That is very unusual.” Lydia is the daughter of Lynn and Betty Lowe, who live in Powell. She was named Miss ACHS and has excelled as both a student and a student-athlete. She is president of the Leo Club, and is a member of the French Club, the National Honor Society, and the French National Honor Society. She is captain of both the soccer and track teams, she runs on the cross-country team, and she holds several school records. In recognition of her scholastic and athletic achievements, she is a Wendy’s High School Heisman state finalist, and she is the winner of the Executive Women International – EWI – scholarship. Lydia plans to study for a career in speech disorders, working with children with specific language disorders and disabilities such as autism. She says she is most likely to pursue both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at UT-Knoxville and eventually plans to get her doctorate as well. Kristopher is the son of Stanley and Debbie Reynolds of Andersonville. He has been active in the ACES – Anderson County Exemplary Student – program for four years. He is a member of the National Honor Society since he was a sophomore and has been recognized as a student-of-the-quarter at ACHS. He plans to attend UT-Knoxville and wants to be a pharmacist. Amanda Sauer, the daughter of Dominic and Cindy Sauer of Andersonville, is the ACHS salutatorian. A cheerleader, member of Mavs for Christ, and participant in the ACES program since her freshman year, Amanda is also a member of the National Honor Society. She was part of the Moo Crew in 10th and 11th grades, a group that helps orient younger students entering ACHS. Amanda has already been awarded two scholarships – UT’s Volunteer Scholarship and a Lottery Merit Scholarship. She wants to be an accountant and plans to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UT. Emmalee Mariner is the daughter of Tommy and Rose Mary Mariner of Norris. She is a member of Anderson County's Navy Junior ROTC. She has led her academic team to two national championship events as well as multiple victories in other academic competitions. She is the founding president of ACHS's chapter of the French National Honor Society; also is a member of the Sound Company. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the ACHS drama and Russian clubs. She was selected for the Tennessee Governor's School for the Humanities at University of Tennessee, Martin, and the NJROTC Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Academy at the University of San Diego. She hopes to attend the University of Chicago, and she is considering a major in history while she also studies Russian and Arabic. “We are tremendously proud of these students and wish them continued success as they leave our school system at the end of the year,” Foster said.
Follow-Up: AC Gets School Sidewalk Grant
Following up on a story we brought you Monday, the state has awarded Anderson County a Safe Routes to School Program grant in the amount of $206,944 for improvements to existing sidewalks and construction of new sidewalks as well as the installation of flashing beacons and other traffic control devices around Lake City Elementary and Middle Schools. The grant is made possible through a federally funded program administered by TDOT, which is providing over $1.6 million in Safe Routes to School funding to 10 municipalities across the state. Anderson County Grants Coordinator Alan Beauchamp thanked State Senator Randy McNally and State Representative Kelly Keisling for their efforts in helping to secure the grant, which he pointed out is the third competitive grant awarded to the county in the last four months. Beauchamp also credited Kim Guinn with the county school system for being the catalyst behind the grant application, stating that “her writing and organization skills were essential to us making a quality application.” The Safe Routes to School Program is a statewide initiative designed to make bicycling and walking to school a safer, more appealing and healthier alternative for students in kindergarten through the eighth grade.
Clinton Council Gives SL Land For Parking
Meeting Monday (1/23), the Clinton City Council voted to give SL Tennessee additional land in the I-75 Industrial Park for a parking area to accommodate their ongoing plant expansion. The company recently completed a $30 million/300 employee expansion and has begun construction on its new $14 million, 150,000-square foot facility. The company currently employs 550 people in Clinton and plans to employ over 900 people by 2015. The company’s biggest issue with their continued growth has been parking and last year, the City Council voted to give the company 3.7 acres of land at the end of Ingenuity Drive for a parking area. With the announcement last year that Confluence Solar would not be building a manufacturing facility in the industrial park, the original piece of property eyed by SL was freed up and last night, the City Council voted to give the company 5.5 acres on Frank Diggs Drive that had originally been set aside for an electric substation for the Confluence facility instead of the 3.7 acre parcel on Ingenuity Drive.
