Author: Dick Mangrum

The voters were kind to the incumbents, not just for the highest office in the land, but in every instance where an Oconee County incumbent faced a challenger. Once again, however, Oconee County sided with the Republican nominee for President, giving Mitt Romney more than 70% of the vote. And it was a large vote, as the returns showed a […]

Clemson University received a grant from Alcoa to expand and improve its game-day recycling program. The $60 thousand grant from the Alcoa Foundation will help with the goal of reaching 45,000 more fans and adding 350 student volunteers. The grant is to fund more than 100 new recycling stations and buy a Segway to help promote recycling at football games.

Here’s what it looked like late this morning outside the Walhalla Fire Department, as voters waited in line to cast ballots in the November General Election.

The S.C. Department of Transportation has closed a bridge in Pickens County on S. 18 (also known as 18 Mile Road) which crosses 18 Mile Creek near the U-S 123 interchange. The closure is due to piling problems that have caused the bridge deck to sink about one foot. The location is about seven miles east of Clemson. An SC-DOT […]

Steady to heavy voting is reported this morning at polling places in Seneca, Walhalla, and West Union. The electorate is showing that a little rain, cool air, and some precinct changes are not deterring them from their duty to help elect a President and in the case of Oconee to elect a new Sheriff. The 96.3/WGOG election night coverage starts […]

Thomas Alexander, Oconee’s resident state senator, calls tragic the failure of the governor and her cabinet agency not to have done more to prevent a hacker’s cyber attack that exposed credit card and Social Security numbers of 3.6 million South Carolinians. At a point, Alexander said last night, he and his legislative colleagues will address what the Department of Revenue […]

The South Carolina DOT has deemed “shovel ready” four Oconee County federal-aid eligible resurfacing projects to be let next year to contract. And the public gets a chance to comment on any or all of them. The projects were selected for the 2013 Federal Match Program and are among 106 miles of roads in Oconee and seven other South Carolina […]

Oconee’s seven-month economic development director ventured a thought last night as to the job-creation implications in today’s elections. To the annual meeting of Walhalla Partners for Progress, Richard Blackwell indicated that moneyed people are waiting to see how the election goes before they commit to investments. Notwithstanding, Blackwell said he thinks 2013 will be special in Oconee because of strides […]

These are anxious times for all of the candidates in this year’s elections, but you need only turn the calendar back one year to imagine the nerves and apprehension that car dealer Danny Edwards experienced as he ran for Walhalla mayor. Speaking at last night’s Partners for Progress annual meeting, Edwards touched on what year one has been like for […]

Tangy chili on a fall night wasn’t all it took to warm the hearts for the faithful of Walhalla’s Partners for Progress. They are encouraged for the future and the change it will bring to a town known as a gateway to the mountains. After hearing the mayor say streetscape is on the way, Partners for Progress members heard realtor […]