Author: Dick Mangrum

The mayor and council of Westminster cleared away any confusion last night as to the role that their new hire in the utilities department is to play in the near future.  They did it at the request of the newly-hired electrical supervisor Leigh Baker.  While in a 90-day job performance probation period, Baker is to serve as electrical supervisor and […]

A Westminster consultant says by revising earlier plans, he’s confident he will be able to trim one million dollars from the cost estimate for replacing worn out water lines that supply rural customers in the vicinity of 123’the Toccoa Highway and 76/the Long Creek Highway. The key to the new plan presented last night by Troy Rosier to a special […]

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) announced 613 new confirmed cases and 25 additional confirmed deaths today from COVID-19.  There were eight new Oconee County cases, but no additional deaths of county residents. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 138,171 and confirmed deaths to 3,085.   The total number of individual test results reported […]

A large section of Seneca commercial property changed hands in a transaction recorded September 10 by the office of the Oconee Register of Deeds.  It’s the former Grand Rental Station building, along with 12 acres, and what are described as “some lots” along EN 1st Street.  The transaction price was $750 thousand.  The seller was Seigler Enterprises and the buyer, […]

The Tenth Circuit representative on the board of trustees of the University of South Carolina will now be an Oconee County resident.  Emma Morris, a Seneca attorney, was elected today by a vote of the General Assembly at Columbia to fill the seat held by Anderson’s Chuck Allen.  According to a report by the Charleston Post and Courier, Allen withdrew […]

As the country’s COVID-19 death toll surpasses 200 thousand , the Oconee County death toll from the virus has reached 28.  Statewide the death toll was reported yesterday at 3,067. Other Oconee County numbers, according to a South Carolina DHEC posting, include 68 county residents hospitalized for COVID.  The county’s case count has reached 1,355.  More than 15 thousand tests […]

A bill by U-S Rep. Jeff Duncan to help stop the exploitation of children has gained 31 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.  Duncan sees the bill as a bi-partisan effort to require prison time for individuals convicted of importing “child-like sex dolls” into the U-S and adding the dolls to a legally-defined list of banned obscenities.  He calls the […]

Law enforcement authorities now say a 35-year old man fatally shot this month at a Seneca apartment complex was a case of self-defense and no charges are legally supported.  The fatality September 12 at the Fair Oaks apartments on Lindsay Road was Charles Antonio Clark.  The Seneca police say their decision follows interviews with 20 individuals and the gathering of […]

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Tuesday announced 739 new confirmed cases and 30 additional confirmed deaths.  One of those deaths was that of an elderly Oconeean on September 18.  Eight new confirmed cases of the virus among Oconee residents were part of yesterday’s report. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 137,406, probable cases to […]

South Carolina DHEC made the following announcement yestereday: “On September 21, Augusta University Healthcare in Georgia reported approximately 15,000 negative and positive test results to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Those test results cover a time frame of March 18 through September 17. They are reflected in today’s cumulative numbers and are assigned to the […]