Daily Archives: 02/03/2016
Courier adds new weekly coupon service
PICKENS — In this day and age, we are all looking at ways to save money.
The Pickens County Courier knows and understands the needs of our readers, and as the result of a long, painstaking process, we are glad to announce that starting this week our readers will be getting RedPlum coupon packets in the newspaper each week.
Not only does Pickens County’s favorite newspaper give you great value in the best newspaper Pickens County has to offer, now you can save on many items that are featured in the RedPlum coupon packet from week to week.
Each week, hundreds of dollars worth of coupons will be included to help lower your grocery bills.
“We care about our readers and want all of you to get even greater value from your Courier each week” Courier publisher Rocky Nimmons said. “The Courier will never stop covering the stories and events the people of Pickens County care about, and we will always carry informative and helpful advertising from area businesses, but now we have increased our value with a wide array of coupons each week.”
So it pays you, the reader, to pick up a copy each week from a store near you or to simply subscribe by turning to page 6B and clipping out the coupon for a year’s subscription. You can also call (864) 878-6391 to have your subscription started. Home-delivery print-edition subscriptions can also be ordered on our website, yourpickenscounty.com. When you subscribe, you will never miss a single issue, as all papers are mailed through the United States Postal Service each and every week.
School board tables 2016-17 calendar decision
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
COUNTY — Public feedback that included the desire for a longer Thanksgiving break and concerns over the impact of summer vacation factored into the Pickens County School Board decision last week to table approval of the 2016-17 calendar.
The calendar was presented to the board by Stephanie Lackey, executive director of human resource services. Lackey told board members input solicited from the community by the school district involved two drafts of the calendar — one with a normal start date the third Monday in August and one with a start date on the second Monday in August.
“There were 92 emails that gave feedback, and 64 supported the normal start date to the school year and 23 for the early start,” Lackey said.
But the instructional committee that developed the calendar, pending a change in state law, instead recommended approving the calendar in which the first day of school for students would be Aug. 8. If the state decides not to change its existing law, the human resource services director said the second recommendation was for the board to approve the normal start calendar in which students would report Aug. 15.
While state law currently requires that schools start no earlier than the third Monday in August, Lackey said discussion has taken place at the state level that, if ultimately approved, would allow an earlier start date.
Not only would students return Aug. 8 under the compromise calendar, three days are allotted for Thanksgiving and the last day of school for students is May 25.
“The normal start calendar would provide three days at Thanksgiving — allowing more instruction in the classroom prior to Christmas Break,” Lackey said.
But Lackey said supporters for a normal start time indicated that an earlier start would conflict with vacation plans and activities, such as band camp, that occur late in the summer.
In addition, a total of 11 respondents expressed support for a weeklong break at Thanksgiving. However, Lackey said the committee ultimately decided to go with a three-day break.
“The recommendation was to get more instruction in before Thanksgiving,” she said, adding a calendar draft that specifically set aside the week of Nov. 21-25 for that holiday meant students would have to go to school until June 6 and teachers until June 7.
But some board members said they have received feedback preferring the weeklong Thanksgiving holiday break.
“I got the most positive feedback for having that week off,” Henry Wilson said. “There’s not a lot going on those two days that will get us better testing.”
Trustee Phillip Bowers agreed, although he admits that both sides of the issue have valid points.
“Parents really like the week off at Thanksgiving and don’t like the half days,” Bowers said. “We also heard from teachers who said having the week off at Thanksgiving, they were never able to get students back on track until Christmas hit and then they had two weeks off.”
Lackey said the committee is faced with developing a calendar that takes into effect state mandates requiring 10 professional development days and fewer days off during March since that is an assessment month for students.
Trustee Alex Saitta, who opposed the calendar options, said he would prefer to see three professional development days at the beginning of the school year, with additional days “sprinkled throughout the year.” Saitta said he felt spring would be a good time “since students tend to get burned out by then.”
