Author: Dick Mangrum

Here are new COVID-19 numbers from South Carolina DHEC.  On today’s report:  1,833 new cases (42 are from Oconee) and 12 new deaths (none from Oconee).  Total test results:  8,828 for a positivity of 21.3%.

A $200 thousand federal grant, announced today, will allow two energy companies and Clemson University to collaborate on a study of the use of hydrogen for energy storage and as a low-or-no-carbon source to make energy at Duke Energy’s combined heat and power plant at the university.  The grant was awarded to Siemens Energy.  It’s a pilot project to ramp […]

An alert from On Star led an Oconee sheriff’s officer to a stolen car and the eventual arrest of the man allegedly in possession of the stolen car.  A 35-year old Seneca man was arrested around 1 o’clock yesterday morning when the officer determined that the car occupying row #2 in the Seneca Wal-Mart parking lot was stolen in Charlotte, […]

The public school year has been anything except normal.  But there’s hope for 2021-22.  At their meeting Monday, Oconee school trustees will talk about two different suggested calendars.  One would have the next school year start on August 11; the other would have it start on August 16.

The contracting economy is beginning to feel the increasing COVID lockdowns.  The lockdowns are believed to having an effect across Upstate South Carolina when it comes to displaced workers.  According to the latest chart from the Department of Employment and Workforce, every Upstate county, Oconee included, reported triple-digit numbers for first-time claims covering the week November 29-December 5.  Oconee’s new […]

Oconee School District has a report fraud hotline.  There might be one on its way to regular county government.  Amanda Brock, county administrator, confirms to 101.7/WGOG NEWS that the county has explored several possibilities and is “reviewing implementation options.”

The police in Walhalla are announcing arrests and charges against two city residents as part of the investigation of incidents last month at a Greenwich Drive residential address.  Multiple charges, including petty larceny and assault and battery third degree, were placed against Megan Cheyenne Summerlin, 25 years old.  A second woman, Alicia Brooke Wilbanks, 20 years old, was charged with […]

The need to replenish the blood supply remains urgent, and Prisma Health has made plans for a community blood drive Saturday in Easley.  According to the Blood Connection, donors are encouraged to make an appointment before arriving.  Face masks are required.  If you’d like to donate, and possibly save someone’s life, the place to be Saturday is the City of […]

State troopers say a driver near Seneca was sent to the hospital this morning with non-life threatening injuries after she took evasive action to avoid hitting a deer on the Singing Pines Road south of the city.  Initial information provided by the patrol indicates that, shortly before 6 o’clock, the driver swerved her car to miss the deer, but then […]

Oconee School District over the last year took up the recommendation of its outside auditor and implemented a telephone hotline to report cases of fraud.  It takes millions and millions of dollars to run a school district the size of Oconee’s, and there could be opportunity for someone to commit an act of fraud.  The fraud hotline number is 864/718-5798.  […]