Author: Dick Mangrum

Walhalla is cautiously moving to the re-opening of city services that have been closed by the spread of COVID-19. The plan could get set in motion this weekend by the re-opening of Stumphouse Mountain Park along with other city recreation venues such as tennis and pickle ball. Social distancing will likely be stressed. The mayor and council last night left […]

Fire to a home resulted last night  from a lightning strike to a home near Seneca, in the Woodland Acres subdivision.  Rural Fire Control logged last night’s lightning hit at 7:22 during the second spring storm in as many nights in the county.  No one reported hurt.

Popeyes, the restaurant chain that specializes in Louisiana-style chicken, appears to be on its way to locating a restaurant in Oconee County. Amanda Brock, county administrator, this afternoon confirmed that Popeyes applied for a county permit April 20 to locate in the fast-developing Hartwell Village shopping center.  Brock says the permit application is being reviewed, but has yet to be […]

In consideration for the virus pandemic for which there is not yet a vaccine, a two-county water supplier will hold the line on its retail charges for 2020. General manager Terry Pruitt made the announcement this afternoon on behalf of the board of the Pioneer Rural Water District at Oakway. From a one-year old water treatment plant along highway 59, […]

The police in Seneca say two people have been arrested in their investigation of a home burglary last Sunday at 819 Laing Court. The apartment occupant returned to the unit with her children that evening and found two men in her living room. They yelled at her to not call the police and then ran out a back door. Nothing […]

This evening’s meeting of the committees of Walhalla City Council will take place at an alternate location.  The meeting will be held at the Depot on S. College Street and will start at 5:30 pm.

The world pandemic and the need to social distance create not the best atmosphere for hooking up–let along the major step of matrimony.  And COVID-19 appears to be having an effect on the numbers of couples who are starting the marriage process at the Oconee County Probate Judge’s office.  Judge Kenny Johns today counted 80 marriage permits issued from March […]

A three-vehicle crash this morning on I-85 in Oconee County left the northbound lanes blocked temporarily but resulted in no injuries to those involved.  Chief Larry Wilkerson of the responding Fair Play Fire Department said the van driver was especially lucky.  His vehicle struck a tractor-trailer and a pickup truck with a utility bed and sustained heavy front end damage […]

Emergency Services personnel from Oconee grabbed biscuit and a coffee and then it was off for a second day to help North Carolina authorities search for a missing person at Whitewater Falls.  Public safety responders searched the North Carolina side of the falls last night for a person who, it’s believed, fell into the water.