Author: Dick Mangrum

Squad cars with blue lights blinking are prominent at two locations this morning in the Walhalla-Westminster area.  We are told that officers made a traffic stop on 28/the Blue Ridge Boulevard near the bridge over highway 11.  No explanation, so far, for why several public safety responders have gathered on 183/the Westminster Highway, in the vicinity of Bennett Road.

Internet and phone service was lost earlier this month south of Seneca on Tokeena Road when someone cut A-T-and-T telephone wire and stole copper wire. There were two incidents, the first reported January 16 when 150 feet of telephone wire was cut and removed from the casing. The second incident was discovered yesterday (Thursday, January 23.) According to the Sheriff’s […]

At the end of 2019, only seven other South Carolina counties carried unemployment rates lower than Oconee County, according to numbers posted today by the Department of Employment and Workforce. Oconee finished December with 2.1% jobless rate and a total workforce of 36 thousand people. The November figure for the county was an even two percent. When unemployment drops under […]

A Minnesota company is expected to be ready to open an operation in March inside the Oconee Industry and Technology Park. Elsewhere, at that highway 11 park, the new school district career center remains on schedule for an August opening. These are highlights of a presentation to the planning commission, from Annie Caggiano, the director of the county Economic Alliance. […]

Minor injuries were reported around 8 last night in a two-car accident that occurred at the Walhalla traffic light intersection at SC 183/the Pickens Highway and Razorback Lane.  The city police and fire departments responded.

A long-time Oconee resident urged the state’s lawmakers to resist any attempt to expand South Carolina law to allow the open carrying of a firearm in public. South Carolina permits its residents to carry concealed firearms that can’t be seen by the casual observer. John Wagner says he thinks that law is working well, and the reaction from two of […]

An address along a rural road between Townville and Crossroads is a fire scene.  Shortly before 5 this morning, fire fighters were alerted to a storage building fire on Cody Road that spread to a mobile home.  No injuries reported.  The location is near the Pine Grove Road.  Fire fighters from two Oconee County volunteer departments were called out, as […]

A voter watchdog group called last night for South Carolina state lawmakers to resist any attempts to manipulate political boundaries that protects one party over another and keeps certain incumbents in power. Addressing the Oconee Legislative Delegation, Sandra Gray of the League of Women Voters spoke out against the practice of gerrymandering and called for the creation of an independent […]

An Oconee leader reminded the county’s state lawmakers that the busy traffic artery of Interstate-85 likely will require widening, to meet volumes of traffic both north and south, along with further commercial development along the federal highway. Oakway resident Julian Davis chairs the county council, but he said he spoke last night as an individual. Davis said he realizes that […]

Have you seen a black 2005 Chrysler Town and Country van with rust on its tire walls? Chances are, if you have, you have seen a car reported stolen this week from a business near Westminster. The Sheriff’s Office is looking for that car. A deputy sheriff quotes the victim as saying he drove the van to work at 7am […]