Author: Dick Mangrum

The Board of Directors of Blue Ridge Bank and Blue Ridge Financial Corporation recently announced C. Kyle Thomas as President and Chief Executive Officer effective Monday, September 12.  “On behalf of the board of directors, we are pleased to have Mr. Kyle Thomas as the new President and CEO of the Blue Ridge Bank,” stated Jesse Neville. “He brings an […]

At Oconee Memorial Hospital, one electronic record-keeping system will replace another.  Hunter Kome, president of the Oconee Medical Campus, announced recently that the switch to Epic will take place on October 1.  “It’s a single data-based electronic medical record system.”  Speaking to the OMH Holdings Board, Kome said, “What that means is that each patient has one record of regardless […]

At West-Oak Friday night, it was Military Appreciation Night.  And, during halftime of the game with Christ Church, West-Oak alumnus and Master Sgt. Shawn Gibson surprised his wife.  The two first met at a West-Oak game years ago.  West-Oak games are memorable for the couple.  At one in 1996, Mrs. Gibson went into labor in the stands.  This past Friday […]

Of 2,996 persons killed September 11, 2001, the only Clemson University alumnus killed was a 34-year old who was one of the youngest partners in his company’s history.  James Patrick Wright went to work at Cantor-Fitzgerald global financial services right out of college.  Today, only his name remains etched in bronze on panel N-39 of the 9-11 memorial where the […]

An early Sunday morning fire destroyed a single-wide mobile home in Oconee County.  Rural Fire Control reports the Oakway Volunteer Fire Department received the primary call to 365 Armstrong Road at 4 o’clock in the morning.  No one reported hurt.  The residents at that mobile home were believed to have been away at the time.  American Red Cross disaster-trained volunteers […]

Seneca Police chief John Covington announced today the termination of the employment of Mark Tiller from the police force, effective Friday, September 9.  Tiller has been on administrative leave with pay since last summer’s fatal shooting of a 19-year old man in the parking lot of a restaurant.  Covington said, “This is a ‘Personnel Matter’ and therefore I am unable […]

A Westminster man, Sam Dickson, will serve as board chairman of the newly-organized Greater Oconee Chamber of Commerce.  In the meantime, efforts are being focused on hiring an executive director.  For at least the first year, Dickson will chair the 11-member board, which features equal representation from the county’s three largest municipalities:  Seneca, Walhalla, and Westminster.

In a one-hour window this afternoon, three accidents were reported on I-85 in Oconee County.  According to the state patrol, two occurred at the four-mile marker and the third at the two-mile mark.  Injuries were reported in one accident.  All occurred between 12:20 and 1:14 pm.