Author: Dick Mangrum

How often does South Carolina extend the taxpayers a break? You can count on one before the start of a new school year. This year’s sales tax holiday will run Friday through Sunday, August 1-3. Among store items that will be exempt from the sales tax that weekend: clothing, footwear, school supplies, computers, printers, blankets, bath towels and pillows. The […]

 Clemson University researchers will employ GPS to track alligators in the state’s coastal plain. The satellite tracking is part of a study to understand their population numbers, movement and ecology. South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources wants to design a long-term alligator harvesting strategy. And the state has found that a night-light survey design based on monitoring programs in Florida […]

In six weeks, the fall semester at Tri-County Technical College begins—making now a time when students and parents want answers about financial aid deadlines, scholarship requirements and how to manage debt.  Tech’s financial staff reports high volumes of phones calls and emails that await answers.  But the college now offers a new way to get immediate answers—both during the weekend […]

 A civic organization has come through with a$1 thousand donation to the Oconee County committee raising money for a 9/11 memorial to be erected adjacent to what will be the new home for Walhalla High School. The donation by the Salem Lions Club, in a sense, is no surprise, for it was that organization that first suggested the project. A […]

After two and a half hours of a private meeting, the Oconee County Council is moving ahead on two of three unspecified economic development matters. The council emerged last night without acting on the first of three matters discussed. It did vote to direct its legal counsel to proceed with an agreement on a project code-named “Eagle.” Councilman Paul Corbeil […]

South Carolina has provided mental health services to its residents since at least the early part of the 19th century, but its director of today says there is still more to accomplish. John Magill, director of the state Department of Mental Health since 2006, spoke today to the Walhalla Rotary Club. Magill told the Rotarians that over time millions of […]

At a meeting Friday, an Oconee County commission may approve the sale of as many as 100 parcels of property in the Foxwood Hills subdivision at Lake Hartwell. The parcels are on the agenda for a 2 o’clock meeting of the county Forefeited Land Commission. The commissioners also receive a follow-up to a question of whether to ban “a person […]

The greater Dacusville area of Pickens County will be the subject of a Crime Watch kick-off meeting next week. And anyone interested in taking part in the Crime Watch is encouraged to attend. The meeting takes place at 7 o’clock Tuesday night, July 22 in the Dacusville Community Center. Those attending receive information about Pickens County’s most common crimes and […]

96.3/WGOG NEWS has learned that Seneca representatives plan a meeting this week with owners of the former Harper’s 5 and 10 building—across from City Hall. The meeting apparently will touch on what the city will require for bringing the interior part of the building up to code. According to City Attorney Michael Smith, settlement has been reached in a federal […]

  A Salem leader detects a favorable attitude from those in her area to pass this year’s referendum that would add a penny to the sales tax for community improvement projects countywide. Kim Alexander, the Salem clerk-treasurer, says the one-cent question on the November General Election ballot will include projects for her area which have been talked about for years. […]