Author: Dick Mangrum

The year 2012 in Oconee County would be highlighted by what was, for modern times, an unprecedented free-for-all for the office of county sheriff. And, sadly, it would a year known in Oconee for carnage on the highways, as drivers lost their lives at a rate of nearly two a month. All the highs, the lows, and the in-between can be […]

Authorities in two states are on the lookout for a 29-year old man who they say led them on a high-speed chase Christmas night. According to Lake Hartwell Radio WLHR in Lavonia, Georgia it began about 7 p-m with a call about an erratic driver in a Chrysler 350 and a case of road rage. The chase reached speeds of […]

Among those spending Christmas week with loved ones in Oconee County are snowbirds. And they have winter weather stories to tell. An Arkansas woman says she left behind five inches of snow in her hometown of Little Rock. An Indiana woman says she managed to avoid eight inches of the white stuff where she lives by paying attention to the […]

A pickup truck hit a utility pole at a Walhalla intersection, and the coroner says the driver suffered cardiac arrest at the accident scene. Coroner Karl Addis says Will Kelley, 82 years old, died in the emergency department at the hospital, about 45 minutes after the accident. Kelley listed two addresses: the Whetstone Road in Mountain Rest and Easley, where […]

SC Third District Representative Jeff Duncan is due back tomorrow in Washington, along with his other colleagues, as the day draws nearer for the potential for government to fall off the fiscal cliff. A spokesman for the Laurens Republican said early this afternoon Duncan’s office is, as yet, unaware whether any of the plans discussed will be presented in the […]

A car chase by a Seneca store manager this morning of a larceny suspect enabled the city police and county sheriff’s officers to capture a suspect, as he apparently was about to try to fence the stolen goods. Capt. Tommy Williams of the Seneca Police Department says Timothy Alan Holbert, 42, of Stadium Drive, Westminster was arrested and charged with […]

The Walhalla mayor says a meeting last week was “very helpful” toward a long-talked about project for burying electric power lines. Mayor Danny Edwards says he took from the meeting a preference on the part of Duke Energy to bury in the ground all electric lines that now run along a four-block area of Main Street downtown. And the cost […]

The anti-litter Oconee County organization Keep Oconee Beautiful is looking back at the year, as well as the potential for accomplishment in 2013. In 2012, KOBA kept its reputation as an organization promoting a positive quality of life in Oconee County. As a recipient of the President’s Circle, Keep America Beautiful celebrated KOBA as an affiliate in “good standing.” The […]

A dry year is closing in a wet way. Walhalla’s official weather observer is reporting two and a quarter inches of rain overnight. Add to that two-thirds of an inch measured by Barbara Wilson on Christmas Eve and you have an impressive two periods of rainfall.

Oconee County’s Chattooga Belle Farm is featured in the 2013 Innova Disc Golf Calendar. Hole 8 will be the November featured picture. Disc golf promoter Adam Wright has entered pictures in the calendar contest. Each year about eight thousand copies of the calendar are sold. Oconee County received its first disc golf course in 2004. There are courses at the […]