Author: Dick Mangrum

At the new “Memory Café” in Walhalla the menu offers a lot for the soul.  Church-based Memory Café is a free program for those with any form of dementia.  The program has the dual benefit of helping those who care for dementia individuals.  Heading up this program at the St. Luke United Methodist Church is Bonnie Holmes.  She started a […]

Middle and high school students in Oconee County see their summer recess come to an end this week, with first day of classes for the new academic year on Wednesday this week.  That means, according to the state patrol, an appreciable increase in week day traffic, especially those yellow school buses.  On 101.7/WGOG NEWS today, trooper Joe Hovis stresses the […]

The Oconee County treasurer, Greg Nowell, announces the temporary closing of the Pine Street office of the county treasurer for in-person payments.  Tax payments are being accepted online, over the telephone, by mail, and through the drive-thru.  The drive-thru operates 8:30 am to 5 pm weekdays.  Nowell’s announcement gives no reason for the temporary closing.  All other county offices remain […]

A car was hi-jacked at gunpoint Friday afternoon from a car wash near Easley.  Pickens County sheriff’s officers were looking for two suspects for the theft of a white 1999 Honda Civic, stolen from the car wash on Farrs Bridge Road and headed in the direction of Greenville on SC 183.  One suspect was described as a white male, late […]

Candidate qualifying for Oconee County municipal elections this year is still a week away, but there’s already interest in the three Walhalla city council seats that are expiring this year.  A joint announcement is being made today by two political newcomers.  They are Tyler Jordan of Lakeside Drive and Grant Keehn of N. Poplar Street.  Jordan and Keehn believe in […]

Oconee Sheriff’s Office announces that the traffic violation of a car in Newry led to a wider investigation, and now both the driver and the car passenger have been charged with drug offenses.  The second person arrested, according to the sheriff’s office, was Brandy Diane Wright of the Long Creek Highway, Westminster, charged with trafficking in methamphetamine.  The arrest of […]

A noon hour accident brought out a host of public safety responders to a car accident at Bountyland.  It occurred on SC 188/the Keowee School Road apparently between the railroad tracks and the Bountyland traffic lights.  An initial state patrol report indicated injuries and the road blocked temporarily.

In today’s COVID-19 report for South Carolina, officials confirmed 2,535 new cases for the 24 hours that ended on Wednesday night.  There were an additional eight South Carolina deaths, including another Pickens County resident.  Of the new virus cases, 29 were Oconee County.  Of 20,182 test results received, the state positivity was 16.3%.

By order of the New Jersey governor, public school children must wear masks at the start of school this year.  That’s unlikely to repeat in South Carolina, as pointed out by the Oconee superintendent of education.  Dr. Thorsland says a proviso inserted by the state legislature would make illegal any directive for students and staff to mask up.  In Oconee […]

The organization in the business of advancing the common good in Oconee County will pack its bags in the next year to move to a part of the community in need.  LaShauna Harrison, the local executive director, last night announced that Oconee United Way will abandon its suite of 123 By-Pass offices for a spot in Seneca’s Blue Ridge Community […]