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Barry Brickey one of three finalists in Sparky the Fire Dog contest

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KINGSPORT – Kingsport Fire Fighter Barry Brickey is‚ one of three finalists for the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) Voice of Sparky the Fire Dog Contest.‚ ‚ Barry serves at‚ the Public Education Officer for the Kingsport Fire Dept and is well known in the area as the voice of Sparky the Fire Dog.‚ 

“It is a great honor for the chance to help spread the word about Fire and Life Safety around the nation and the world as the voice of the iconic Sparky The Fire Dog,” said Brickey.‚  If‚ chosen,‚ Brickey will‚ voice the newest Sparky the Fire Dog Video and the KFD will receive a new Sparky the Fire Dog Costume, NFPA Fire and Life Safety Education Materials, and more ‚ to help teach our community about Fire and Life Safety.

To win, contestants must earn the most votes, so its up to the public to vote for Brickey from Monday-Monday, February 21 – 28. on www.facebook.com/sparkythefiredog‚ or if you are not a Facebook user, you can visit www.nfpa.org/SparkysBirthdayfor more information on how to vote. You can vote once per day so spread the word among your friends and family!

Kingsport Bluebird Society announces annual meeting

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Kingsport Police Department to conduct DUI Sobriety Checkpoints

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KINGSPORT– On Friday, February 25, 2011 members of the Kingsport Police Department will be conducting DUI Sobriety Checkpoints from 10:00 PM until midnight. The Kingsport Police Department is conducting the checkpoints in their ongoing efforts to keep the streets of Kingsport safe for the citizens and visitors.‚ 

Kingsport breaks ground on new downtown Parking Garage

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KINGSPORT ‚¬ City and Chamber of Commerce officials kicked off construction of the new Shelby Street parking garage Thursday with an official groundbreaking for the project, set to be completed by June 2011.

This is a facility that the community can be proud of, and will alleviate decades old concerns about the lack of parking available to downtown small business owners, their employees and their customers, Mayor Dennis Phillips said at the event. At the same time, we are continuing to grow our downtown Academic Village, and as new institutions and programs come online, these new parking slots will become even more important.

The structure is still on schedule for a June completion, despite weather which delayed the anticipated mid-January start date. Upon completion, the facility will offer 364 new parking spaces on three decks. The majority of spaces will be available free of charge.

The facility replaces 110 surface parking spaces in the Shelby lot, and is designed to fit into the surrounding downtown streetscape, as opposed to being a monolithic stand-alone structure.

The facade facing Center Street will feature at least 10,000 square feet of leasable space for commercial/retail/office uses, City Manager John Campbell said Thursday. We are in the fortunate position of having a private developer construct those spaces at this own expense, and will help blend the facility nicely with the rest of Center Street. I also believe it will help provide even more momentum for downtown adaptive reuse as well.

To be constructed at a cost of $4.5 million, the structure could potentially offer additional but more limited lease space on Market Street, but will be finished to blend with other Market Street structures at a minimum.

In addition, at least two electrical charging stations will be provided in the garage for electric vehicles, and restrooms will be provided in the facility for use during special downtown events such as the Twilight Alive and Bluegrass on Broad concert series.

To alleviate the shortage of parking created during construction, additional free public parking has been secured on New Street across from Chef’s Pizza, about a half-block from City Hall.

For a map of free parking areas in and around City Hall, please click here.

For a larger view of the garage renderings, please click here.

Continuing Rock Springs improvements to require service outages, road closures through August

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KINGSPORT – Three ongoing Rock Springs area projects ‚¬ the State Route 347 water improvement project; Phase 1 Rock Springs Road Improvements; and Church View Drive Area Sanitary Sewer Extension and Waterline Improvements – will significantly impact water service and road access in coming weeks during workday hours.

Were excited at the rapid pace in which we are able roll out substantial quality life improvements and essential services to the greater Rock Springs area, Public Works Director Ryan McReynolds said Monday. We do understand this will make for some major inconveniences for motorists and households while we work to get this new infrastructure in place, and apologize in advance for the disruption of daily routines. But in the end, we will be providing a much improved roadway and much higher level of water service, not to mention the positive environmental impacts of the new sanitary sewer service.

The State Route 347 (Rock Springs Area) Water Improvement project will provide improved water service and fire protection to the Rock Springs community by installing larger water lines, fire hydrants and associated equipment, with a project completion date of May 2011.

In order to construct these improvements, several roads will close intermittently and water service may possibly be interrupted. Water outages and road closures will for the most part be limited to daytime hours between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. In addition, detour signs will be posted in advance of any road closure.
Phase 1 Rock Springs Road Improvements will improve pedestrian mobility, safety and stormwater collection from west of Cox Hollow Road to Edinburgh Channel Road.

This project includes the widening of approximately .6 miles of road widening, curve realignment, road elevation improvements, installation of stormwater collection infrastructure, sanitary sewer extension and water system improvements, as well as asphalt paving and a new pedestrian mobility path. This project has a completion date of early August 2011.

Again, in order to construct these improvements, several roads will be intermittently closed and water service may possibly be interrupted.

Finally, the Church View Drive Area Sanitary Sewer Extension and Waterline Improvements will construct 2 miles of new sanitary sewer line and 1.5 miles of water line improvements, including fire hydrant installation. This project has a completion date of early April 2012.

As with the other projects, several roads will be intermittently closed and water service may possibly be interrupted.

Residents who have any questions or concerns about the project are welcome to contact the City of Kingsports Engineering Department at 423-229-9475 for more information. And as always, motorists are asked to use extra caution and plan ahead while work is underway.

Dobyns-Bennett High School Takes Top Honor at Fifth Annual Northeast Tennessee Science Bowl

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KINGSPORT – Dobyns-Bennett High School students took top honors in the Fifth Annual Northeast Tennessee Science Bowl, held this week at the Toy F. Reid Employee Center in Kingsport.

The competition included regional teams from Cherokee High School in Rogersville, Volunteer High School in Church Hill, Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee High School in Bristol, Greeneville High School in Greeneville and Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport.

The National Science Bowl‚® competition, launched by the U.S. Department of Energy in 1991, helps develop the workforce that America requires to remain at the forefront of scientific advances, technological innovation and economic competitiveness. The regional competitions are designed to prepare students for state and national science bowl competitions. Questions are pulled from a wide-range of academic areas including astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, general science and mathematics.

Since the National Science Bowl‚® started in 1991, more than 160,000 students from all over the country have taken part in the fast-paced, question and answer tournament. Each year the number of regional competitions continues to grow.
Regional teams consisted of four students and one alternate from grades 10 through 12.‚  Dobyns-Bennetts Team #2 placed first and received a $300 cash prize and plaque.‚  Second place was awarded to Volunteer High School Team #1 which received a $200 cash award and plaque.‚  Greeneville High School team #2 took third place and received a $100 cash prize and plaque.

The winning team from Dobyns-Bennett included students:‚  Farrah Carter, Casey Zhu, Scott Zhou, Phil Habegger and Teacher/Coach Katie Jenkins.

All of the regional teams competing in the Science Bowl are eligible to compete in the state competition scheduled for February 18-19, 2011 at Pellissippi State Community College Blount County campus, Friendsville, TN.‚  The winning team from Tennessee will receive an all-expense-paid trip to compete in the Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl‚® in Washington, DC to be held April 28- May 2.‚ ‚ ‚ 

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Link to: City of Kingsport
City of Kingsport, Tennessee