By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal

goliver@upstatetoday.com

EASLEY — The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation into the shooting of an Easley woman last Wednesday that ultimately led to the shooter taking his own life.

Chief deputy Creed Hashe said Thursday the sheriff’s office is still seeking answers into the unexplained shooting of a 45-year-old female resident on Robert P. Jeanes Road. The shooting occurred at approximately 11:57 a.m. as the victim was struck by shotgun pellets fired at her while standing on her front porch.

“The victim advised deputies that she was shot by a neighbor that lived across the street for unknown reasons,” Hashe said in a prepared statement. “There were no previous interactions or communications between the two that have been discovered by sheriff’s detectives at this stage into the investigation.”

Calvin Joseph Benton Jr., 59, who was found dead by authorities, was positively identified by the victim at the hospital by means of a photo lineup. A judge had issued an arrest warrant for Benton on the charge of attempted murder.

The victim was treated and released from Greenville Memorial Hospital.

A preliminary investigation regarding a timeline of events was also provided by Hashe, stating that the victim was shot while standing on the front porch of her residence with her dog. But the chief deputy said the victim was able to walk back out on the porch to retrieve her cellphone, which had been dropped as she was shot the first time.

Hashe said the victim was shot a second time but able to see the shooter standing in his yard across the street. She recognized him as the neighbor as he yelled at her, stating, “If you want, I’ll shoot you again,” but did not know the shooter’s name.

Deputies were dispatched to the scene shortly before noon, with the first deputy quickly interviewing the victim. Additional deputies arrived to assist and approach the residence where the shooter was believed to be inside.

Around noon, deputies spotted the male subject standing in the doorway of a residence on Robert P. Jeanes Road. While attempting to engage the subject in conversation, deputies reported he appeared “agitated and confrontational.” Deputies stated the subject refused to exit the residence and made statements indicating he was armed.

After the subject slammed and locked the door, the sheriff’s office deployed its Special Weapons and Tactics team, which secured nearby streets.

At 12:45 p.m., Hashe said the sheriff’s office crisis negotiation team proceeded to attempt making contact with the subject in residence, with numerous phone calls, but no contact. Additional attempts to contact the subject via a public address system and bullhorn also proved unsuccessful.

During that time, sheriff’s detectives presented information to the Pickens County magistrate who, in turn, issued a search warrant for the residence under the premise of locating the assailant and or evidence from the shooting.

At 2:32 p.m., the shooter was positively identified and a judge issued an arrest warrant for Benton. At 3:10 p.m., the tactical team inserted less-lethal chemical munitions into the residence in an effort to persuade the subject to surrender.

Hashe said officers forced entry into the residence at 3:36 p.m. following failed attempts to persuade the subject to communicate or surrender. The house was found to be barricaded with plywood in multiple locations.

Two minutes later, officers gained entry and found Benton deceased, face down in the front room of the residence with no one else inside. At 4 p.m., Hashe said the scene was processed by the forensics team and four weapons located and seized from the residence — including two 12-gauge shotguns, two semi-automatic handguns. Both pistols and one shotgun were found loaded and within arm’s reach of the suspect. One of the pistols was discovered inside the pants pocket of the subject.

Hashe said there were no visible signs of trauma found on Benton.

LIBERTY — A 3-year-old girl was killed in a car accident Sunday.

Pickens County coroner Kandy Kelley identified the victim as Lillian Valerie Griffin, 3, of Seth Court in Liberty.

The two-car fatal collision occurred on Five Forks Road in Liberty at around 11:20 a.m. Sunday, according to Lance Cpl. Tony Keller of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The collision occurred as a 2004 Chevrolet pickup driven by a 36-year-old Liberty woman collided with a 2006 Jeep SUV driven by a 23-year-old Liberty man. The two drivers were injured and transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Kelley said Lillian was restrained in a car seat in the back seat of the SUV. She died of blunt-force trauma at the scene of the accident.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol’s MAIT team is still investigating the accident. The Highway Patrol did not give any additional details about the collision.

Donations will help local group feed students in need

By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

PICKENS COUNTY — For many students, weekends mean staying up later, going out with friends and having fun.

For some, weekends mean going hungry.

For some students, lunch at school on Friday afternoon may be the last time they eat until they return to school on Monday morning.

For the last six years, a small group of dedicated local volunteers have been fighting this problem.

This Sunday, Feed a Hungry Child Pickens County will ask area church congregations to take up a second collection to help them continue to feed hungry students on the weekends.

