COUNTY — The Pickens County Planning Commission has voted to suspend the land-use permit for a landfill by land owners MRR Pickens LLC as a result of the company’s plan to use the landfill for the disposal of coal ash.

The North Carolina-based company 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.

During a planning commission meeting Monday, the commission agreed to suspend the original permit and draft a letter to send to the company.

The letter, signed by all members of the commission, said Ronald Gilbertson of MCC Pickens LLC in a 2007 appearance before the commission characterized the type of waste for the project as lumber, vinyl siding, concrete and brick, grass clippings, leaves, limbs and storm debris.

He also indicated that the lifespan of the project would be for 20-25 years” No mention was made of the disposal of coal combustion residuals — also known as CCR or coal ash — or the need for a landfill liner or plans to fill up the landfill quickly.

“Based in part on these representations by your company, the Planning Commission granted your land use request,” the letter to MCC Pickens LLC read.

“In your 2015 appearance before the Commission, Mr. Dan Moore of your company indicated that there were ‘no changes’ from the 2007 request, and estimated that the proposed landfill would serve the citizens of the county for ‘50 years or more,’” the letter read. “No mention was made of the disposal of CCR. When you were specifically asked by a Commissioner about the need for a liner, Mr. Moore stated that no liner would be required. Based on these representations by your company, the Planning Commission granted your renewed use request.”

According to the letter, planning commission members learned from media reports that the company planned to dispose of coal ash in the landfill and had filed an application for a variance with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control that included plans for a significantly shorter life span of the facility — five years — and the installation of a liner to comply with Class III requirements. This came “despite the fact that you repeatedly characterized this landfill as a Class II facility in all of your communications with the Commission,” the letter to MCC Pickens LLC read.

“These are significant deviations from the information you provided to us in 2007 and 2015,” the letter read. “We consider these changes to be material alterations to the land use approved by the Commission, and constitute violations of your land use permit. Accordingly, pursuant to the authority granted under the Unified Development Standards Ordinance … and elsewhere, the Commission hereby suspends your land use permit for this project. You are directed to cease and desist any and all activities at the proposed site until such time as you have presented sufficient information to the Commission of your intention to strictly comply with our 2007 and 2015 land use approval and receive a renewal of your permit from the Commission.”

The commission also pointed out that any violation of a land-use approval is a misdemeanor with a punishment of a fine and/or jail time for each act or omission thereof. Each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate offense.

The letter, which legally halts all work on the landfill, was sent on Monday with copies also sent to Pickens County Council, Sen. Larry Martin and Rep. Davey Hiott.

EASLEY — A longtime Pickens County Sheriff’s Office deputy who had been on leave since August lost his job last week after being arrested following a domestic dispute at his home.

According to warrants, Easley police arrested Henry Campbell, 53, of 304 S. D St., Apt. 5, last Tuesday night and charged him with first-degree domestic violence and discharging a firearm in the city.

Sheriff’s office chief deputy Creed Hashe said Campbell, who had been employed with the sheriff’s office since 1998, had been on extended personal leave since August. The morning after his arrest, Campbell’s employment as a lieutenant with the sheriff’s office was terminated, Hashe said.

Warrants claim Campbell fired a 9 mm handgun in the parking lot outside his home and made verbal statements about ending his life during the dispute. A gun and shell casing were recovered at the scene, according to a warrant.

In addition, warrants also claim four children were present during the dispute.

Hashe said the gun involved in the incident was not a sheriff’s office weapon, but a personally owned handgun.

Hashe said Campbell was detained in the Easley Police Department Jail and never taken to the Pickens County Detention Center.

Campbell was released on bond on Thursday, according to officials.

By Robbie Tinsley
Courtesy The Journal

rtinsley@upstatetoday.com

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Clemson’s 17-game winning streak, its 51 straight wins when leading in the fourth quarter and its national championship hopes were dashed with a three-play swing.

And mistakes that the top-ranked Tigers were able to overcome during their 14-0 start to the season proved too much against No. 2 Alabama, as the Tide won their fourth title in seven years with a 45-40 victory on Monday night.

