Author: Dick Mangrum

A 23-year old man at Seneca was jailed Monday night, charged with cruelty to children.  The police reported the arrest of Joshua Grant Stokes after officers conducted a welfare check November 30 at an apartment and, at first, no one answered the door, although they heard a baby crying.  The arrest warrants allege Stokes placed a child at an unreasonable […]

Seneca native Christi Roberts is the new assistant principal at the city’s middle school.  Her hiring was OK’d Monday night by the county board of school trustees.  For the last five years, Roberts has worked as a guidance counselor at the school.

A matter of potential concern for property owners within five miles of the Seneca corporate limits reared itself following a closed-door meeting last night at city hall.  All hands flew up on a motion to notify Oconee County that Seneca will not renew an inter-government agreement that provides fire protection and first response services covering a radius of five miles […]

Governor Henry McMaster notified Mayor Brian Ramey the City of Westminster was selected to receive $250,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the State of South Carolina’s Special Projects Program. The grant will fund renovations to and an expansion of W. P. Anderson Park located on W. North Avenue in Westminster. Vacant City property adjacent to W. P. […]

A 38-year old man will serve prison time for the crime of sexual exploitation of a minor second degree.  The sentence was meted out to Brandon Ray McKern after he entered an Alford plea this afternoon in the Oconee General Sessions Court.  Judge Maddox pronounced a sentence of five years in prison, suspended to 40 months.  McKern, however, will receive […]

The driver at the wheel of a Toccoa Highway DUI crash in May of last year learned his fate this morning in the Oconee County courtroom.  Scott Hamilton Harris pleaded guilty  felony driving under the influence with great bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.  According to court officers, the victim was a female passenger left with […]

Oconee law enforcement records show a 49-year old Westminster area man arrested last night on nine charges of ill treatment of animals.  The arrest of Jason Allen Vosburgh took place after two sheriff’s officers responded to a welfare check at 1298 Cobb Bridge Road and found dogs and rabbits in deplorable conditions, according to an incident report on file.  The […]

Federal monies are allowing Clemson University to center an effort for a new way to create composite materials that’ll help manufacturers save time, money and energy.  At the same time, leave less of an environmental footprint.  Clemson, partnering with other universities, is bringing together researchers from across the country to develop a transformational method for creating the composite materials.  The […]

An outside auditor, Don Estep, congratulated the Oconee School District last night for its latest year of financial numbers reflecting what the public schools took in and what they spent.  For the 2021-22 year, Auditor Estep gave the district an unmodified opinion and found no discrepancies in the district’s accounting.  A couple of factors combined to make for an anomaly—a […]