____________________________________________________________ Clinton Council OKs Convenience Center Proposal
The Clinton City Council voted 5-2 in special session Tuesday (1/10) to endorse a counterproposal to the Anderson County government as negotiations continue in hopes of relocating the Glen Alpine Convenience Center from its current location on Seivers Boulevard. The city and county have been at odds over what to do about the site for some time now and a Chancellor’s partial ruling last month has almost cleared the way for the county to expand and make renovations to the site if no agreement between the two sides can be reached to transfer ownership of the county-owned site. If an agreement can be reached, the center would be moved to the David Jones Industrial Park. The two dissenting votes came from Charlie Lyons and ET Stamey, who both indicated their concerns over lingering environmental issues at the site and their possible effect on the purchase price. Here are the highlights of the latest offer made by the city. The city and county will average the two appraisals of the property to a “Fair Market Value” of $184,000. The city would then forgive the current $106,000 balance of overpaid sales tax revenue currently due to the city from the county and apply that toward the Fair Market Value price, leaving a net balance of some $78,000 on the property. The county would retain ownership of the site and offer it for sale at a public auction. The first $78,000 of the property sale will then be credited toward the remaining balance to equal the Fair Market Price with any money over and above that $78,000 to be used by the county to relocate the center. In the event that the auction does not bring in $78,000, the city would pay the county the difference over a two-year period. The proposal also calls for the county to agree to specific time periods for putting the land up for sale and relocating the convenience center. This morning, County Mayor Myron Iwanski said that he fully supports this proposal and will present it to the County Commission for consideration when it meets on Tuesday January 17th in its quarterly day session. He indicated that based upon conversations he has had with some Commissioners, he believes that they will also support the proposal. If it is accepted by the Commission, details will have to be worked out regarding specifics of the deal and could be presented to the Commission and Council again as soon as next month for final approval.
Eagle Bend To Expand Clinton Plant
(TDEC) Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty along with local officials announced Monday (1/9) that Eagle Bend Manufacturing, Inc. is expanding its Clinton, Tenn. facility, creating 188 new jobs and investing $64 million over the next five years. The company, a division of Magna International, Inc., is a Tier 1 automotive parts supplier for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of cars and light trucks worldwide. “Eagle Bend Manufacturing represents the type of success story we are aiming for in our economic development efforts,” Haslam said. “We have placed a renewed emphasis on helping existing industries grow right where they are, as this is essential to reaching our goal of becoming the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.” Founded in Anderson County in 1987, the Eagle Bend facility will add more than 100,000 square feet to its current 334,000 square foot plant. The expansion will occur in phases over the next five years with the first phase commencing in the first quarter of 2012 and covering 27,000 square feet. The newly created jobs will include assembly, laser and press operators and maintenance positions. The Clinton facility currently employs more than 600 people. Anderson County Mayor Myron Iwanski said Monday: “This expansion demonstrates that Anderson County has the infrastructure, skilled labor force and low business costs required to be profitable in today’s tough economy. We appreciate the long term commitment that Eagle Bend has made to Anderson County and the work of Economic Development Association President Tim Thompson to help make this happen.” Clinton Mayor Scott Burton said: “Eagle Bend Manufacturing has been a great corporate citizen in our Clinton business community for nearly 25 years. We look forward to assisting them with their latest expansion and future growth.”
Follow-Up: ORUD Responds To Audit Findings
Following up on a story we brought you Wednesday (12/21), Oak Ridge Utility District officials say they were not surprised by the findings of a recently-completed audit of its operations by the State Comptroller’s Office. Officials also say that all of the money the state said needed to be reimbursed to the utility by officials has been paid and that several policy changes have been enacted to prevent any future incidents. The state released its audit findings on Wednesday and said that investigators had determined that general manager Ben Andrews had purchased a damaged skid steer from the utility and then used district mechanics, materials and facilities to have it repaired before taking it home for personal use. Andrews says that the district has since adopted a policy prohibiting employees from purchasing surplus equipment from the utility. Auditors also found that among the luxury amenities included in Andrews’ utility-owned $38,000 Chevy Tahoe was a $463 subscription to XM satellite radio. Andrews says that vehicle is now used by the utility’s operations manager and that he now uses his personal vehicle for utility business. The audit also discovered that the utility paid over $2900 for two employees and their spouses to travel to Rome for three days before a Mediterranean cruise set up by the East Tennessee Natural Gas Homebuilders program, a promotional effort aimed at encouraging homebuilders to include natural gas appliances in the homes they build. Andrews says that money has been paid back and that the utility has not participated in the controversial program for about three years now. Officials say that the state did not find any violations of statute in their probe and that the last incident mentioned in the audit happened over two year ago.