A brilliant, bone-chillingly gutsy decision by Alabama head coach Nick Saban on an onside kick in a tie game with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter was followed by 51-yard touchdown throw from Jake Coker to O.J. Howard on a busted coverage to give Alabama a 31-24 lead. Then after Clemson kicked a field goal to cut the Tide’s advantage to four points, Kenyan Drake returned the ensuing kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown for the back-breaking blow at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said it was night where the nation “saw why we’ve been so successful.”

Rex Brown/Courtesy The Journal
Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson walks off the field following the Tigers’ 45-40 loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship game in Glendale, Ariz., on Monday night.

“But championship football is a game of a few plays, and that’s really what this one came down to — just a few plays,” he said. “Give them credit for that.”

Alabama’s Heisman Trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry finished with 158 yards and three touchdowns on 36 carries, but it was Howard — the game’s Most Valuable Player — who did the most damage to Clemson. Not only did he catch a pair of 50-plus-yard touchdown passes, but he also had a 63-yard catch-and-run to help the Tide seal the victory late in the fourth quarter.

He finished with 208 yards on just five catches — a per-reception average of 41.6 yards.

“We just had three busts,” Swinney said of Howard’s three big receptions. “We had three critical errors where we just didn’t do our job.”

In all, Alabama had four plays of 50 or more yards — Howard’s three catches and a 50-yard touchdown run by Henry in the first quarter — which accounted for 217 of its 473 yards of total offense.

It was the onside kick that Swinney deemed the most important play of the game. Clemson had come back from an early second-half deficit to lead 24-21 and after forcing Alabama to settle for a game-tying field goal with 10:34 to go, he felt the momentum was still the Tigers’.

But as Alabama’s Adam Griffith ran to kick the ball off, he dinked it over toward the right sideline. There was a huge gap in the Clemson kickoff unit, and the first player to run under the ball was the Tide’s Marlon Humphrey.

Saban had seen when the Tide lined up in a narrow kickoff formation that Clemson also stayed narrow.

“I thought we had it in the game any time we wanted to do it,” he said. “I made the decision to do it because the score was 21-21 and we were tired on defense and weren’t doing a great job of getting them stopped.

“I felt like if we didn’t do something or take a chance to change the momentum of the game that we wouldn’t have a chance to win.”

“It was a huge play,” Swinney said. “But then we followed it up with a bust for a touchdown. So it was a combination of mistakes. It was one thing to give up that play, but that doesn’t mean you don’t go out and do your job on another play.”

Howard — who Coker found for a wide open 53-yard touchdown down the sideline for the first score of the second half — was this time given the middle of the field to roam for an easy 51-yard score.

Ahead 31-24 just 50 seconds after trailing 24-21, Alabama never trailed again.

Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson threw four touchdowns and accounted for 478 yards — 405 passing and 73 rushing, more than Alabama’s team yardage — in a losing effort. Already over 1,000 rushing yards coming in, he went over 4,000 passing yards to become the first 4,000-1,000 quarterback in NCAA history.

The stats and milestone weren’t much comfort for Watson after the game.

“At the end of the day, I wanted the W,” he said. “All the stats don’t really matter to me. I just wanted to get the win and do something that we haven’t done in 34 years. But at the end of the day, I love my teammates, love my brothers, and you’ll see us in Tampa next year.

Tampa, for those curious, is where the College Football Playoff national championship game will be held for the 2016 season.

PICKENS — The man accused in the shooting deaths of a legendary Pickens High School football coach and his neighbor died early Wednesday morning, according to officials.

Albert Leon Bowen, 64, was charged with two counts of murder in the Sept. 14 deaths of former Blue Flame coach Bill Isaacs and his neighbor, Dickie Stewart.

Bowen, who was arrested shortly after Isaacs and Stewart were found dead of gunshot wounds along the roadside of North Homestead Drive in Pickens, had been in custody since the day of the killings, according to Pickens County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy Creed Hashe.

Bowen was turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service on Oct. 22 to be flown out of state for court-ordered psychological evaluations, Hashe said, and suffered a health issue while being back to South Carolina that forced him to be admitted to an out-of-state hospital.

Hashe said Bowen died in the hospital of health complications at around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

By Lisa Garrett
Tri-County Technical College

news@thepccourier.com

UPSTATE — Three faculty/staff members have been honored as Tri-County Technical College’s Educators of the Year and will be recognized at the South Carolina Technical Education Association (SCTEA) meeting in February.

