Author: Dick Mangrum

Two projects intended to create local jobs are up for action during next week’s meeting of the Oconee County Council. The council is to consider an ordinance and a resolution that help sweeten the pot for the A.I.D. Company, the county’s manufacturing acquisition of last summer. Councilmen are being asked to consider first reading of an ordinance authorizing a fee […]

Oconee County recently bought property envisioned as the spot to build a new jail. But what now? At Tuesday’s meeting of County Council, County Administrator Scott Moulder seeks direction from council regarding the detention center.

A Georgia company has made application to Oconee County to put up a 195-foot cell tower in the eastern part of the county, at 321 Lawrence Bridge Road. The applicant is Highwood Towers LLC of Dunwoody. Josh Stephens, Oconee County zoning administrator, says all cell tower requests must be approved as special exceptions by the county board of zoning appeals. […]

Pickens County Sheriff-elect Rick Clark has named his number two officer-in-charge for his new administration that takes office January 1. Clark’s choice for chief deputy is Creed Hashe, a 25-year law enforcement veteran and, for a time this year, a candidate for Anderson County Sheriff, before dropping from the race. Hashe is a former Anderson County chief deputy and currently […]

Twenty-six applications are on file to be the next police chief in Westminster. Applicants have filed from all over, according to city administrator David Smith. The plan, he says, is for a committee to whittle down the number of applicants and schedule a first round of interviews. Besides Smith, committee members are Mayor Rick McCormick, city clerk-treasurer Jennifer Adams, and […]

Four of Oconee’s towns have organized a team of fire fighters to investigate fires, whose causes and origins are of suspicious nature. Walhalla fire fighter Mark Hollifield says the team is in its infant stage, but already meetings have taken place. Heading up the squad are Michael Smith of the Westminster Fire Department and Chris Cartee of the Seneca Fire […]

The executive director for the Greater Walhalla Chamber of Commerce, Vanessa Penton, says this is a good day for celebration in Walhalla, thanks to Blue Ridge Bank. At noon today, the bank will cut the ribbon for its new-look main office at Main and College. Then, from 5 to 7 this evening, Blue Ridge Bank will show off its rebuilt […]

State health authorities are reporting the first influenza-associated death of the season, along with significant and earlier-than-normal increases in flu activity. “Tragically, a child from Barnwell County has become our first confirmed influenza-associated death of the season,” said Linda Bell, M.D. and interim state epidemiologist. The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused the influenza virus. The flu can cause […]

A reward of up to $2 thousand has been posted for information that leads to an arrest in the search for a woman’s attacker in Fair Play. Diane Johnson, 48 years old, was found on the sand around 10 Tuesday morning at Fair Play Landing Beach, Lakeshore Drive, at Lake Hartwell. According to the Oconee Sheriff’s Department, Johnson appeared to […]

Ken Sloan is pleased today that momentum is gaining in the quest to build Oconee County’s potential for tourism and related amenities. The director of the Mountain Lakes Convention Visitors Bureau, headquartered at Walhalla, says the official name for the project to convert the former courthouse to a lodging facility is “The Courthouse Inn” and the developers have launched a […]