Daily Archives: 09/27/2016
Founders Festival planned Saturday
PICKENS — Are you ready for a good dose of bluegrass music and a side of fresh grown local vegetables?
If so, then Pickens will be the place for you this weekend. The Pickens Revitalization Association (PRA) will host the community’s annual Founders Day Festival this Saturday, Oct. 1, to close out the area’s festival season.
The festival will get started at 3 p.m. and go until 10 p.m., with music on the newly covered Pickens amphitheater. The amphitheater is located squarely in the middle of town off Main Street, behind the Enrapt House (Bradley-Boggs house).
“It will be a day filled with great bluegrass music performed by bands from South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia,” PRA executive director Wilson Perkins said.
There will be food vendors as well as a harvest market featuring produce as well as arts and crafts. Face painting will also be available.
There is no charge to attend the event.
For more information, contact the Pickens Revitalization Association at (864) 878-0105 or visit cityofpickens.com/pra.
Memorial held
Local firefighters, residents and dignitaries turned out for a memorial dedication in honor of community firefighters past and present at the Pickens Fire Department on Saturday morning. The celebration began with a flag raising, and a memorial honoring 
firefighters who have served for more than 20 years was unveiled. Former Pickens County sheriff David Stone and former Pickens City Council member Tommy Stephens, right, were among the many who were honored.
Huge crowds expected at 38th annual event Oct. 8 – Cox back in charge of Pumpkin Fest
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PUMPKINTOWN — The community is gearing up for the 38th annual Pumpkin Festival.
This year’s festival will be held Oct. 8 in and around the Oolenoy Community Building in Pumpkintown. Festival hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
“It’s probably one of the largest one-day festivals in the state,” festival chairman Buddy Cox said.
Cox was chairman of the festival for more than 20 years before giving it up about 10 years ago, he said. This year, he was cajoled into coming back.
“I hid in the woods as long as I could,” he said with a laugh.
The theme of this year’s festival is “A place of beauty, a place of plenty and a place we love to live.”
The festival draws a huge crowd every year.
“We’ll probably have 35,000 people visit the festival,” Cox said.
It’s also one of the largest arts and crafts shows in the state, Cox said. This year’s fest is set to be a shopper’s paradise, with 150 arts and crafts booths.
Each year, the festival kicks off with a community parade. The parade is set to begin at 9 a.m. Participants will line up on Wilma Lane, next to the Pumpkintown Fire Department, then travel down Pumpkintown Highway (Highway 8) to Highway 135, past the Oolenoy Community Building.
Coffee, cold drinks, biscuits and pumpkin pie will be for sale inside the Oolenoy building beginning at 6 a.m.
This year’s festival features a wide variety of entertainment.
“We have six different bluegrass groups lined up this year,” Cox said.
After the parade, Dogwood Hill Bluegrass will take the stage at 9:30 a.m. They’ll be followed by Rowdy Mountain Boys at 10:30 a.m.
At 11:15 a.m., talented young musicians from the area will strut their stuff as the Sweet Potato Pie Kids, the performing group of the Young Appalachians Musicians program, take the stage.
At 11:45 a.m., the Hot Foot Cloggers will take the stage for the first of their two shows. They’ll perform again at 2:15 p.m.
Tugalo Holler will take the stage at 12:15 p.m. They’ll be followed by Last Road at 1:15 p.m.
Following the Hot Foot Cloggers’ second show, Cane Creek will perform at 2:45 p.m.
The annual greased pole climb is scheduled for 3:45 p.m.
Backline will close out the day’s entertainment at 4 p.m.
Visitors can bring chairs or blankets to sit on during the entertainment, Cox said.
There will also be plenty of amusement rides and activities for the kids.
Cox also said those headed to the Pumpkin Festival should bring an appetite. Once again, barbecued chicken plates will be for sale at the festival, beginning at noon.
In addition to the barbecued chicken lunch plates, there will be hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes, sausage dogs from the Knights of Columbus and much, much more.
“You name it, we’ve pretty well got it on the grounds,” Cox said.
Each year, the festival raffles off a Pumpkintown-themed quilt made by local quilters.
