Daily Archives: 02/16/2016
Thoughts on proposed school closings
I don’t know whose cockamamie idea it was to close the three so-called “mountain schools,” but whoever it was, they literally don’t know what they are doing. I mean that literally, because obviously they are only thinking in terms of a quick and easy solution to their dilemma of either raising the millage rate or finding some other way of paying the school district’s bills.
What they have almost certainly not stopped to realize is that closing a school like Holly Springs Elementary will be the end of a community that has persisted for more than a hundred years. Folks in this remote area of the county are connected with their friends and neighbors in three different ways: through family connections, through the church where they worship and finally through the school where their children attend for the first six formative years of their educational career.
Of those three ways that people in this community are connected, it is the school that forms the very core of the communal relationship. People sometimes go to church outside the community, family is sometimes scattered all over the country, but the school, Holly Springs Elementary School, since its humble beginning in a log structure where our fire department now stands, has always been the thing that brought our whole community together in ways that no other institution can. Personal relationships that begin either as a parent or a student at Holly Springs Elementary often last a lifetime, and taken together those relationships form the core connection between people that defines our community.
Thank goodness the school district cannot do anything to destroy family relations, thank goodness they cannot determine where people worship, but the tragedy here is that they can with something as slight as a lifted hand at the appointed time destroy something that has bound successive generations of folks in this tight-knit community for more than a century. And that, my friends, is more than just a shame — it is bona fide, damnable tragedy of historic proportions. If they close this school, the community that many of us have known for pretty much all our lives will be no more. The ties that bind will have been forever broken.
Let me see if I can put what I am saying in perspective. My 90-year-old father died about this time last year. He attended Holly Springs Elementary when he was 6 years old in 1930, as did his father before him, and he was only one of five generations of our extended family who attended Holly Springs from the time the school was first established in the 1800s to this very day. My wife, Jane, retired a few years ago after teaching kindergarten at Holly Springs for 31 years. By the time she was approaching retirement, she was teaching the children of the children she had taught in kindergarten in the 1980s. That, my friend, is a rare thing — a thing that has all but disappeared from our disconnected, highly mobile modern society.
To do away with that in one fell swoop without due consideration of the profound and lasting impact on the children and families affected and without exhausting all the alternatives is more than a dereliction of duty — it would be a human tragedy at several different levels. Step back, slow down, take a deep breath and consider the ramifications of what you are about to do. There are other options.
The Pickens County School District Board of Trustees has a short window of opportunity to redeem itself. I say “redeem itself” because in the recent past the board has embarrassed itself and brought shame to the good people of Pickens County schools by putting the school district’s accreditation at risk for reasons that are too embarrassing to recount, and now they have shirked their sworn duty to responsibly manage the finances of the district by trying to solve their economic woes by way of the half-baked, ill-advised idea of closing the three mountain schools.
To be sure, no one should paint the school board with a broad brush. Two trustees are fore-square against the closings, and two trustees have wisely reserved judgment on the issue of closing the mountain schools as a short-term solution to their long-range economic deficit. Hopefully, those trustees will step forward and do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.
Based on what I have been able to glean from district documents, newspaper accounts and several informed sources, here’s what is really going on. Despite the fact that they don’t have sufficient projected revenues for maintenance of their existing facilities, the board has
embarked on an ambitious program of facility additions, realignment and renovations, with no realistic plan for how to pay for it. They paid a consultant $50,000 for a facilities plan, which made three recommendations, none of which involved closing the mountain schools.
The fact that two of the consultant’s three options involved closing Hagood Elementary sent shockwaves through the Hagood school community, which in turn mounted an effective campaign and put an abrupt end to that. Then a totally different idea emerged, and they turned their sights on the three mountain schools. Apparently they assumed or hoped that those folks would not be as passionate and organized as those at Hagood. But just in case they were wrong, they gave advocates of keeping the schools open only seven days to react. So they dropped that bomb on a Monday, with the admonition that the final, possibly fatal, vote would be held the following Monday. That ought to do it.
Well, it didn’t exactly turn out that way. The parents, students and community leaders of the three schools turned out in truly impressive numbers at the hastily organized school meetings to plead their case. Board members and district officials heard heart-rending accounts of how devastating the loss of their longstanding community schools would be for the children and the communities themselves. They saw school children shedding tears at the meetings and on TV. They listened to hundreds of phone calls from sometimes angry and sometimes somber parents with touching stories of how wonderful their school’s teachers, faculty and staff had made all the difference in their children’s lives. They pleaded with the board to look at other options. The board’s concession for all this was to postpone the vote one week.
In my humble opinion, the board needs to do three things: First, even though some current board members were not involved, the board needs to humbly and openly apologize to the people of Pickens County for the board’s prior shenanigans, which placed the school district’s accreditation at risk. Second, they need to abandon the plan to close schools and fess up to the residents of Pickens County that closing the three mountain schools is only one step in making similar facility changes all across the county. Look out Clemson, Six Mile, Central, Liberty and Easley. You are next. And finally, they need to roll up their sleeves and find a way to pay their bills. Call in whatever outside help you need to help organize priorities and get real about what you can and cannot do with the resources you have. But for right now, the only cost savings by facility closing I am interested in is how much the district would save by closing the Curtis A. Sidden District Administration office building and letting the board conduct its affairs in a portable out back in the parking lot.
Pickens native Dennis Chastain is an award-winning outdoors writer and naturalist.
Courier Letters to the Editor 2-17-16
A plea from Holly Springs
Dear Editor,
I’m a retired teacher/librarian who, after five years of retirement, chose to go back to being librarian at Holly Springs Elementary in Pickens County. I thought about telling you how Holly Springs has been my family for more than 36 years. How, after moving from Raleigh in 1979 and walking through the front door of the school, I knew I was home and would never leave. I could tell you how it is to live in the same community, go to birthday parties, attend church, go to weddings, baby showers, and, sadly, even funerals of our students. Or, I could tell you of 25 years of teaching clogging at recess and after school to these children, of taking clogging trips with their families, and what good friends we still are. And, I could tell you of how proudly I’ve stood with our Holly Springs graduates at almost every Pickens High graduation since 1980. Last, I could say how the staff and faculty at Holly Springs have been the closest of friends.
Instead, I’m pleading to our Pickens County School Board members to find an alternate solution to closing our three mountain schools and reconfiguring seven schools in Pickens County. I truly believe that the wonderful people of Pickens County will be willing to pay $40-$60 per $100,000 home if it will keep our schools open. I also believe that there are other solutions, such as the penny sales tax, or even moving some district personnel into these schools which aren’t totally full.
Even though these seven schools make up less than half of Pickens County schools and many of our taxpayers don’t have school-aged children, the quality of education affects us all. Why, even many of our esteemed seniors at Hagood Community Center (aka Pickens Senior Center) signed a petition for not closing the schools, knowing how important quality schools are to our communities.
During these times, we have been witness to the struggles in and even the breakdown of many of our families. In my 32 years of teaching at Holly Springs, I’ve seen over and over our teachers and staff giving love and attention to these children who are hurting or needing uplifting and encouragement. Especially during these early years of a child’s schooling, it’s essential to educate them in an environment where they can feel loved, secure and successful. If these caregivers, educators and role models are taken away from our children, a huge void is left in their lives.
Researchers say that the emotional bond between student and teacher is of utmost importance in not only the students’ academic careers, but their lives in general. I hope that our school board will allow us at Holly Springs and these other schools to continue making a difference in these children’s lives.
I realize that it’s our school board’s duty and responsibility to make this decision. But closing schools, and therefore uprooting many children and destroying these small communities centered around their schools, should be the last option!
Finally, as a friend of mine who’s in city administration said, “I just hope the (school) board remembers who their customers are.”
Betty McDaniel
Holly Springs community
member and educator
Corrections necessary
Dear Editor,
What weird voices are speaking to the Pickens County School Board? How can these people be telling citizens that the taxpayers will save a bunch of money by closing Holly Springs, Ambler and A.R. Lewis, our three (happy!) hill-country elementary schools, and busing all these kids to town in Pickens or to Dacusville? Without doubt, it will take “modification” of the destination schools — or building new ones — along with transportation costs — to accommodate several hundred more students. We all should know by now how “economical” that will be.
Plus, we are still paying for modification of these would-be abandoned school buildings while our school district geniuses decide what to do with them once they are empty. Let the people remember — though the board does not seem to — that millions in bonds spent on bringing these three “expendable” schools up to pretty nice standards will still have to be repaid — just as bonds on now-empty Gettys Middle are being repaid, tax dollars to make its web-spiders cozy. How gullible do they think we are?
