Author: Dick Mangrum

Since the pandemic ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser does his hookup for his Pardon the Interruption program from his attic.  Last night Michael Thorsland took part in the Oconee school board virtually from the basement of his home.  The reason:  an exposure to a family member who has contracted COVID-19.  Thanks to technology, the superintendent for Oconee schools didn’t miss a beat […]

For financial and utility reasons, there’ll be a timeline delay to build and open Seneca’s replacement middle school.  The announcement was made during the February meeting of the Oconee board of school trustees.  Projected earlier to be ready for the 2023-24 school year, the new school to be built on the Wells Highway will now require an additional one year […]

An Oconee school administrator has been in touch with a lawyer in Charleston, and the Oconee School District is considering joining a class action lawsuit against the makers of e-cigarettes.  The plaintiffs are alleging that the high amount of nicotine in the smokes causes vaping addiction.  And county school trustees, such as Buddy Herring, consider this “a major problem” among […]

Statement from Dr. Saria Saccocio, ambulatory chief medical officer and co-lead of Prisma Health vaccine task force –   “Prisma Health will not be able to hold any walk-in vaccinations the rest of this week.   There are two factors that led to this decision. First, the delivery of our supply was changed at the last minute on Friday. We were told […]

The police say no one was hurt this afternoon when a mini-van and a school bus collided in a congested area of traffic at the Walhalla Middle School.  However, the police discovered driver-side damage to the mini-van.  According to the school district spokeswoman, no students were on the bus.  The mini-van was waiting in the pick-up line.

A chase from Oconee into Pickens covered 12 miles and reached speeds of 110 miles an hour Friday afternoon and resulted in the arrest of a Salem man, to face charges that he burglarized a home on Salem’s Sunrise Drive.  David Ronald Ramey, 24, of Wander Road was jailed Saturday.  Ramey is accused on January 21 of burglarizing a home […]

Oconee School District has confirmed an accident this afternoon involving a school bus on the grounds of the Walhalla Middle School.  There were no students on the bus. A spokeswoman said the accident involved a car waiting in the pickup line.  The polce are investigating.

An Oconee woman not seen since late last year was identified this afternoon as the one whose remains were found over the weekend in woods near Westminster.  Coroner Addis says dental records, x-rays, and a tattoo helped identify Renee Rowland King, although why she died remains pending investigation.  According to Addis, date of death is estimated to have been November […]

On today’s DHEC report, South Carolina’s latest test positivity dropped to an even 7%, based on 31,266 test results received from across the state.  The state health agency reports 1,510 new confirmed COVID cases, including 23 from Oconee County.  There were 34 additional deaths statewide, including three elderly Oconeeans who died January 31, February 2 and 4.

Ground-penetrating radar detected an additional 63 unmarked graves at Clemson University’s Woodland Cemetery.  The survey on about four and a half acres of previously un-mapped ground has raised to 667 the total number of gravesites.  Many of the unmarked graves are thought to be those of enslaved people who worked at the plantation and later as sharecroppers and black laborers.  […]