Author: Dick Mangrum

A South Carolina Attorney’s General opinion written 34 years ago may apply to the heart of a legal dispute among Westminster city leaders.  At least, that’s the reading by some of what an assistant attorney general opined back then to a Newberry County attorney.  The assistant attorney general, Patrica Petway, responded to the question of whether a mayor or a […]

Walhalla Water Department has lifted a boil water advisory that applied to customers in  and around parts of highway 11.  It means that customers in that area no longer need to boil water before drinking or cooking.  A water main break was discovered early Saturday morning, but an announcement from the utilities director states:  “Following an intense flushing of the […]

The chairwoman of Oconee Democrats sees some movement in the impasse between her party and the Republicans over a new stimulus bill.  Jody Gaulin sees common ground between the moderate leaders of both parties and the possibility that a bill could be reported out of the legislative chambers by the October recess, in advance of the November election.  Julian Davis, […]

A Hamilton Career student from West-Oak High has been added to the list of Oconee students confirmed to have COVID-19.  This afternoon the school district is staying the course.  Superintendent Thorsland said, “Our current plan is to continue with what we have done for the first four weeks.”  That is giving students the option of in-class academics or at home […]

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is sharing updated data that shows communities with mask requirement ordinances in place continue to see a slower rate of disease spread compared to communities without mask requirements. On August 12, DHEC released the initial findings of its data analysis of the counties and municipalities that have implemented mask requirements for individuals when […]

DHEC announced 766 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, along with 21 additional confirmed deaths, including a new death of an elderly Oconeean from September 11. This brings the total number of South Carolina confirmed cases to 133,310 and confirmed deaths to 3,010. The total number of individual test results reported to DHEC yesterday statewide was 6,324 (not […]

At their meeting Monday, Seneca planning commissioners will invite public comment on a pair of zoning change applications.  The first hearing will be switch to residential zoning for 501 S. Fairplay Street, which once was a child care center.  The second hearing involves four city of Seneca lots adjoining the Shaver Recreation Center.  The city requests they be designated R-20 […]

  Chairman Julian Davis of the all-Republican Oconee County Council hopes a new COVID-19 economic package will emerge without a $600 dollar weekly benefit to those who are jobless, as a supplement to the regular unemployment benefit available from the states.  And the reason is the counterproductive effect that jobless checks as high as $1,200 week are having on employers’ […]