The number of half-days in the school calendar is something Saitta would also like to see minimized “because you’re going to get more with the (inclement) weather (resulting in early dismissal during the winter months).”
Board chairperson Judy Edwards then threw out the question to audience members as to which calendar option they preferred, with the Aug. 8 versus Aug. 15 options receiving virtually the same response.
Trustees deadlocked 3-3 on a motion to approve the early start calendar, provided the state amends its current law regarding the start of school, and a normal start date in case the start date remains no earlier than the third Monday in August.
Edwards and trustees Brian Swords and Dr. Herbert Cooper voted in favor of the motion, while Saitta, Wilson and Bowers were opposed.
Instead, the board voted 5-0 (with Edwards abstaining) to send the calendar back to the instructional committee and work out details with administration.
Monday morning head-on collision kills man
PICKENS — A 56-year-old Pickens man lost his life in a head-on collision Monday morning.
Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley said Daniel E. Epps of Nine Times Road died from blunt-force trauma at the scene of the crash.
South Carolina Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Gary Miller said the accident occurred at 6:20 a.m. at the intersection of Ireland Road and S.C. Highway 183, around 3.5 miles north of Pickens. Miller said a 38-year-old Easley man was traveling south on S.C. 183 in a 2004 Freightliner truck and pulling a trailer. The man swerved left of center to avoid another vehicle stopped and waiting to turn onto Ireland Drive and struck Epps’ 1986 GMC pickup head-on.
Miller said Epps was not wearing a seatbelt. The trooper said the other driver was wearing a seatbelt and was not injured. No passengers were involved in the accident.
The highway patrol is continuing its investigation into the accident.
Epps’ death was the first reported traffic fatality in Pickens County in 2016.
Local residents speak to county council, plan meeting to fight proposed dump
By Ben Robinson
Staff Reporter
brobinson@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Local businesswoman Pree Hamilton spoke to Pickens County Council Monday night about stopping a North Carolina-based company’s efforts to create a coal ash dump near Liberty.
Hamilton, who owns Farm Equipment and Supplies in Pickens and lives near the site of the proposed dump, will lead a group opposed to the dump in a 6 p.m. meeting next Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Liberty Civic Auditorium, at 314 W. Main St.
MRR Pickens LLC was granted a permit in 2007 and 2015 to create a construction and debris landfill. The approval of the permit was granted after MRR Pickens LLC officials appeared for a public hearing on an application for a renewal of their Feb. 12, 2007, land use permit for a proposed landfill off S.C. Highway 93 near Liberty, according to the Pickens County Planning Commission. The company recently filed an application for a variance with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control that included plans for the installation of a liner to use with a coal ash dump.
The planning commission voted last month to suspend the company’s land-use permit, but the measure has not put a stop to the company’s efforts to bring the dump to Pickens County.
In speaking to county council members Monday night, Hamilton repeated part of the Pledge of Allegiance, which was led by Boy Scout Troop 51 to open the meeting.
“To the Republic for which it stands, and we stand in Pickens County for no coal ash,” Hamilton said. “We need council to stand behind us.”
Hamilton said there’s an online effort to fight the proposed dump and petitions she can put up in her business.
“I don’t know if anybody’s tried to get in touch with a mayor elected official,” she said. “Everybody in Liberty is totally behind us.
“This is a potential danger not just for our county, but also Oconee and Greenville. This has got to be taken care of.”
Hamilton also brought along a sign she said had been on display along Highway 93 in favor of the dump.
“These signs — and we don’t know where they came from — were on Highway 93,” she told council members. “They were not on anybody’s property, but now they’re gone. They have been removed. Don’t know where they are.”
She said the signs show local residents who they are dealing with.
“This is a multi-million dollar company,” Hamilton said “They can play dirty. They don’t have to stick to our rules, and evidently they’re not wanting to.”
“We can’t — the little group of us — financially afford to fight this.”
