Author: Dick Mangrum

A Naples, Florida man, Devin James Eastman, lost his life in a three-vehicle accident Monday morning on I-85 in Hart County, Georgia near the bridge and the South Carolina line.  He was 41 years old. WNEG Toccoa quotes Sgt. Ray Dean of the Georgia State Patrol as saying the accident took place around 4 am just past exit 177 when […]

Veteran Oconee sheriff’s deputy Ray Thomas retires Friday, with the congratulations of his boss, Sheriff Mike Crenshaw.  Thomas leaves with a distinction in the annals of the sheriff’s office that appears unparalleled.  “To my knowledge”, Crenshaw says, “Ray and Alvin (Ray’s late father) are the only-father-son to work at the same time for three Sheriffs.  Both worked for Sheriff Green, […]

Clemson University students at the Pearce Center for Professional Communication helped K-5 magnet school students in Central achieve the dream of being authors.  Working together, the students created a 140-page book, “Our Favorite Animals” and, at the end of the school year, each student received a copy of the book.  The project began with lunchtime meetings between Clemson students interning […]

A civil trial concluded at Oconee Courthouse with a verdict that a young man met the definition of a sexually violent predator.  It means that although Christopher Trent Wilder completed a criminal court sentence, he is now is remanded to a state treatment program for an indefinite period.  Robert Kittle, spokesman for the Attorney’s General Office, called it “a win […]

The Oconee Common Pleas jury returned this afternoon with a verdict for the state.  It found that Christopher Trent Wilder is a sexually violent predator which means Wilder is remanded indefinitely to a treatment program.  Wilder did not testify in his defense, and his side relied on one witness, a state psychologist.  The two-day trial was unique in that a […]

Christopher Trent Wilder’s lawyer says the Oconee jury is the first in the state to handle a case under South Carolina’s new law covering sexually violent predators.  As such, the jury this afternoon is to retire to its room to deliberate.  That deliberation determines whether 37-year old is not considered a predator, but if the verdict goes against him he […]

Before a city hall meeting in Seneca last night there was a tease that a Rick Erwin steakhouse might be locating in Harper’s Plaza, across N. 1st Street.  However, Scott Moulder, city administrator, responded in an email this morning saying, “At this point there has been no formal discussion with the owners of Rick Erwin, nor any other restaurant operator.”

Attorney Suzanne Shaw rested the state’s case this morning in the Oconee Common Pleas Court, and the respondent’s attorney, Don Thompson, tried but failed to win a directed verdict for his client, Christopher Trent Wilder.  After Judge Sprouse ruling that the case should proceed further, Thompson called as his side’s first witness, Dr. Christopher Gillen, a psychologist employed by the […]