State: ORUD Manager ‘Used Position For Personal Benefit’
(State Comptroller’s Office) The Oak Ridge Utility District’s general manager used his position for personal benefit on more than one occasion, an investigation by the Comptroller’s Division of Municipal Audit has revealed. The report does not mention his name but the utility's general manager is Ben Andrews. Also, the district paid travel expenses for two employees and their spouses to go on a trip to Rome, although they performed no work-related duties during that trip. The audit states that the general manager bought a damaged skid steer, a machine which had been used by the district for loading and digging. After he bought parts to repair the skid steer, he then ordered the district’s mechanic to repair the machine at the district’s shop, using district tools and materials, before taking the equipment home for his personal use. The district also paid $463 to add a subscription to XM satellite radio in a Chevrolet Tahoe purchased for the general manager's use. The $38,820 vehicle’s amenities included an off-road package, heated leather seats and a premium sound system – all of which were required to meet the district’s minimum bid specifications for the vehicle. Investigators determined that two district employees and their spouses went on a three-day trip to Rome at the district’s expense. The trip was organized in conjunction with the East Tennessee Natural Gas Homebuilders program, a promotional effort intended to encourage homebuilders to provide natural gas hookups in the homes they build. Investigators could determine no business purpose for utility district employees to travel to Rome three days before a homebuilders’ trip was set to begin, much less accompany the homebuilders on a Mediterranean cruise. “It is important for utility district officials to remember that the money they receive from customers is still public money,” Comptroller Justin P. Wilson said. “Therefore, it should be treated as such. Using district funds for personal gain is certainly no way for district officials to endear themselves to their ratepayers.” To view the complete report, visit http://www.comptroller1.state.tn.us/Repository/MA/Investigative/oakridgeud.pdf
Clinton Council Takes Measures To Avoid IRS Penalties
The Clinton City Council also voted Tuesday (12/20) to approve a $50,000 budget amendment to try and fix a paperwork snafu involving the city’s voluntary ING 457(b) retirement program. Budget Director Gail Cook learned last week that since the program’s inception in January of 2008, the city had been incorrectly handling payroll deductions for the program. That error resulted in Social Security and Medicare taxes not being taken out of employee contributions, meaning that approximately $46,000 is owed for Social Security and Medicare taxes for the years 2008 to 2011. The budget amendment will cover the payment of those taxes to the federal government but city officials did warn Council members that even after the taxes are paid, the IRS will likely levy fines, penalties and interest that will require additional money from the city’s coffers to pay for. In addition, the error means that around 150 W2 forms and almost two dozen other forms will have to be filled out again by city employees to ensure that all information is entered correctly.
Former PCUD President Charged
Former Powell-Clinch Utility District president Del Roberts turned himself into authorities at the Anderson County Jail on Monday (12/19) after being charged with one count of fraudulent use of a credit card and one count of theft over $60,000. Roberts was booked into the Jail and released a short time later after posting bond. A state audit released last year found that Roberts had charged over $95,000 on a utility credit card over a five-year period for things like vacations, college tuition and medical bills. He was fired in May of 2010. Officials with Powell-Clinch issued a statement on Monday that reads in part: “The District has fully recovered all funds allegedly misappropriated and its ratepayers have suffered no financial loss as a result of this unfortunate incident.” The statement also says that internal controls that were in place to prevent incidents like this were compromised as “individuals inside and outside the District…apparently were aware of the misappropriations and failed to report them to the board so that action could be taken sooner.” The utility and the state comptroller’s office have also implemented revised policies to prevent future incidents. Last week, Utility Vice President Richard McIntosh was booked into the Jail and released after he was indicted on a charge of felony theft connected to allegations that had used District crews and equipment to perform work at his house in August of 2010. Last week, the utility said it had investigated those claims last year and found no wrongdoing had been committed. We will continue to follow this story for you as it continues to develop.
