Author: Dick Mangrum

Prisma Health is launching a solid organ transplantation program in response to rising community needs. The program, currently under development, will initially begin by performing kidney transplants, including living-related donors. It is being developed to provide critically ill patients with life-saving transplants in areas closer to where they live, in addition to responding to the increasing need for transplants.   […]

A key indicator of South Carolina’s rate for infections dropped to 10.1%, according to the Thursday DHEC report.  The 10.1% reflected a total of more than 23.5 thousand test results received by DHEC to cover the latest 24-hour period.  Statewide, there were 1,649 new cases of COVID-19 and 75 deaths.  Of the 75 deaths, none was recorded among Oconee’s population, […]

Oconee sheriff’s officers continue to be on the lookout for a 37-year old man from the Pickens County city of Central.  According to the sheriff’s office, Jerrico Roshean Fruster is wanted on one dozen warrants related to three incidents.  He has been named in warrants alleging that he burglarized a home near Seneca and a building on Cedar Valley Lane.  […]

Everyone is reported to have escaped from a fireplace fire this morning at a home on the Clearmont Road near the city limits of Westminster.  County authorities say the fire occurred at 1854 Clearmont Road.

The Andrew Pickens Ranger District forecasts that the smoke from today’s prescribed burn is likely to drift northward, which means it could be a smoky afternoon in and around Highlands, North Carolina.  Today’s burn is to encompass 826 acres in the units called Rifle Range and Presbyterian Lake.  That acreage will be between Rich Mountain Road, Cedar Creek Road, and […]

A car chase at midafternoon yesterday from Toccoa, Georgia ended in an accident scene near Westminster and apparent injuries to one of the people in a gray car chased by the police.  The chase apparently ended with an accident on highway 76 at Dewey Street, where the Westminster police deployed their K-9 to assist in the investigation.  Information received by […]

A controlled woodland burn announced by the U-S Forest Service for today in Oconee County will require the closing of the Cedar Creek Rifle Range.  Today’s burn is to consume 826 acres between the Rich Mountain Road, the Cedar Creek Road, and the Cassidy Bridge Road.

On Wednesday’s South Carolina COVID-19 report:  64 new confirmed deaths statewide, three of them from Oconee County.  Two of the Oconee victims on January 28 were middle age; the other, on January 30, elderly.  Across the state, 1,762 new cases reported, including 29 from Oconee.  Of 15,289 test results received statewide, the positivity was 16.1%.

A man and a woman from Oconee are in jail after being arrested and charged with armed robbery in Lavonia, Georgia.  The Lavonia police chief, Bruce Carlisle, says the robbery occurred the night of January 26 at the Royal Foods store.  A man wearing a mask and gloves entered the convenience store and pointed a gun at the clerk and […]