Far worse than the money angle, it’s really strange to hear school board member Phillip Bowers pushing for this move, when one of his championed causes, that he describes for voters, is preserving “community” for our children. What a great way to do that — yank away our schools, the centers of active community life for several generations, and dump our kids into some central pot — as far from home as they can be moved daily, unless the board decides to bus them to Columbia.
My daddy ended his Pickens County schooling in about 1902, when he finished seventh grade at Old Palestine, over near Keowee River. After seventh grade, children had to move to town to go to high school through 11th grade graduation, or call it quits .But few family farms could give up their child workers. There were no school buses, so high school students had to live somewhere near town or forget school. This may seem dreadful now — but was this worse for teens than it will be when 5- and 6-year-old children are spending nearly as much time on the bus as they will be in the classroom? Or with their parents? These are little kids, in many cases, who we are uprooting from the caring communities they are used to and deserve.
It looks like somebody is starving for control — generally a creepy sign. Something is terribly, terribly wrong with this picture. It’s time we all paid close attention to who and what is running our children’s future — and make corrections.
Dot Jackson
Pickens
Saitta weighs in on closing proposal
Dear Editor,
Revenue to the school district is growing at the highest rate in 10 years. But for some reason, the district cannot balance its books.
Revenue is growing like this. However, spending is not growing at the same rate like this, but way up here like that. The past 18 months, there has been an acceleration in spending that even the growth in new revenue isn’t keeping pace with. The solution by some is to close some schools to pay for it all. Instead, we need to restore some basic operating principles the board had previously followed.
One, the district does not have to cut its budget like it did in 2010 or 2011. Nor am I suggesting the district not grow its budget. However, it must slow the growth of its spending so it comes back in line with rising revenue. For instance, revenue in its general fund account is growing an impressive $4.6 million. Yet spending is growing by $5.1 million. Stop the overspending. Live within the growing revenue stream; not beyond it.
Two, refocus spending on things that impact direct student instruction. Smaller schools and class sizes do that. Did the district administration need to tear out all the landscaping at the district office, cut down the trees, put in new landscaping, plant trees, plus buy a $20,000 LED sign that flashes “Welcome to the SDPC”? No.
Three, the district spent $375 million on building seven new schools and renovating 20 others — a generation worth of construction. Rightfully so, the focus then shifted to maintaining those buildings.
This year, the board and administration got the bug to start building again, and just spent $50,000 in architectural fees for the Hagood renovation plan. The administration must resist its urge to do more construction (e.g., the district doesn’t need to construct a $1.2 million teacher training center when one of the new high school cafeterias or auditorium would do). Instead, we should stay focused on maintaining our existing facilities.
Four, any windfall in revenue should be devoted to maintaining buildings. For instance, working with the county treasurer and auditor, we discovered in late 2011 the city of Clemson was overcollecting on the TIF to the tune of $10 million. Starting on a path from the county government to State Senate legal counsel to the city of Clemson and then with all that evidence in hand, finally to superintendent Henry Hunt and the district’s attorney, and we uncovered the city was not following the TIF law.
The board and county council then partnered to sue the Clemson City Council. We won the case. The Easley and Liberty city councils were over-collecting, too, and both were settled. The settlement was that the district received back payments of $1.8 million. And in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the district collects $550,000 a year. In 2018, the TIF payment jumps to about $1.1 million a year.
That was an unexpected financial windfall, and guided by that last principle, it should be devoted to building maintenance.
Alex Saitta
School board trustee
Pickens
Cover the needs, not the wants
Dear Editor,
Our school board has three small community elementary schools on its radar for closure. While I never thought I’d be a proponent for a tax increase, we cannot allow our small schools to be closed!
The board proposed a 3.8-mill tax increase, which would only be about $22 a year for the average taxpayer — less than what a family would spend on a dinner out (and I’m talking about fast food, not fine dining). This is negligible for keeping in the community values and importance of keeping these schools open!
While many people don’t like the idea of higher taxes, if these schools are closed, property values will go down, and the resale value of your home will suffer much more than a mere $22 a year.
Pickens does not have the large business to drive people to live here, but it does have A-plus elementary schools like Ambler. I’ve heard of many people who moved to this area so their children could go to this school, and we are one of those families.
We need to let our school board members know that closing our communities schools is not an option and to use their business backgrounds to redo the budget to cover the “needs,” not the “wants” of the district’s schools.
Laura Demler
Pickens
Touting AR Lewis’ successes
Dear Editor,
My children are third-generation students at A.R. Lewis Elementary School. This school has been labeled by some members of our school board as being “inefficient.” However, it has efficiently served its community since 1959. It has not only been very effective in teaching our children reading, writing and arithmetic, but friendship, manners, love for others and life in general. These students go to middle school well-prepared to face life. They have been taught love and respect; therefore, they know how to show love and respect to others.
Also, I was told that our school is a “want and not a need.” However, I have looked at their proposed five-year budget and it is filled with “wants.” How could the following be needs? Included in the new budget are a rubber running track, AstroTurf for athletic fields, restrooms at athletic facilities, which already have restrooms, new additions onto a brand new high school, a $1.2 million teacher training facility (there are adequate facilities for this already), fancy LED signs,and exuberant amounts of money for feasibility studies for things that never happen. Are these things worth sacrificing our schools for?
Our school originally had one hallway, with a cafeteria at one end. As the population of the school grew, portables were brought in to accommodate the expanded enrollment at the school. In 1991 and 2009, our tax dollars paid for additions to the school. They were very nice additions that the community could be proud of.
This space was added with future growth in mind, so that they would not have to bring in portables again. Now, they are saying that we need to close the school because we have too much space for the amount of children there. Our tax dollars went towards financing these additions, and now they want to put them to waste by closing the school? I am sure that Ambler and Holly Springs went through a similar progression. If they close all three schools, that will be triple the waste.
This not only affects the three country schools, it affects every elementary school that feeds into Pickens High School. Pickens Elementary and Hagood Elementary will lose their current identity and become overcrowded, therefore creating the need for increased maintenance budget and costing the school district more money in the big picture.
Speaking of ignoring the big picture, the school board is using outdated census data to project that the number of school children in our communities will decrease in the next few years. This is a very short-sighted projection. Greenville-Spartanburg is one of the highest-incorporated and fastest-growing areas in the country. As people get jobs and move into the area, the greater Greenville area has become overcrowded. Many people have now started moving into the outlying areas, which explains the growth in the southern part of our county (especially Easley). When those areas become saturated, it only makes sense that people would start moving into the Pickens area. If we only have two very overcrowded elementary schools, where are those children going to go? At that point, we are going to need all five of those schools.
It is my sincere hope that the school board will listen to reason and not make the mistake of closing these schools. It affects all of us, but it will devastate the ages-old bond that exists in these three mountain communities. Please contact your school board members and politicians, and tell them not to go through with this plan.
Chad Keith
Pickens
Not honoring Lincoln
Dear Editor,
Many will be honoring Abraham Lincoln in February, but I won’t be. I refuse to celebrate a tyrant dictator who was the father of the loss of states’ rights.
It has become clear to me after reading the book written by Thomas J. DiLorenzo titled “The Real Lincoln.” “Honest Abe” wasn’t so honest. The history I was taught in the N.C. public school system was anything but the whole truth. The North succeeded in indoctrinating the Southern public school children with the North’s revisionist history to my generation, and it continues today.
If anyone will take the time to study the real history of Lincoln, one would find him to be a despicable, tyrant dictator, much like Obama is today. No wonder Obama chose to use Lincoln’s Bible to be sworn into office.
Lincoln is guilty of war crimes for his direct violation of the Geneva Convention by having non-combatants murdered. He ordered the homes of destitute women and children, as well as the elderly, to be burned to the ground, as well as confiscating all their food and livestock.
Lincoln’s motive for freeing the slaves was motivated by power and money. He continued to allow slavery in the North, where it served his purpose. Lincoln’s army captured freed slaves and forced them to do his dirty deeds.
The truth is that Lincoln was vehemently opposed to racial equality. It is well documented in his statements he never considered black Americans or Native Americans as his equal, and considered them inferior humans.
Every Sioux Indian in Minnesota was either murdered or run out of the state after Lincoln refused to pay the Sioux back the more than $1 million he owed them for the purchase of the Sioux land. How honest was that?
