Category: News

An 18-year old Greenville man turned himself over to Pickens County authorities and has been charged with the murder of a 16-year old boy whose body was found on the shoulder of a rural Pickens County road. The Pickens Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Jalen G’Vonte Hines in the investigation of the murder of Robert Tyler Butler. According to […]

Last night at Walhalla State Rep. Bill Sandifer fulfilled his duty by taking part in the annual Oconee Delegation meeting with constituents. But he did so with a heavy heart. He and the Sandifer family have lost their second loved one within two years. Sandifer’s oldest son, Will, lost his life within the last week. Rep. Sandifer told last night’s […]

Members of the public called their state lawmakers’ attention last night to the many problems facing society, with the hope that the three Oconeeans who serve the county in Columbia can take active roles in eliminating them. Improving education and protecting the integrity of the voting system were two of the more common themes expressed among speakers from the public […]

Around 8 o’clock last night the lights from emergency vehicles helped prepare a landing zone for a medical helicopter between Seneca and Walhalla. The scene was a large field off highway 28 between Halfway Branch and the Poplar Springs Road Bridge. According to an emergency services official, the helicopter transport to Greenville was arranged for a child with a medical […]

Westminster elected leaders are expected to resume talks next week on whether to eventually sever contract relations with their wholesale electric power provider, the PMPA. Piedmont Municipal Power Agency is a consortium of 10 Upstate municipalities who have interest in part of a Duke Energy nuclear reactor. But, in recent years, dissatisfaction has grown in Westminster and that the city […]

After three years, Sharon DeRidder is out as the grants writer for Oconee County. Her dismissal today followed a flap at this week’s council meeting over the cost of a used fire truck and whether the county could have had a better deal had she been asked to file for a grant. DeRidder said she was let go by Amanda […]

Sources confirm this afternoon that the county’s grants writer, Sharon DeRidder, is no longer with Oconee County. Amanda Brock, the interim administrator, confirmed as much just a few minutes ago, but would say little more as she called it a personnel matter governed by confidentiality. We spoke briefly with DeRidder, who says that she and Brock, recently named interim administrator, […]

Tonight presents an opportunity in Walhalla for Oconeeans to meet and hear their elected representatives to the state capital. 7 o’clock tonight in the Walhalla Center for the Performing Arts Oconee’s three-member resident delegation holds its annual meeting. By tradition, this is a chance to hear what the senator and two representatives think about state issues and the chance, for […]

Oconee public schools rely on the federal government for food commodities, but the district food service director says the shutdown has had no effect and none is anticipated. “We do not see any impact on the students at all,” says Scott Hood, food service director. The choice of what kinds of food commodities are used is a decision made a […]

Blue Ridge Bank announces the opening of a loan production office in Easley. And lifelong Pickens County resident Jeff Turner has joined the bank as senior vice president and Pickens County/Powdersville Market Executive. Turner will focus on commercial and residential lending at the loan production office at 836 Powdersville Road.