Author: Dick Mangrum

Numerous trees fell and, at least one serious power outage resulted, during the mid-afternoon storm in Oconee and surrounding counties.  A recap, provided by Doug Outlaw of the National Weather Service at Greer, clocked the wind gust at the Greenville Downtown Airport at 59 miles an hour.  An estimated 10 thousand Blue Ridge Electric Co-Op customers went into the night […]

Seneca-based Community First Bancorporation and Raleigh, North Carolina’s Dogwood State Bank have signed a definitive merger agreement.  The announcement, in a news release by the two, says it is an agreement for Dogwood to acquire Community First and its subsidiary in an all-stock merger.  The announcement quotes Richard Burleson, Community First’s president/CEO, as saying that “to continue growing, to provide […]

A college program which feeds students to local industry has been made stronger by a one-half-million-dollar donation to Tri-County Technical College. The Gene Haas Foundation presented the donation yesterday to support Tech’s CNC program — Computer Numerical Controls — and its CNC Advanced Manufacturing Lab at the college’s Industrial Technology Center.  Currently, 53 students are enrolled in day and night […]

Electric power service has been restored at West-Oak High School and Fair-Oak Elementary, and classes take place there this morning at regular schedule.  The schools and a wide swath of Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative’s service area in southern Oconee lost service during yesterday evening’s storm.  Blue Ridge estimates around 10 thousand customers went without when a transmission line fell.  They […]

A long-time department head in Seneca government, Ed Halbig, attended his final city council meeting last night.  Seneca’s director of planning and community development is about to depart for a new job in New Mexico.  For several years, Halbig has been a staff liaison for Seneca’s planning commission, the board of zoning appeals, and the board of architectural review.  And […]

Law enforcement and cleanup crews needed five hours to restore traffic flow in Habersham County, Georgia at the Tom Arrendale interchange Monday afternoon when a semi-truck overturned.  The Georgia Patrol reported the driver of a 2020 Freightliner Cascadia from Statesboro was headed south on Georgia 365 and about one-half mile south of the Arrendale interchange failed to maintain his lane, […]

The mayor and council in Seneca are on notice that they will be asked to raise the cost of a water tap fee.  This comes at a time of the start of construction on numerous home developments in the Seneca area and a tap fee analysis done by the city’s number crunchers.  Scott Moulder, city administrator, reminded the city’s governing […]

A summer internship at two hospitals in east Africa helped Clemson nursing student Rachel Girvin recognize the value of taking it slowly, and to be more intentional, when caring for patients in emergency situations.  Girvin started her internship in a Tanzania city close to the Kenya border where she had the chance to assist doctors and nurses with multiple deliveries.  […]