The city of Clinton will hold its June City Council meeting a week late.
Originally scheduled for June 22, the rescheduled meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday, June 29, allowing the city to hold a budget workshop at 5 p.m. Monday, June 22. Clinton City Manager Roger Houck told council Monday, May 18, “We’ll have better sales tax numbers — local and state,” for the meeting on June 22, he said.
Parks and Recreation Department will also give a presentation for its phased re-opening during the meeting on June 29. Houck said the department has been formulating plans for daily operations, especially concerning the Clinton Community Center where summer camps are expected to be available. Houck said they expect 100 pre-K through sixth-grade children for the summer camps, and as many as 300 additional children.
Operation Last Mile gives honor to retired American flags
by Ken Leinart
Taking part in “Operation Last Mile” Saturday morning along Charles Seivers Boulevard are, from left, 2LT Landon Wood, Retired SFC Carla Miller, and SSG Chris Fairchild (local area recruiter for the Army Na- tional Guard), and other active duty service personnel. - Tony Cox
Honor, pride, duty, sacrifice.
There is something woven in the fabric that makes an American flag.
It isn’t tangible, not in the sense that it is a piece of thread, or material, you can hold in your hands.
It is a thread, though. Shared by many who love their country, but more so by those who have served their country.
It is there — if you are willing to see it.
Sgt. Robert Reece and Sgt. Christopher Fairchild are part of that thread, that group who serve their country.
For them, the American flag is no mere symbol of “nation.” They see and understand what is woven in the fabric of the American flag.
Waste Connections last week returned one of the burned-out dumpsters to the green box site at Cage Creek along New River Road (Tennessee 116) in the New River com- munity in mountainous west Anderson County. County officials have posted a reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandal or vandals responsible for setting fire to the $6,000 dumpsters, and has said that if the arson does not stop, the green box site could be closed permanently. - G. Chambers Williams III
Anderson County officials say they’re close to identifying the vandal or vandals who have been setting fire to expensive trash dumpsters at the Cage Creek green box site in the remote New River community.
County Mayor Terry Frank started a reward fund – now standing at $1,100 -- in early May seeking information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the fires that have been destroying the $6,000 trash bins provided to the site by contractor Waste Connections.
“I’ve gotten some information from some citizens out there, and we’ve turned that over to the sheriff,” Frank said. “We had someone call to say, ‘Here’s who it is.’ And we have a witness.”
Residents of the community along Tennessee 116 in mountainous far southwest Anderson County could lose the green box site if the fires don’t stop, Frank has said. The vandalism has been going on for the past three years, with the most recent incident on the night of May 5.
Dumpsters at the unattended site are provided to the county under contract by Waste Connections, and that company has told county officials that the vandalism must be stopped, or there will be no more of the bins left at the site.
At 3:52 p.m. May 17, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Bacon Springs Lane in Clinton after a family walking in the area discovered a human skull.
Detectives and deputies located the corpse just feet away from the skull and found evidence that indicates suicide. The individual has not yet been identified.
The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating this matter. If you have any information or know of someone whose whereabouts were unknown, please contact Detective Sean Flynn or Detective Sergeant Josh Zisman at 865-457-6210.
State Rep. Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro, and State Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, announced that the funding has been approved for the final phase of construction of Tennessee Route 33 connecting Union and Knox counties.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation has completed the right-of-way phase of the development for Route 33 (Maynardville Highway).
This 5.2-mile project will adjoin the portion of Route 33 in Union County to the Knox County line and Tennessee 144. The proposed project includes widening the highway from two lanes to five.
“We have been working on this project since 2010, and I am very proud to see it finally coming to the construction phase,” said Powers.
Norris plans to keep its current property tax rate in the fiscal year beginning July 1, according to the 2021 budget the City Council passed on first reading during its May meeting.
A “virtual” (electronic) public hearing on the new budget – which calls for nearly $1.866 million in expenditures for fiscal 2021 – will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 1.
The final reading of the budget ordinance will be during the June 8 regular meeting, which also will be online only.
The $1.866 million compares with $1.237 million in expenditures approved for the current budget year.
The big boost in the new budget will be paid for mostly by state grants to cover sidewalk improvements.
The new budget anticipates the city receiving $645,868 from the state, compared with just $220,000 in the current budget.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are leading a nationwide study to determine the rate of novel coronavirus infection in U.S. children and their families.
The sHuman Epidemiology and Response to SARS-CoV-2 study, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, aims to gain insight into how many children ages 1 to 21 have been infected, the percentage of those infected who develop symptoms of COVID-19, and any differences in immune responses to the virus between children and adults within the same household.
It will also examine whether infection rates differ between children who have asthma or other allergies and children who do not, including the impact of topical steroids used to treat asthma and allergies.
City gets $36,437 for public safety challenges brought on by COVID-19
U.S. Attorney J. Douglas Overbey of the Eastern District of Tennessee today announced that the City of Oak Ridge received $36,437 in Department of Justice grants to respond to the public safety challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19.
The grant is available under the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program, authorized by the recent stimulus legislation signed by President Trump.
Other jurisdictions can determine if they are eligible for funds and may apply immediately by visiting this website.
The Justice Department is moving quickly, awarding grants on a rolling basis and aiming to have funds available for drawdown as soon as possible after receiving applications.
“As this country continues to fight COVID-19, our office remains committed to deterring, investigating, and prosecuting those who seek to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding will help many of the communities struggling in these trying times and provide some much-needed relief to our district,” said U.S. Attorney Overbey.
