Author: Dick Mangrum

Any last minute glitch a cook might face in making that Thanksgiving meal turn out just right can be overcome by a toll-free call to experts at the U-S Department of Agriculture. They’ll be manning a hotline from 8-am and 2 p-m EST tomorrow. The number to call is 1/888-MPHOTLINE.

Tri-County Technical College is closed two days for the Thanksgiving holiday. The college will be closed tomorrow and Friday and reopen Monday. Oconee public school and Clemson University students are on a Thanksgiving break. All university offices are closed today and tomorrow. Oconee County convenience centers are open today and Saturday, but closed Thursday and Friday.

State troopers are reporting a motor vehicle accident, shortly after 6 this morning, at 4167 Toccoa Highway between Westminster and the Georgia line.

Walhalla’s tradition of a super-bright outdoor Christmas light display up and down Main Street apparently will be less spectacular this year, according to city officials. At last night’s meeting, Councilwoman Jennifer Woodward Crawford, saying change is difficult, announced that there will be no lights in the Bradford pear trains on Main Street. She says the problem is that the trees […]

Without any dissent, Walhalla leaders are turning to the number two man in charge to lead their police department. On a motion by Councilman James Powell, the city council last night appointed Ronald Wilbanks as the successor to Tim Chastain. In a report of the latest police department activities, Powell complimented Wilbanks for the manner in which he has served […]

Oconeeans who own vehicles and boats are meeting their obligation to pay their property taxes, but the county auditor says airplane owners are falling short. Auditor Ken Nix asked the County Council last night for a determined effort to collect more than $267 thousand in back taxes that Nix says is owed on nine of the 62 planes kept by […]

South Carolina tree sales were up 15% last year, and growers expect another strong year, according to Steve Penland, York County tree grower and executive secretary of the S.C. Christmas Tree Association. Another grower is George Kessler. He operates Hilltop Christmas Trees and, since 1971, has been growing trees in the Central area. Kessler believes more people are realizing that […]

Governor Nikki Haley said South Carolina now knows the identities of its taxpayers whose private information was breached in the cyber attack and those breached will be notified by mail. In other highlights from the governor’s news conference this afternoon, she announced the resignation of James Etter, the Department of Revenue executive director, effective December 31, explaining that it has […]

October’s jobless figures for South Carolina show, once again, the number of individuals unemployed but actively looking for new work has dropped. For Oconee County, it’s the second straight month of lower numbers on the unemployment rolls. October’s rate is 8.4%. September’s was 8.6%. In October one year ago, the unemployment rate stood at 9.5%. Across the state, unemployment fell […]

The diversion of money away from public education and a new method of teacher accountability were the hot-button topics for the annual meeting today of Oconee school leaders and the county’s state legislative delegation. Lawmakers tried to assure the district administrators and three school board members attending the meeting that education remains the state’s top priority, though State Senator Thomas […]