Furthermore, Lincoln used Fort Lafayette to throw people in prison who didn’t agree with his ideology and called them traitors. These prisoners included editors of newspapers and even preachers for their sermons opposing his war.
Lincoln completely ignored the 10th Amendment and used brute force to choke the South for their rebellion against federal tyranny.
Land in the South was condemned or confiscated by Lincoln. Railroads were taken over, private homes were seized, the banks were shut down and church services were shut down. Public assemblies were not allowed, and any person refusing to take an oath of allegiance was deported or put in prison, and in some cases executed.
Lincoln was a dictator, thug and murderer. He ushered in the big federal government we see today.
I refuse to celebrate a murderer who expanded the federal government’s strong-arm control over states’ rights.
Johnnelle Raines
Pickens
Courier Obituaries 2-17-16
Matthew Allen Wyrick
Easley — Mr. Matthew Allen Wyrick, 21, passed away Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, at his home.
Born in Richland County, a son of Johnny Joe Wyrick and Carolyn Oates Wyrick, Mr. Wyrick was a 2012 graduate of Easley High School. Matthew was employed with the Spartanburg County Department of Corrections and was pursuing a degree in law enforcement. He was a member of Easley First Baptist Church.
Surviving, in addition to his parents, are a sister, Hollis Wyrick of Easley; a brother, Daniel Wyrick of Easley; and his grandparents, Frank Oates Jr. of Hartsville, Darrell Wyrick of Bishopville and Janet Watson of Lexington.
Funeral services were held Feb. 11 at Easley First Baptist Church, with Rev. Dr. John Adams and Rev. Christie Gravely officiating. Burial was private.
Memorials may be made in memory of Matthew to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Association, P.O. Box 210709, Columbia, SC 29221-0709, or by visiting scleoa.org.
Condolences may be expressed online at wwww.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or in person at Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown, which is assisting the family.
Sarah Hitt
Central — Sarah Reagan Averal Hitt, 11, daughter of Robert and Donna Waddell Hitt of 107 James Circle, went to be with her Lord Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
Sarah was the most wonderful daughter in the world. Everybody who met her remembers her smile. It was contagious and made you smile. She loved boys, she was such a flirt. Sarah loved her Disney shows, especially Austin and Ally. She was also the reigning Miss Treatment 2014 and the reigning Miss No Hair Pulling 2015. She loved french fries from McDonalds. Her favorite thing to do was get her nails painted and get tattoos with her cousins. She loved to be sung to and looked at adoringly.
Surviving in addition to her parents are her brother, Daniel (Nichole) Waddell of Clemson; sisters, Hannah Waddell (Matt) Barrett and Nichole (Kyle Hooper) Downs, all of Six Mile; grandparents, Laura Waddell of Central and Alberto and Esther Delgado of Fennville, Mich.; nieces and nephews, Landen Barrett, Addy Waddell and Jace Waddell; aunts and uncles, Toni and Jason Huff of Liberty, Tammy Waddell of Liberty, Annitra Hitt of Vincennes, Ind., Adam and Victoria Sorenson of Holland, Mich., Shawna and Jim Gosnell of Vincennes, Ind., Lori and Joey Brooks and Wayne and Lisa Reeves, all of Fort Payne, Ala., Shannon Thompson of Vincennes, Ind., Mike and April Shouse of Lawrenceville, Ill., Charles Hansen of Indianapolis, and Jordan and Lance Bryant of Charleston; cousins, Araya Birch, Olivia Davis, Van Davis, Collin Davis, Grace Waddell, Chloe Huff, Carter Davis, Casey Pettigrew, Luca Bryant, Laren Hitt, Tristen Sorenson and Gavin Sorenson.
Sarah was predeceased by grandparents, Clinton McCall and Ralph and Linda Waddell; great-grandparents, James and Martha Hitt; aunt, Michelle Bryant; and uncle, Ralph Waddell.
Memorial services were held Feb. 11 in the chapel of Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central. Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or at the funeral home.
Mary Buie
Easley — Mary Frances Chastain Buie, 89, passed from this life on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016 at Rainey Hospice House in Anderson.
Mrs. Buie was born in Six Mile, a daughter of the late Tillman and Lucy Merck Chastain. She was retired from the Glenwood Plant of Mayfair Mills in Easley and she was a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. Mrs. Buie served her country in the United States Marines.
Survivors include daughters, Linda Yeary (Jimmy) of Liberty and Sandra Hawkins (Thomas) of Easley, grandchildren, Tara Lockaby of Liberty, Jennifer Tollison (Jason) of Bluffton, Megan Provost (Peter) of Charleston, and Heather Hawkins of Easley, a great-grandchild, Morgan Lockaby, and another great-grandchild to be born on Feb. 20, Rosemary Provost. Mrs. Buie is also survived by five sisters and one brother.
In addition to her parents, Mrs. Buie was predeceased by a sister and three brothers.
Services were held Feb. 13 in the Dillard Funeral Home Chapel in Pickens, with burial following at Hillcrest Memorial Park and Gardens.
Memorials may be made to Blue Ridge View Baptist Church, Rock Springs Baptist Church or to Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.
A message of condolence may be expressed to the family by visiting www.DillardFunerals.com.
Ruth Leigh Roper Hendricks
Pickens — Ruth Roper Hendricks, wife of the late Robert Franklin Hendricks, went to be with the Lord Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016.
Mrs. Hendricks was born in Pickens County, a daughter of the late Manning and Eva Roper.
She attended Pickens schools and Asheville Teachers College, and was a member of Pickens First Baptist Church, where she was member of the T. E. L. Sunday School Class. Mrs. Hendricks was a charter member of the Pickens Women’s Club, and a former member of the Fort Prince George Chapter D.A.R.
Survivors include a daughter, Diana Ruth Roper (William David) of Pickens; a son, Charles Hendricks (Tommye) of Pickens; seven grandchildren, Debbie Roper Underwood, John Roper, Allen Roper, Brian Hendricks, John Hendricks, Lori Ellenburg, Andrew Hendricks; nine great-grandchildren, Tyler Underwood, Carly Underwood, Sarah Underwood, Erin Underwood, Corey Roper, Lauryn Hendricks, Ashley Hendricks, Dawson Roper and Lindsay Keener; one great-great-grandchild, Caden Underwood; and two sisters-in-law, Wanda and Jackie Roper.
Mrs. Hendricks was predeceased by her husband, parents, two sons, Robert F. Hendricks Jr. and Donald Manning Hendricks, four sisters and four brothers.
Services were held Feb. 13 in the Dillard Funeral Home chapel, with burial following at Hillcrest Memorial Park and Gardens.
Condolences may be expressed by visiting www.dillardfunerals.com.
Dillard Funeral Home is assisting the Hendricks family.
Elsie L. Smith
Easley — Elsie Lee Kay Smith, 98, wife of the late Noland H. Smith, passed away Tuesday Feb. 9, 2016 at Capstone Health and Rehab in Easley.
Born in Pickens County, she was a daughter of the late James Franklin Kay and Edna King Kay.
Mrs. Smith was a restaurant cook by profession. She was a beloved wife, mother and grandmother and was a member of Enon Baptist Church.
Surviving are her four daughters, Brenda Wilson (Donnie), Bobbie Hester (Johnny), Judy Holmes (Wendell) and Ann Stancil (Roger) all of Easley; five grandchildren, Donna McKittrick, Michael Wilson, Paula Stancell, Todd Hester and James Stancil, Jr.; 16 great-grandchildren, Jennifer Bramblett, Justin Wilson, Kirsten Wilson, Lisa Bloomer, John Halsey, Jr., Alena Reddick, Kali Chandler, Gage Heath, John Hester, Jr., Jenni Bishop, Justin McKittrick, Ryan Stancell, Conner Stancell, Austin McKittrick, Brendon Garrett and Quintin Garrett; and seven great-great-grandchildren, Alex Mays, Jared Robinson, Aden Cannon, Kadence Cannon, Ethan Bloomer, Carter Bloomer and Rylee Gazelle.
Mrs. Smith was the last surviving member of her immediate family. She was predeceased by a granddaughter, Teresa Robinson; a great-granddaughter, Brandi Kearney; four brothers, J.C. Kay, Calvin “Dee” Kay, William “Cott” Kay, and James Franklin Kay, Jr.; and a sister, Louise Mauldin.
Funeral services were held Feb. 12 in the chapel of Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown with the Reverend Scott Willis and Reverend Randy McAlister officiating with burial following in Greenlawn Memorial Park.