State Rejects Blount Charter School
Monday (12/19), the Tennessee State Board of Education denied the appeal of a Blount County School Board decision to reject an application for a new charter school. Gary Nixon, the Executive Director of the State Board, wrote that out of 100 possible points, the amended application for the so-called HOPE Academy STEM charter school only received a 41 overall and “insufficient” in each of the four categories they are scored upon from the Blount County School Board’s Charter Review Committee. Those categories are mission, education plan, governance and business & operations. Nixon says that his own evaluation of the application resulted in a similar low score. Nixon wrote “I recommend that we affirm the decision of the Blount County Board of Education to deny the application of HOPE Academy.” The Board members then voted unanimously to accept that recommendation. Monday’s decision cannot be appealed and marks the end of an appeals process that began in August when the Blount County School Board first rejected the charter school’s application. At the time, school officials said that opening the academy would have a negative financial impact on the system but the state Treasurer rejected that argument in October. Last month, both sides had a chance to present their cases to representatives of the state Board. HOPE Academy supporters will likely submit another application to the Blount County School Board next year.
PCUD VP Indicted
The vice president of the Powell-Clinch Utility District turned himself into Anderson County authorities Tuesday (12/13) after he was indicted last week on a charge of felony theft over $1000. Richard McIntosh was booked into the Anderson County Jail and released after posting a $25,000 bond. The indictment alleges that McIntosh “knowingly diverted services for his own benefit or the benefit of another” in August of 2010. McIntosh served as the utility’s interim president from May of 2010 to February of this year after former president Del Roberts was accused of spending almost $100,000 in utility funds on himself. Rob Neil was appointed the full-time president in February. A state audit released last year found that Roberts charged over $95,000 on utility credit cards over a five-year period on things like vacations, college tuition and medical bills. Roberts has been the target of a criminal investigation that has so far yielded no charges. Officials say that he has repaid the utility. Powell-Clinch officials issued a statement Tuesday that said they had already investigated allegations similar to those McIntosh was indicted for and found no improprieties saying that the services in that instance provided to McIntosh were the same as provided to other customers. The indictment does not specifically allege the services in question. The release states that he will stay on as Vice President of Operations unless new information is released that would cause them to reverse that decision. The utility has reopened its internal investigation into the matter. Powell-Clinch Utility District remains the focus of an ongoing investigation by the DA’s office into its operations and the three-member Board of Directors is the subject of an ouster petition filed by the state’s Utility Management Review Board alleging that they failed to monitor the utility’s operations and finances. The board is fighting the ouster effort.
Follow-Up On Clinton Shooting Following up on Monday’s (11/7) fatal shooting at South Clinton Pawn, suspected shooter 64-year-old James Alan Green remains in stable condition at last report at UT Medical Center as he recovers from wounds sustained in an exchange of gunfire with the co-worker of slain store employee Larry Snellings Sr. Green is accused of walking into the store at around 2:15 pm Monday, asking to look at a shotgun, then loading it with ammunition he brought from home. Snellings was shot at close range during a struggle over the gun and Snellings’ co-worker Roy Webber Jr. told police that he had seen Snellings push the gun barrel away before Green stepped back and shot him. Webber returned fire with a .40-caliber pistol after Green allegedly made a move toward him. Webber shot at Green as he fled and bullet holes were visible in the front windows of the business and one of those shots is believed to have struck a headlight on a car that had been passing by the scene on Clinch Avenue at the time of the shooting. The driver of that car was not injured. Police have still not released any information on a possible motive but have said that is does not appear that Green and Snellings knew one another. Some of Green’s family members say that he was being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had experienced some health problems recently. No charges have been filed at this time as the investigation continues. Ground Broken On AC Learning Academy
