A new mental-health resource for the Rocky Top area held its grand opening and ribbon-cutting last week, with more than 40 people in attendance for the event,. Rocky Top Behavioral Health, an inpatient hospital at 210 Industrial Park Lane, Rocky Top, said the Jan. 28 celebration was held “to commemorate the beginning of its dedication to serving the community with compassionate, patient-focused care.” The hospital’s beds occupy a remodeled wing of the Summit View Assisted Care facility, said Rocky Top Mayor Kerry Templin, who was on hand for the ribbon-cutting. “That facility has been in Lake City/Rocky Top since the 1970s,” he added. The behavioral-health aspect is new, and a “welcome addition to Rocky Top,” the mayor said. “This is a great resource for the people of north Anderson County and south Campbell County, and will provide services for the community that people would otherwise have to travel to Oak Ridge or Knoxville for,” Templin said. The facility is opening with eight patient beds, and has the option of going to 15, the mayor said.
Read MoreToday, it feels as if there is a hole in the world and a light of kindness has been extinguished. Ricky Williams lost his battle with cancer Thursday, Jan. 30, and died peacefully at Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge. He was 67. “He was a man of faith,” his twin brother, Randy, said. “Even at the end, he was still hoping, still praying. He was in good spirits, but he knew. He told me, ‘I’m ready … I’m ready.’” Williams graduated from Norris High School and later from Cumberland University, now the University of the Cumberlands. He worked for 25 years as a firefighter at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In the early 2010s, he earned an associate degree in photography from Pellissippi State Community College. A former youth pastor at Bethel Baptist Church and an assistant scoutmaster with Boy Scout Troop 73 in Norris, Williams mentored and guided many young people. His impact on the community deepened when he began photographing local sporting events. He shared his photography with print outlets such as The Courier News and the Norris Bulletin, and posted his images on social media — all for free. “He just enjoyed the kids,” Randy Williams said. “He started staying up all night going through his photos to weed out the bad ones. Ricky didn’t like to put out bad pictures.” Parents took notice. Ricky was often asked to capture moments of individual players, and he was always happy to oblige. Soon, players began looking for his familiar presence on the sidelines or at courtside.
Read MoreA 33-year-old Powell man, Hezikiah LeKeith Wilcox, was pronounced dead at the scene just after 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Wilcox was driving a car and leaving Eagle Bend Manufacturing, 1000 J.D. Yarnell Industrial Parkway in Clinton, with a female passenger described as his girlfriend when he pulled out a handgun and shot himself, police said. The passenger, who was not identified, was not injured. After Wilcox shot himself, the car he was driving crashed into a drainage ditch. “The girlfriend stated to the officers that Mr. Wilcox had shot himself with a firearm as they were leaving the facility, causing the vehicle to drive into the ditch,” the Clinton Police Department said in a statement. Officers responding to the scene found a handgun next to Wilcox’s body. They also observed “an injury to his head, consistent with a gunshot wound.” The Tennessee Medical Examiner’s Office was notified, and Wilcox’s body was transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. The incident remains under investigation, though authorities say all indications suggest Wilcox’s injuries were self-inflicted. The Clinton Fire Department and Anderson County Ambulance Service also responded to the scene. Patton Funeral Home in Cleveland, Tennessee, is handling the arrangements, which remain incomplete pending the medical examiner’s release of Wilcox’s body.
Read MoreNorris residents will get a chance to comment in person this coming Monday (Feb. 10) about a proposed $3 monthly fee added to utility bills to help fund the city’s new Stormwater Utility Department. A public hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m., just prior to the February City Council meeting at 6 p.m., on Ordinance 689, passed on first reading Jan. 13, to begin assessing the fee on each residential property inside the city limits. During the council meeting to follow, the council is expected to consider passing the ordinance on second and final reading. Also on the public hearing agenda is consideration of Ordinance 692, which passed on first reading Jan. 13, to modify the Tree Commission’s rules on where trees may be planted on city right-of-way. At 5 p.m. Monday, prior to the public hearings, the council will hold a workshop to discuss amending fees and policies for renting out city facilities to private groups for parties and other events. Then at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, the council plans another workshop to discuss a suggested new right-of-way ordinance, which would regulate what residents would be allowed to build, plant or install on city right-of-way adjacent to their own property. The council set up the Stormwater Department last March to oversee the city’s stormwater-collection system, with the goal of helping the city avoid future trouble with state environmental authorities over raw sewage spills resulting from stormwater runoff into the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
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