Category: News

Following a new system of staggered starts, the 2017-18 school year opens today in Oconee County.  Motorists are reminded that those yellow school buses are back on the roads today and the importance of obeying laws covering passing and stopping for a bus.  Protection of the students, the teachers, and other school workers is chief on the minds at the Oconee […]

The contractor King Asphalt will assign crews this month to a pair of road construction projects in Oconee County.  Work will start Monday, August 28 and continue until Saturday, September 30 on the Snead Road, from Fairfield Road to SC 183, and on Clearmont Road, from Mountain Road to Westminster’s Freeman Street.  There are several things that drivers and home owners can do […]

Senator Lindsey Graham made these comments today on Charlottesville:  “Mr. President, I encourage you to try to bring us together as a nation after this horrific event in Charlottesville.  Your words are dividing Americans, not healing them.  Through his statements yesterday, President Trump took a step backward by again suggesting there is moral equivalency between the white supremacist neo-Nazis and […]

Super Solar Day is Saturday at the Oconee Animal Shelter.  And the Oconee Humane Society believes it has a deal for pet lovers who would like to adopt.  Between 9 am and 4 pm from the location on the Sandifer Boulevard, the Humane Society will drop its cat and dog adoption fees drastically–to a low of $10 dollars for both […]

Walhalla is getting an economic development incentive program.  It’s seen as a way to facilitate future development.  Mayor Edwards calls it a tool to position the city in negotiations with those interested in investing in the city.  One provision is that a development plan must be consistent with the city’s comprehensive and master plans.  A seven-page economic development ordinance received […]

The Destination Oconee project has made strides, but its manager says further accomplishments hinge on additional financial support.  Janet Hartman last night appealed to the County Council for what she called “dedicated funding.”  The council accepted her plea as information, though two members questioned her about what has been accomplished so far and what her committee envisions.  According to Hartman, the […]

Long time Oconee County resident Berry Nichols says hikers and mountain bikers treat hunters poorly, and that’s partly why he’s no fan of the Palmetto Conservation project to extend the Palmetto Trail from the vicinity of Stumphouse Tunnel Park to downtown Walhalla.  Nichols spoke out during public comment last night at the August meeting of city council.  He raised questions […]

Additional findings have led authorities to charge a South Oak Street, Seneca man with manslaughter in the death last week of Thomas Ivester Marks.  An autopsy showed Marks died of complications from a stab wound to the abdomen.  A warrant, signed by investigator Michael Teramano, charges Donald Clark Walker of 413 S. Oak Street with manslaughter, alleging Walker “did without malice […]

Other than be sure to wear protective glasses, the best advice that the Oconee Sheriff can give about safety on Monday is to find a spot and stay there for the eclipse.  Authorities are worried about additional traffic and, from a safety standpoint, don’t want drivers pulling off the sides of the roads during what will be night time conditions.  […]

Classes started today at the second-year charter school in Salem.  Marty Shirley, campus administrator, said the turned at the NEXT School at Eagle Ridge was “great.”