Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association             August 14, 2008

 Minutes – Monthly Meeting

Attendance:  Ken and Peggy Whitehouse, Margaret Allard, Lloyd and Betty Stokes, Jack Bailey, Pat Bailey, John Clark, Browder Edwards, Diantha and Vic Pare, Anne McBride, Mike Darnell, Wayne and Pat Clark, Fay Martin, Fred and Peg Heddleson, Howard and Ann Harvey, Harold and Helen Jernigan, Charlie and Jan Vandenbulck, Don and Emily Hunnicutt, Ed Westcott, Bill Henry, Steve Buxton, Bob Baker, Jeanie and Bill Wilcox, Ruth Ann and C.J. Maddux, Tom Scott, Irene Pinkston, Bill Tewes, Jerry Creasey, Dave Miller, Jane Shelton, Gordon Fee, Edward Bailey, Paul Spray, Judy Clevenger, Mick Wiest, Betty Davis, Susan Gawarecki, Judy and Larry Wyrick, Bobbie Martin, Ray Smith, Earl Davis, Diana Davis, Dan Davis, Keith McDaniel, Bill Sergeant and John Huotari.

The meeting began at 7:05 PM in the Wildcat Den Room of the Midtown Community Center.  There were 75 people present (see attachment 1 on file.)

ORHPA President, Keith McDaniel presided at the meeting.  Keith announced that ORHPA has a new speaker and sound system that was just installed this week in time for our special speaker of the evening, Bill Sergeant.  Keith also commented that anyone who pays their dues from this evening forward, will have their dues credited through December of 2009.

Keith read a note from Katy Brown, Director of the Convention and Visitors Center.  Katy is asking for volunteers to help in the CVB office. The morning shifts are from 9:30 until 12:30 and the afternoon ones are from 12:30 to 4 p.m.  Katy needs volunteers to greet visitors, answer questions, assist with directions and maps, and share your knowledge and love of Oak Ridge.  If you can help the CVB, please contact Anne Ross at 482-7821 or anne@oakridgevisitor.com.

Mick Wiest announced he will be holding a meeting of the Historic Buildings’ Committee tomorrow, Friday, August 15 at 12:30 p.m., here at the Midtown Community Center.  Everyone is invited to come and participate in the meeting.  This will be the first meeting of the committee this year.

Bill Wilcox introduced the distinguished guest speaker for the evening, Bill Sergeant.  Bill Wilcox noted that Charlie and Jan Vandenbulck were in the audience, having driven up from Savannah, Georgia just to hear and see Bill Sergeant.  Other special guests in the audience were, Barbara, Patty and Kathy, all three daughters of Bill Sergeant.

The topic of Bill Sergeant’s talk was “Wartime Security and Liquor- Adversaries in Perception, But Not in Reality.”   Bill Sergeant pointed out the reality of the day in 1943 and 1944 was that “Tennessee was dry and East Tennessee was particularly dry.”  The pastors of the churches told everyone that liquor was evil.  Bill pointed out that the attitude of the Manhattan Project toward liquor was that they did not want anything to interfere with the mission. 

Bill commented that possession of whisky was also against the law so the Manhattan Project banned all alcoholic beverages.  Bill was in charge of all 1000 armed guards, civilian police and 200 military police who protected the four wartime facilities and the town as well.

Bill noted the job of being a guard at the gates to the city could be fairly boring so they tended to make a game out of looking for and discovering liquor hidden in vehicles and on persons as they came through the gates.  Finding alcohol in wheel wells and under an individual’s hat was not uncommon.   People were fairly cooperative once you found them with alcohol - which was confiscated.  The guards took people before a three person review board. The board had no legal authority but was still very powerful.  The worst thing that could happen to some one was to have their badge to the city taken away and their job with it.

According to Bill, the local sheriff’s office operated solely on a fee system. The sheriff received a fee of $2.00 for arresting someone.  He also received a fee for each mile he traveled and each meal he fed a prisoner.  The local sheriff became a very wealthy man.  Eventually he was forced to resign from his office.  Pressure was placed on him to resign or have all the information the Manhattan Project had on him opened up to the public.

Bill’s guards worked 7 days a week for 80 cents an hour.  This was more money than most had ever made in their lives and was much more that Bill Sergeant made as an army captain.

The Manhattan Project covered such a large piece of land, acting as a security barrier, which was traveled regularly by Bill’s guards on horseback.  The horses were army remounts. According to Bill, the army had lots of horses. The story of one of the guards on horseback accidentally shooting his own horse – was a true story, according to Bill.  The guards also had boats on the water around the reservation.

There was a small community between Harriman and Oliver Springs, called Oakdale.  This particular community of about 400 people had made liquor legal.  The residents became very wealthy.  Bill remembered one of the labels on a bottle of liquor purchased at Oakdale stated it was “guaranteed to be not less than 30 days old.”  The moonshine liquor was referred to as “splow”, local name for explosive moonshine.

It was a regularly encouraged practice during the days of the Manhattan Project for residents to watch and report on the people around them.  People were given envelopes to send to a set post office box to report anonymously on neighbors.

After the war was over, it was still very difficult to come by liquor.  Middleboro, Kentucky was a destination, for Oak Ridge residents, for an evening of fine food and alcohol. When traveling outside the area people tried to purchase alcohol to bring back with them.

Bill Wilcox thanked Bill Sergeant for coming to speak to our organization.  Bill presented Bill Sergeant with a copy of the George O. Robinson book “The Oak Ridge Story”, reprinted by ORHPA in 2007.  (Note -these books are available from ORHPA, AMSE, the Jefferson Compounding Center and Jackson Square Gift Shop.)

We also thanked Keith McDaniel for filming Bill Sergeant’s talk.

The meeting adjourned at 8 p.m., refreshments were served.

The next ORHPA meeting is scheduled to be at 7 p.m. on September 11.  The guest speaker for the September meeting will be Mary Ann Damos, Director of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

Minutes Respectfully Submitted.

Anne McBride, Secretary

Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association

August 21, 2008