Author: Dick Mangrum

Continuous rain makes it look anything other than a wintery landscape, but it feels at least like Christmas Eve.  But the fact is today is Monday, December 23.  Which means we are two days out from the big day of the year.  Already, however, some of our favorite restaurants and most of the government agencies we deal with are beginning […]

A 30-year old Utica area man has been arrested and charged in an Oconee Sheriff’s Office investigation of burglary and arson in the Fairview Community. Law enforcement records show that E. Lonsdale Street resident Steven Michael Arnold was arrested last night and charged with burglary first degree and arson second degree. Affidavits signed by investigator McMahan allege Arnold broke into […]

Three rural Oconee County bridges have made a list of what the state considers “off-system bridges” across 23 counties in line for replacement. The bridges cross three roads: Rodgers Road, Oconee Creek Road, and E. Stamp Creek Road. In a notice that invites public comment, the DOT outlines preliminary engineering, right-of-way, and construction phases for 36 bridges across the state. […]

The Christmas and New Year’s holidays are coming at a good time for the Oconee public schools.  The county schools continue to experience many students with the flu and the stomach virus.  Several schools have seen higher than normal absentee rates, although Associate Superintendent Steve Hanvey says he can’t confirm that in one school class at one particular time the […]

In the chambers of the Oconee County Council complaints have been registered that the free bus service in Seneca and surrounding parts of the county are plagued by low passenger numbers. But the executive director of “CAT”—Clemson Area Transit—refuted those assertions last night at the Seneca City Hall. “CAT’s” Keith Moody spoke to a poorly attended public hearing last night […]

A new Subway restaurant, a Publix supermarket, and a Q-T convenience store are among the changes that will affect Seneca’s busy 123-130, the East End intersection. Ed Halbig, the planning and community development director, says his city will look to the South Carolina DOT to figure out how to accommodate the traffic as safely and as efficiently as possible. During […]

A board of appeals in Seneca gave businessman Eddie Adams a variance of 20 setback feet last night that’ll allow a new Subway restaurant to fit on a below grade lot to the side of the Ingle’s parking lot. Approval was granted in a 4-0 vote, although John Voss of the zoning board of appeals raised the issue of whether […]

A Seneca bus official says for an estimated $24 thousand dollars a year, his city’s transit service can extend as far as the cities of Walhalla and Westminster. But Ed Halbig, Seneca planning and community development director, told a public hearing last night that his city will look to Oconee County and the cities of Walhalla and Westminster to share […]