Author: Dick Mangrum

Governor Haley has declared a State of Emergency to mobilize additional resources should they be needed. Among the requests being made of the public by the South Carolina Emergency Management Division is to check on anyone who may need extra help during the winter weather.  Call 911 for life-threatening emergencies only and remember to keep a full charge on your […]

Staffing the new jail and creating the position of grants writer surfaced today as the top priorities for four of Oconee County’s five council members. After their brainstorming session in their retreat meeting, Chairman Wayne McCall and the council’s newest member, Edda Cammick, both listed staff for the new jail as their top project to accomplish, while Joel Thrift and […]

  A decision, perhaps, is close on whether Oconee County will pour any more money into the project designed to give its residents access to high-speed internet. During the annual retreat meeting today of Oconee County Council, Chairman Wayne McCall called the Broadband/FOCUS project “a big dead skunk” to which the county has splashed perfume to get rid of the […]

Maintenance units of the South Carolina DOT have started their crews on 12-hour rotating shifts. As the weather develops, they are to begin to pre-treat bridges and sections of interstate highways and primary routes. According to the DOT, all maintenance units in every county have been fully re-stocked with salt, sand, brine and other materials used in the de-icing operations […]

  A home near Seneca in Utica community was the scene during the last two months of crime, and the Sheriff’s Office is appealing for help from the public to help solve the crimes. They occurred January 4 and February 7 at 15 Powell Street. In the first incident, someone damaged a heat pump around 7:30 in the morning. A deputy […]

Businessman Rick Phillips has retained chairmanship of the board of directors at Oconee Memorial Hospital. The re-election of Phillips was announced after the election of board officers was removed from the agenda for the open part of this week’s meeting and placed on the agenda for its closed session. Other board officers are Cecil Turner, vice chairman; Sandra Jones, treasurer; […]

  Without discussion, Seneca City Council adopted on second and final reading last night an ordinance to change electric power suppliers beginning this summer. At the expiration July 1 of its current contract with the Southern Company, Seneca will start to draw its wholesale supply of electricity from an arm of state government, the South Carolina Public Service Authority, commonly […]

At Seneca’s meeting table, the consensus of the mayor and city council is to retain the Shaver Recreation Complex on S. 4th Street as the only polling place for municipal elections. Mayor Alexander, Mayor Pro-tem O’Kelley and most of the city’s other elected leaders say they don’t mind using both the Shaver complex and the Gignilliat Community Center on N. […]

Seneca leaders this morning will announce the headline act for the city’s next outdoor festival. During a meeting last night of the mayor and the council, Events Coordinator Riley Johnson described the type of musical act, but he said the official announcement will be made on “Coffee Talk” to air at 8:30 this morning on 94.1 The Lake.

Three Oconee County council members want the county administrator to be able to access legal advice from an attorney with an office in the county’s Pine Street administrative complex. And their wishes carried last night, as the council decided on a 3 to 2 vote to create the job of staff attorney. Council members McCall, Cain, and Cammick voted yes, […]