Just before she retired as principal of A.R. Lewis Elementary School, Kathy Brazinski and her staff began looking at students coming into the health room week after week to see when they were coming in and why they were coming in.

“There were more kids coming to the health room on Monday mornings, and they were hungry,” Brazinski said. “It was mostly Monday mornings. They would say they didn’t have any food.”

Brazinski received a small grant that enabled her school to provide meals for the 15 children in need.

“That last semester, we were able to feed those kids on the weekends,” she said.

Courtesy Photo

Feed a Hungry Child Pickens County volunteers unload food for area students. The food goes home with the students on Fridays.

Milledge Cassell heard about the need at A.R. Lewis and also about a program in the Rock Hill school district that fed students district-wide.

“Milledge Cassell has been the key driver in all of this. He’s been phenomenal,” Brazinski said. “He said to me, ‘Do you think we can get some people together and do this all over Pickens County?’ I said, ‘Well, we can sure try.’”

With that, Feed a Hungry Child Pickens County was born. McKissick Elementary was the first school it served, helping 100 students that first year.

“It has grown,” Brazinski said.

The program, now in its sixth year, currently serves 634 students.

“We have just about increased our numbers by a hundred students a year,” she said.

The program started out with elementary schools. It now serves 15 of the 16 elementary schools in the county.

“Dacusville (Elementary) has chosen to serve their own students,” Brazinski said. “They have a very strong PTA and a church that is funding them.”

In addition to its elementary schools, Feed a Hungry Child Pickens County also serves Pickens Middle School, R.C. Edwards Middle School, Daniel High School and Liberty High School.

“Why we’re not serving everybody is because of the cost,” Brazinski said. “It costs us about $130,000 a year to feed these children.”

Most of the children served are in the poverty range, she said.

The program buys food in bulk from Golden Harvest Food Bank. Volunteers purchase additional food to give to the middle and high school students.

“What they provide is not ample for a middle or high school student,” Brazinski said.

Two volunteers drive to Golden Harvest’s facility in Piedmont to get the food. Thanks to the generosity of Doris Dalton, who donated one of her mini-warehouses, the group has a place to store the food safely and securely.

“We have drivers, our volunteers, who come and pick up the food and also deliver it to the schools,” Brazinski said.

The group works with school guidance counselors and social workers to identify the students in need.

“It’s very discreet,” Brazinski said.

The food, enough to see them through the weekend, is given to the students on Fridays. It costs a little more than $6 to feed each student per weekend, Brazinski said.

The economy’s slow growth means the need is still there.

“We really felt like, with the economy, thinking the economy was getting better, that we would not have so many kids in need, but it has just continuously increased,” Brazinski said.

The reasons students are in need of food are many.

“There were a lot of reasons they weren’t eating,” Brazinski said. “You couldn’t pinpoint just one.”

In some cases, unemployed parents take their children off the program when one parent finds a job, only to return to the program a few weeks later.

“They tell us, ‘We can’t make it on one salary,’” Brazinski said. “It’s not always because the parents are negligent, it’s because the economy is so bad.”

The program has helped attendance increase at county schools.

“One of the issues with students who are at risk, they are often out of school on Fridays,” Brazinski said. “Since Fridays are the day they get their food, attendance has increased.”

This Sunday, May 22, has been designated as Feed a Hungry Child Sunday, Brazinski said.

“We try to reach as many churches as we can to ask them if they would take up a second collection for Feed a Hungry Child,” she said. “Anybody who wants to make a donation can make it to Feed a Hungry Child Pickens County, P.O. Box 1573, Pickens, SC, 29671.”

Donors will receive a receipt for their donation.

“We are a 501(c)3,” Brazinski said. “90 percent of what we take in goes directly to the kids.”

The program receives no district, state or federal funding, Brazinski said, but rather relies strictly on grants and donations.

She said the group hopes to raise $15,000-$20,000 from this year’s Feed a Hungry Child Sunday.

The program has received grants from Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, Dabo Swinney’s All-In Foundation, The Reserve at Lake Keowee, Wal-Mart, the Pickens Women’s Association and the Southeast Grocer’s Association.

Since its inception, the program has been run by a nine-member board and several volunteers.

Recently, the group hired Diane Rowe part-time to be a point of contact with the schools, Golden Harvest and the volunteers.

“It’s just been a small group of us, all going in different directions,” Brazinski said. “We just wanted to get the kids fed — that was our goal. Having somebody to help out will be great. We can reach a little wider.”

Volunteers themselves get no reimbursement, Brazinski said.

“They’ve donated their time, talent and treasure,” she said.

For more information or to donate online, visit pickenschildren.com.