Author: Dick Mangrum

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced 172 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, and 11 additional deaths. This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 4,608 and those who have died to 135. The deaths occurred in elderly individuals from the following Counties: Beaufort (3), Berkeley […]

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Summerville, SC man yesterday on charges of Criminal Conspiracy and Identity Fraud. 53 year old Rickey Wayne Vinson of Crestview Drive was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center around 2:22pm Monday on a Temporary Custody Order until investigators obtained arrest warrants today. A hold has been placed on Vinson by the Berkeley […]

Part of SC 28, Blue Ridge Boulevard, is blocked at this hour–the result of a car accident.  According to the highway patrol, there are injuries at the Halfway Branch wreck scene.  The accident is believed to have happened just before 3 pm.

The EF3 tornado that struck Oconee County during the morning of April 13 caused three reportable sanitary sewer overflows on the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority’s wastewater collection system last week. The spills occurred in the following locations: • Davis Creek Road #2 Pump Station (1801 Davis Creek Road, Seneca) – The cause was due to a generator that failed […]

Oconee County’s first-year economic development director sees the governor’s announcement as a first step toward recovery. But Annie Caggiano qualified her remarks with the reminder that South Carolina remains under a “Work or Home” order and the need continues for social distancing as a way to keep down virus infections. She spoke today in a news interview arranged by the […]

In response to needs arising from the April 13 tornadoes and to help alleviate financial and social distancing concerns about securing non-COVID-19 medical care, Clemson University’s Joseph F. Sullivan Center will provide virtual clinic visits at no cost to residents of Oconee County. This is an expansion of services that the Sullivan Center is currently offering to Clemson University employees, […]

COVID-19 put a halt to this year’s General Assembly in Columbia, and that creates complications for Oconee public schools in figuring out how to create a budget for the fast-approaching new government year on July 1. Gloria Moore, the district finance director, says, “The resolutions that both the House and Senate approved say the state minimum teacher salary schedule for […]

Not far from the Lecroy Road, there was an accident this morning on the Bethel Church Road involving a motorcyclist and a deer.  A report from Walhalla Fire Department indicates the motorcyclist was not injured.  It’s assumed the deer was killed.

In this year’s primary, a contest is guaranteed for the office of Oconee Sheriff between the two-term incumbent Mike Crenshaw and one of his employees, Amanda Tinsley, an officer in the criminal investigations division. Both are matched up in the June Republican primary, with the winner’s name to go on the November ballot. There is no Democrat or other party […]