Flowers accepted or memorials may be made to Enon Baptist Church, 871 Enon Church Road, Easley, SC 29640. Condolences may be expressed online by visiting www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or in person at Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown, which is assisting the family.
Tommy Joe Whitlock
Liberty — Tommy Joe Whitlock, 71, of 105 Summit Drive died Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 at St. Francis Hospital. Born in Liberty, he was a son of the late Marion Franklin and Inez Gaines Whitlock. He was a 1962 graduate of Liberty High School and afterwards he served his country in the U.S. Navy. He retired from Duke Power and was a member of the Liberty Masonic Lodge #235 A.F.M. He was a member of Calumet Baptist Church.
Surviving are two sons, Mike Whitlock of Pickens and Sam Whitlock of the home; a daughter Toshia Whitlock of Newry; a sister, Joan Stephens of Liberty; two brothers, Gary and Dolan Whitlock both of Liberty; grandchildren, David, D.J. and Jacey Whitlock, Bane and Nikki Chapman, Ethan and Drew Alexander, Hailey Fennell and Kadyn Stancil; and great-grandchildren, Samuel Dalton, Bentley Dwight and Caleb Whitlock and Grace Lynn Sprouse.
Graveside services with military honors for Mr. Whitlock were held Feb. 16 at Liberty Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to: Wounded Warrior Project P.O. Box 758517 Topeka, Kansas 66675. The family will be at the home. Liberty Mortuary is handling arrangements.
Juanita T. Powell
Easley — Juanita Trotter Powell, 82, widow of Thomas H. Powell, went home to be with The Lord on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016.
Mrs. Powell was born in Pickens County, a daughter of the late Tommy Elmer and Marie Smith Trotter. She was retired from Cornell Dubilier in Liberty and she was a member of Enon Baptist Church where she served as W.M.U. Director for 30 years, church clerk for over 40 years and for many years she worked with children’s Sunday school and Team Kids teacher.
Survivors include her son, Gregg Powell (Tammy), and her daughter, Beverly Whitman (Eddie) all of Easley, grandchildren include Chris Whitman (Kristen), Adam Whitman (Kim), Taylor Whitman, Ty Tysinger, and Marina and Marisa Powell. Great-grandchildren include Quan Martin, Chandler Whitman, Destinee Whitman, Izaak Whitman, Braeden Whitman, Alyssah Whitman, and Landon Whitman. Also surviving is a brother, Winfred E. Trotter of Easley.
In addition to her parents and husband, Mrs. Powell was preceded in death by brothers, Edgar and J. T. Trotter, and sisters, Edna Mae Dillard, Annie Laura Rampey, and Jessie Lee Parker.
Services were held Feb. 14 in the Dillard Funeral Home Chapel with The Reverend Scott Willis and The Reverend George Tate officiating and burial following at Hillcrest Memorial Park and Gardens with The Reverend Greg Russ officiating.
A message of condolence may be expressed to the family by visiting www.DillardFunerals.com Memorials may be made to Enon Baptist Church, 871 Enon Church Road, Easley, SC 29640.
Lawrence R. Cox
Easley — Mr. Lawrence Robert Cox, 83, husband of the late Mary Ann Dodgens Cox, passed away Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016 at Greenville Memorial Hospital.
Born in Pickens County, a son of the late Robert Lawrence and Dessie Yates Cox, Mr. Cox retired from Alice Manufacturing and was a member of Liberty Ministries International.
Surviving are a daughter, Donna Garrick of Easley; a step-son, Tommy Loggins (Denise) of Salem; a brother, William Marshall Cox (Elizabeth) of Easley; two sisters, Jessie Mae Meece and Ethel Cassell, both of Easley; four grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. In addition to his wife and parents, Mr. Cox was predeceased by three brothers, Ralph, Joel and Harold Cox; and a sister, Jeanette Snipes.
Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 in the chapel of Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown. Burial will follow in Hillcrest Memorial Park.
The family will receive friends from noon until 1:45 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home, prior to the service. The family is at the home.
Condolences may be expressed online at www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or in person at Robinson Funeral Home-Downtown, which is assisting the family.
Billy Joe Ellenburg
Six Mile — Billy Joe Ellenburg, 75, of 129 Knollview Road, went to be with the Lord, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016 at his residence. Born in Six Mile, he was the husband of Martha Brooks Ellenburg and a son of the late John Benjamin “J.B.” Ellenburg and Ovaline Duncan Stephens. He was retired from MGS Grading. He loved NASCAR and fishing and especially spending time with his best friend, Joe Holliday. He was a member of Crowe Creek Church of God.
Surviving in addition to his wife are three daughters, Kathy Robinson, Tammy Stewart and Tina Harbin(Brent) all of Six Mile; two sons, Tommy Joe Ellenburg and Billy Joe Ellenburg(Dawn) both of Six Mile; a sister, Wilma Black of Six Mile; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
In addition to his parents he was predeceased by a sister, Patsy Galloway; and two brothers, Marlow and Jimmy Stephens.
Funeral services to honor the life of Mr. Ellenburg will be held at 2 p.m., Thursday Feb. 18, in the Liberty Mortuary Chapel. Burial will follow at Pine Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at Liberty Mortuary.
The family will be at the home. Liberty Mortuary is handling arrangements. www.libertymortuary.com
Reverend Jack W. Hester
Easley — The Reverend Jack W. Hester, 85, husband of Shirley Koone Hester, went home to be with his Lord and Savior on Sunday Feb. 14, 2016.
Born in Greenville County, he was the son of the late Reverend William R. Hester and Lula Mae Garrett Hester.
Reverend Hester attended Tennessee Temple University and North Greenville University. He was a former pastor of several churches; Grace Baptist in Simpsonville, Cannon Memorial in Central, Powdersville First Baptist Church and Nine Forks Baptist Church. After retiring, he served as an associate pastor at City View Baptist Church, and interim pastorates at Westwood Baptist Church, Mountain Grove Baptist Church, and was currently serving at Hillside Baptist Church in Fountain Inn. He served on many committees across S.C. with the Southern Baptist Convention and was on the Board of Directors with the Connie Maxwell Children’s Home. He also served his country in the US Army in Korea, Austria and Germany.
Reverend Hester’s love’s in life was his Lord, his family and classic cars. “He revived souls and cars” and most recently, to share his ministry, joined Facebook, posting daily words of encouragement.
Surviving in addition to his wife of 61 years, are his sons, Phillip Hester (Aileen) of Raleigh, N.C., Steve Hester (Dru) of Simpsonville and Bryan Hester (Angie) of Pickens; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and sister, Thelma Smith of Greer.
Reverend Hester was predeceased by sisters, Vera Browning, Francis Gilbert, Eunice Vaughan and Ellen Davis; and a brother, William R. Hester, Jr.
An entombment committal will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday Feb. 18, in the Bell Tower Mausoleum of Robinson Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends Thursday evening from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. at Pickens First Baptist Church with a service to celebrate Reverend Hester’s life at 6 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, 810 Maxwell Avenue, Greenwood, SC 29646.
The family will be at the home.
Condolences may be expressed by visiting www.robinsonfuneralhomes.com or in person at Robinson Funeral Home-Powdersville Road, which is assisting the family.
Doris Ann Sellars
Anderson — Doris Ann Lewis Sellars, 69, passed from this life on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2016.
Mrs. Sellars was born in Easley, a daughter of the late Robert Sheriff and the late Clara Belle Sheriff Lewis. She was retired as a caregiver for Better Skills in Easley and she was a member of Mountain View Baptist Church.
Survivors include her son, Brian Scruggs (Holly) of Pickens, grandchildren, Lane and Luke Scruggs, brother, Thomas Lewis of Spartanburg and a sister, Peggy Esuary of Pickens.
A memorial service was held Feb. 16 at Mountain View Baptist Church.
A message of condolence may be expressed to the family by visiting www.DillardFunerals.com
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Mountain View Baptist Church, 336 Mountain View Church Road, Six Mile, SC 29682.
Wallace M. Mauldin
SIX MILE – Wallace M. Mauldin, 73 passed away Jan. 28, 2016.
Born in Six Mile, he was the son of the late Louis and Margaret Mauldin.
Surviving are a son, Wallace Dale Mauldin of Walhalla; Brothers L.D. Mauldin of Salem, Tim Mauldin of Six Mile; Sisters; Violet Adams of Pickens, and Bonnie Holder (Sonny) of Pickens.
Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday Feb. 20 at Gap Hill Baptist Church Cemetery. Forest Hill Funeral Home is assisting the family.
