Category: News

How well does Michael Thorsland do his job?  The agenda for Monday’s meeting calls for Oconee’s five school trustees to evaluate their superintendent and his contract.  The superintendent evaluation/contract matter is being reserved for private deliberations to follow Monday’s regular open meeting to cover various county education items.  The board will meet at 6 Monday night at district headquarters in […]

Some 780,000 striped bass and 480,000 hybrid bass–a total of about 1.2 million fish–were stocked in Lake Hartwell during the past three weeks by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Some 20,000 striped bass fingerlings were placed into Lake Hartwell June 3 at Green Pond Landing and Event Center in Anderson County as part of an overall DNR stocking program […]

Two Westminster men bring stark differences in their approach to government, and those differences were in contrast during last night’s forum.  John Dalen, a self-professed constitutionalist, promotes a free market method to government.  Dalen’s denouncement of zoning succeeded in engaging one of his opponents, Joel Thrift.  Thrift takes pride in accomplishments made by the current county government, such as improvements […]

The final candidates’ forum of Oconee’s primary season staged last night and drew nearly 50 people to the Westminster Music Hall.  Featured were the men and woman running for Seats 4 and 5 on the Oconee County Council.  Eight prepared questions were presented by the forum moderator Wayne Morton on behalf of the Westminster Chamber of Commerce.  The candidates responded […]

BASF Corporation is expanding its operations in Oconee County. The expansion will result in $60 million in new capital investment for the supplier.  BASF Seneca, at one time Englehard, is a specialty chemical catalysts manufacturing and precious metals refining facility. The company’s refinery process produces solutions that are used to manufacture herbicides, plastics, pharmaceuticals, auto-emission catalysts and fertilizers.  To expand […]

Oconee Sheriff’s Office placed a man under arrest today near Seneca on the charge of shoplifting.  According to the Sheriff’s Office, the defendant is accused of taking hanging plants belonging to the Lowe’s Store.  A deputy responded early today in response to reports that someone was taking plants from a second store at the Applewood Shopping Center.  A traffic stop […]

  The building and the grounds in Salem that served as the small town’s only school are no longer needed by the public school district.  And today the CEO of a one-year old state charter school, based in Greenville, sounded a tone of optimism to a group of Oconee public and private leaders that the “NEXT School at Eagle Ridge” […]

A candidate for 10th Circuit Solicitor says a financial account of the office of more than $1 million dollars raises questions, and he’s seeking answers.  Wilson Burr called a news conference at Walhalla to question an account amounting to $1,258,701.00 and announce that he’s seeking an audit along with a state investigation.  The money is held by a wealth management […]

The spokesman for the state Election Commission says voters who head to the polls Tuesday for the primary elections should keep in mind that any one of five identifications is accepted by poll workers:  When voting in person, you will be asked to one of the following photo IDs:  SC Driver’s License; SC Department of Motor Vehicles ID Card (includes […]

State Senator Thomas Alexander and the Department of Transportation are calling attention to Governor Haley’s signing a bill designed to get moving toward repairing the state’s crumbling roads and bridges.  According to the DOT, it means that planning and development of several projects and needed repairs which have been deferred for lack of funding can now move ahead. But the […]