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Local News

  • Ash spill workshops continue

    TVA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are inviting the public to the fifth in a series of six workshops on the restoration of the river system affected by the December 2008 fly ash spill at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County.

    The workshops provide information on the River System Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis Report on the Kingston recovery project.

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  • Kingston ponders beer law change

    Kingston City Council members want to make sure no one gets too hot about cold beer.

    The council delayed another decision this month about a change in the city’s beer ordinance, which currently requires establishments that have retail beer sales to have a 250-foot distance, lot line to lot line, from “churches, schools, or other places of public gathering.”

    The city council’s proposed amendment to the ordinance would change it such that the 250-foot measure was from building to building — rather than lot line to lot line.

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  • Solar farm jolts grid

    Officials held a “power up” ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the new solar farm at the East Tennessee Technology Park. 
    Restoration Services Inc. self-financed the 1.3 acre project as part of its Brownfield-to-Brightfield initiative.

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  • Just-hired Rockwood official may get ax

    The short tenure of one of Rockwood’s most recent employees might come to an end if Rockwood officials get and approve the 2013 fiscal budget as proposed at a budget workshop Monday morning.
    Mayor James Watts has listed the salary line item for city administrator Jack Miller as zero.
    “Due to the financial situation we’re in, I just find it very difficult to put in that kind of salary,” Watts said.
    Councilman Mike Freeman wasn’t convinced that was the right choice.

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  • Roane schools may need multi-year tax hike

    Roane County property owners could have to fork over more tax money in the new fiscal year.
    Roane County Schools business manager Eric Harbin told board members during a recent work session that the 2012-13 school budget will require a 6-cent property tax rate increase to fund. The board is set to vote on the budget at Thursday’s regular meeting.  
    “We wanted to get the tax increase as low as possible,” Harbin said.
    To do that, school officials are proposing to use $1.4 million of one-time monies to fund the budget.

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  • State rep runners sound off

    n that saw one of her highly publicized initiatives pass, state Rep. Julia Hurley is ready to take on Kent Calfee in the Aug. 2 primary.
    “I’m very interested to hear him explain how he can do a better job, or even close to the job I’ve done,” Hurley said. “I passed the drug testing for welfare bill in my first term.”
    Hurley and Calfee are seeking the Republican nomination in State House District 32, which includes parts of Roane and Loudon counties.

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  • NRC holding meeting on Watts Bar Unit 2

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, May. 22, in Spring City to discuss the status of construction at the Watts Bar nuclear plant’s second unit. 
    The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. with the NRC staff discussing the Unit 2 construction schedule, including major milestones and potential challenges, with TVA representatives.
    Later, the NRC staff will be available to answer questions from the public. The meeting will be at the Spring City Municipal Building at 229 Front St.

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  • Kingston 9-cent tax hike over 1st hurdle

    Kingston City Council members approved the city’s proposed budget for fiscal 2012-13 on first reading last week, but not without some dissent.

    The budget proposal passed 4-1, with the lone dissenting vote coming from Councilman Kevin McClure.

    McClure also left his council seat for a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting in order to speak out as a private citizen against the budget and its attendant tax increase.

    McClure was joined in his protest by a handful of other Kingston residents, including a few former city councilmen.

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  • Count on math for a fun time

     

    Lots of counting — including using those handy fingers as an aid in solving problems — was the order of the day for Ridge View Elementary School’s recent Math Carnival. Games, prizes and activities centered around mathematical problems and reasoning. Students at the Rockwood school also performed skits covering such topics as mean, median, mode and range.

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  • Kingston bank robbery suspect also accused in Indiana spree

    Billy Joe Dugard, the man suspected of robbing the Bank of America in Kingston, is also suspected of robbing banks in another state.
    According to a press release from the FBI, Dugard was arrested in Ohio on May 2.

    Ohio TV station ABC 6 had footage of Dugard being arrested, and reported that he was suspected of robbing banks in Indiana.

    “We’re kind of in the dark, too,” Kingston Police Chief Jim Washam said. “We don’t know a lot of the details from up there.”

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