Author: Dick Mangrum

  The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on Friday announced 897 new confirmed cases and 5 additional confirmed deaths from COVID-19.  Of the 897 new cases, five are from Oconee.  Of the five deaths, one was an elderly Oconeean who died October 15. These numbers bring total number of confirmed cases to 155,799 and  confirmed deaths to 3,405   The […]

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Friday submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) the state’s COVID-19 Vaccine Plan. The overarching goal of this vaccination plan is the equitable distribution of the vaccine across the state, based on the most current federal guidance and recommendations. DHEC; the South Carolina Emergency Management Division; South Carolina […]

Ken Washington, 27 years in law enforcement, captains special operations in the Oconee Sheriff’s Office.  He’s in a supervisory role these days and is able to pass to younger officers what he learned starting so many years ago when the country entered the crack cocaine pandemic in the 1990s.  In his earliest career days, Washington worked undercover not only in […]

Mayor Brian Ramey of Westminster says a request by his city for a legal opinion to help settle a controversy over nepotism policy has been sent to the state Attorney’s General Office in Columbia.  There is no timetable as to when the office of A-G Alan Wilson will weigh in on on whether his office finds conflict of interest involving […]

  The elected leaders of Westminster tackled two issues during a closed-door session that lasted a couple of hours last night at City Hall, but there were no votes afterward about anything discussed privately.  The two topics for last night’s special get together were the in-person interview of a man interested in the job of city administrator and further discussion […]

The Clemson Extension Service is announcing plans to re-open county offices.  The plan, announced by Director Tom Dobbins, calls for employees to be tested for COVID-19 and for county offices to be re-opened based on weekly infection rates in each county.  On March 18, Clemson Extension closed all field offices serving 46 counties.  The agents were instructed to visit clients […]

Late in the afternoon Wednesday the Oconee Sheriff’s Office learned of the theft of a white Dodge Charger from the Cobb Bridge Road near Westminster.  The car last displayed the tag E-V-H-4-9-6 and was believed to have been stolen within the last month. If you can tip off the cops with info that can solve this crime, you could become […]

A record number of South Carolinians are voting absentee–both in person and by mail.  And based on current trends, the state election office predicts that more than one million South Carolina voters will have cast their ballots before Election Day November 3.  While in person absentee voting is available through November  2, the deadline to apply for an absentee mail […]

Three men robbed a 123 By-Pass, Seneca convenience store on Wednesday morning and got away with an amount of cash not disclosed by the police. Casey Bowling, interim police chief, yesterday confirmed the incident occurred at the Spinx, at 123 and N. Walnut, and said more information will be released soon.  One of the robbers was armed with a gun.  […]