A first-person perspective on Jim Crow in 1950s Southern Appalachia — part 1
“Separate but equal” facilities such as Soapstone Elementary School in the Pumpkintown area of Pickens County proliferated the South in the first half of the 20th century.
Photo courtesy Pickens County Library System
By Dr. Thomas Cloer, Jr.
Special to the Courier
“Dad, why don’t Mark and Luke just go with us to school? Why do they have to go all the way to the next county?” I asked after a game of basketball where the twin boys showed their moves at the home of Jim and Hazel Wood.
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The year was 1955, and the twin boys of Floyd and Elnora Roberts were two of the first African-American youngsters I ever knew. I had seen them at their church, Pleasant Grove Church, where the Roberts family attended just across the way from the Woods family’s home in the Northcutt Community of Gilmer County, Ga. This is where the little bucolic mountain town of Ellijay is located in the North Georgia Mountains, very near where the Appalachian Mountain Range begins.
Photo courtesy Dr. Thomas Cloer III Author’s father, Carl T. Cloer Sr., operating a steam-powered log carriage in Turniptown, Ga., in 1951.
We moved to Ellijay, where I began school, in 1951 as my grandfather, dad, uncles and cousins moved with Gennett Lumber Company. My dad, Carl T. Cloer Sr., sawed with a huge band saw on a wheel 8 feet in diameter, traveling a mile per minute and ripping giant hardwood logs on a daredevil, steam-driven log carriage with a “shotgun feed.” After each cut, the explosive return of Dad’s log carriage would result in a loud steam “Boom!” heard throughout the Turniptown Mountains, thus the term “shotgun feed.”
“Tom, I really can’t explain why the Roberts boys can’t go to school here. I’m just a sawmill man, and I don’t run the show. I know their daddy, Floyd Roberts, is as fine a gentleman as I ever met. When I see him, he never fails to ask me to come, bring my family, and go with him to his Pleasant Grove Church. And you know I have taken you there more than once.”
“What do you mean, Dad, by ‘I don’t run the show’?”
“I mean, Tom, I have no power to tell Mark and Luke that they can go to school here. If they did try, there would be problems, because they are of a different race. There are customs and laws that keep them from going to school with you.”
Jim Crow
That was my introduction to Jim Crow in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The term “Jim Crow” originated in the 1830s, when a white minstrel show performer, Tom Rice, blackened his face with burned cork and danced a silly little jig while singing “Jump Jim Crow.” We may never know who Jim Crow actually was. Some attribute the name to an elderly black man who had difficulty walking. Still others say the name was that of a young black stable boy. The term Jim Crow is now used to describe laws and customs that restricted the rights of African-Americans, even after the Civil War, and following the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution.
These amendments were passed immediately following the Civil War. The 13th (1865) officially abolished slavery. The 14th amendment (1868) declared those people born in the United States were American citizens. The 15th amendment (1870) prohibited voting discrimination based on race, color, or previous slavery. (Interestingly, this did not stop discrimination against women voting. That would come with the 19th amendment.)
Rice, a struggling performer, very scarcely blessed with any talent, actually did little skits between the scenes at different theaters where he would wear burned cork blackface makeup, and sing with a silly and magnified accent.
This deplorable and highly exaggerated stereotype of a black individual was seen by large audiences throughout the United States, London and Dublin. By 1838, the term Jim Crow was being used pejoratively as a racial slur. But after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, the term was used to describe laws and customs which continued to segregate black people, such as the practice of sending the twins, Mark and Luke Roberts, to another county, just in order to prevent them from attending school with white youth.
Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
“Dad, how was your trip to Florida with the Gennetts?” I asked as Dad and Mom hugged and kissed in the kitchen upon his return.
Photo courtesy Dr. Thomas Cloer III
Chauffeur Arnold, W.T. Cloer and Nat Gennett are pictured fishing in Florida in the 1950s.
The owner of Gennett Lumber Co. had asked my dad and my grandpa to go with him on a fishing trip to Florida as a reward for creating company wealth with Dad’s sawing skills using the shotgun steam-fed carriage, and for Grandpa W.T. serving as superintendent of the big band sawmill.
“You know Arnold, my good black friend who is Mr. Gennett’s chauffeur?” Dad asked.
“Sure, what about Arnold?” I answered.
“Well, we stopped down about the Georgia-Florida state line near Valdosta to spend the night, and the owner of the motel said Arnold couldn’t stay inside!” Dad said as he laid his suitcase on the bed.
“What happened then?” I asked in disbelief.
“That was going to be the case wherever we stayed,” Dad said. “I gave Arnold my pistol, and he took it, thanked me, and stayed all night in the car; that ain’t right,” Dad said before he started talking about the good fishing in Florida.
This was still another brush with Jim Crow laws as I was growing up in Southern Appalachia. I thought Arnold was really cool in his uniform and special cap. He always treated me nicely when he and I interacted. I could tell he had a wonderful personality, a good sense of humor and he was always shaking hands. He was especially fond of Dad and Grandpa.
I remember the time Mr. Gennett was visiting his sawmill and, as always, wanted some of Grandma’s good home cooking. Mr. Gennett told Grandpa W.T. that Arnold could eat outside. Grandpa forever ingratiated himself with Arnold when Grandpa told the president of the company that there would be none of that in his home. Arnold was a very special guest and was to be treated exactly in that manner.
Grandpa W.T. always amazed me with his skill in managing men at the mills. When he spoke, it was with authority. There was no misunderstanding by anyone that day concerning who was in charge regarding Arnold’s status at the lunch table in the home of W.T. and Pearl Cloer.
During the 1870s, in the aftermath of the Civil War, different states passed Jim Crow laws to undermine those new amendments to the United States Constitution. The United States Supreme Court had to determine if such Jim Crow laws as segregation of public schools, hotels, motels, restaurants, beaches, restrooms, drinking fountains and restrictions on interracial marriage were constitutional.
Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896 was a landmark Supreme Court case that set the tone in America concerning race relations until I became an adult. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of “separate but equal.” The justices ruled that if facilities such as schools were separate but equal, they were constitutional. That United States Supreme Court ruling would ultimately be the reason that the Roberts family and the chauffeur, Arnold, would live as they lived on a day-to-day basis for much of the 20th century.
The Family of Floyd and Elnora Roberts
Mark and Luke’s father, Floyd William Roberts, was the only child born to Lester and Alice Roberts in Ellijay, Ga., on May 20, 1908. Floyd’s grandfather, Fayette, and great grandfather, Granville, had been slaves. When they became free, they took the last name of their owner, who was a Roberts. Floyd married Elnora Harshaw in September 1923, just when the tulip poplar trees around our Northcutt Community were beginning to turn yellow. They were married at the same little Pleasant Grove Church that I would visit in the 1950s.
Photo courtesy Dr. Thomas Cloer III
Floyd Roberts, left, with Albert Harrison, president of Ellijay Telephone Co., at a Christmas social in the 1950s.
Their first three of nine children were girls. Ardella was born Feb. 6, 1926; Frances was born June 11, 1928; Frankie was born March 30, 1930. All three were born in Gilmer County in Ellijay, Ga. Frances and Frankie Roberts both graduated from Washington High School in Atlanta and continued in higher education to become nurses. Both became highly successful licensed nurses with careers devoted to helping others. Their father and mother instilled in all their children the need for education, and the religious zeal for helping others. Floyd had to be a very religious man; he lived with Mark, Luke and John. John Roberts was actually Floyd’s elderly uncle, who lived with Floyd and Elnora in their simple little home in our Northcutt Community.
The twins, Mark and Luke, were born April 26, 1939, in Ellijay. The children of Floyd Roberts rode in the car, furnished by Gilmer County, to the town of Tate, in Pickens County, Ga., to attend school with other black youth. Joe Charles and Horace were closer to my age, and would sneak looks at me when I would attend Pleasant Grove Church with my family. Horace was the same age as my brother, Nat, 3 years older than I, and Joe Charles was just one year older than me. Because of Jim Crow laws, it was unthinkable that reciprocity would occur, and Horace and Joe Charles attend our foot-washing white church, Northcutt Baptist Church, just up the road, almost in walking distance of Pleasant Grove. Thus was the madness when otherwise sensible people followed customs that were denigrating, deplorable and devastating to people who deserved much better.
Attending Pleasant Grove Church
“Tom, we’re going back to Floyd Roberts’ church Sunday, the black church,” Mom said.
