Author: Dick Mangrum

  Fire burned an unoccupied house last night near Walhalla.  Fire fighters were called at 8:15 to a house on the Stumphouse Church Road near SC 28, the Highlands Highway.  According to the fire department, the cause for last night’s fire is under investigation.

In the opinion of Walhalla’s mayor, it’s time to make the restoration of the city-owned Chicopee ballfield a priority.  Danny Edwards is announcing a public meeting to help make a plan will be held at 6 o’clock Thursday evening, August 5 at the Depot building.  The hope, according to the mayor, is to form a “Friends of Chicopee” to be […]

The un-vaccinated may roll up their sleeves tomorrow afternoon at Walhalla’s James Brown Elementary School.  There, from 2:30 to 6:30 tomorrow evening, Prisma Health will administer the Pfizer vaccine to anyone 12 and older in a drive-thru event.  No appointment is needed.  Walk-ins are welcome. A second vaccine event will be held at the school Thursday, August 12.

Walhalla’s elected leaders extended the moratorium regulating discount stores through December 31.  And, at the recommendation of the administrator, the city council re-established the moratorium boundaries.  Approved was Administrator Brandon Burton’s recommendation to confine the restrictions to the section of the city that takes in Johnson to Maple streets and within both sides of Broad Street.  That way, it was […]

  A car being chased by the cops failed to negotiate a turn and crashed airborne into a patch of kudzu adjoining the Oconee School District offices.  A police source tells 101.7/WGOG NEWS the chase started on SC 28/the Blue Ridge Boulevard and ended around 2:30 yesterday afternoon when the car wrecked.  The police say the driver climbed out of […]

  The Oconee School District is one of 33 public school districts in South Carolina whose virtual learning program was approved by the state Board of Education for the new school year—2021-22.  Oconee’s met enrollment criteria set by the General Assembly and guidelines of the state board that were derived from similar regulations covering virtual charter schools.  Dr. Kristi Woodall, […]

Today’s DHEC report accounts for the case count for Sunday, ending at 11:59 that night:  230 new COVID-19 cases, including three in Oconee County.  Statewide:  two more deaths from the virus.  Of 3,986 test results received, the positivity was 7.4%.

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a warning Thursday to the American public about the danger of COVID-19 misinformation, which has contributed to less people getting vaccinated. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) supports Murthy’s advisory and continues its call for Palmetto State residents to arm themselves with facts, then get a life-saving vaccine.   […]

The trees were once considered a darling spectacle in the Walhalla downtown, but now South Carolina is set to become only the second state in the country to ban the nursery sale of Bradford pear trees.  The ban on sales will begin October 1, 2024, which is the annual nursery licensing renewal date in South Carolina.  Ohio will become the […]

Oconee public schools have a pair of new assistant principals ready to start the new school year in August.  West-Oak High graduate Stanley Antonio Scott is transferring from his fifth grade teaching assignment to join the administrative team at Seneca’s Northside Elementary School.  Dr. David Dennis is moving from his role as testing administrator and career counselor to work as […]