Category: News

Oconee’s largest municipality will bear a larger load of the obligation during the next year to pay the costs of wastewater treatment. During a discussion last night of the next budget, Bob Winchester of Joint Regional Sewer Authority announced Seneca’s percentage of the treatment costs will increase by approximately two percent—from 61 to 63%. It’s a point not lost on […]

In front of a crowd of more than five thousand people, the president/CEO of the Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative said Blue Ridge members during the next two to three years can count on a greater level of service. At the annual meeting,Charles Dalton said Blue Ridge during the last 12 months had energized one new substation and rebuilt another. Five […]

A fallen tree is blamed for an electric power outage that affected large parts of Westminster Sunday afternoon. The outage lasted from 2:30 to 5 o’clock, according to Clerk-Treasurer Jennifer Adams.

Georgia authorities have identified the three people killed Friday night in the crash of their car and a passenger train in Stephens County. The dead are all Georgia residents: Crystal Crews, 20-year old Kennesaw resident; and Austell residents 22-year old Areale Leigh Nunn and 23-year old Erich Boecklbauer. The three were in Mazda headed to Toccoa to see friends. WNEG […]

A storm water drain pipe failed about one-half mile from Devil’s Fork State Park. The Oconee Roads and Bridges Department this morning temporarily closes the road to through traffic to make repairs. The closure begins at 8:30. The county expects Jocassee Lake Road will reopen to all traffic by 6 p-m tomorrow. Patterson Ridge Road may be used by local […]

A stolen SUV in Greenville turned up over the weekend in Townville, and two men have been arrested. Oconee Sheriff’s Department and LEC reports show Jason Todd Lesley, 35-year old Liberty resident, and Garrick Houston Fuller, 34-year old Townville resident, were arrested and charged with possession of a stolen vehicle. A sheriff’s officer responded to a report of a suspicious […]

A Pickens County man arrested in Oconee County faces five charges of state income tax evasion. Arrest warrants charge Valentino Oglesby, 62-year old resident of Central, with failing to file tax returns based on his earnings for 2006 and the years 2008 through 2011. For those years, according to warrant affidavits, Oglesby’s income ranged from a low of more than […]

An Oconee County tourist and historic attraction, the Museum of the Cherokee in South Carolina, is ready to debut. The museum, in remodeled building on Walhalla’s Short Street, officially opens Saturday morning—in conjunction with the city’s Mayfest events. For Luther Lyle, it has been a project four years in the works, but an act of love. The opening ceremony will […]

Walhalla High School student Rachel Mangan has been awarded this year’s James M. Brown Scholarship for the Arts and will receive a $1 thousand scholarship amount for each of the next four years. Rachel plans to attend Clemson and major in Art Education. On Friday, she and three other Oconee students auditioned for the award. The others were Erika Ranger […]

Everyone who registers at tonight’s annual meeting of the Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative at Pickens, as a door prize, will walk away with a door mat. Considering all of the rain we’ve been getting, perhaps Blue Ridge should be giving away umbrellas. Whether the area gets another shower seems to be an “iffy” proposition, depending on which forecaster you’re listening […]