“Your dad saw Floyd in town at the Ellijay Telephone Company where Floyd works as a janitor, and Floyd would not hear of anything but us attending their Homecoming. You and Nat liked it when you two went there last time,” she said as she dried the dishes and put them on the boards that served as shelves.
“Why can’t Floyd and his wife bring Horace and Joe Charles and come to our church? It would be neat to see someone from our church wash Joe Charles’ black feet, wouldn’t it, Mom?”
Mom paused and searched for something to say.
“Tom, that ain’t gonna happen.”
“Why ain’t it?”
“Please, son, black and white people like to go to their own churches, I reckon.”
“Then, why are we going to Joe Charles and Horace’s church, but they don’t come to ours?” I quarreled.
“Get out of here and burn off some of that arguing energy by picking beans; they’re turning yellow from being too mature,” Mom said in desperation.
Next week — Part 2: Jim Crow in Southern Appalachia in the 1950s.
About the author: Dr. Cloer is Professor Emeritus, Furman University. Dr. Cloer was honored as a recipient of the 2004 Maiden Invitational Award from Furman University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs. The honor is awarded to one faculty member annually at Furman for outstanding assistance to international and minority students.
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Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee announces tourism projects funding availability
COUNTY — Pickens County is now accepting accommodations tax funding applications for projects for the 2015-2016 fiscal year from organizations involved in tourism-related activities or projects.
These funds, collected from Pickens County Accommodations Tax, are intended to be used to further the growth of the tourism industry in Pickens County by attracting or providing for tourists. The distribution of these funds is approved by Pickens County Council who receives recommendations from the Pickens County Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee. This committee will determine its recommendations on completed Funding Request Applications received and will be meeting during the month of March 2016 to review these applications. The deadline for the receipt of all funding applications is February 26.
Any Pickens County organization whose efforts primarily involve or affect area tourism efforts is encouraged to apply for potential funding.
Funding request applications can be obtained by writing the Pickens County Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee at 222 McDaniel Ave. No. B-2, Pickens, SC 29671, by phone at (864) 868-2196, by e-mail at dalep@co.pickens.sc.us, or online at co.pickens.sc.us/documents/.
Deep Winter Blues set for Saturday at Hagood Mill
PICKENS — It has been cold and bleak outside, so to heat up things, come out for a day of fun on Saturday, Feb. 20, as the Hagood Mill will present “Deep Winter Blues.”
The site will be open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., with music from 11:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Upcountry South Carolina is a historical Mecca for the blues. Throughout the 1920s and ‘30s, the streets of Laurens County, Greenville, Spartanburg and Anderson reverberated with the music of bluesmen/street preachers as they were strolling with their tin cups extended. Many of these musicians became famous on the streets of New York City in the folk revival of the ‘50s and ‘60s. It is this tradition that we celebrate each February at Hagood Mill.
This year’s lineup features Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award winner and bluesman Steve McGaha, with finger-style picker and country bluesman David Donar playing some red hot tunes. In addition to music, Donar is a cartoonist and illustrator whose favorite subject matter are all the various musicians who perform and jam at the Hagood Mill throughout the year.
Hear the old music that made Upstate South Carolina a famous “roots environment” for the Piedmont Blues … some tunes primitive in nature and others coming from the sweet soul of the South Carolina bluesmen of long ago.
There will be lots of other things to see on Feb. 20 as Hagood Mill hosts a variety of folk life and traditional arts demonstrations. There will be blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flint knapping, chair-caning, moonshining, broom-making, basket-making, pottery, quilting, spinning, knitting, weaving, woodcarving, metal-smithing, bee keeping, leather-working and more. As always we encourage visitors to bring their favorite old time instruments and join in on the “open jam” which takes place throughout the day under the ancient cedar beside our beloved 1791 log cabin.
The centerpiece of the Hagood Mill historic site is the water-powered 1845 gristmill.
There promises to be lots to do and lots of fun. There is a $5 parking fee for the day, but admission is free to the Hagood Mill Site, as well as the Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site. All proceeds from parking will go to help the Hagood Mill.
The Hagood Mill is just three miles north of Pickens off U.S. Highway 178 or 5.5 miles south of Cherokee Foothills Scenic S.C. Highway 11 just off U.S. 178 at 138 Hagood Mill Road.
Azalea Festival Committee sets date for annual pancake breakfast
PICKENS – For the second year in a row the Pickens Azalea Festival Committee will be hosting their annual pancake breakfast.
The event will be held at the Pickens Senior Center Saturday March 5 with all proceeds going to support the 32nd annual Pickens Azalea Festival set in April.
Tickets can be purchased for only $6 from 7 a.m. until 11 a.m. for plates including eggs, bacon or sausage, pancakes, grits, or biscuit and gravy coffee or orange juice.
Courier Community Calendar 2-17-16
• Cannon to offer Wellness Wednesdays
Cannon Memorial Hospital will be offering a February Wednesday Wellness Special at the Cannon Annex each week in February from 7 a.m.-10 a.m. No appointment or doctor’s order needed. Participants can receive a discounted lipid panel for $15 (regularly $24) with results back within a week. Free blood pressure screenings are also available. For more information, contact Wellness at (864) 898-1331.
• Classes offered at Hagood Center
New Fiber Room Center activities at the Hagood Center in Pickens have been scheduled for February.
Below is a list of the center’s regular activities:
Monday: 10-11:30 a.m. — cathedral window quilts with Jacquie.
Tuesday: 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. — weaving with Pat; 9-11:30 a.m. — doll clothes with Jacquie; 10-11:30 a.m. — yo-yos with Irene and prayer shawls and cancer caps with Sharon (in the library). Wednesday: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. — weaving with Pat (in the heritage room); 10-11:30 a.m. — knitting with Tally.
Thursday: 10-11:30 a.m. quilting with Sara; 1:30-3:30 p.m. — rug hooking with Cheryl.
• PHS class of 1956 set to hold reunion
The Pickens High School Class of 1956 is planning a reunion for April 9. It will be a dutch lunch at The Gatehouse Restaurant at the corner of Ann and Griffin Streets in Pickens. It will begin at noon.
Make your reservations by calling Allison Dalton at (864) 859-4396, Marie Welborn at (864) 878-9124 or Tunkie Stokes at (864) 878-6101.
• East Side Baptist plans fishing clinic
East Side Baptist Church will host a free bass fishing clinic on Saturday, March 12, at 1 p.m. The speaker will be Bassmaster Terry Chupp.
East Side is located at 920 Anderson Drive in Liberty. For more information, call the church office at (864) 843-6481.
Courier Notice to Creditors 2-17-16
The publisher shall only be liable for an amount less than or equal to the charge for the space of the item in error in the case of errors in or omissions from any advertisement, and only for the first incorrect insertion.
NOTICE TO CREDITORS OF ESTATES
All persons having claims against the following estates MUST file their claims on Form #371ES with the Probate Court of PICKENS COUNTY, the address of which is 222 MCDANIEL AVE., B-16 PICKENS, SC 29671, within eight (8) months after the date of the first publication of this Notice to Creditors or within one (1) year from date of death, whichever is earlier (SCPC 62-3-801, et seq.), or such persons shall be forever barred as to their claims. All claims are required to be presented in written statements on the prescribed form (FORM #371ES) indicating the name and address of the claimant, the basis of the claim, the amount claimed, the date when the claim will become due, the nature of any uncertainty as to the claim, and a description of any security as to the claim.
Estate: Michael David Lindsey
Date of Death: 12/09/2015
Case Number: 2015ES3900826
Personal Representative: Karen S. Lindsey
Address: 229 Chickadee Trail
Easley, SC 29642
Attorney: James E. Sterling
Address: Post Office Box 1207
Easley, SC 29641
Feb. 3, 10, 17
Estate: Taze Leonard Senn
Date of Death: 01/12/2016
Case Number: 2016ES3900049
Personal Representative: R. Jay Cooper
Address: Post Office Box 207
Clemson, SC 29633
Attorney: Corinne B. Cannon
Address: Post Office Box 629
Clemson, SC 29633
Feb. 3, 10, 17
Estate: Virgie Viola Kiddy Holt
Date of Death: 12/30/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900011
Personal Representative:
Janice L. Shrader
Address: 110 Shadydale Circle
Six Mile, SC 29682
Feb. 3, 10, 17
Estate: Patrick Dale Winchester
Date of Death: 12/17/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900057
Personal Representative:
J. Lindsay McClure
Address: 346 Wolf Creek Rd.