The drawing for the 2016 Pumpkin Quilt will be held at 4 p.m. the day of the festival. You do not have to be present to win. Tickets are $1.
If you would like to purchase raffle tickets prior to the festival, Cox said, send your name, address, phone number and the amount of tickets you’d like to purchase, along with a check for that amount, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Pumpkintown Community Club, ATTN: Raffle, P.O. Box 221, Pickens, SC 29671. Your tickets will be mailed to you, and you’ll be notified if you’re the lucky winner.
The festival is sponsored by the Pumpkintown Community Club.
Councilmen-elect to speak at meeting
PICKENS — County councilmen-elect Chris Bowers, Roy Costner and Carl Hudson will be the featured speakers at a joint fall meeting of the Pickens County Taxpayers Association and Conservatives of the Upstate on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m., according to Dan Winchester and Junius Smith of the two groups.
The meeting will be held in Pickens at the Rural Water Office building at 4502 Moorefield Memorial Highway near the Cannon Hospital entrance.
The three will individually speak on their vision and ideas about county government and will answer questions.
Since a majority of council will be new on Jan. 1, 2017, Winchester and Smith said the two groups feel it is important that the people of the county be informed, and that is why they’re participating in this important meeting.
The meeting is open to the public.
Pickens High Athletic Hall of Fame nominations open
PICKENS — The Pickens Athletic Association is now accepting nominations for the 2016 class of the Pickens High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
The 2016 Hall of Fame Game is scheduled for Oct. 14, when the Blue Flame play host to the Wren Golden Hurricanes
Nominations may be sent to Pickens High or dropped off at the Pickens County Courier, The Corner Drug Store or Brock’s Department Store. Nomination forms can also be picked up at these locations. Deadline is Oct. 7.
Legacy of giving
David Prater was born Feb. 2, 1947, in Sparta, Tenn. He attended Lamb Grammar School, which he said had eight grades with only two classrooms and two teachers. He said the students at Lamb School presented a play at the end of every school year, and he was in every one of them. He graduated from White County High School in Tennessee in 1964.
He enlisted in the Navy in 1965 and served until 1969. He was stationed on a ship at Port Chicago, Calif. He took cruises to Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, and Sasebo, Japan, on the USS Virgo AE 30, which was an ammunition ship. He was boatswains mate, and his rank was E4. He helped replenish ammunition from the USS Virgo to other ships while both of the ships were at sea. His overseas port was Olongapo City in the Philippines.
When David was on furlough at his home in Tennessee, he met Sandra Madonna McAlister, who lived in Central and was visiting her sister who lived in Tennessee. David said it was love at first sight. They were married in Concord, Calif., on Jan. 27, 1966. They have been married for 50 years. They have one daughter and one son. They also have three granddaughters, one great-grandson and one great-granddaughter.
Carol Baker/Courier
A Tennessee native, David Prater is proud to call Central home now.
When David first came to Central, he worked at Pratt Read, a plant where piano parts were made. When he left there, he worked at Defore Plant that was in Clemson. He was a shift supervisor there for four years.
In 1974, David, Sandra and their children moved to Nashville, Tenn. He attended Draughans Business College there for two years and earned an associate’s degree in business. He had planned to live in Nashville, but Sandra wanted to move back to Central. They settled down there and never moved out again. David said he is proud to call Central home.
When they first moved back, David and Sandra both worked at Green Tree apartments in Greenville. She was the manager there, and he did maintenance work.
In 1980, David started working at Swirl Incorporated in Easley. He worked there for 13 years as an assistant supervisor in the shipping department. He was later promoted to sales. He has kept in touch with many of the friends he made while working at Swirl. He said he really enjoyed the reunion that was held in the Swirl building in 2007.
After David left Swirl, he started his own business. He said he bought a lawn mower and started doing lawn maintenance and landscaping. His business grew, and within a year he had eight employees and two crews. They did yard work at banks, schools, private homes and apartment complexes.
In 1997, David started having heart problems. He had to have heart surgery in 1998. He retired in 2001. He sold all his lawn equipment to one of the men who had worked for him.
