Author: Dick Mangrum

Today’s DHEC report notes an additional 4,000 (4,037)COVID-19 cases in South Carolina, including 71 more deaths.  Five of those deaths make for Oconee’s first COVID-19 deaths so far in 2021.  Four of the five are elderly people, one middle-age.  New Oconee cases numbered 50 people.  Total test results received statewide were 13,052; and the positivity was 30.9%.

Two elementary school classes in Seneca are now homebound, as the result of new COVID-19 decisions made by the public schools.  One, first grade class at Northside Elementary and one, 2nd grade class at Blue Ridge Elementary have been sent home and given return to school dates of Tuesday, January 19.  New COVID cases detected yesterday across the district include […]

Wreckers were needed to remove two pickup trucks from a Tuesday afternoon accident at the Seneca intersection of ES 6th and Hunter streets.  The female driver of a 2001 Toyota pickup was taken by EMS to the hospital.  The accident occurred around 4:30 pm.  About 15 minutes later, the police were sent to the 123 By-Pass to investigate the crash […]

Third District Rep. Jeff Duncan announces that at 1 o’clock he’ll be among 37 House Republicans who will vote to sustain objections to slates of electors submitted by states that they believe violated the Constitution in the presidential election. According to Duncan, the Congress is the last bulwark in such an election to ensure the Constitution has been followed.  But […]

Oconee County Council’s newest member, Matthew Durham, jump-started the council’s first meeting of 2021 with a declaration that, in his four-year term, he is going to try to safeguard individual rights that pertain to guns, property rights, and freedom of speech. The District Two member also vowed that the county should accept no financial help from the federal government if […]

A 16-year old girl, last seen walking on a Walhalla street, remains missing after two and a half weeks.  The police appeal to the public for help in finding Brenna Elliott.  She was last seen Friday, December 18 on foot on S. Chestnut Street.  Brenna is a white female, brown hair, blue eyes, about 5’.  She has a nose piercing […]

Oconee public schools registered five new cases of COVID-19 on Monday–the first day back from the Christmas and New Year’s Day break.  Four of the cases are students at the following schools:  Walhalla High, Keowee Elementary, Northside Elementary, and Blue Ridge Elementary.  The fifth case is that of an employee at Seneca Middle School.

Walhalla’s utilities superintendent is optimistic the city can comply with a consent order to satisfy state regulators concerned about the city’s sewer problems.  The city council complied with Scott Parris’s request last night to commit up to $16 thousand dollars to pay for a consultant’s study of the problems and recommend how they are met.  Parris also announced that the […]