Author: Dick Mangrum

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced that it has identified more than 1,800 contact tracers to support the state’s ongoing COVID-19 response efforts. “With increased testing there will be an increase in the number of positive cases reported,” said Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina State Epidemiologist. “This means we will need to increase the […]

Public safety responders are on their way to what appears to be a serious accident in Long Creek.  According to passersby, it looks like a car may have gone thru guardrail and flipped over.  This accident was reported shortly after 4 o’clock this afternoon.

A handful of South Carolina women, including an Oconeean, are hoping the voters will nominate them next month to hold an office, rarely occupied by members of their gender. It’s believed that no woman has ever been elected to the office of county sheriff in South Carolina, although some women have temporarily occupied the office. The executive director of the […]

Partisan disagreements leave uncertain what form a new stimulus package might take from Washington–whether there will be more relief checks or tax cuts, or both.  But South Carolina Republican Tim Scott says he and at least two Democratic colleagues are behind a proposal to ensure more new parents quickly receive the additional $500 a child benefit from the CARES Act.  […]

Pleasant spring time weather and the re-opening of some Oconee County outdoor attractions brought out crowds over the weekend. The city of Walhalla monitored conditions at the popular Stumphouse Mountain Bike Park.  At the peak on Saturday, there were about 100 vehicles parked on the property, but the city’s Brandon Burton says there were no problems.  The same couldn’t be […]

If you wish to transact business at the counter in the Seneca Post Office, members of the public are told to wear a mask.  Signs are posted on the door entrances to the main lobby. A limit of three people is a requirement inside the small retail section to allow for six-feet social distancing.

Oconee County continues to lag behind both the state and the country when it comes to responding to the federal government’s requests to take part in the 2020 Census.  Over the weekend, the Oconee response rate was reported at 51.6%.  That compares with a state response of 52.2% and nationwide rate of 58.5%.

Fire fighters were called last night to a home near Seneca to put out a kitchen stove fire.  The call, to Chapman Pond Lane near the Singing Pines Road, came shortly before 8:30 last night.  According to a report, the fire was stopped before it could spread farther.

One additional South Carolina COVID-19 death reported yesterday brings the state’s toll to 331 dead from the virus.  The death was that of  an elderly person in Marion County.  DHEC added 113 new cases yesterday, which brings to 7,653 the total number statewide.  Sunday’s report included two new cases in Anderson County, five new cases in Pickens County, but no […]