One of David’s greatest pleasures is helping others. He is generous and well-liked by everyone. He used the building where he had stored all his lawn equipment and started Freedom Fellowship Church there. Mike Cothran was the first pastor at the church. When it burned down seven years later, David gave the land for another church to be built.
He said he is glad that his son and granddaughters live in houses behind his house. All the yards are well kept and adorned with beautiful flowers and shrubs. His family enjoys the pool in David’s yard that he had built several years ago.
David was once the youth director at Cannon Memorial Church in Central. He is a member of Freedom Fellowship Church.
Easley resident Carol Baker highlights interesting local residents and helps us get to know more about the fascinating people who call Pickens County home. If you have someone somewhere who you think people should know about, contact us at news@
thepccourier.com.
Daniel stadium to be named in Cooper’s honor
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
CENTRAL — Late Pickens County School Board trustee Dr. Herbert Cooper was best known for spearheading the school district’s massive building program that ultimately resulted in, among other things, four new high schools.
One of those new high schools was at Daniel High, Cooper’s alma mater, where he served as a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and track in the late 1950s. Cooper was also part of the original Daniel High School Athletic Hall of Fame class, inducted in 2013.
In recognition of what Cooper meant on the athletic fields and, even more importantly, through his contributions as a Daniel-area representative on the Pickens County School Board for 24 years, Daniel High officials sought approval by the school board to rename its football stadium “Dr. Herbert P. Cooper Stadium.”
That approval was provided unanimously by the board Friday during a special called meeting at the district office.
Cooper passed away in early August, and trustee Phillip Bowers, who represents the Central, Six Mile and Norris areas on the school board, said he is pleased the board can honor him in this manner.
“It was an honor to serve with him on the board,” Bowers said. “He sacrificed immensely over decades in support of our community and children. His wisdom, calmness and thoughtful demeanor is missed, but the memory of his contributions to education in Pickens County will live for ages at his much-loved alma mater, D.W. Daniel High School.”
Board chair Judy Edwards said funding for the sign will come from the school board’s contingency fund. Edwards added that Cooper’s wife has been contacted “and is very pleased because of Dr. Cooper’s participation as an athlete, and the school is in agreement as well.”
“This is very fitting for Dr. Cooper, and we’re glad to honor him in some way,” Edwards said.
Daniel High School principal Josh Young submitted a letter to school superintendent Danny Merck requesting the stadium naming.
“Dr. Cooper had a tremendous impact on the success and culture of all aspects of Daniel High School,” Young said. “Members of our staff and the community have requested that he be honored in a special way here at his alma mater. His legacy as a student athlete here and as a valuable member of our community and school board made it an obvious decision to name a special place here at DWD after him.”
Young added that a dedication will likely take place during the 2017 football season. The playing surface at the stadium will retain its longtime name, Singleton Field, Young said, adding that legendary Daniel coach Dick Singleton was among those who backed naming the football stadium after Dr. Cooper.
goliver@upstatetoday.com | (864) 973-6687
Follow on Twitter @JournalGO
School board OKs prayer policy change
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
COUNTY — A decision by a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court and consultation with their attorney Bic Halligan led to the Pickens County School Board’s unanimous vote Friday to allow board members to offer prayers according to their faith.
The vote followed a presentation by Halligan, who said the judges’ 2-1 decision Monday, which ruled in favor of the board of commissioners in Rowan County, N.C., allows the school board to not be bound by the non-sectarian prayer used in recent years.
“The majority said an elected board could offer a more specific prayer, such as Christian, without violating the constitution,” Halligan said. “When a panel makes a decision, the whole Fourth Circuit (Court of Appeals) will be asked to hear it even though it’s not obligated to do so. So I would say to you right now is that it is permissible for members of this board to pray under their faith. But that might not be the law in two to three months.”
Board members also accepted Halligan’s recommendations that student recognitions be moved up in the agenda ahead of public input. The board invocation will remain in its current place on the agenda.
“Presentations often involve students and public input can include prayer or other comments from community members that may be uncomfortable or even inappropriate for students,” school district spokesman John Eby said. “This change allows us to do student recognitions before moving on to the more controversial portions of the meeting.”
