Today's News

Roane County employees may have to wait until the fall to find out if they will get a raise.
In June, the budget committee instructed budget director Alva Moore to prepare figures in case they decided to add a 1-percent raise for employees to the proposed 2010-11 fiscal budget.
Moore said a 1-percent raise would cost taxpayers about $103,000.
The budget still hasn’t been adopted, and the current budget committee terms expire on Aug. 31.

Nothing to worry about. That was the U.S. Department of Energy’s conclusion about Clinch River soil in a local resident’s yard.
“It was really what we expected,” DOE spokesman Mike Koentop said of the government’s findings.
Scott Boyes wanted the soil removed from the front yard at his Walton Road home because it came from the Clinch River.
Koentop said the river has DOE contaminants from legacy operations years and years ago.
When contacted by Boyes, DOE officials agreed to go to his home and take samples of the soil.

Tennessee Technological University student Mason Maxwell Griffin recently received the Engineering Development Foundation Scholarship.
A freshman electrical engineering/advanced math major, he is the son of Chris and Suzanne Griffin. Grandparents are Dixie Mason of Kingston and the late Ed Mason, and Frank and Ann Varga of Kingston.

Cap off a long, hot summer and a festive Labor Day weekend by meeting friends and family for Melons and Music at Harriman Riverfront Park.
The annual Babahatchie Community Band concert includes ice-cold watermelon served by the Harriman Lions Club.
The Babahatchie Band will perform popular music favorites from the
’40s and ’50s, such as “String of Pearls,” “April in Paris” and “Little Brown Jug.”