Daily Archives: 07/17/2013
Board finalizes plan for 1 middle school
The former Easley High School will house all Easley-area middle school students and will be renamed Gettys Middle School.
By Nicole Daughhetee, Courier Staff
EASLEY — The city of Easley will only be home to a single newly renovated middle school after all, though the school will still feature a familiar name.
After hearing various options during a marathon meeting last Thursday, School District of Pickens County board trustees voted 4-1 to move forward with plans for all Easley-area middle school students to transition to the former Easley High School campus, which will be renamed to Gettys Middle School.
Board chair Judy Edwards, along with trustees Jimmy Gillespie, Jim Shelton and Ben Trotter voted to pass the motion, while Alex Saitta voted in opposition and Herb Cooper abstained.
A previous plan that many Easley residents had pleaded with trustees to keep had called for students to be split between the former high school campus, which was then to be called Brice Middle School, and the current Gettys Middle School.
Instead, the new Gettys will house all Easley-area students following a $24.2 million renovation project.
According to district superintendent Dr. Kelly Pew, around $9.3 million will remain in the school district’s building fund after the conversion is complete.
Saitta told those in attendance at the meeting that the former high school campus will be the top middle school in the county.
“This school is far and away the best in our county,” he said. “It has a campus-like feel, football stadium and everything is completely new.”
Walking for a cause
Patrick Springs, Va., resident Steve Young passed through Pickens on foot Friday on his way to Utah as part of a walk designed to raise awareness for Victory Junction, a year-round camp in Randleman, N.C., for children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses ages 6-16. The walk is Young’s third to raise awareness for the camp. Young, 58, expects the walk to take nine months to complete. For more information about Victory Junction, started in honor and memory of former NASCAR driver Adam Petty by his friends and family, visit www.victoryjunction.org. (Photo by Rocky Nimmons)
Motorcyle wreck claims teen’s life
SIX MILE — A Six Mile teen was killed Monday after his motorcycle hit an oncoming truck, authorities said.
According to Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley, James William Keith Horn, 18, was traveling at a high rate of speed southbound on S.C. 133 near Lakeside Drive in Six Mile when he lost control and crossed the center line, striking a pick-up truck in the northbound lane, around 4 p.m. on Monday.
Horn later died at Cannon Memorial Hospital, Kelly said.
Kelly also said Horn was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
The wreck is still being investigated by the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Liberty couple charged after kids found in roadway
LIBERTY — A Liberty couple faces multiple charges after their two young children were found wandering in a roadway on July 4.
Liberty police were called on July 4 in reference to a pair of children found unattended outside a home on Iselin Street. Officers found the children’s parents inside their residence unresponsive.
Brian Keith Burgess, 45, and Karie Amanda Burgess, 37, of 13 Iselin St. in Liberty, were arrested and charged with unlawful conduct towards a child.
Because of the conditions of the parents and a lack of food inside the home, the Department of Social Services was called. DSS later placed the children into the care of relatives.
Simpson back in Pickens County
PICKENS — A Dacusville mother accused of shooting and killing her two young children and attempting to kill her husband was transferred back to Pickens County last Wednesday.
Suzanna Brown Simpson had been temporarily transferred to the Greenville County Detention Center on June 6 in order to recover from injuries sustained in a single-vehicle wreck that occurred shortly after the shootings at her home at 307 Cherokee Trail in Dacusville on May 14.
Simpson is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of her children, 7-year-old Carly Ashelyn Simpson and 5-year-old Sawyer Russell Simpson, as well as an attempted murder charged in the shooting of her husband, Michael John Simpson, 34, and one charge of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Pickens reschedules fireworks display
PICKENS — With The Tams set to return to the city’s new amphitheater July 27 for a makeup performance after rain cancelled their Azalea Festival performance in April, Pickens officials figured there was no better time to make up for another rainout.
Following the Tams’ performance, the city will host a dazzling fireworks display that was originally set to take place on Main Street for Pickens Celebrates the Fourth, which was canceled earlier this month after torrential downpours rolled through the city.
Pickens city council members voted at their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday night to use the fireworks purchased for the Independence Day celebration to put an exclamation mark on The Tams’ performance July 27.
Annual Dacusville Farm Show set for Labor Day weekend
By Ben Robinson, For The Courier
DACUSVILLE — For many years Jim Robinson and his family had operated the Dacusville Farm days celebration on Labor day weekend.
But last year Jim’s oldest son Randy died after an unexpected heart attack, and Jim found that he had lost some of the joy he had experienced.
“We worked hard every year, but we worked together, and Randy was a big part of that,” Robinson said. “The plan was for Randy to take over more and more of the show, eventually taking over the entire show. But the Lord had other plans, and he called Randy home last year.
“We loved the show, and enjoyed the family and our friends pulling together to make something special happen. But with Randy no longer with us, it did not seem right to continue. We wanted to let the show die with Randy.”
Missing hiker found at Table Rock State Park
PICKENS — A hiker reported missing the day before turned up safe and sound at Table Rock State Park just as search teams assembled to look for him last Friday morning.
Pickens County Emergency Management was alerted at around 1 p.m. on Thursday of a missing hiker on the Foothills Trail.
Information led searchers to begin searching in Oconee County and Transylvania County, N.C., but several personal items found on the trail indicated that the hiker was likely on the Pickens County section of the trail.
Alright fans, get ready to rumble
Olivia Fowler
On the Way
By Olivia Fowler
A story in the news last week both astonished and worried me. And if you’ve ever attended a little league game when parents were distressed about the umpire’s call, you would take this pretty seriously.
Apparently during a soccer game in Brazil the referee made a call that was disputed by a player. The player in question had an altercation with the ref and struck him. The referee then stabbed the player, who died on the way to the hospital.
After the player was stabbed, fans stormed the field and stoned the ref before beheading him and quartering his body. It was also reported that after the decapitation, the head was mounted and displayed in the center of the field on a pole.
Taxpayers Association schedules meeting to discuss Common Core
PICKENS — Pickens Recreation has four one-week sessions of summer day camp left this summer.
The day camps, held at the Pickens Recreation Center on Sangamo Road, are for ages 6-12 and run from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily.
The sessions will be July 22-26, July 29-Aug. 2, Aug. 5-9 and Aug. 12-16.
Cost for the camp is $70 per child per week or $40 per child per half-week. A price adjustment is available for additional siblings per week. A $25 non-refundable registration fee is due by May 24, which includes a camp T-shirt. Late registration fees are $35.
