Category: News

A second newcomer has emerged for the November 5 Walhalla City Council election. Chris Grant of Andover Way qualified today to run for one of three council seats, for which four-year terms are available. Previously, Danny Woodward signed up to seek an unexpired term created by the resignation of James Powell.    

A provider of coating services for auto, heavy truck, and agriculture industries will open a new plant in Greenville County. According to an announcement by Governor Haley, the Crown Group, over the next five years, will invest $5.4 million and generate 42 new jobs. The new plant will be the Crown Group’s seventh in the U-S. Qualified applicants should visit […]

Neither the trial nor yesterday’s verdict has weakened Rick Sanders’ belief in James Bartee. Sanders, who has relocated from Oconee County to Lavonia, Georgia, served as a defense witness for the man for whom he campaigned for Sheriff. And today Sanders said he stands by what he said last week on the witness stand. “Mr. Bartee has a wife and […]

Those supporting an Oconee County emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children have come up with a new challenge. The campaign for Safe Harbor recently raised enough funds from the general community to qualify for a dollar-for-dollar match of a $100 thousand gift pledged by Seneca couple Fran and Bobby Hansen. A second such pledge was announced […]

In bookstores, a new biography of Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino presents a possible explanation for why Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, who disappeared in 1975, was killed by the Mafia. Journalist Matt Birkbeck writes in his book, The Quiet Don, that there was a connection to the CIA. Birkbeck writes that it was Bufalino, who controlled the garment industry in New […]

Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative customers served by their Newry substation have been restored with service after yesterday’s equipment failure. Blue Ridge’s Terry Ballenger blames what happened on a failed regulator, but says it’ll likely take sending that regulator back to the factory for a definitive answer. What happened yesterday afternoon at the substation off Carson Road caused an explosion in […]

A late night call sent Walhalla fire fighters to 204 S. Cedar Street. There, fire broke out in a heating and air conditioning unit beneath the house. Mark Hollifield of the Walhalla Fire Department said the fire was confined to the heating and air unit.      

Approval by Oconee County of ordinances to give a financial boost to a hotel project nearing completion in Seneca received unanimous support last night at the council table, but dissent from within the meeting audience. It prompted District One’s Paul Corbeil to issue an explanation. “There are no Oconee County general fund or economic development dollars being paid to the […]

For the tax year 2013, Oconee County has a new tax rate. And its reflects a two mill tax increase. As recommended by Auditor Ken Nix, County Council approved 73.9 county mills and 141.1 mills for public schools. According to Nix, the Oconee School District sought no increase in funds and its operational and debt millage total the same. While […]

James Bartee spent the first night of his five-year prison sentence in the Oconee Detention Center. His lawyer announced in court that he’ll attempt to obtain a recognizance bond that’ll allow his client to be freed while his side pursues an appeal of yesterday’s verdict. That verdict was guilty to the charge of solicitation to commit a felony and it […]