Author: Dick Mangrum

If you have a friend who is part of the local DOT’s maintenance crew, chances are your friend has had little time of late for you. The boss at the Department of Transportation facility, Michael Smith, says the crews have been busy filling potholes and picking up after storm damage. Smith says, “We are working diligently on repairing the road […]

When it comes to whether a major tire maker will build a distribution center in a rural area of Oconee, patience is a virtue. And it’s a virtue that Richard Blackwell, the county’s chief economic development recruiter, has adopted in the waiting game for the Michelin Corporation’s decision on whether it expands to Golden Corner Commerce Park on highway 59. […]

Seneca needs 20 people to volunteer to be seen in a video to be made today aboard one of the city’s electric buses.  If you are interested, report between 9 and noon today to the electric transit facility at 320 Shiloh Road.  The video will last three minutes.  The city was recently notified that its electric bus system is to […]

A 54-year old Oconeean has been sent to prison for the rest of his life–the result of being convicted this afternoon in the Oconee General Sessions Court.  The jury found Wilbur Rickmon guilty of kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct first degree.  The crimes occurred September 27, 2013 inside the trailer home where Rickmon lived.  The victim was a young neighbor […]

The jury at Oconee Courthouse during the noon hour interrupted deliberations to ask the judge questions about their task.  Which is ruling on the guilt or innocence of a Seneca area man charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct first degree.  Wilbur Rickmon did not testify in his defense, but the prosecution offered a video and statements made by the […]

Atop Walhalla Presbyterian Church is a new copper dome, and it is considered one of the final pieces to restore one of Walhalla’s oldest places of worship. The church on E. Main Street heavily damaged in 2013 by fire. The new dome, which arrived from Kentucky in two pieces, weighs a total of 5,600 pounds and required a large crane […]

Richard Blackwell watches the state’s job numbers for Oconee County as close as anyone. The Oconee Alliance executive director made several observations yesterday on the report for March, showing Oconee’s unemployment rate had fallen below 6%—dropping six-tenths of a percentage point from the month before. Blackwell also notes that Oconee’s percentage for March of 5.8% was smaller than neighboring Pickens […]

Westminster City Council had not quite started its executive session last night when it took up the complaint voiced by a rodeo sponsor heard at the start of the meeting as part of public comment. Michelle Sanford complained about a city requirement to pay a $50 dollar charge to display a sign. Sanford’s complaint was one of handful of complaints […]

Some of Oconee’s youngest citizens are spreading an environmental message today on Earth Day. Students at Keowee Elementary School have decorated paper grocery bags with art work with an environmental theme and those bags are being passed out today at the West Union Ingle’s Store. Keowee Elementary is proud to be involved in what it is an international education effort […]

The prosecution rested its case yesterday against a Seneca area man, charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct first degree. As the trial recessed until 9:30 this morning, the question left was whether Wilbur Rickmon will testify in his defense. The jury heard testimony about an alleged incident involving Rickmon and a female neighbor at a trailer park in September […]