Author: Dick Mangrum

Dr. David Weill has supported government crackdowns on workforce models of Uber Technologies and other gig-economy companies, but Sen. Tim Scott says the Brandeis University dean is not the right person to head the Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division.  Scott and a handful of other Republican senators have sent a letter to President Biden outlining why they believe […]

Oconee County’s landfill, transfer station, and recycling services will run at regular time tomorrow on New Year’s Eve.  All will be closed on Saturday, New Year’s Day.  Walhalla trash pickups scheduled for Monday, January 3 will take place instead on Tuesday, the 4th.  All other Walhalla sanitation routes should remain on schedule.  There’s possibility the brush pickups will be delayed.  […]

COVID cases have never been higher in the U-S than they are right now.  Three people are testing positive for COVID every second across the country.  Each day just prior to Christmas and afterward South Carolina has recorded confirmed cases between 1,129 and 2,120.  Statewide test percentages are double digits, the highest of which was 23.8% recorded on Monday.  The […]

Fire fighters are at work in the Tamassee Community this morning at the scene of a downed power line which caused a brush fire at Choehee Valley Road and Cherokee Lake Road.

75 year old Samuel Capsouto, who was the subject of a Missing Person’s News Release earlier today, has been located and is safe.  Dispatch was notified of Samuel’s location around Noon today.   According to Investigator Jimmy Dixon, Samuel was located in a wooded area at the Summit Subdivision near Seneca.  Out of an abundance of caution due to be […]

Infectious disease physician for Prisma Health in South Carolina (which includes the Oconee Memorial Hospital) says the current number of in-patients with COVID-19 systemwide is 223.  It was 85 December 1.  That tells Dr. Albrecht that there’s no doubt about the severity of the latest variant, Omicron, and its effects on the population.  He stresses those with symptoms and those […]

A dump truck full of small landscaping gravel left a narrow country road this morning near Walhalla and overturned.  According to the fire department, the truck slid off Crystal Lane near the W. Bear Swamp Road and struck a Blue Ridge Electric power pole.  Will Bates, the interim fire chief, says the pole will require replacing and, for a time, […]

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help today in locating a missing Salem man.   Late yesterday evening, around 9:33pm, a deputy was dispatched to Keowee Place Assisted Living, which is located on Highway 130, in regards to a reported missing person, 75 year old Samuel Capsouto.   A search for Samuel, by employees of the Assisted […]

Merchants on Main Street, Walhalla may be watching the bills they take in to distinguish between what is authentic and what is not.  101.7/WGOG NEWS has learned that one Main Street business was left recently with a counterfeit $20 bill.  The police were made aware.