Pickens, SC 29671
Attorney: R. Murray Hughes
Address: P.O. Box 1389
Pickens, SC 29671
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: Ronald E. Sparks
Date of Death: 01/17/2016
Case Number: 2016ES3900062
Personal Representative:
Stanley W. Vaughan
Address: 611 Phillips Road
Greer, SC 29650
Attorney: Clayton L. Jennings
Address: 1151 E. Washington St.
Greenville, SC 29601
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: Joe E. Murphree
AKA: Joseph Earl Murphree
Date of Death: 01/15/2016
Case Number: 2016ES3900051
Personal Representative:
Paulette B. Murphree
Address: 623 Old Bethlehem School Rd.
Pickens, SC 29671
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: Joe Alton Chapman
Date of Death: 11/24/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900056
Personal Representative:
Geraldine D. Chapman
Address: 704 Mt. Bethel Rd.
Sunset, SC 29685
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: Laverne Annabelle Benko
Date of Death: 11/14/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900018
Personal Representative: Thomas Benko
Address: 298 Cross Creek Trail
Pickens, SC 29671
Attorney: Adam B. Lambert
Address: Post Office Box 9
Pickens, SC 29671
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: Donald Louis Hunter
Date of Death: 01/14/2016
Case Number: 2016ES3900053
Personal Representative:
Kathy Renee Hunter
Address: 606 Fox Squirrel Ridge Rd.
Pickens, SC 29671
Attorney: Adam B. Lambert
Address: Post Office Box 9
Pickens, SC 29671
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: Harrison Eugene McAlister
Date of Death: 12/25/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900033
Personal Representative:
Crystal Marie Humphrey
Address: 105 Avalon Circle
Easley, SC 29640
Attorney: Adam B. Lambert
Address: Post Office Box 9
Pickens, SC 29671
Co-Personal Representative:
Penny Marie Winchester
Address: 312 Woodfield Dr.
Easley, SC 29642
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: George Raymond Barrett, Jr.
Date of Death: 11/28/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900073
Personal Representative:
Addie Mae W. Barrett
Address: 214 Gantt Springs Rd.
Liberty, SC 29657
Attorney: Adam B. Lambert
Address: Post Office Box 9
Pickens, SC 29671
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: Dorothy Lynn Childers Phillips
Date of Death: 01/19/2016
Case Number: 2016ES3900066
Personal Representative: Dorothy Ridley
Address: 512 Lisa Lane
Brandon, FL 33511
Attorney: Adam B. Lambert
Address: Post Office Box 9
Pickens, SC 29671
Feb. 10, 17, 24
Estate: William Zane Simmons
Date of Death: 12/16/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900074
Personal Representative:
Donald Stuart Simmons
Address: 111 Woodberry Circle
Easley, SC 29642
Attorney: Kenneth D. Acker
Address: P.O. Box 9
Pickens, SC 29671
Feb. 17, 24, Mar 2
Estate: Elizabeth Morgan Crawford
Date of Death: 01/08/2016
Case Number: 2016ES3900055
Personal Representative:
Raymond Mays Crawford
Address: Post Office Box 50
Sunset, SC 29685
Feb. 17, 24, Mar 2
Estate: Charles Vincent Fletcher
Date of Death: 13/31/2015
Case Number: 2016ES3900093
Personal Representative: Sue S. Fletcher
Address: 312 Wild Wing Way
Easley, SC 29642
Attorney: S. Allan Hill
Address: 819 East North Street
Greenville, SC 29601
Feb. 17, 24, Mar 2
Estate: Jean Spivey Poore
Date of Death: 01/05/2016
Case Number: 2016ES3900046
Personal Representative: Alfred M. Poore
Address: 132 Albertson Drive
Easley, SC 29640
Attorney: Tyler B. Oshields
Address: Post Office Box 1428
Easley, SC 29641
Feb. 17, 24, Mar 2
Courier Legals 2-17-16
SPECIAL REFEREE’S SALE
CASE NO. 2015-CP-39-00803
BY VIRTUE of a decree heretofore granted in the case of FIRST-CITIZENS BANK & TRUST COMPANY, INC. f/k/a FIRST CITIZENS BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, INC. against SANDRA KNIGHT GARDNER, I, the Special Referee for Pickens County, will sell on Monday, March 7, 2016, at 11:00 a.m., at the Pickens County Courthouse, 214 East Main Street, Pickens, SC, to the highest bidder:
All that certain piece, parcel or lot of land lying and being situate in the State of South Carolina, County of Pickens, on Campground Road (Highway No. S-39-222), and being known as Tract A containing 6.04 acres, including all r/w; Tract B containing 0.16 acres, including all r/w; and Tract C containing 0.79 acres, including all r/w, as shown on a plat entitled “Survey for Bertha H. Smith,” prepared by Robert R. Spearman, RLS #3615, dated December 13, 1984; reference to said plat is hereby made for a more complete and accurate description.
This being the same property conveyed to Sandra K. Gardner by General Warranty Deed from T. Bennett Bunton dated May 3, 2006 and recorded with the Pickens County ROD in Deed Book 1001 at Page 97 on May 5, 2006.
Property Address: 385 Campground Road, Liberty, SC 29657
TMS # 4088-14-34-9777
TERMS OF SALE: The successful bidder, other than the Plaintiff, will deposit with the Special Referee at conclusion of the bidding, five percent (5%) of the bid, in cash or equivalent, as evidence of good faith, same to be applied to the purchase price in case of compliance, but to be forfeited and applied first to costs and then to Plaintiff’s debt in the case of non-compliance. If the Plaintiff’s representative is not in attendance at the scheduled time of the sale, the sale shall be canceled and the property sold on some subsequent sales day after due advertisement. Should the last and highest bidder fail or refuse to make the required deposit at time of bid or comply with the other terms of the bid within thirty (30) days, then the Special Referee may re-sell the property on the same terms and conditions on some subsequent Sales Day (at the risk of the said highest bidder).
As a deficiency judgment is not being waived, the bidding will remain open thirty (30) days after the date of sale.
Purchaser to pay for preparation of deed, documentary stamps on the deed, and recording of the deed. The successful bidder will be required to pay interest on the amount of the bid from date of sale to date of compliance with the bid at the rate of 4.74% per annum. Subject to assessments, Pickens County taxes, easements, easements and restrictions of record, and other senior encumbrances.
R. Murray Hughes, III,
Special Referee
for Pickens County
F. Lee Prickett, III – Holder,
Padgett, Littlejohn + Prickett, LLC,
1204 A E. Washington St., Greenville, SC 29601 (864) 335-8808
Feb. 10, 17, 24
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NOTICE
The Keowee Springs Fire Department will hold a Budget Review Meeting to review fire department activities in 2015 and the budget to be submitted to the Pickens County Commission for the fiscal year 2016-2017 at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, February 24, 2016 at the fire station located at 159 Keowee Baptist Church Road, Six Mile, SC.
Feb. 10, 17
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NOTICE
Shady Grove
The Shady Grove Fire District board will hold their budget meeting Tuesday February 23, 2016 at 7pm at the fire station located at 299 Pine Grove Church Road, Sunset, SC.
Feb. 10, 17
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NOTICE
Pickens Rural
The Pickens Rural Fire District board will hold their budget meeting Thursday February 25, 2016 at 7pm at the fire station located at 756 Concord Church Road, Pickens, SC.
Feb. 10, 17
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NOTICE OF FILING OF COMPLAINT
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COUNTY OF PICKENS
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
C/A NO.: 2015-CP-39-1353
AgSouth Farm Credit, ACA, Plaintiff, v. Zeta Alyana Gardner; Zachariah Gardner; Jane Doe, representing the unknown heirs, devisees, distributees, personal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and all other persons entitled to claim through Vivian H. Debnam, deceased; John Doe, representing the unknown heirs, devisees, distributees, personal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and all other persons entitled to claim through Christopher J. Debnam, deceased; Richard Roe, representing any and all unknown, minors, incompetents, persons in the military service of the United States of America, persons imprisoned, and persons under a legal disability; Bank of America; Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC. Defendants.
TO: DEFENDANTS ZETA ALYANA GARDNER, ZACHARIAH GARDNER, JANE DOE, JOHN DOE AND RICHARD ROE
NOTICE IS GIVEN THAT the Lis Pendens, Summons and Complaint in the above-titled action were filed with the Clerk of Court for Pickens County, South Carolina on November 11, 2015. The object and prayer of which is set forth in the Complaint.
TURNER PADGET GRAHAM & LANEY, P.A.
