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Local News

  • Prank closes downtown Harriman

    Harriman police closed off part of downtown Saturday evening after an elaborate 911 call prank alleging a man had killed his wife in the Roane Street apartment they shared.

    “The guy in Harriman, he didn’t do anything wrong,” said Harriman Police Chief Randy Heidle. “He’s actually the victim.”

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  • Motorist topped 110 mph on Hwy. 70, police say

    A high speed chase ended badly for a 27-year-old man on June 21.

    Kingston Assistant Police Chief Gary Nelson said he was on patrol at the intersection of Paint Rock Ferry Road and Hwy. 70 early that morning when an SUV swerved into his lane.

    Nelson said the SUV didn’t stop when he turned on his emergency lights.

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  • Students sharpen skills
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  • Murder charge dropped

    The inability to locate a key witness led to a drastic move in the Ralph O’Neal murder case on Monday.

    “We would ask that you allow us to enter a dismissal,” Assistant District Attorney General Alyson Kennedy told Criminal Court Judge E. Eugene Eblen.

    Eblen, who appeared surprised, granted the request.

    “We have no objection,” O’Neal attorney Bob Vogel said.

    And with that, the case was over.

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  • August ballot has final edit

    The ballot for the Aug. 7 election is set, Roane County Administrator of Elections Charles Holiway announced on Friday.

    “We got them in today,” he said. “We’ll be mailing them out to people that have requested absentee ballots starting at the beginning of the week.”

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  • Harriman mayor doesn’t want tax increase this year

    Harriman Mayor Chris Mason doesn’t plan on a tax increase when he proposes a budget to the Harriman City Council.

    Mason has said in the last two years that a tax increase will become necessary, but he’s stretching the pennies for now.

    “We are trying to make it to 2016,,” said Mason.

    That is when the city will come out from under its debt obligation for money borrowed for infrastructure in Midtown’s Pinnacle Pointe shopping center.

    He estimates that will free up about $350,000 in cash flow.

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  • Natural gas provider sees growth in Kingston area

    If utility stats are any indication, Kingston is doing pretty well in relation to the rest of East Tennessee during hard economic times.

    That was one of the takeaways from a presentation by Oak Ridge Utility District General Manager Ben Andrews to Kingston City Council in June. ORUD provides natural gas to Kingston and other parts of eastern Roane County. Andrews came in June to give council his annual report.

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  • Airport work continues
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  • Reporter’s Notebook: Rocky represents himself last week, talks about dead

    Speaking ill of the dead doesn’t sit well with U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves. Rocky Houston found that out at his sentencing hearing on Thursday.

    “Mr. Houston, let me stop you right there,” a clearly unhappy Reeves said when Houston alleged something about Roane County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Jones.

    Jones and his ride-along friend Mike Brown died in a shootout with Rocky Houston and his older brother Leon in 2006.

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  • Farmer vs. Woody: Plateau Park, sunglasses are part of debate

    Roane County Executive Ron Woody said he’s not surprised some commissioners from Cumberland and Morgan counties want Mike Farmer back in office.

    “They got $2.5 million out of us last time he was in office, so of course they want him back,” Woody said. “They understand they got a good shot to get more money with Mike Farmer.”

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