Category: News

A man awaiting trial in Oconee County on the charge of murder wants new representation.  Deputy Solicitor Lindsey Simmons said yesterday that defendant Decota Brown wants a new lawyer.  He’s charged with killing his grandmother, Geraldine Castle, in a Seneca home in March 2019.  But the trial is in an indefinite delay as the chief justice, influenced by spiking COVID […]

Electric power outages are reported in Oconee County during a night of rain and thunder.  Lightning hit a tree in Walhalla and a bolt from that lightning penetrated a home on E. Mauldin Street.  No one was hurt.  A motor vehicle accident led to one outage early yesterday afternoon near Salem.  The Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative reported more than 440 […]

It takes two shots of COVID-19 vaccine to get maximum protection against the disease, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) reminded the public today. Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are 94 to 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19, but only after you receive both shots. “It’s extremely important to remember that both vaccines currently available […]

Today’s numbers:  2,736 new South Carolina cases; 72 Oconee cases.  Statewide:  five new deaths (none in Oconee).  Of 10,798 test results received statewide, the new positivity is 25.3%.  According to Dr. Traxler, the state’s acting health director, South Carolina is experiencing a “small plateau” in both case and death numbers.  But it means that while the case and death numbers […]

One person, using a storage building as a place to live, avoided injury in an early morning fire near Seneca.  The fire occurred at 204 Goddard Avenue in the Utica Community.  The building was destroyed.  Chief Richie Caudill of the Seneca Fire Department says the cause of the fire is undetermined.

Oconee’s federally-chartered health clinic, Rosa Clark, will be a player in dispensing vaccine to protect against COVID-19.  The clinic is located on the grounds of Prisma Health’s Oconee Memorial Hospital.  A limited supply of the Moderna vaccine arrived at the clinic last week, and Executive Director Vicki Thompson says the plan is to give shots by appointment only on Wednesdays, […]

Westminster will turn to a field representative from the state Municipal Association to guide city officials through a priority-setting workshop.  Tomorrow afternoon’s workshop at the Westminster Historic Depot is planned as a one-half day event, from 1 to 4 o’clock.  Facilitator will be Jeff Shacker, field rep for the South Carolina Municipal Association.

Between January 10 and 16, Oconee County’s numbers of first-time claimants for jobless benefits were the highest among the tri-counties.  There were 420 Oconeeans who applied to the state for unemployment compensation.  First-time numbers were lower in Pickens County, 121; and in Anderson County, 230.

In the latest 24-hour counting period, Oconee County saw more than 100 new COVID-19 infections.  In Sunday’s DHEC report, there were 107 new Oconee cases and 3,450 new cases statewide.  New South Carolina deaths:  60 (including that of an elderly Oconeean who died Friday).  Of 13,560 test results statewide, the percentage of positivity hit 25.4%.

At the 6 o’clock hour this morning, fire fighters were attending to a storage building fire on Goddard Avenue in Utica.  No one hurt, according to reports.