Ground was broken this morning (11/4) on Anderson County’s new Learning Academy. The low bid came in at $6,084,000, slightly under the budgeted $6.1 million for the new facility that will replace the current Learn Center, the county school system’s alternative school for students with behavioral and other problems that prevent them from attending a more traditional school. Director of Schools Larry Foster had this to say about the students who will benefit from the new facility: “One of the things that people often criticize us for is that this is a facility for ‘thugs’ and that’s not the intent of this building. We have students who often act out their behaviors because they can’t fit into a traditional classroom…and function with 30 other students but this is true alternative learning and we all learn differently. We’re learning more about the brain research that says that students don’t always learn the same. It’s not a cookie-cutter approach.” Rouse Construction out of Knoxville submitted the low bid and site preparation is underway on the campus of Anderson County High School next to the Career and Technical Center. Director of Special Education Sue Voskamp talked about the approach to teaching at the new school: “It’ll be a lot of one-on-one, a lot of small group. It’ll be hands-on learning. They’ll have access to the career component of it and the technology component of it so it’s going to be kind of active learning, engaged and relevant to their lives.” School officials have said for years that the current Learn Center located in the old National Guard Armory in Clinton is inadequate for its needs. Here, Voskamp spoke about those inadequacies: “At the Armory, it’s not a school so we don’t have classrooms so we have makeshift classrooms. Those are just totally inadequate. The space is [also] just totally inadequate. This new facility will be a school. We’ll have classrooms, we’ll have the equipment and technology that all classrooms require so it will be that classroom that they’re very familiar with. Earlier this year, funding for the new Learning Academy was included in a total of almost $25 million in bond issues passed by the Anderson County Commission to address needs across the county including an expansion of the jail and other capital improvements at county schools. Foster talked about the response from the community to the project: “In my discussions with the community, they were always supportive of public education and were willing to actually have a tax increase. There were probably some that said ‘no taxes at all.’ Could we fund this any other way? The answer was ‘no,’ we didn’t have any additional revenue coming in. I began to see as we explained the process of what the alternative programs really do, people came up to me and said ‘this is really good for our children.’ The contract calls for the school to be ready for students in time for the beginning of classes in August.
CPD Accepting Unwanted Medications The Clinton Police Department has partnered with the Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County (ASAP) and the East Tennessee Regional Medication Collection Coalition to offer citizens a safe way to dispose of old and unused medicines. An "Operation Rx" drop off box is now located in the Clinton Police Department lobby at 125 West Broad St. The disposal box may be accessed 24 hours a day on any day of the week. Disposing of your medicines at this location will ensure that they will not be stolen from the garbage, will not enter our environment and eliminates the potential for abuse and overdoses at home. Here is what will be accepted for disposal: Prescription medications (unwanted, expired or unused)…Antibiotics/steroids…Cold and flu medications…Vitamins/herbal supplements…Pet medications…Medication Samples…Medicated ointments/lotions…Unused sharps (epinephrine, unused pricking devices). These items will not be accepted for disposal: Business waste…Used needles and other sharps. Used needles and other sharps should be disposed by placing the sharps/needles in a sealed plastic container and putting that in with your household waste. Items placed in the box should be in the original container or in a sealed bag. AC Gets ARC Grant For Claxton Sewer Work
The Anderson County government announced Monday (10/10) that it has been awarded a federal grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission in the amount of $181,750 to help fund sewer improvements in the Claxton community. The sewer will be installed along the commercial stretch of Edgemoor Road, where over a dozen businesses have depended on septic tanks for decades. County Mayor Myron Iwanski says that this is the latest part of a long-term effort by the county to expand and improve sewer services in Claxton. The county previously received a pair of Community Development Block Grants to fund sewer upgrades in residential areas and work on one of those projects is beginning this month. Iwanski says that this grant will “enable Anderson County to grow its retail sales tax base...[allow] businesses located on Edgemoor to expand and new businesses to locate in Anderson County.” The grant is a 50/50 match with the county contributing either cash or in-kind services to help complete the project, which is scheduled to begin in March after the work is bid out and approved by the County Commission.
OR Council Authorizes Application For Jackson Square Grant
Monday night (10/10), the Oak Ridge City Council voted 5 to 1 with one abstention to authorize city officials to apply for a TDOT enhancement grant to help revitalize the historic Jackson Square shopping center. If chosen for the money in the competitive grant process, the city could receive up to $1 million to add new sidewalks, improve access for the handicapped, refurbish and improve the parking lot and create a grassy plaza in the parking lot complete with a public fountain. If approved, the city would be required to pay a 20% local match and city officials believe the project has a very good chance at being approved by TDOT. Council members chose to authorize the application for the Jackson Square grant rather than one of a TDOT grant for expanded bike and pedestrian trails. We will follow the progress of the grant application for you.
