Category: News

The jury at Oconee Courthouse during the noon hour interrupted deliberations to ask the judge questions about their task.  Which is ruling on the guilt or innocence of a Seneca area man charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct first degree.  Wilbur Rickmon did not testify in his defense, but the prosecution offered a video and statements made by the […]

Atop Walhalla Presbyterian Church is a new copper dome, and it is considered one of the final pieces to restore one of Walhalla’s oldest places of worship. The church on E. Main Street heavily damaged in 2013 by fire. The new dome, which arrived from Kentucky in two pieces, weighs a total of 5,600 pounds and required a large crane […]

Richard Blackwell watches the state’s job numbers for Oconee County as close as anyone. The Oconee Alliance executive director made several observations yesterday on the report for March, showing Oconee’s unemployment rate had fallen below 6%—dropping six-tenths of a percentage point from the month before. Blackwell also notes that Oconee’s percentage for March of 5.8% was smaller than neighboring Pickens […]

Westminster City Council had not quite started its executive session last night when it took up the complaint voiced by a rodeo sponsor heard at the start of the meeting as part of public comment. Michelle Sanford complained about a city requirement to pay a $50 dollar charge to display a sign. Sanford’s complaint was one of handful of complaints […]

Some of Oconee’s youngest citizens are spreading an environmental message today on Earth Day. Students at Keowee Elementary School have decorated paper grocery bags with art work with an environmental theme and those bags are being passed out today at the West Union Ingle’s Store. Keowee Elementary is proud to be involved in what it is an international education effort […]

The prosecution rested its case yesterday against a Seneca area man, charged with kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct first degree. As the trial recessed until 9:30 this morning, the question left was whether Wilbur Rickmon will testify in his defense. The jury heard testimony about an alleged incident involving Rickmon and a female neighbor at a trailer park in September […]

An arrest warrant alleges crime occurred within the office of the Walhalla Magistrate. The state police yesterday announced the arrest of a 44-year old Westminster woman in an investigation of missing funds from the Walhalla Summary Court, where she worked. According to the state Law Enforcement Division, Constance Louise Weaver was charged with embezzling public funds. It’s a crime that […]

Usually this time of the year Westminster raises its retail electric power charge—once it gets word from its regional supplier that its wholesale charge is going up. But not this year. At the recommendation last night of first-year city administrator Jeff Lord, the city council adopted a new rate schedule that avoids a 4% wholesale increase this year from Piedmont […]

A large crowd assembled in Walhalla, near the corner of Main and S. Tugaloo, late on the work day partly to symbolize hope that in the future the core business district downtown will enjoy greater commerce and activity. Some of the city’s leaders put on hard hats and reflective jackets for the groundbreaking for Streetscape. Building and parking lot owner […]

A former car dealership employee has been arrested and charged with taking $3,951.86 worth of checks from her workplace and converting them to her own use. The Sheriff’s Office announced forgery and breach of trust with fraudulent intent charges against Pamela Gail Rogers (Blackwell). An arrest affidavit alleges the crime occurred December 3 at Lake Keowee Chrysler Dodge. Investigators say […]