Cara Hamilton, vice president for business affairs, is the College’s outstanding administrator; Ashley Brady, Veterinary Technology department head, is the outstanding instructor; and, Melinda Zeigler, administrative assistant for the Business and Public Services Division, is the outstanding staff nominee.

SCTEA is a professional association of technical education personnel and others interested in post-secondary technical education.

Hamilton joined Tri-County in May 2013, as director of fiscal affairs, and in October of 2015 she accepted her current leadership role.

The vice president for business affairs provides leadership to fiscal affairs, campus safety, information technology, physical plant, financial aid and auxiliary services.

In addition to providing leadership to the fiscal affairs office, she has served on numerous project teams, including service excellence, talent management, federal loan default management, Oconee County Workforce Development Center project and the information technology advisory committee.

Under her leadership, the business affairs office was awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (CAFR) in June. For the 15th consecutive year, the Division received the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA).

To be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, a government unit must publish an easily readable and efficiently organized CAFR whose contents conform to program standards. Such CAFR must satisfy both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable legal requirements.

Prior to joining Tri-County, Hamilton was employed as general manager and vice president of North American Distribution with Guardian Building Products in Greer. Her previous work experience includes controller, auditor and accountancy positions for Regent Hospital Products in Greenville, American Trim Products in Travelers Rest, Lee Apparel Company in Merriam, KS, and Deloitte in Kansas City, MO.

She holds a B.S. in accounting from Kansas State University, an M.B.A. from Clemson University and a Certified Public Accounting license.

She and her husband, Jim, reside in Anderson. They have two daughters. They are members of Sandy Springs United Methodist Church.

A 2000 alumna of the College’s Veterinary Technology program, Brady worked in veterinary practices as a Licensed Veterinary Technician (L.V.T.) before she joined the teaching staff at the College in 2007 as director of the evening program. Brady assumed the department head role following the retirement of Dr. Peggy Champion in 2014.

Brady was named Licensed Veterinary Technician of the Year last October at the South Carolina Association of Veterinarians (SCAV) Southeast Veterinary Conference.

In addition to teaching full time and serving as department head, Brady is assisting the College’s Foundation in its fundraising efforts for a $1.5 million veterinary technology expanded housing and learning facility currently under construction. She was involved in the initial plans for the facility and continues to provide input as construction progresses

Under her supervision, Tri County’s Veterinary Technology program has a highly successful adoption program. She also initiated a service learning program with Big Oaks Farm where the students get a real-world perspective while learning. She organizes the students to work at the J.D. Massey Horse Show each year which gives students $2,000 in scholarship money annually.

Brady attended Lander University for one year before entering Tri-County’s Veterinary Technology program (she graduated in 2000) and transferred to Murray State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in veterinary technology/animal health technician with a minor in equine science in 2002. She worked as the head technician in the large animal department and surgical suite at the University of Tennessee for a year before moving back to S.C. She worked at Creek Run Veterinary Clinic in Pendleton for five years and worked with local veterinarians, Drs. Poag Reid, Amy Lawson and Daniel Knox.

Brady is a board member for the S.C. Upstate Equine Council and is a member of the American Association of Equine Veterinary Technicians; the National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA); the Association of Veterinary Technician Educators (AVTE); the South Carolina Association of Veterinary Technicians (SCAVT) and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP).

She and her husband, Eric, live in Honea Path and have one son, John Owen. They are members of Donald’s Baptist a Church and are involved with the children’s program.

Zeigler joined the College in 1991 after graduating from the Secretarial Science program (now Administrative Office Technology). She worked as the secretary for the Faculty/Staff Development Office from 1991 – 1995. Since that time, she has served as the division secretary for the Business and Public Services Division.

As a student, she received the prestigious Don C. Garrison Scholarship Award. She chaired the Staff Advisory Committee from 1999-2000 and has served on various committees throughout the College.

She is an active member of the First Baptist Church of Norris where she serves as the librarian.

She and her husband, Raymond, live in Six Mile. They have four children, Jena Hughes, Joni Addis, Angela Zeigler and Christopher Zeigler. They have four grandchildren: twin granddaughters, Katie and Claire Hughes; Riley and Lydia Addis.