Author: Dick Mangrum

In-class teaching or virtual learning.  It’s a debate nationwide during the most significant COVID surge yet.  A decision has been taken in Oconee County to temporarily send the high schools to virtual learning.  Starting tomorrow, it’s virtual instruction for the high school classes of Seneca, Walhalla, and West-Oak, until  Tuesday next week, the day after the King holiday.  Yesterday’s school […]

Breaking news–the board of the Joint Regional Sewer Authority late this afternoon approved a 20%, mid-year increase on the rate that Oconee’s three largest municipalities pay to treat wastewater.  All three Seneca members voted in opposition, but the vote carried.  The motion, by Westminster’s Kevin Bronson, is time for the increase to show up on March bills that reflect February […]

To be on scene when disaster occurs, the Red Cross can make good use of volunteers willing to respond and provide comfort, hope, and resources to those impacted.  They offer essential resources to families that unexpectedly are displaced.  Those resources include financial help, comfort kits, health services to replace medications and equipment, mental health services, and community referrals.  The Red […]

An accident involving a Seneca sanitation truck this morning on the 123 By-Pass resulted in no injuries and “minimal damage” to the truck, according to Scott Moulder, city administrator.  The accident was investigated by the state patrol, and Moulder says the patrol did not issue any citations in its investigation.  Oconee Solid Waste this morning was still awaiting an estimate […]

Oconee County is making its annual effort to educate some of the youngest population about dangers of tornadoes and the protective actions that should be taken in the event that a twister develops.  Tornadoes are not an uncommon occurrence in this part of the country.  As many Oconeeans learned well in 2020, tornadoes can cause death and millions of dollars […]

Word from that accident on highway 11 near Walhalla is that one-lane of the two-lane roadway has been re-opened to traffic at the Bear Swamp Road crossing.  According to the fire department, there was no entrapment in any of the wreckage.

The state patrol reports part of SC 11 at E. Bear Swamp Road is blocked to traffic at this hour for an accident at what is an accident-prone intersection.

The following is an announcement from Prisma Health: “Because of the steep rise in COVID-19 throughout the state and the high infection rates, patients coming to Prisma Health emergency departments will no longer be allowed to have visitors except under special circumstances. The change is effective Saturday, Jan. 8, at 7 a.m. This will apply to all Prisma Health hospital’s […]

Two city councils, those in Seneca and Westminster, are planning executive sessions tomorrow night at the tail end of their separate meetings.  The mayor and council in Westminster are scheduled to privately consider as many as three separate matters: personnel as it relates to the city’s staff structure; legal advice on the threat of legal action over the makeup of […]