Author: Dick Mangrum

Tri-County Technical College received a $57 thousand grant to award 20 scholarships for industry-based training that can give individuals the skills training and certifications to qualify them to work in local manufacturing within two weeks. The grant was awarded to Tri-County by the SC Department of Employment and Workforce through the SC Technical College System. Individuals can apply now for […]

The annual public meeting of Oconee’s three state lawmakers will take place this year in Westminster, at 7 o’clock the night of Thursday, January 23 at the Westminster Depot.  The meeting is scheduled to fall following the second week of the 2020 General Assembly, which will get underway next week.  The annual meeting is a good chance for Oconeeans to […]

Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette will speak to the Seneca Rotary Club Wednesday, January 15 during a luncheon meeting at the Cross Creek Plantation Clubhouse.  Republican Evette, businesswoman from Travelers Rest, is serving her first term after having been on the winning ticket with Governor McMaster in the 2018 elections.

South Carolina’s U-S senators are backing President Trump for his comments today on Iran’s response to the killings last week of the top Iranian general and others at the Baghdad airport.  Lindsey Graham called Trump’s statement a “home run speech.”  it was, Graham said, “measured and firm.”  Graham’s Senate colleague Tim Scott said the days are over for the U-S […]

The case of an assault victim is under investigation today in Oconee County. Spokesman for the Sheriff says deputies were called just before 5:45 this morning to investigate a report that a female assaulted at an address on the Jacobs Road in the eastern part of the county. EMS personnel transported their patient to the hospital.

A sales pitch for Walhalla to replace old water meters with 21st century technology was well received during a presentation last night at City Hall. Representatives of the company Fortilene Waterworks extolled multiple advantages of installing what are considered intelligent meters.  The equipment distributor is offering the meters with a discount of $120 thousand.  Scott Parris, city utilities director, says, […]

The elected leaders of Walhalla put on their thinking caps last night to figure out a safety solution for a one-block section of S. Catherine Street downtown. After discussion, the city will pursue the idea of forbidding parallel parking in front of the businesses on S. Catherine, between Main and S. Broad streets. Before any decision, however, there will be […]

Oconee County should be glad to unload the Golden Corner Commerce Park to an investor looking to build a solar farm, District 2 County Councilmember Wayne McCall said Tuesday. McCall claims it was a mistake for the county ever to buy the approximately 300-acre park off S.C. 59 near Fair Play because, he says, the park has been a “white […]

Julian Davis will be chairman of the Oconee County Council for the second year in a row, but his tenure wasn’t uncontested. In the reorganization traditional to the first council meeting of a new year, District 5 Councilmember Glenn Hart nominated District 1 Councilmember John Elliot to the post ahead of a nomination of Davis by District 3 Councilmember Paul […]

As the calendar turned last week to the year 2020, Oconee County sheriff’s officers and state constables conducted safety traffic checkpoints in which citations were issued and, in some cases, the drivers were removed from behind the wheel and sent to jail. Two of the checkpoints occurred in the Westminster area, with one taking place at Mountain Road at Clearmont […]