Area Breaking News
County health department closed for renovations
Laurens County Administrator Thomas Higgs said Monday that the county-owned building housing the local South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and the Department of Social Services is closed temporarily due to needed renovations and repairs to the building. According to a post on the Laurens County Health Department’s Facebook page its offices…
Read MoreClinton approves budget reading, hears concerns of missing funds
Clinton, S.C. – In a special called meeting Monday night, Clinton City Council held a public hearing for its 2022/23 fiscal year budget of $31,598,373. It’s a decrease of 4.09% from last year’s budget of $30,305,165, yet includes an increased tax millage rate of 119.10 compared to last year’s 113.78 millage rate. “This is due…
Read MoreLaurens planning commission hears of potential 221N development
Laurens, South Carolina – The City of Laurens Planning Commission held a public hearing last week to allow Scott Gillespie of Deep River South Development to explain about a 44-acre area he’d like to develop on Highway 221 N. The wooded property outside the city limits is below Vern Cora Road and near the city’s…
Read MoreFresh waters will finally flow for Lower Eastern Cherokee Nation
Gray Court, S.C. – On Thursday morning last week, Dexter “Yellow Hawk” Sharp got the final approval from a visiting DHEC engineer on a well which will finally provide quality drinking water for the PAIA Tribal Grounds of the Piedmont American Indian Association (PAIA) Lower Eastern Cherokee Nation S.C. in Gray Court. It’s a process…
Read MoreJones, Gilliam handily win GOP Primary races
Incumbents Doug Gilliam and Stewart Jones won landslide re-election bids for the state House of Representatives in Tuesday’s Republican Primary Election. Jones earned the GOP nomination for District 14 in a three-way race with retired teacher and U.S. Army officer Joe Benson and Waterloo businesswoman Cole Kazmarski. Jones garnered 61.5% (2,258) of the votes in…
Read MoreCompton returning to LDHS as principal
District 55 makes other moves at Waterloo, GCO Lewis Compton, who taught 19 years and began his career at Laurens District High School, is heading back there as the school’s principal. “It’s amazing, the circle of life that has brought me back to Laurens District High School,” Compton said. “I appreciate (District 55 Superintendent) Dr.…
Read MoreCouncil sees options on portion of Whitten Center property master plan
Clinton, S.C. – The undeveloped and heavily wooded areas which the City of Clinton acquired from Whitten Center could eventually include areas set aside for industrial uses, large parcel residential areas and a small commercial area if council adopts and begins working toward WK Dickson’s tentative master plan. Clinton City Council and residents of the…
Read MoreSenn: City will move quickly to find Latimore successor
Laurens Mayor Nathan Senn said Tuesday morning that he wants to move quickly to find a successor to Chrissie Latimore as the city’s police chief. “I’d like to have no interim chief, so we’re posting the job, and we think we’ll find qualified candidates,” Senn said. “We’re starting the interview process, and hopefully we’ll have…
Read MoreLPD Chief Latimore to lead U.S. Marshals Service in state
Laurens Police Chief Chrissie Latimore is leaving her post with the LPD to become the U.S. Marshal for South Carolina. The LPD announced Latimore’s nomination for the top spot in the U.S. Marshals Service in the District of South Carolina Monday night with a social media post. Pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Latimore will…
Read MoreDriver killed in single-car crash
A single-car crash left one person dead Sunday night in Laurens County. The South Carolina Highway Patrol reported the driver of a 2006 Chevy HHR was traveling south on Hellams Road near Geddy Road around 9 p.m. Sunday when the HHR crossed the center line and ran off the road. SCHP Trooper Brandon Bolt said…
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