Category: News

  Walhalla Mayor Danny Edwards will approach the South Carolina Attorney General for an opinion to clear up questions raised Tuesday night by Councilman Dennis Owens about whether the imposition of a curfew could violate the rights of someone permitted to carry a gun.  Edwards directed the following announcement this afternoon to Walhallans:  “Today I plan to ask the South […]

Oconee County school enrollment this week is pegged at 10,209.  It’s a four percent decrease from the 2019-20.  But Dr. Michael Thorsland, superintendent, says it’s not a surprise.  “We anticipated a drop this year as parents considered other schooling options due to the virus.”  Enrollment this year is divided between face-to-face instruction and at-home instruction.  A total of 78% of […]

Like many parts of the Southeast, Oconee County has encountered trouble absorbing today’s drenching–thanks to the northerly path taken by Sally.  Some of the area’s most flood-prone areas include the parking lot at Yuseff’s in Westminster.  Walhalla has deployed men and trucks to low-lying Sertoma Field where the waters of Cane Creek far exceeded the banks.  Over a near five-hour […]

  The state’s chief justice has decreed it’s time for court administration to return to as normal a schedule as possible, and Oconee will comply by holding a General Sessions Court jury term the week of October 12.  Clerk of Court Beverly Whitfield confirms to 101.7/WGOG NEWS that preparations have begun including glass partitions for the 12-seat jury box, as […]

The forecast for heavy rain in the Upstate and Midlands means the cancellation of all Prisma Health hospital-based drive-thru COVID 19 tests today and tomorrow.  The cancelled testing sites include Prisma’s seven hospital-based drive-thru sites across the state, along with two community test sites in the Upstate and Midlands.

The faithful national weather watcher in Walhalla in the dark makes her way outside in the pouring rain to measure what Hurricane Sally has delivered to the Golden Corner.  By the 7 o’clock hour, it was 1.21″ and, as Barbara Wilson says, “more to come.”

The EF3 tornado was an eye-opener for Oconee County decision makers when it came to disseminating important information in a timely manner. It apparently is leading county government to re-evaluate its communications with the public.  County Administrator Amanda Brock and Council Chairman Julian Davis have thrown out the idea of the county designating someone to act as a public information […]

Two Oconee deputies found a pistol in the grass late at night Tuesday off SC 28, the Highlands Highway, and arrested a man on foot who they say discarded the gun.  According to the Sheriff’s Office, the gun was a fully-loaded Ruger .380 semi-automatic. Law enforcement records show Lake Becky Road resident Zachary James Johnson charged with unlawfully carrying a […]

Two researchers at Clemson University’s Department of Communication have become international experts in identifying and exposing social media campaigns that spread disinformation.  The attention received by Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren reflect their first project, in 2017, to uncover and expose more than three million troll treats from Russian Twitter.  The university’s new Media Forensics Lab goes beyond educating those […]

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) announced 489 new confirmed cases and 43 new probable cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, 28 additional confirmed deaths and 10 new probable deaths.  One of the 10 probable deaths is that of an elderly Oconeean, who was diagnosed September 8.  Three new Oconee cases are reported. This brings the total […]