Follow-Up: AC Gets Mental Health Grant
Anderson County announced Wednesday (10/5) that it is receiving a two-year grant award from the US Department of Justice for a collaborative effort between the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department and Ridgeview Psychiatric Hospital and Center Inc. The county’s local match will be $62,000, which was included in the allocation of funds to address jail overcrowding by the County Commission earlier this year. Mayor Myron Iwanski expressed enthusiasm about achieving another step in the process of reducing the overall jail population and making an impact on recidivism. The IMPACT (Illness Management/Recovery Program for Anderson County Tennessee) Program is part of the county’s comprehensive approach to reducing jail overcrowding. The grant is for $250,000 and will fund services that will help individuals who have been screened to begin treatment for mental health issues, including substance abuse issues, and reduce our jail population in Anderson County. It also allows individuals with mental health problems to get the help they need and remove them from the revolving door of recidivism. Iwanski says that a County Director for the Alternatives to Incarceration Program will be hired soon to begin implementing additional steps to reduce the jail population. A committee will begin meeting next week to draw up a job description and post the opening not only to local candidates but also regional candidates, and Iwanski says that he hopes to have someone in place within the next couple of months. He estimates that the salary for that position, depending on qualifications, will be in the “$50,000-plus range” and those funds are also included in this summer’s allocation of money to establish the Alternatives to Incarceration program. The mayor spoke about the efforts of Ridgeview and the county government to get the grant, saying ”the folks at Ridgeview did all of the technical work in the part of putting together the proposal and how they would deal with cases. Our office and Alan Beauchamp helped with the paperwork and getting it processed and getting the letters of support we needed and helping them through the logistics of that.” Grants Coordinator Alan Beauchamp says that he will begin processing the necessary paperwork as soon as possible to expedite services. Officials anticipate serving more than eighty individuals a year through the program. The grant will also pay for training local law enforcement personnel in how to deal with people with mental health issues. As far as jail expansion, Iwanski tells us that work on the 128-bed dormitory facility is expected to begin very shortly.
State Grant To Promote Adoption
The state of Tennessee is getting a $359,000 federal grant to make pregnant women more aware of the option of adoption and the grant was awarded to Harmony Adoptions of Tennessee based in Maryville. Officials there say that the grant will educate nurses about the basics of adoption and resources available in their state so that they can pass that information along to their patients. Harmony will train not only health care providers in Tennessee, but also in Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Deal's Small Engine Call 865-457-0070
Deal's Small Engine Call 865-457-0070 UPDATE: BCSO Joins National Crime Map, ACSD Also In
Blount County Sheriff James Lee Berrong has announced that citizens can now gain access to neighborhood crime level incident data in near real time. The public can access the free crime information through a link on the Sheriff's Office website, www.bcso.com , or the CrimeReports iPhone app, available for free download in the Apple iTunes store. The new service even allows local citizens to sign up for free customizable e-mail alerts, so they can monitor crime in their neighborhood. Currently in East Tennessee, Knox and Anderson County Sheriff's Offices also uses CrimeReports. In Anderson County, the CrimeReports service is being used by Department personnel and Neighborhood Watch groups but is not yet available on the public website. Officials say that once some technical issues are cleared up, the public will be able to access it on www.tnacso.net. More than a thousand other law enforcement agencies of all sizes across North America are sharing their crime information with the public through the national crime map, including Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Los Angeles County, and many more. The map currently covers nearly 30 percent of the U.S. population. In addition to access through the BCSO website (www.bcso.com), you can also sign up for daily, weekly, or monthly e-mail crime alerts at www.CrimeReports.com.
Fairview Elementary, Maryville Schools Honored
Fairview Elementary School in Anderson County and the Maryville City School system received two of the first four SCORE Prize Awards last night (9/20) during a ceremony held at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. SCORE stands for the State Collaborative on Reforming Education and the awards recognized the winners for dramatically improving student achievement in spite of the challenges they face. Fairview, which won in the elementary school category, will receive $10,000 while the Maryville schools, which won in the District category, will receive $25,000. Winners were chosen in a two-step process. The first stage identified finalists through a multi-staged criteria that set benchmarks for attendance rate, Value Added Achievement Score growth and TCAP improvements among others and the second stage involved site visits of the finalists to document the policies and practices that have enabled them to significant gains in student achievement. Fairview Elementary serves 278 students in Anderson County, 60.6% of whom are economically disadvantaged. In the last year, the school has increased its number of students who are proficient or advanced on the Math TCAP from the 30th to the 50th percentile and the school’s three-year growth Value Added Achievement Score growth average is 14.01 in math and 8.99 in reading. The Maryville school system serves 4890 students, 33% of whom are economically disadvantaged. The district’s three-year Value Added Achievement Score growth average is 14.3 in math, 3.8 in reading, 5.0 in Algebra I and 4.0 in English II. The district’s three-year ACT average is 23.8 and over the past year the district has narrowed the achievement gap between Hispanic and white students by 29.33 points in math. SCORE is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with state and local governments to encourage sound policy decisions in public education and advance innovative reform on a statewide basis. Its Chairman is former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Congratulations to Fairview Elementary School and the Maryville City Schools on winning this prestigious award.
