Author: Dick Mangrum

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, recently conducted an “Aids to Navigation” inspection on Hartwell Lake to inventory all buoys, shoal markers and other navigational aids to ensure proper placement, working condition and visibility. This annual inspection plays a vital role in boater and water safety for the millions of visitors to Hartwell Lake, and this year numerous […]

The board of Pioneer Rural Water passed a new budget, minus a water rate increase for the next 12 months.  Terry Pruitt, general manager, says this week’ annual customers’ meeting went well.  Board members talked about searching for grant monies to address any taste and odor issues that could arise in the future.  Lake Hartwell algae intrusion has been the […]

Clemson has them, so why not Seneca?  A parking garage downtown Seneca may not be too far away in the city’s future.  Scott Moulder, city administrator, says with the help of the city’s state representative, Bill Sandifer, a $12M state appropriation has been approved, and it missed the governor’s vetoes.

Passed by the Senate banking committee is a bill that South Carolina’s Tim Scott has hopes will choke off the income source of synthetic opioid traffickers.  The FEND Off Fentanyl Act is closer to becoming law.  The bill would direct the Treasury Department to use economic sanction tools to choke off the profits of the Chinese precursor manufacturers and the […]

Senator Graham called attention this week to, as his announcement put it, protecting women’s sports.  A Washington hearing focused on the fairness of a female athlete having to compete against a biological male in the field of women’s sports.  It’s not fair, as South Carolina’s Graham stressed, to the hearing panelists.  “Young girls are working hard in their particular sports […]

Westminster’s general physician, Billy Campbell, is seeing the fewest cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak.  And Dr. Campbell agrees with the assessment that the killer virus is on the wane.  But his advice is one of caution for individuals who are immuno-compromised.

The city of Clemson is to receive $600 thousand to upgrade water service in its Redhill neighborhood.  The money is a block grant announced by the state Department of Commerce.  The South Carolina Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program awards grants bi-annually to help municipal governments improve economic opportunities and meet re-vitalization needs. To qualify for CDBG money at least […]

On the same day public TV devoted a prime-time investigation of why bridges fail, the South Carolina DOT announced the closing of Table Rock Road in Pickens County.  Here’s the DOT explanation:  “Following recent inspection, the bridge on Table Rock Road (SC-288) over the Oolenoy River was closed for repairs.  A detour route has been established….SCDOT appreciates the patience of […]

A quasi judicial board will assemble tonight in Seneca and consider two appeals to the city zoning ordinance.  At 6 o’clock the board of appeals holds hearings on the following applications:  Susanna McDaris requests a variance at 400 S. Depot Street and David Galloway seeks a variance at 1819 Cross Creek Drive.

Inside the Oconee courtroom, a verdict of not guilty.  An Oconee General Sessions jury found a Seneca man, Richard Dills, not guilty today of failing to register as a sex offender.  Dills took the stand in his defense in the one-day trial.  His lawyer, Suzanne Earle, had argued that her client had gone to a designated reporting location, tried to […]