Category: News

In 38 and a half years in law enforcement, James Singleton accumulated awards and earned distinction. But the retired Oconee Sheriff reached the apex of his career last night when, during a retirement dinner, he was award the Order of the Palmetto. State Senator Thomas Alexander read a letter from Governor Nikki Haley announcing Singleton as the recipient of the […]

A 43-year old Oconeean was found late last night, crushed beneath a tractor near Westminster. Coroner Karl Addis says family members found Terry Ray Land of the Rufus Lane Road under a Zetor 3320 tractor that the 43-year old Land appeared to have been driving toward his home. The tractor, which had no rollover protection bar, went down a grade […]

Rescuers remain looking today for a boater missing on Lake Jocassee. Shortly after 9:30 last night, a woman reported that she and her husband’s kayak had capsized four and a half hours earlier. She swam to shore, but lost contact with her non-swimming husband. An announcement by Charlie King, Oconee Fire Chief, quoted the woman as saying that, once on […]

A SC Forestry Commission Red Flag fire weather alert now covers all of South Carolina. Conditions yesterday in some areas including low relative humidity and warm temperatures contributed to an elevated danger level. According to Oconee Fire Chief Charlie King, those factors support the ignition and spread of wildfire. The Red Flag alert does not outlaw debris burning in most […]

U-S Forest Service crews have announced a prescribed burn today in Long Creek, off the Battlecreek Road. A USFS spokesman says up to 500 acres are to be burned in a prescribed, safe manner to rid forest ground of debris and other materials that could lead to wildfires.

Dry as the weather is likely to be this weekend, the South Carolina Commission of Forestry requests that everyone think before you burn. Carless debris burners cause more than 40% of wildfires in the state every year. To be safe, yard debris burning should be postponed until after the next rainfall. The yard burning notification number for Oconeeans to call […]

At their retreat meeting tomorrow in Clemson, the governing board of Tri-County Tech will engage in some philosophical discussions as to how better serve its three-county student service territory, according to the college president. We spoke to Dr. Ronnie Booth after today’s meeting of the Oconee Economic Development Commission. Booth serves as an ex-officio member of the commission. For a […]

A fifth grader at Walhalla’s James Brown Elementary is this year’s countywide winner of the School Tornado Safety Contest. Overall winner Jack B. Moore receives a cash award and a weather alert radio. Individual school winners were named. And all winning posters will be displayed in the County Administrative Building until April 12. The contest purpose is to educate children […]

Attorney Paul Cain says those interested in furthering the business of agriculture want Oconee County to be to agriculture what Greenville is to transportation. Cain, along with Gwen McPhail and others, spoke at today’s meeting of the Oconee Economic Development Commission. The commissioners received copies of a plan to make Oconee County an agriculture business center of economic development. The […]

U-S Forest Service is announcing a prescribed burn today at Yellow Branch in Oconee County. Between 200 and 250 acres will be affected. A spokeswoman for the Forest Service says the area is below the ranger’s office and across from Stumphouse Tunnel. No immediate word on which direction the smoke will likely take.