The other recommended policy amendment is to acknowledge that the Pickens County School Board “is a deliberative body” and can offer a public invocation on a voluntary basis by a member of the board at the 10 regularly scheduled meetings. However, invocations will not be offered at work sessions or other types of special meetings.
Prayers at Pickens County School Board meetings were led by students for a number of years. However, a 2012 letter threatening legal action from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation forced the school board to end that practice. A board policy implemented in 2013 allowed board members to offer prayers prior to each meeting, but those prayers had to be non-sectarian, and the chaplain’s prayer book used for the South Carolina General Assembly served as the guide.
In March 2015, the board deadlocked 3-3 on a motion made by trustee Alex Saitta that would have allowed religious congregations in the county to give sectarian prayers — with the tie vote being basically the same as a “no” vote as far as passage is concerned.
Saitta argued in August that the Supreme Court ruling in Galloway vs. Greece, N.Y., rendered the non-sectarian requirement of the board policy as “unconstitutional” and said the Supreme Court’s opinion stated that government “doesn’t have the right to judge or edit prayers.” But Saitta said that was exactly what the school district’s policy, in effect, was doing.
Board chairperson Judy Edwards said she wanted to first consult with Halligan before any policy change was made. Halligan commended the board for exercising caution in the matter.
“It has been my understanding throughout to have a board prayer to the maximum extent possible under the law, but you didn’t want it to be a legal battleground,” Halligan said. “There are pressure groups well funded on both sides, and these cases can be difficult and long. You’re talking four, five, six years of legal problems and turmoil.
“Every choice you make has some risk to it — there’s always risk except for no prayer or a moment of silence, and you don’t want to do that.”
Saitta said he is pleased with the vote, adding the Greece, N.Y., case in 2014 provided a blanket statement that “government cannot censor prayers, no matter who says it.”
“That is why I brought it up (before the board) in June, and I’m not surprised with what happened this week,” Saitta said. “I asked for legal advice and requested the board strike the non-sectarian requirement three months ago, but was denied. The policy will now be changed, and I credit the board leadership for that.
“I’ve been praying in Jesus’ name given the Supreme Court ruling of 2014 and the state law change in June, so it is nice the policy will be in line now, too.”
Trustee Phillip Bowers said one of his goals upon joining the school board in 2014 was to find a solution to the prayer issue. Bowers feels that has finally been achieved through the board’s action Friday.
“Today’s action fits perfectly with my view that board members are free to offer prayer in accordance with our individual faith and long standing community tradition,” Bowers said. “I am very satisfied with the changes to policies that supports individual board members’ First Amendment right to free speech.
“The Rowan County verdict was a happy day for me, and I’m glad we are able to do this and am happy to support it.”
While the North Carolina ruling is one Halligan said provides board members with additional freedom, he said the board must remain on guard.
“You’ve got to pay attention, because it’s not final,” Halligan said.
Although Halligan was referring to the possibility that the Fourth Circuit court could choose to overturn the three-judge panel’s decision, Saitta said that could take years.
“Even if they agree to look at it, it’s going to take a long time, and the law is on our side,” Saitta said.
Second and final reading of the policy revisions were expected to take place at the school board’s regular monthly meeting Monday night.
goliver@upstatetoday.com | (864) 973-6687
Follow on Twitter @JournalGO
Man Ticketed
SIX MILE — A 20-year-old Six Mile man was ticketed last week in a July bicycle accident that left a woman and her newborn baby dead.
Rose Marie Higgins, 24, was walking with her boyfriend along Mount Olivet Road in Six Mile around 9:45 p.m. on July 22 when a man on a bicycle struck her head-on, police said.
Higgins, who was 28 weeks pregnant, was flown to Greenville Memorial Hospital, where her baby was delivered via cesarean section hours later.
The infant, a daughter named Charissa Faith McSwain, died on July 25. Higgins died July 26.
In a news release, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Creed Hashe said Friday that Marvin William Andrews was charged with operating a bicycle on the roadway without a headlight during the nighttime.