CPD K-9 Team Wins Gold, Silver At World Games
Clinton Police Detective Sergeant Bob Suarez and his K-9 partner Rush have taken gold in the 2011 World Police & Fire Games in New York City. Their events were delayed from earlier in the week due to the effects of Hurricane Irene last weekend but when they resumed, Suarez and Rush took top honors, along with their training partner from Loudon County, Paul Curtis, in the Obedience category and Suarez and Rush took Silver in the Agility category. The Games bring together police officers and firefighters from around the world to compete in a wide variety of athletic events. Congratulations to Bob Suarez and Rush for being recognized as among the very best in the world and for representing the city of Clinton in such excellent fashion.
CLINTON NAMED BEST PLACE TO RAISE KIDS Bloomberg's BusinessWeek -- in its fifth annual ranking of the best places in the US to raise children -- has named Clinton, Tennessee, as the best, affordable place in the state to raise your kids (and the article cites Anderson County High School by name!). Unlike earlier reports that included large, urban areas, this year's survey focused on small communities. Here is the link: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/dec2010/bw20101214_289257.htm?campaign_id=lifestyle_related
Former CHS Teacher Moved Due To Overcrowding
Following up on a story we brought you Tuesday (1/11), former Clinton High School teacher Meghan Baumann is no longer at the Anderson County Jail. Baumann reported Monday night (1/10) to the Jail to begin serving her three-year sentence on charges related to inappropriate sexual contact with three male students at the school. The following day, however, she was transferred to the Blount County Jail because of overcrowding in Anderson County. In addition to her three-year sentence—one-third of which must be served before she becomes eligible for parole—Baumann is also required to register as a sex offender and surrender her teaching license.
Baumann Begins Serving Sentence
Former Clinton High School teacher Megan Baumann, who pleaded guilty in November to charges related to inappropriate sexual contact with three male students, began serving her three-year prison sentence Monday night (1/10). Baumann was booked into the Anderson County Jail shortly before 8:30 pm Monday and will serve at least one year of her three-year sentence on two counts of displaying sexually explicit material to a minor and one count each of statutory rape by an authority figure and sexual battery by an authority figure. Baumann was suspended from her job teaching social studies in January of 2009 after the allegations arose and was terminated in early February for conduct described by Director of Schools Larry Foster as “flagrant, egregious and reprehensible.”
Ex-CHS Teacher Pleads To Charges, Sentenced To Prison
Former Clinton High School teacher Megan Baumann pleaded guilty Monday (11/15) in Anderson County Criminal Court to four counts related to inappropriate sexual contact with three male students. Baumann pleaded guilty to two counts of displaying sexually explicit material to a minor and one count each of statutory rape by an authority figure and sexual battery by an authority figure. She admitted to having sex with one student, fondling another and sending nude photos of herself to two boys. She will serve a three-year prison sentence on the statutory rape charge and two concurrent 11-month, 29-day sentences on the charges of displaying explicit material. In addition, she will also serve three years’ probation after her release, must register a sex offender for life, surrender her teaching license and undergo therapy. While she and her lawyer, Mike Farley, believe the sentence was harsh compared to sentences handed down in similar cases, Farley said Monday that it was in Baumann’s best interest to take the plea deal rather than face a trial on more serious charges. District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a statement that he believes the sentence is “just” and that it is his hope that “as a result of this case, the message goes out loud and clear that adults having sexual contact with children will be aggressively prosecuted. Baumann will report to prison on January 10th and must serve at least 30% of her sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
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WYSH AM 1380 · P.O. Box 329 · Clinton, TN 37717
Phone: 865-457-1380 Email: wysh@wyshradio.com