Category: News

Oconee school trustees chose a less form of combativeness to settle a controversy over whether their meetings should begin with an open prayer. They decided last night to begin their meetings with a moment of silence which, according to Chairman Andy Inabinet, will allow anyone in attendance a moment to pray in silence, if he or she so chooses. The […]

A midnight hour weekend traffic stop in Westminster led to drug and stolen vehicle charges against the driver and his passenger. Alerted just after midnight Sunday by the Oconee Sheriff’s Department to a possible drunk driver, Westminster officers Ashe and Hopkins stopped an F-350 pickup truck in the parking lot of a convenience store. According to law enforcement reports, they […]

One of Oconee’s three nuclear reactors remains in a refueling stage, but a Duke Energy spokeswoman says other plants are making up for the loss in electric power generation. Duke’s Sandra Magee says the current Unit One refueling is another in a regularly scheduled series of refuelings. To ensure the job is done, Duke has brought in an additional one […]

After today’s Veterans Day holiday, a four-day term of Oconee General Sessions Court begins tomorrow morning at the courthouse in Walhalla. Atop the prosecutors’ trial list is the case of Bryan A. Powell. The 34-year old man is charged with resisting arrest and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Presiding judge will be the Hon. Alex Macaulay.

Fire heavily damaged a home late Saturday night in the city’s Northside Community. At the the time, according to Capt. Walter Lee of the Seneca Fire Department, no one was home at 320 Mill Road and its cause remains under investigation. Mill Road is a connector road between the Old Salem Highway and S.C. 130/the Rochester Highway. Fire fighters were […]

State Senator Thomas Alexander continues to spread word on what South Carolinians can do to protect them from the cyber attack. If you are an individual who filed a S.C. tax return since 1998 you are potentially a victim of cyber identity theft. To protect taxpayers, the state is providing one year of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection […]

Fire destroyed a barn Saturday afternoon near Westminster. The fire occurred on the Greenfield Road inside the service territory of the Oakway Volunteer Fire Department. Chief Tracy Sanders said the barn contained hay, a motor vehicle, and miscellaneous items. According to Sanders, the cause of the fire was being investigated as late as yesterday morning.

Saturday’s 4.3 magnitude earthquake  may have been centered in Kentucky but it was felt as far south as Salem, South Carolina. 96.3/WGOG spoke with a Salem resident on Saturday. She reported pots and dishes in her home rattled, but no damage resulted. At least seven other states reported rattling from the quake 10 miles west of Whitesburg, Kentucky–near the Virginia […]

A 510-acre prescribed burn is planned this fall near Cashiers, North Carolina. Southeast of Cashiers and east of Silver Run Falls, the burn is planned by the U-S Forest Service and the NC Forest Service on private land. It’s one of four prescribed burns scheduled this fall in the Nantahala National Forest, with the others just west of Sylva. The […]

A Westminster man is dead following a tractor accident Saturday afternoon.  Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis says 68 year-old Furman Wallace “Dink” Blackwell died at the scene near Alice Lane in Westminster.  Police say 911 was notified of the incident just before 4:00 PM on Saturday when a passerby noticed the overturned tractor.  Addis says Blackwell was turning soil using […]