Author: Dick Mangrum

A third case of COVID-19 has been reported by the Oconee School District, at the end of the first week of school.  It’s that of a Walhalla High School employee.  That employee, however, never entered the building with students, according to the district.  The two other cases in the first week report are a Seneca High student and a Walhalla […]

The production of records remains a dispute in a civil lawsuit against Oconee Memorial Hospital still awaiting trial after three years.  At a motion hearing today, Circuit Judge Scott Sprouse ruled that the plaintiff, identified in court records as a Jane Doe, is entitled to seek to compel the hospital to produce records related to her treatment in December 2015.  […]

The end of week one student enrollment numbers show 78% of Oconee students are taking face-to-face instruction; 22% are at-home students.  The numbers are 10,616 for face-to-face and 2,298 at home students.  But the numbers are preliminary, according to district officials.  According to the announcement, “These numbers are preliminary due to the fact that we do not drop students who […]

Prisma Health will offer limited visits for designated care partners beginning Tuesday, Sept. 1.   “Being with a loved one is, in itself, a healing therapy, and Prisma Health looks forward to offering expanded visitation for designated care partners next week,” said Scott Sasser, MD, a nationally recognized disaster preparedness expert who oversees Prisma Health’s COVID-19 response.   Out of […]

Telephone and internet service has been restored to the complex of the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority at Seneca.  Service was disrupted Wednesday when a grass cutter hit a fiber optic line.  The JRSA is back to normal operations.  But access to the complex remains restricted to control the spread of COVID-19. control the spread of COVID-19.

By yesterday, the fourth day of the school year, two cases of COVID-19 were reported within Oconee public schools–one a student at Seneca High; the other, an employee at Walhalla’s James Brown Elementary.  A case previously listed Monday was removed after determination that the individual did not enter a school building or facility.

The 19,000 limit that the Clemson football Tigers are putting on fans for this year’s home slate at Memorial Stadium means they won’t be pumping as much fuel as normal at the nearby Oconee Regional Airport.  During a normal college football season, the small airport sees its busiest days of the year.  Often times the airport runs out of spaces […]

A five-day period early next month will mark the 59th South Carolina Apple Festival, based in Westminster and in the apple-growing region of Oconee County.  COVID-19, however, has changed how the festival will celebrate the apple crop.  Unlike festivals in the past, September 8-12 will not welcome large crowds for browsing the booths on Main  Street downtown.  Instead, Jane Suttles […]

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced 424 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 42 additional confirmed deaths. For a rare 24-hour period, Oconee recorded no new cases.  Also, no new deaths from the county. This brings the total number of South Caroliina confirmed cases to 113,107and confirmed deaths to 2,494. As of yesterday, […]