Ian D. McVey (SC Bar No. 71196)
Post Office Box 1473
Columbia, South Carolina 29202
Telephone: 803-227-4267
Facsimile: 803-400-1564
E-mail: imcvey@turnerpadget.com
Attorneys for the Plaintiff
December, 2015
Columbia, South Carolina
Feb. 10, 17, 24
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LIS PENDENS
(Suit on Note)
(Foreclosure of Mortgage)
(Deficiency Judgment Waived)
(Non-Jury)
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COUNTY OF PICKENS
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
C/A NO.: 2015-CP-39-1353
AgSouth Farm Credit, ACA, Plaintiff, v. Zeta Alyana Gardner; Zachariah Gardner; Jane Doe, representing the unknown heirs, devisees, distributees, personal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and all other persons entitled to claim through Vivian H. Debnam, deceased; John Doe, representing the unknown heirs, devisees, distributees, personal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and all other persons entitled to claim through Christopher J. Debnam, deceased; Richard Roe, representing any and all unknown, minors, incompetents, persons in the military service of the United States of America, persons imprisoned, and persons under a legal disability; Bank of America; Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC. Defendants.
TO THE DEFENDANTS ABOVE NAMED:
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT an action is being commenced and is now pending in the Court of Common Pleas for Pickens County, South Carolina, upon a complaint of the above-named Plaintiff against the above-named Defendants for the purposes of foreclosing upon Plaintiff’s Mortgage by and between Christopher J. Debnam and Vivian H. Debnam and AgSouth Farm Credit, ACA, dated June 4, 2008, and recorded on June 5, 2008, in Book 3856 at Page 76 in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Pickens County, in the below described real property which, at the time of the filing of this Notice, was situate in the County of Pickens, State of South Carolina, was more fully described as:
All that certain piece, parcel or lot of land lying and being situate in the State of South Carolina, County of Pickens, about seven miles Northeast of the Town of Pickens, on the South side of S.C. Road 109, (Connelly Road), and according to a plat of C.E. Shehan, Surveyor, dated May 24, 1982, of plat of John D. Smith, and containing 10 acres, more or less, reference to which is hereby made for a more complete and accurate description.
Beginning at a railroad spike in center of road at northwestern corner, and running thence along center of road N73-4E 700 feet to a point; thence continuing along center of road N66-3E 26.37 feet to a railroad spike; thence leaving center of road and running along property of Wilson and Kay Browning S20-58E 540.15 feet to a concrete monument; thence along property now or formerly of Medlin-Williams Estate S63-37W 737.5 feet to an iron pin’ thence N20-08W 657.7 feet to a railroad spike in center of road, the point of Beginning.
TMS No.: 5114-00-22-6871
TURNER PADGET GRAHAM & LANEY, P.A.
Ian D. McVey (SC Bar No. 71196)
Post Office Box 1473
Columbia, South Carolina 29202
Telephone: 803-227-4267
Facsimile: 803-400-1564
E-mail: imcvey@turnerpadget.com
Attorneys for the Plaintiff
November 2, 2015
Columbia, South Carolina
THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE.
Feb. 10, 17, 24
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SUMMONS
(Suit on Note)
(Foreclosure of Mortgage)
(Deficiency Judgment Waived)
(Non-Jury)
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COUNTY OF PICKENS
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
C/A NO.: 2015-CP-39-1353
AgSouth Farm Credit, ACA, Plaintiff, v. Zeta Alyana Gardner; Zachariah Gardner; Jane Doe, representing the unknown heirs, devisees, distributees, personal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and all other persons entitled to claim through Vivian H. Debnam, deceased; John Doe, representing the unknown heirs, devisees, distributees, personal representatives, executors, administrators, successors, assigns and all other persons entitled to claim through Christopher J. Debnam, deceased; Richard Roe, representing any and all unknown, minors, incompetents, persons in the military service of the United States of America, persons imprisoned, and persons under a legal disability; Bank of America; Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC. Defendants.
TO THE DEFENDANTS ABOVE NAMED:
YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED and required to appear and defend by answering the Complaint in this action, of which a copy is herewith served upon you, and to serve a copy of your Answer on the subscribers at their offices, 1901 Main Street, 17th Floor, P.O. Box 1473, Columbia, South Carolina 29202, within thirty (30) days after the service hereof, exclusive of the day of such service, except that the United States of America, if named, shall have sixty (60) days to answer after the service hereof, exclusive of the day of such service; and if you fail to do so, judgment by default will be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the Complaint.
YOU WILL ALSO TAKE NOTICE that Plaintiff(s) will move for an order of reference or that the Court may issue a general order of reference of this action to a Master in Equity/Special Referee, pursuant to Rule 53, of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure.
TO MINOR(S) OVER FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE, AND/OR TO MINOR(S) UNDER FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE AND THE PERSON WITH WHOM THE MINOR(S) RESIDES, AND/OR TO PERSONS UNDER SOME LEGAL DISABILITY:
YOU ARE FURTHER SUMMONED AND NOTIFIED to apply for the appointment of a guardian ad litem within thirty (30) days after the service of this Summons and Notice upon you. If you fail to do so, application for such appointment will be made by the Plaintiff(s).
TURNER PADGET GRAHAM & LANEY, P.A.
Ian D. McVey (SC Bar No. 71196)
Post Office Box 1473
Columbia, South Carolina 29202
Telephone: 803-227-4267
Facsimile: 803-400-1564
E-mail: imcvey@turnerpadget.com
Attorneys for the Plaintiff
November 2, 2015
Columbia, South Carolina
THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT, AND ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE.
Feb. 10, 17, 24
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ORDER OF PUBLICATION
(NON-JURY MATTER)
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COUNTY OF PICKENS
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
CASE No. 2015-CP-39-1247
David Spencer, Plaintiff, vs. Tax Collector of Pickens County; Treasurer of Pickens County; JOHN DOE AND MARY ROE, fictitious names used to designate all unknown persons who claim any right, title, interest or lien upon the real estate described herein, and anyone who may be in the military, infants, incompetents or under any legal disability and ROGER ROE AND SARAH DOE, fictitious names who represent unknown heirs, devisees or distributees of Dixie Kelly Clegg a/k/a Dixie K. Clegg, deceased; AND the following parties believed to be alive and well: Thomas Henry Clegg, Kelli C. Duncan, and judgment Creditors who may claim as follows: Discover Bank. Defendants,
___________________________
Upon reading the attached Affidavit, it appears to my satisfaction that this is a proper case in which service may be had upon Defendants by publication as authorized by 15-9-730 and 15-9-720 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976).
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, that the Summons and Notice and Service by Publication shall be published in Pickens County Courier, a newspaper having general circulation in the County of Pickens, South Carolina, once a week, on the same day of each week, for a period of three consecutive weeks, said publication being hereby designated as the one most likely to give notice to said Defendants. Any Defendant having a last known address shall be mailed a copy of the Summons and Complaint certified mail\restricted delivery.
AND IT IS SO ORDERED.
/s/ Perry H. Gravely
JUDGE, THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OR CLERK OF COURT
FOR PICKENS COUNTY
PICKENS, SOUTH CAROLINA
February 5, 2016
Feb. 17, 24, Mar. 2
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LIS PENDENS
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
COUNTY OF PICKENS
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS
CASE NO. 2015-CP-39-1247
Lis Pendens #2015-LP-39-290
David Spencer, Plaintiff, vs. Tax Collector of Pickens County; Treasurer of Pickens County; JOHN DOE AND MARY ROE, fictitious names used to designate all unknown persons who claim any right, title, interest or lien upon the real estate described herein, and anyone who may be in the military, infants, incompetents or under any legal disability and ROGER ROE AND SARAH DOE, fictitious names who represent unknown heirs, devisees or distributees of Dixie Kelly Clegg a/k/a Dixie K. Clegg, deceased; AND the following parties believed to be alive and well: Thomas Henry Clegg, Kelli C. Duncan, and judgment Creditors who may claim as follows: Discover Bank. Defendants.
_________________________________
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an action has been commenced and is now pending before this Court upon Complaint of the above named Plaintiff against the above named Defendants, seeking to remove cloud from title to certain real property by reason of a tax deed in his chain of title, which property was, at the time of the commencement of this action and at all times thereafter, including the date of the filing of this notice, situate in Pickens County, South Carolina, and more fully described as follows, to wit:
“ALL that certain piece, parcel, or lot of land situate, lying and being in the State of South Carolina, County of Pickens, being shown and designated as Lot No. 5, Forest
