Category: News

Two Lake Jocassee kayakers are reported OK, but bad weather has forced them to ride out this afternoon’s storm.  Scott Krein of Oconee Emergency Services said a search-and-rescue has been called off.  It had been a sunny day today on Jocassee until the sky turned dark and the rains came.  Heavy rain reported a few minutes ago at Devil’s Fork […]

Federal monies to help financially-strapped homeowners rebound from the Great Recession are credited with helping 88 Oconee County households avoid foreclosure.  Nearly $1.5 million of funds through the Treasury Department helped the homeowners stay in their homes.  The program is called South Carolina “HELP.”  Help stands for Homeownership and Employment Lending Program.  Since 2011, the program in South Carolina funded […]

Pickens County has three openings in its building codes department, one of which is created by the retirement of the chief inspector.  Jerald Wilson, county administrator, said this afternoon, however, the rumors are not true that his county is dismantling its building codes department—in a manner similar to what happened recently in Oconee County.

A community outreach achievement for the town of Salem.  A Saturday farmers market has opened in the town, a venue from which local and area residents may sell their surplus grown produce.  Marti Jennings at Town Hall says the market opened successfully last Saturday on the lot across from the fire department and will operate each Saturday morning during the […]

At their customers’ annual meeting in Oakway, the board of Pioneer Rural Water decided last night to expand the capacity of the treatment plant now under construction next to the Golden Corner Commerce Park.  Originally designed to produce up to 2.5 million gallons a day, the plant will now produce 3 million gallons a day.  In a report heard last […]

Overall, Oconee School District calculates that to operate another year of public education in the county will require $96.7 million dollars—80% of which is taken by personnel costs.  First-term county councilman Glenn Hart, noting that the schools are asking for an extra $3.2 million in local support, posed the question last night whether the schools will ever reach a point […]

A reminder last night that, for Oconee property tax purposes, this is a re-assessment year.  Scott Moulder, county administrator, announced last night that the results of the countywide re-evaluation of property tax values will hit the mail in August.  The notices are not bills, but they’ll reflect any changes, such as additions or re-modeling of private property, since the last […]

  Thanks to Oconee County Parks, Recreation, and Tourism and funding from the Oconee County Accommodations Tax (ATAX) three local museums are able to  expand their visiting hours to better serve the public.  Walhalla’s Museum of the Cherokee in South Carolina and Patriots’ Hall: Oconee Veterans’ Museum, as well as Westminster’s Oconee Heritage Center General Store Museum will now be […]

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District holds a workshop on water management and water levels at Lake Hartwell Monday, June 26 in Toccoa, Georgia. The three-hour event begins at 6 p.m.,at the Currahee campus of North Georgia Technical College.  The Corps of Engineers and associated agencies will have experts and displays to discuss various aspects of water management, reservoir […]

Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis says an 82-year-old Salem man died Tuesday of an apparent drowning with contributing blunt force trauma following a lawn mower accident. Emergency responders say it happened near 246 Cross Creek Road in Salem. The first call to 911 was placed at 11:41 am. Addis says Earl M. Rowland, who lives near the accident scene, was […]