Author: Dick Mangrum

Oconee County government offices and facilities are closed until 12 noon today.  According to Lisa Burton, clerk of court, all jurors directed to report to the courthouse have been released for the rest of the week.  County services that include tax payments, address changes and building permit applications are available online at www.oconeesc.com.  City halls in both Walhalla and Westminster […]

By late last night, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative had restored service throughout its multi-county territory to all except 727 customers.  All remaining outages were in Oconee County.  Some crews stayed on the job overnight.  By 3 pm yesterday, 24 thousand Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas remained without power.  Of that number, eight thousand were in South Carolina where Oconee […]

Icy conditions persist in many parts of Oconee County, and educational facilities have adjusted their schedules.  Today is an eLearning Day for Oconee school children.  Students should not report to school buildings.  Athletic events scheduled today are re-scheduled for tomorrow. Tri-County Technical College has canceled classes today.  This includes the classes offered through the corporate and community education division.  A […]

An outspoken opponent of the theory critical race is taking the Oconee School District to court in dispute of the way the superintendent handled his freedom of information request.  The Common Pleas Court January 14 lawsuit alleges the district unlawfully failed to respond to plaintiff Matthew Perry Smith’s seeking a presentation document titled, “Be The Change.”  Among the legal grounds […]

Due to the snow and ice still covering many roads and continued power outages throughout the county, Tuesday, January 18th will be an eLearning Day STUDENTS WILL NOT REPORT TO SCHOOL BUILDINGS Assignments will be posted by 10:00am.  Teachers will be available for office hours from 10:00 to 11:00am and 2:30 to 3:30pm.  Students will have 5 days upon returning […]

Reserved for executive session tomorrow night in Walhalla is legal advice to the city’s elected leaders on what appears to be an imminent lawsuit by Seneca against Walhalla and other sewer interests in the county.  At the heart of the threatened suit is Seneca’s quest to be granted increased representation on the policy board of the Joint Regional Sewer Authority.  […]

If you think 4.2″ of snow in Walhalla was something, you should have seen the white stuff in Mountain Rest community.  There on the east side of that mountain hamlet, we have an estimate of 8″. Officially, Oconee’s deepest sbnow was Long Creek at 5.5″. In her Walhalla report this morning, weather watcher Barbara Wilson reminded us of the long-time […]

In a 24-hour period, the Walhalla Fire Department responded to 38 calls for assistance.  And, of course, most of those 38 were storm-related.  The weekend of power outages affected the city hall.

Across five Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative service counties, fresh crews will work on the remaining outages (2,210 in Oconee).  Blue Ridge’s Terry Ballenger says adding to the manpower efforts are fresh-in state and out-of-state crews.

Minimum standards that apply to South Carolina detention facilities will be up for consideration when the Oconee County Council holds a regular January meeting tomorrow night at the Pine Street administrative office complex.  Specifically, a recommendation is to be made to award a new inmate communication services contract to Encartel, a company in Nebraska.  According to an explanation of the […]