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Local News

  • Brown applied for park job weeks before election post dismissal

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Some people didn’t like the way Tony Brown lost his job as Roane County administrator of elections.

    Others don’t like how Brown got his new job as director of Roane County Park.

    Brown was fired by the election commission on April 24. He started his new job as park director on April 27. 

    Weeks before Brown lost his job as administrator of elections, people already knew Brown would get the job.

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  • Air quality concerns heat up with the weather

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    TVA says air monitoring efforts must be extra thorough now that the weather is heating up.

    “The air quality is going to get worse as it normally does,” TVA environmental executive Anda Ray said. “That means that TDEC, EPA and TVA have got to be even more diligent in our air monitoring.”

    Ray said TVA will be referring to data from the past.

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  • Constable bill also takes vote from residents

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    A bill that would allow for the elimination of constables in Roane County has passed the General Assembly, but it will require voter approval in an election in order for any resolution abolishing the office of constable to take effect.

    If the bill had been passed as introduced, it would have allowed the county commission to abolish or remove law enforcement powers from the office of constable by a two-thirds vote.

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  • EPA advisory leaves official at odds with ex

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Most of the 5.4 million cubic yards of ash that spilled during last December’s TVA disaster ended up in the Emory River.

    Roane County Attorney Tom McFarland recently filed a motion in court to prevent his ex-wife from taking their children swimming in that area.   

    “I really didn’t have any choice,” McFarland said. “You have to do what you have to do to protect your children.”

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  • TVA communications flawed after spill

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    TVA is responsible for some of the misinformation that came out in the days following the fly ash disaster as well as some of the frustration residents have felt about the agency’s property-buying plan.

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  • Talk lingers about TVA ash pond explosion

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Roane County E-911 Director Mike Hooks said he received a visit from a federal investigator after the Dec. 22, 2008 TVA ash spill.

    Hooks said the investigator wanted to know if 911 received a call of a suspicious vehicle around the Kingston Fossil Plant the night of the disaster.

    Hooks said he told the investigator no, and that was the last he heard about it.

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  • Schools budget includes raises

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    The Roane County school board unanimously approved the 2009-10 budget at last week’s meeting.

    The $63.8 million budget does not require a tax increase to fund.  

    “My thing was make sure it was balanced, and it is,” Vice Chairman Mike “Brillo” Miller said.

    School system business manager Eric Harbin said the budget includes a 1-percent raise for teachers.

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  • Severe Thunderstorm Warning For Roane

    THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MORRISTOWN HAS ISSUED A  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... ANDERSON COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE... THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF CLINTON... BLOUNT COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE... THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF... MARYVILLE... ALCOA... GRAINGER COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE... JEFFERSON COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE... KNOX COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE... THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF KNOXVILLE... LOUDON COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE... THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF... LOUDON... LENOIR CITY... MCMINN COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE... EXTREME NORTHERN MEIGS COUNTY IN EAST TENNESSEE...

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  • Does ash dumping take advantage of community?

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Racial and economic issues could hold up TVA’s plan to ship its spilled fly ash to Alabama.

    “We’ve had a lot of questions, and I think that’s one of the main reasons why things are at a standstill now on the disposal option,” said Stephanie Brown, community involvement coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    TVA plans to ship the ash in trains to a landfill in Perry County, Ala.

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  • 'Perfect storm' contributed to ash spill

    By TERRI LIKENS

    tlikens@roanecounty.com

    A "slime" layer that took investigators more than two months to find and the angle of storage cells walls  contributed to the massive release of 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash on the Swan Pond peninsula and Emory River, according to an engineering analysis of the disaster.

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The Roane County News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Roane County and Kingston, Tennessee, and the surrounding area.