The statewide Red Flag Alert is now lifted by the S-C Forestry Commission. Fire weather conditions have abated to include rain, higher relative humidity, decreased winds, and cooler temperatures. The conditions also alleviate some of the strain on Forestry Commission equipment and personnel. Because of a major structure fire in Horry County, a burning ban…
Unemployment rose in both Oconee County and South Carolina in January, but more people were working than during January the year before. The Department of Employment and Workforce today reported the Oconee unemployment rate for the first month of the year reached 9.5%—-as compared with December’s 9%. Yet the number of Oconeeans on the job…
A week of Oconee General Sessions Court opens this morning at Walhalla, with Judge Cordell Maddox presiding. Atop the trial docket are cases charging defendants with drug possession and grand larceny. Two jurists, Edward Miller and Letitia Verdin, preside this week in Pickens County General Sessions Court. There, jury qualification and selection begins this morning…
In 38 and a half years in law enforcement, James Singleton accumulated awards and earned distinction. But the retired Oconee Sheriff reached the apex of his career last night when, during a retirement dinner, he was award the Order of the Palmetto. State Senator Thomas Alexander read a letter from Governor Nikki Haley announcing Singleton…
A 43-year old Oconeean was found late last night, crushed beneath a tractor near Westminster. Coroner Karl Addis says family members found Terry Ray Land of the Rufus Lane Road under a Zetor 3320 tractor that the 43-year old Land appeared to have been driving toward his home. The tractor, which had no rollover protection…
Rescuers remain looking today for a boater missing on Lake Jocassee. Shortly after 9:30 last night, a woman reported that she and her husband’s kayak had capsized four and a half hours earlier. She swam to shore, but lost contact with her non-swimming husband. An announcement by Charlie King, Oconee Fire Chief, quoted the woman…
A SC Forestry Commission Red Flag fire weather alert now covers all of South Carolina. Conditions yesterday in some areas including low relative humidity and warm temperatures contributed to an elevated danger level. According to Oconee Fire Chief Charlie King, those factors support the ignition and spread of wildfire. The Red Flag alert does not…
U-S Forest Service crews have announced a prescribed burn today in Long Creek, off the Battlecreek Road. A USFS spokesman says up to 500 acres are to be burned in a prescribed, safe manner to rid forest ground of debris and other materials that could lead to wildfires.
Dry as the weather is likely to be this weekend, the South Carolina Commission of Forestry requests that everyone think before you burn. Carless debris burners cause more than 40% of wildfires in the state every year. To be safe, yard debris burning should be postponed until after the next rainfall. The yard burning notification…
At their retreat meeting tomorrow in Clemson, the governing board of Tri-County Tech will engage in some philosophical discussions as to how better serve its three-county student service territory, according to the college president. We spoke to Dr. Ronnie Booth after today’s meeting of the Oconee Economic Development Commission. Booth serves as an ex-officio member…