County council members last month voted unanimously to urge the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to deny the company’s variance and disallow the coal ash dump.
Members of the Pickens County Legislative Delegation also penned a letter to DHEC railing against the proposed dump, and other groups, such as Manufacturers Caring for Pickens County and Upstate Forever, have also expressed their opposition.
The county has hired attorney Gary Poliakoff to aid in its fight. Council chair Jennifer Willis said one of the reasons Poliakoff was hired was because he has been successful in similar actions elsewhere.
“So we’re not playing,” Willis said.
Hamilton said she is determined to spread the word about the company’s plans.
“Every city needs to invest their time and money on getting (information) out to the public, because the public has a right to know,” she said, adding she has checked on bulk mail as a way to let the public know what is going on, but found that a $250 permit is needed for bulk mail.
“Who’s going to pay for it?” she asked.
Hamilton said she has also uncovered information about direct mail to get the message out.
“It’s an 8-by-10 flyer that can be handed out,” Hamilton said. “It’s pennies on a dollar.”
Hamilton promised her group is devoted to fighting the company’s proposed dumping.
“We’re not playing games,” she said. “We’re standing up. There’s a handful of people who have stirred this up and got attention to it, but more people need to be involved. It’s just got to happen.”
Liberty resident Lewis Lollis also spoke to council to promote next week’s meeting.
“I’ve been throughout the county, and most of the people that I’ve talked to said, ‘Well, I’ve heard something about that,’ and that makes me angry that they’ve not heard a lot about it, because it need to be out there. It needs to be publicized,” he said.
“I don’t know how many are going to show up, but I know I’ll be there,” Lollis said of next week’s meeting. “And I hope you will, too.”
Easley man faces attempted murder charge after stabbing
EASLEY-A 51-year-old Easley man was arrested Thursday evening and charged with attempted murder in connection with a stabbing that stemmed from a verbal dispute.
Charles Anthony Black, of 100 Turner St., is being held without bond at the Pickens County Detention Center.
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The victim underwent several hours of surgery as a result of a stab wound he sustained to the neck. However, he is expected to survive, according to Pickens County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Creed Hashe.
Hashe said the sheriff’s office responded to a disturbance shortly after midnight in the parking lot of the Hot Spot convenience store on Calhoun Memorial Highway in Easley.
Deputies arrived on the scene and found a man had been stabbed in the throat. An investigation into the incident determined the victim and Black had engaged in a verbal dispute that occurred within a moving vehicle.
The incident report claims the two, along with other passengers, exited the vehicle still involved in a verbal altercation. Black allegedly told the victim he was going to stab him, and the victim “began to back away from the defendant with his hands up.” But the report alleges Black proceeded toward the man with a knife and, after stabbing him in the neck, got into the vehicle along with the other passengers and drove away — leaving the victim bleeding in the parking lot.
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Police: Man sexually abused teen for years
LIBERTY — A Liberty man was arrested Thursday after police claim he sexually abused a teen for nearly three years.
Jermaine Fields, 36, of 219 Sanders Road, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Fields is being held without bond at the Pickens County Detention Center.
Pickens County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Creed Hashe said the sheriff’s office initiated an investigation in November into information that a teenager had been sexually molested on numerous occasions. The arrest warrant for Fields claims the incidents occurred between Jan. 1, 2013, and Nov. 2, 2015, between Fields and the victim, whose age was estimated between 14-16. The warrant alleges the defendant coerced the teen into engaging in sexual intercourse on numerous occasions within that time frame.
Hashe said the victim is not related to Fields, and sheriff’s office detectives believe all the incidents occurred at a home in Liberty. The warrant states the defendant was older and “in a familial, custodial and/or authoritative position” to commit the crime. The warrant added that Fields was responsible for caring for the victim when the incidents occurred.
Fraternal Order of Police gives to Shriners Hospital
On behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police Foothills Lodge No. 9 of Pickens County, R.A. Gibson recently presented the Greenville Shriners Hospital with a $1,000 donation.
