Author: Dick Mangrum

As the two-term Oconee probate judge, Kenny Johns has conducted hundreds of marriage ceremonies.  On Saturday, he was married to his long time love.  Johns and Oconee sheriff’s dispatcher Katie Hafner Voss exchanged vows at the low country home in Walterboro of Colleton County Probate Judge Ashley Heaton Amundson.  After a quiet weekend at Johns’ family vacation home at Edisto […]

A young Seneca woman has been returned to her jail cell, now knowing the court’s conditions for which she may win release from custody pending trial. In a proceeding this morning, Municipal Judge Danny Singleton set a surety bond in the amount of $100 thousand for defendant Taylor Louise Bright. She is accused of reckless vehicular homicide in the death […]

A 22-year old woman in Seneca has been charged with reckless vehicular homicide in the death last night of her husband. A warrant, issued by Judge Susan Harris, charges Taylor Louise Bright of 701 S. Townville Street. An affidavit signed by investigator Casey Bowling alleges, “The defendant Taylor Louise Bright, did with reckless disregard of the safety of others, drive […]

That $30.3 million dollar payment from Duke Energy, Oconee’s number one taxpayer, arrived on schedule this week. And now it’s a matter of disbursing portions of the big sum to the various entitled government agencies. More than one-half of the payment that satisfies Duke’s 2017 county tax bill goes to the public schools. The $18.3 million for school operations equates […]

The Seneca police chief has issued a statement on last night’s death of a S. Townville Street man who died in a traffic-related incident that the coroner says appears to have resulted from a domestic issue. The victim was John Taylor Bright, 25 years old. Chief John Covington said, “Our investigation remains active at this time. The final report has […]

Workers this year are expected to pave entrance roads into two of Oconee’s undeveloped industrial park properties. Richard Blackwell says these projects have been long-awaited. The entrance roads are planned at the Golden Corner Commerce Park at Fair Play and at the Seneca Rail Park on county-owned property that adjoins the city’s industrial park. Blackwell, the county’s economic development director, […]

Oconeeans are invited to a special county council meeting where the council will proclaim 2018 the year of the county’s Sesquicentennial. Several activities are planned to mark the occasion of Oconee’s 150th year. The county separated from the Pickens district and formed in 1868, not long after the Civil War. Edda Cammick, council chairwoman, says the special meeting will take […]

Following the recent winter storms that hit several areas throughout the Carolinas, AAA urges motorists to thoroughly wash their cars to help prevent pricey vehicle repairs caused by chemicals used to de-ice roadways. According to a recent AAA survey, U.S. drivers paid an estimated $15.4 billion in rust repairs caused by de-icing methods over the last five years, or approximately […]