Author: Dick Mangrum

A host of Walhalla and Oconee public safety responders came to the aid last evening of an elderly visitor to the scenic – at times treacherous – Yellow Branch Falls.  Rest and water were enough for the hiker to be able to walk out on her own.  The public safety responders found their patient about two-thirds down the trail to […]

The placement of billboards in a row, one after another, inside a major entrance to Oconee County is believed to have been a central irritant on the part of a then county council chairman.  He helped lead an effort to restrict where billboards may legally go.  Fast forward from all those years ago to the present time when an independent […]

Indications are as many as six to eight contractors showed interested in the first phase work for a new Westminster recreation complex.  The city’s recreation planning committee finds out the morning of September 28 how many companies offer bids to start work on the new Hall Road complex.  Westminster has been approved for a $5 million state grant, and the […]

A Seneca man and woman remain in jail today as a result of a burglary investigation conducted by the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office yesterday morning. 56 year old Richard J. Certain and 47 year old Tonya Denise Shook, both of Owens Road, were booked into the Oconee County Detention Center around 10:02am and 10:21am respectively Tuesday. Both Certain and Shook […]

A Rock Hill man has been jailed today in Oconee County after his arrest on charges related to the theft of two vehicles from an Oconee County car dealership in a crime that occurred in May. 22 year old Xavier Ja’Colby Grase, of Winding Branch Road, was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center around 3:52pm Tuesday after being transported […]

With no disrespect to anyone who had an idea to save Oconee’s old courthouse, the county fathers are moving forward to demo the 1956 building that sits crumbling at the Walhalla corner of W. Main and S. Church streets.  One proposal pursued over a period of years was to turn the building into a small hotel, but it never came […]

A driver from Westminster and his passenger have been charged in Georgia – the result of an August 25 STING K9 Unit operation conducted by Stephens County officers on the Big A Road.  And, according to a WNEG Toccoa report, because a swastika flag and pin found in the truck, FBI agents have told the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office they […]

The public is invited next week to Walhalla to remember and reflect on the 9-11 tragedies of 2001.  A short memorial service is planned at 9 am Monday, September 11 at the county’s 9-11 memorial on SC 183/the Walhalla-Pickens Highway.  Organizer Brandon Shirley says the event will take about 20 minutes.

David Root, the Oconee County Attorney, gave his opinion last night as to the potential pitfalls when a majority of elected leaders gather outside their official settings when, in Oconee’s case, there are three of five members of the county council together.  Root says the opinions of the state Attorney’s General clearly specify that official business can’t be discussed or […]