Clemson seeks funding to fight major poultry industry disease
COLUMBIA — Funding to bolster South Carolina’s defense against a disease that could severely damage the state’s poultry industry tops a list of Clemson University budget requests presented to a House Ways and Means Subcommittee.
Clemson has asked for funds to help protect the state’s poultry industry from HPAI.
Together with some of the state’s top agribusiness leaders, Clemson administrators made the case for a total of $5 million to enhance and expand research and extension programs designed to support the state’s $42 billion agribusiness industry.
“We have a simple formula that we follow,” said George Askew, vice president of Clemson Public Service and Agriculture, the extension and regulatory arm of the university. “We listen carefully to the needs of our citizens, we research solutions to those needs and we impart what we learn back to those citizens through our Extension Service. Clemson University is the research and development arm for South Carolina farmers and landowners.”
The request, presented last week, includes $750,000 to strengthen the state’s animal and infectious disease prevention program against the threat of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and other animal diseases. The state’s Livestock Poultry Health unit is part of Clemson Public Service and Agriculture.
“HPAI would devastate the poultry industry, which is the largest agribusiness in the state of South Carolina. There’s not too much money that you can spend on protecting us from this threat,” said Connie Smith, president of the South Carolina Poultry Federation.
South Carolina’s $14.5 billion animal agriculture industry is fueled by 12,662 poultry and livestock operations. The state’s poultry exports have risen by 267 percent since 2000 to $142 million in 2012, according to the most recent numbers.
HPAI is carried by waterfowl, and an outbreak in the Midwest cost Iowa and Minnesota $1.85 billion. A less infectious strain of the disease was recently found in Indiana.
The funding would be used to hire additional animal health inspectors, laboratory staff and equipment.
Clemson is also seeking $2.5 million to support the operation of its five research and education centers and campus farms, $500,000 to help expand and enhance fruit and vegetable production in the state and $1.25 million for beef and dairy research and Extension.
Clemson is also seeking $1.7 million to complete renovation of its agricultural and natural resources field facilities and $11 million to add a conference center/exhibition hall, additional show space and paved parking at the T. Ed Garrison Livestock Arena in Pendleton.
‘Scouting For Food’ planned to give back to local community
CENTRAL — “Scouting for Food” is Scouting’s community stewardship project aimed at addressing the problem of hunger in the communities in which we live and work.
The 2016 Central/Six Mile Troop 134 “Scouting for Food” project will take place on Saturdays, Feb. 6 and 13. Local Scouts will be stationed at the Walmart in Central collecting food on those Saturday mornings.
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The food is then carried to local food pantries, churches, shelters for the homeless and other local agencies that feed the needy.
“Scouting for Food” is a project rooted in the very foundation of the Scouting movement. Through initiative and hard work, the Boy Scouts have developed a framework that can help local food pantries feed tens of thousands of needy local residents with emergency aid.
What items are best to donate?
The best type of container is canned food. Only non-perishables can be accepted. Other food such as breads, produce, meat or fresh fruit and vegetables will spoil before being distributed. A variety of nutritious foods from all five food groups is an excellent choice.
Here are some examples: soup, tuna, chicken or other luncheon meat (canned), fruit (canned), 100 percent fruit juice (canned or plastic bottles), vegetables (canned) and any other nutritious foods such as dried cereals, beans, rice or pasta.
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Getting involved
Kathy Hunter and Ruthie Millar, right, of Clemson Downs, talk with Southern Wesleyan University student Carley Teat, left, about volunteer opportunities during the SWU Volunteer Fair on the Central campus Jan. 27. The event was organized to raise awareness of area organizations in need of volunteer help. In addition to Clemson Downs, participants included Pickens County Advocacy Center, Switch of Greenville, United Way of Pickens and Oconee counties, and Habitat for Humanity for Pickens and Oconee counties. Teat is a senior from Dacusville majoring in human services.
