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Local News

  • Pinnacle Pointe developers sue Harriman

    By CINDY SIMPSON

    csimpson@roanecounty.com

    Prestige Land Co., the limited liability company responsible for the development at Pinnacle Pointe, has filed the first complaint in the ongoing dispute between the developers and the city of Harriman over who owes whom.

    In the complaint, filed Friday in Roane County Chancery Court, Prestige developers make various claims and are requesting an award not to exceed $1.9 million.

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  • Nov. 10 Update: Houston case soon to go to jury

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Leon Houston's fate could soon be up to a jury. The state rested its case

    in his retrial Tuesday afternoon and the defense is expected to conclude

    its case Wednesday.

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  • Nov. 11 Update: Leon Houston trial expected to go to jury this afternoon

    By TERRI LIKENS

    tlikens@roanecounty.com

    The double-murder retrial of Leon Houston is three short witnesses away from going to the jury, defense lawyer James Logan said before lunch recess Wednesday.

    Jurors weren't called in until after 10 a.m., but in anticipation of soon-to-come jury deliberations, court officials hashed out details of jury instructions about an hour before.

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  • Leon Houston leaves courthouse a free man

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Preparing for the worst, but praying for the best.

    Leon Houston said that's how he spent much of the day on Thursday. The worst never came.

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  • Lights out for Kingston corridor plan

    By TERRI LIKENS

    tlikens@roanecounty.com

    Kingston’s plan to draw much-needed retail business to the city’s Gallaher Road corridor took what Mayor Troy Beets called “a kick in the mouth” recently.

    For years, the city has been taking steps to draw “upscale retail” businesses to the corridor.

    It has made zoning changes, annexed parcels and extended water and sewer lines.

    The hitch came with one of the last parts of the plan — lighting the interchange at Interstate 40.

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  • Little white house could cost taxpayers $310,000

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Roane County Executive Mike Farmer said he doesn’t want people going through a metal detector to do business on the third floor of the courthouse.

    Because of that, the county could end up investing around $310,000 in a small white house adjacent to the new jail.

    The county purchased the house from Jon and Mary Wilson in August 2007.

    According to the Tennessee Real Estate Assessment Data Web site, the house had an appraised value of $99,000. However, the county paid $132,221 to buy it.

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  • Fire displaces retirement community resident

    By CINDY SIMPSON

    csimpson@roanecounty.com

    A fire at Harriman Gardens Monday night has displaced one resident of the retirement community.

    “It was controlled real quick, controlled to that one apartment,” Harriman Assistant Fire Chief Brad Daniels said.

    Daniels said when firefighters arrived, no sign of fire was visible from outside. It was different inside, however. Two firefighters went inside to a hallway and found heavy smoke.

    The firefighters evacuated anyone in danger and began an internal attack on the fire, according to Daniels.

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  • More skepticism of TVA involvement on reports

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    The Tennessee Department of Health’s recently released draft public health assessment on the ash spill underwent a TVA review before it was made public.

    Apparently that’s a common practice among agencies that have studied the disaster.  

    “We call it a courtesy review,” said Jeff Steevens, a research biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center.

    The ERDC looked into how Emory River dredging would impact fish.

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  • Houston spitting incident going to court

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Rocky Houston is still awaiting a decision from an appeals court about his murder case.

    However, an unrelated matter that involved a scuffle with officers is moving forward.

    The incident happened on Oct. 10, 2008, at the Roane County Courthouse. Houston allegedly became unruly while Roane County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Tim Phillips and Kingston Assistant Police Chief Wes Stooksbury were escorting him out of the courthouse.

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  • Wildlife questions linger after disaster

    By DAMON LAWRENCE

    dlawrence@roanecounty.com

    Tony Scruggs is not a biologist or a scientist.

    He’s just a man who enjoys watching the local wildlife from his lakefront home outside of Kingston.

    “We used to see a lot of water snakes,” he said. “We’d watch them from the dock, and they’d come in there and swim right underneath us and get in my dock rocks.”

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