Hashe said the investigation into the accident by the sheriff’s office and South Carolina Highway Patrol confirmed that the collision was accidental and there was no prior history between the two parties.
Evidence at the scene indicated that Higgins was walking on the roadway in the lane facing oncoming traffic and Andrews was riding a bicycle in the same lane at an unknown speed, Hashe said.
“There was little to no illumination in the immediate area of the collision, and neither party could see the other in the extreme darkness until the moment of impact,” Hashe said.
Hashe said there is no evidence that alcohol or drugs played a factor.
If convicted by a Pickens County magistrate, Andrews would face a fine of up to $232.50 to be determined by the court.
Statewide business license process to be streamlined?
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Business leaders are hopeful regulations streamlining the business licensing process through the state will be approved soon.
The topic was discussed at a recent small business roundtable hosted by the Oconee Pickens Chamber Coalition.
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Business owners expressed frustration with the process, especially those who do business in multiple Upstate cities, who have to get business licenses in each city or town that they do business in.
Rates that vary from city to city are also frustrating, business owners agreed.
Kim Smagala, executive director of the Greater Pickens Chamber of Commerce and a coalition member, said the problem is compounded by the fact that many municipalities do not accept online payments for licenses, forcing business owners to travel from one to the other to pay.
Another problem is that different locations have different expiration and renewal dates for their business licenses, complicating bookkeeping for business owners.
Roy Stoddard, the mayor of Six Mile and a member of the coalition, said the business licensing issue has been in the legislature for the past two years now.
“I think it’s finally coming to a head,” Stoddard said.
The legislation would standardize the process.
“Every municipality would have to have the same effective date for business licensing,” Stoddard said. “They must all have the same rate tables that apply across the board throughout the state.”
The change to the process would allow business licenses to be applied and paid for at one location, eliminating the need to deal with multiple local governments. Funds would then be transferred to the proper location.
“It will be the same throughout the state, so you don’t have to pick and choose,” Stoddard said. “You can go to one outfit and take care of it throughout the year. All of this is going to be boiled down, so there’s one way to get a business licenses throughout the state.”
Doug Tate said that will be a big improvement, especially for those who do contract work or who, like himself, host multiple businesses in one location.
“Right now, in the city of Pickens, if I hire a contractor to work in my building, he has to have a business license from the city of Pickens to work inside my building,” Tate said. “So I have a business license, he has a business license, everybody that’s in my building has a business license.”
“If licensing was streamlined, you’d only have to go to one place,” Smagala said. “It makes it harder when you’re a business owner and trying to do things, this getting tacked on, one after another.”
Stoddard said the issue “will be taken up in 2017 and passed.”
Bill Caruthers with the Oconee Pickens Chamber Coalition said legislation almost passed in the most recent session.
“How this thing fell off the table at the end of the last session, I don’t know,” he said.
“I think everyone is on board now,” Stoddard said.
David Lane, president and CEO of the Greater Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce, said one issue that has to be worked out is which agency — the Department of Revenue or the Municipal Association — will handle the business license funds.
Stoddard said he believes the Department of Revenue does not need to be handling the business license funding.
“We don’t want any more bureaucracies,” he said.
A third party could collect and distribute the funds, Lane said.
One business owner worried that this would make business license fees go up, to pay for additional overhead at agencies.
Lane said he didn’t think that would happen, that there would be other savings that would prevent that.
It may seem like a small issue, but red-tape situations like this one hurt growth throughout the state, Lane said. It’s an issue that impacts businesses both large and small, he said.
“It hurts business a lot,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of progress made, just getting the parties talking,” Lane said. “We’re on it.”
He said he appreciated hearing feedback from business leaders, as it allows chamber leaders to continue to put pressure on legislators on this and other issues.
“It’s the smaller communities that are really saying, ‘Come on, let’s get something done,’” Lane said.
Smagala said she would look into how Pickens’ business license rates compare to other municipalities.
“That’s something to look into, to see how we stack up, what makes Pickens more competitive compared to other cities,” she said. “That’s a good marketing tool later on, for growing.”
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