Author: Dick Mangrum

A tradition of more than 30 years of Oconee County lakeside dining is in ruins to an overnight fire. No one was hurt, but Oconee Fire Chief Charlie King reports Weineacker’s Restaurant on the Coneross Creek Road has been destroyed. Fire fighters were alerted during the midnight hour. About 60 fire fighters from Oconee and Anderson counties needed 90 minutes […]

Before a mechanic could get to a truck left disabled by the side of a rural Oconee road, thieves intervened and stole a large quantity of tools. The victim in this week’s theft at Martin Creek and J-P Stevens roads was Sumter Utilities of Sumter. Among items taken were tool cutters, black boots, oil jugs, and a black bag containing […]

Oconee Sheriff’s Department is investigating the assault of a woman found on a Lake Hartwell beach this morning at Fair Play Landing. So far, according to Chief Deputy Terry Wilson, little is known. A jogger is said to have discovered the woman, severely hurt, and a car with its motor running nearby. At first, according to Wilson, authorities asked for […]

Federal unemployment benefits are ending next month for individuals nationwide, and hundreds of Oconeeans and thousands of South Carolinians will be affected. Because the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program is expiring, all payments will cease, regardless of where a claimant falls on the four-tier EUC system. After December 29, South Carolinians filing for unemployment compensation will be eligible for no more […]

Employee giving is alive and well at the Oconee Medical Center. The hospital directors were told last night that individual giving by employees, regardless of size, has added up to a half million dollars since the giving program started eight years ago. Debbie DuBose, executive director of the OMC Foundation, says it’s not unusual, in fact it is common, she […]

Oconee County sheriff’s officers have arrested the second of two suspects in a storage building burglary near Salem. Arrested early today and lodged in the Oconee Detention Center was Charles Benson Cantrell, 45, of Clearcut Drive, Salem, charged with burglary third degree first offense and grand larceny of a value more than $2 thousand but less than $10 thousand. Along […]

A company’s newest expansion project will benefit Richland County but not Oconee. Leon “Butch” Harris, however, says there is a reason for that. Harris, project manager for JTEKT/Koyo, says the automotive systems and industrial components supplier considered several existing locations, but preference went to plants making products similar to the ones being added in Richland County. In an email reply […]

Debbie DuBose promises good, family fun beginning today at the St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church on Bountyland Road. DuBose is the executive director of the Oconee Medical Center Foundation, the fundraising arm of the hospital. Beginning at 9, it’s the annual Christmas Tree Festival to benefit the OMC Hospice of the Foothills, which now is entering a phase three […]

The military has announced that an Air Force officer, graduate of Pickens High School, rescued a drowning girl from the ocean after a riptide pulled her out too far. The praise goes to Staff Sgt. Robert Profitt Jr., a C17 crew chief instructor assigned to the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base. Profitt has served in the military […]

Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative is this year’s recipient of the Tri-County Technical College Philanthropist of the Year award. Blue Ridge has a giving history to the TECH Foundation that dates back to 1986, when it made first unrestricted pledge of $5 thousand. Its largest gift to date came in the form of a $100 thousand pledge in 2010 to name […]