Author: Dick Mangrum

The police in Toccoa, Georgia say they have received word of the arrest in Hamilton County, Tennessee of their suspect in last week’s robbery at the Northeast Georgia Bank on the Big A Road.  The arrest of Sidney Alan McCollum took place Saturday night around 7:30.  A Chattanooga police officer spotted the suspect’s vehicle pulling into a restaurant and took […]

David Underwood, Walhalla city councilman, says he’d like Grant Keehn and Tyler Jordan to join him on the city’s governing board.  Keehn and Jordan are announced candidates for two of the three Walhalla council seats to be voted on during the November 2 city election.  Today is the day that candidates’ books open throughout the county’s municipalities for the November […]

Walhalla Water Department announces that a boil water notice that applied over the weekend to a large swath of its service territory in the vicinity of Halfway Branch was lifted yesterday, and no longer do customers there need to boil water before drinking or cooking.  According to Scott Parris, utilities director, following intense flushing of the distribution system, bacteriological samples […]

An early morning water main break on Avondale Drive has resulted in low system pressures or complete loss of water service for some customers. As a result, the City of Walhalla Water Department advises the customers in the areas listed below, located in Oconee County, to vigorously boil their water for at least one (1) full minute prior to drinking […]

Oconee County is not yet a county with 80 thousand people, but it’s close. The Census Bureau’s count of Oconee County residents for 2020 was 78,607.  That’s an increase of some 4,300, or 5.8%, from the 2010 Census.  About 50 years ago the county’s population hovered in the range of 42 to 43 thousand, and it wasn’t long before then […]

A teenager at Tamassee went out her bedroom window yesterday on the Cherokee Lake Road, and she remains missing this morning.  The sheriff’s office has issued a missing person alert for Ashlyn Bailey Miller.  Sixteen-year old Ashlyn was wearing white shorts, green shirt, and tie-dye croc shoes.  She could be with a friend in a gold or tan Toyota Camry […]

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has announced an update to the Intake process at the Oconee County Animal Shelter.  The new program will be called Managed Intake.   “The goal and the purpose of the Managed Intake process is to offer to owners of pets, who are thinking of surrendering their animals to Animal Control, other alternatives in the hopes […]

Last May the Oconee County Council, influenced by citizen opposition, turned down an organization’s request for a “reasonable accommodation” to establish a 16-bed treatment facility.  Residents of the Burns Mill Road, West Union area crowded the council chambers to protest what they understood to be an effort to serve “sexually problematic” youngsters in a Walter Scott Drive home.  Next week […]

In this afternoon’s state health agency accounting of new cases of COVID-19, here are highlights: New cases statewide:  2,181 (including 23 in Oconee County). Confirmed new SC deaths:  9 Of 19,126 test results received, the positivity increased to 16.2%. These numbers reflect the data for the end of the day Tuesday. Cases, deaths, and positivity all were up from Monday’s […]