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Today's News

  • Local Tea Party says it was IRS victim

    A report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found the Internal Revenue Service improperly singled out Tea Party groups applying for tax exempt status.
    Officials with the Roane County Tea Party say their organization was one of those groups.
    “It’s upsetting that the IRS can be used in this manner,” local Tea Party communications director Chuck Smith said.
    The inspector general report said the IRS Determinations Unit would identify applications from groups that had Tea Party in their names.

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  • Robinette case goes to grand jury

    The drunk driving case of Steven Robinette, a former candidate for Roane County property assessor, was bound over to the grand jury Monday.
    Kingston police charged Robinette with DUI and violation of the implied consent law last November. Officer Jerry Singleton said Robinette performed poorly on sobriety tests and refused to take a Breathalyzer test.
    With the case now bound over, Robinette could face a possible indictment by the Roane County grand jury. The grand jury is scheduled to meet on June 17.   

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  • More crowded jail was praised, not threatened

    The Roane County Jail had more inmates when it was inspected in 2012 than it did when it was inspected earlier this month.
    However, the 2012 inspection resulted in a recommendation that the jail be certified where the one that occurred this month did not.
    The jail has a certified capacity of 174 inmates. According to Tennessee Corrections Institute records, the population was 200 when the jail was inspected on Feb. 6, 2012.
    Inspector Joe Ferguson marked “not overcrowded” on his report and recommended the jail be certified.

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  • Ex-firefighter accused in threat to burn sister’s car

    Keith Lynn Hephner Jr., a former volunteer firefighter who was indicted for arson, is accused of threatening to set fire to his sister’s car.
    He faces two counts of domestic assault in the alleged incident, which occurred on May 12 at 1048 Dogtown Road.
    According to a Roane County Sheriff’s Office incident report, Sarah Connin told police that family had gathered to celebrate Mother’s Day when Hephner got upset and started using foul language.

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  • GUEST OPINION: Graduation prayer fights a lost cause

    By CHARLES C. HAYNES
    First Amendment Center
    School officials in Lake City, Arkansas have come up with a novel solution to the fight over prayer at graduation:
    No prayer, no graduation.

    On May 6, the school board voted to cancel sixth-grade graduation at Lake City’s two elementary schools.

    The action came soon after the district received a complaint letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation objecting to prayers at previous graduations.

    Rather than drop the prayers, the district opted to drop the entire ceremony.

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  • Lady ‘Cats down Coalfield for first-ever region title, 8-0

    The Lady Jackets ran into a vicious Bobcat Wednesday and her name was Courtney Jones. 

    The sophomore led the Lady Bobcats to their first region title in school history as Oliver Springs defeated Coalfield 8-0 behind a six-hit shutout from Jones. The Oliver Springs win also gave head coach Matt Headden his 200th career win.

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  • Rockwood rallies to win Region 2-A title

    Pretty much any kid that has ever played baseball has probably dreamed at one point of hitting a game-winning grand slam home run with two outs on a 3-2 pitch.

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  • Top This

    Due to storm damage to the Temperance Building, crews have begun replacing the entire roof on the Harriman landmark.

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  • Jail decertification risk

    Less than four years after it opened, the Roane County Jail is in danger of decertification.
    Denise Messer, a detention facility specialist with the Tennessee Corrections Institute, inspected the jail on May 2.
    “Certification cannot be recommended at this time,” Messer wrote in her report. “A reinspection will be conducted on or before July 2, 2013.”
    The jail’s certified capacity is 174. The population the day of the May 2 inspection was 188.

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  • Annexing out for a year in Midtown

    Midtown residents can rest easy for a year.
    That’s how long they have before Harriman city officials can set their annexation sights on the area again.
    Members of the Harriman City Council, however, are pondering what a yearlong state moratorium on annexation and potential law changes regarding growth boundaries could do for their chances of annexing commercial hot spots along the Hwy. 70 corridor.

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