Author: Dick Mangrum

Westminster’s Steve McGuffin retires this week as one of the area’s longest serving law enforcement officers.  In recent times, Senior Deputy McGuffin carried out his assignment with the security detail provided by the Oconee Sheriff’s Office at the county courthouse.  And, for anyone frequenting, the courtrooms, the hallways, and the front desk, McGuffin was a familiar figure.  In all, he […]

Sassafras Mountain observation tower in Pickens County and Bald Rock Heritage Preserve in Greenville County, two of the Southern Appalachians’ most popular and iconic tourist destinations in South Carolina, will reopen to the public on Wednesday, May 20. Both natural areas have been closed since Mar. 28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made to close both areas initially […]

An infusion of $2 million into the public schools as the result of action from a Duke tax appeal is going to help the Oconee public schools with their deficit spending, but it won’t be enough to cover the shortfalls that the trustees are anticipating for the rest of this year and next year. Jerry Lee, the chairman of the […]

The numbers of Oconeeans taking advantage of the permission to vote absentee in next month’s primary elections are growing, as concerns remain over the potential for the COVID-19 virus to spread.  Many who make up the senior citizen segment of the county electorate already routinely swell the absentee voting numbers, but many others are opting to avoid the election day […]

Gas prices in the Carolinas are inching higher as most of the region pushes towards re-opening, causing a growing number of people to hit the road. Gasoline demand is now only 30 percent lower than a year ago and even with prices expected to push more expensive this month, motorists will still see some low Memorial Day gas prices. “Gas […]

The drivers in a two-car highway 28 accident near the Oconee Memorial Hospital were sent to the hospital, but their injuries last evening were unknown to the Seneca police. The highway 28 accident at the traffic lights at Memorial Drive occurred during the noon hour yesterday and involved a Honda Pilot and a Toyota Corolla. According to Capt. B-J McClure, […]

In both Columbia and Greenville, a Prisma Health task force has partnered with local entrepreneurs to rapidly develop and manufacture large quantities of protective face shields for Prisma Health’s front-line healthcare workers. Face shields, which are full-face visors worn by workers to help protect their faces from potentially infectious substances, was early-on identified by Prisma Health as a critical-needs manufacturing […]

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on Monday announced 126 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 6 additional deaths. This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 8,942 and those who have died to 391. Four of those deaths occurred in elderly individuals in Charleston (1), Clarendon (1), […]

An Oconee County man was jailed and charged after a Friday night incident near Westminster in which a Chevy Blazer was driven into a pile of debris at a home near Lake Hartwell and set afire. Oconee law enforcement records show Randy Lee Webb, 40 years old, was arrested and charged with two counts of arson third degree. In one […]

Findings by government watchdogs during 2019 at Duke Energy’s Oconee Nuclear Station all were in the “green” category.  The NRC evaluates performance at nuclear plants with a color-coded system that classifies green, white, yellow or red, in an increasing order of safety significance.  Meaning “green” is the least significant.  During the part of an annual report meeting today, the NRC’s […]