Author: Dick Mangrum

For practically all of the last century, the village that adjoins Seneca to the east was a safe and vibrant community. Until the 20th century gave way to the 21st, life in Utica community revolved around a textile plant now closed. It’s generally agreed that the average plant worker may not have gotten rich, but he enjoyed a good life […]

Thru the Christmas holiday and New Year’s, there’s this reminder from the South Carolina Highway Patrol:  The Sober or Slammer campaign is underway.  Which means that if you consume a certain quantity of alcohol and get behind the wheel, you risk hurting or taking someone’s life an accident.  And, for you, it’s likely you’ll spend at least part of the […]

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 […]