The Cleveland Daily Banner- The Bradley County Emergency Management Agency will be one of the agencies working with the Tennessee Valley Authority in
The Cleveland Daily Banner- The Bradley County Emergency Management Agency will be one of the agencies working with the Tennessee Valley Authority in an emergency preparedness exercise Wednesday. The exercise will involve an emergency scenario at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant, according to TVA, and is part of an ongoing series of training drills required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure an effective and coordinated response to protect the safety of the public in the event of an emergency at Watts Bar. BCEMA Director Troy Spence said that this will be a “hostile-based exercise” that could include terrorism-related components. Both Spence and BCEMA Fixed Nuclear Facility Planner Jeff Gunter will be in direct contact with other emergency sites. Spence said that with what recently occurred in Paris, it is very important to be prepared for any type of hostile activity. The graded exercise will involve nearly 1,000 personnel working in multiple locations, including near the plant. Residents may see increased vehicle traffic and may hear on-site and off-site sirens briefly activated. “There will be increased radio traffic in Rhea, Meigs and McMinn counties, so many will not only see more emergency traffic on the road, but hear more on their scanners,” Spence said. NRC and Homeland Security representatives will evaluate responders on the appropriateness of their actions, to ensure the health and safety of the public. A public meeting to discuss the response will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday at the Comfort Inn at 2811 Decatur Pike in Athens. The Cleveland Daily Banner- Cleveland Board of Education members continue to discuss issues facing the city’s school system. They took these issues with them to the Tennessee School Board Conference in Nashville over the weekend, holding a work session at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel Sunday evening. The priority issue is funding for the proposed elementary school on Georgetown Road in North Cleveland. Another issue is the possibility of introducing more personalized learning into the school system. Director of Schools Dr. Martin Ringstaff scheduled two sessions on personalized learning for Wednesday and Thursday at Cleveland High School and at Arnold Memorial School. Both will be at 6:30 p.m. The school board’s focus Sunday was on how it can get the new elementary school funded. Board members noted during the meeting that the school system continues to pay on construction of the Cleveland High School Science Wing, and Arnold Memorial School renovations. These payments come from the school system’s proceeds from the half-cent sales tax. The Board of Education has appealed to the Cleveland City Council for funding for the new school, but Council members say city finances are strapped with the funding of the new Cleveland High Raider Arena. One thing the school board accomplished in Sunday’s work session was the establishment of a planning committee to recommend funding for the new school. Selected to the committee were school board member Dawn Robinson, Ringstaff, Cleveland City Manager Janice Casteel and City Council member Charlie McKenzie. His two planning sessions Wednesday and Thursday are for parents, teachers, school administrators, students, city administrators and concerned residents. The Times Free Press- A year ago, Allan Jones, owner of Hardwick Clothes, told the executive staff at the nation’s oldest suit maker to perfect the navy blazer — the goes-with-anything staple of the male wardrobe — and all the other things would fall into place. Consider the first of that mandate accomplished. Hardwick’s high-end navy blazer was announced Tuesday as the top style winner in Garden and Gun magazine’s sixth annual Made in the South Awards competition. Garden and Gun is a South Carolina-based lifestyle magazine, founded in 2007, and which seeks to highlight the best of the South. Hardwick officials saidTuesday that being selected by the magazine for the top style prize was a surprise, but an honor, and another major step toward re-establishing Hardwick as a national leader in high-end men’s clothing. Today, Hardwick employs more than 300 workers. “We’ve gone from mother-of-plastic to mother-of-pearl,” said Jones.
