Category Archives: Opinions
Courier Letters to the Editor
Update on Upcountry Fiber
To the Editor,
Most of you the Pickens Courier story entitled, “Upcountry Fiber receives federal grant”. Blue Ridge Electric/ UpCountry Fiber received a $12 million federal grant to push-out its internet service in Pickens County. In total, Blue Ridge will invest $40 to $50 million in Pickens County
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building out its high speed internet service and lay over 2,000 miles of fiber in our county.
First, I want to thank the Blue Ridge Co-op’s board, its managers and all its employees for all the work they’ve done in the Pickens area. A very large majority of the area now has this lightening fast internet service. Pickens was the most under-served area of the county and turned out to be one of the first on the list. Thank you.
Reading the article, most of the focus with this next phase will be in Six Mile in 2024, then Liberty in 2025 and the rest of Dacusville.
Representing the Pickens area, the questions I get pertain to the un-served areas that remain in my district. One area is Walhalla Highway, both above and below the highway. As I wrote before the substations in the Pickens area are at AR Lewis and Holly Springs schools, Tally Bridge Rd and Highway 11, Griffin Church on Highway 8 and at the School District Administration building.
Blue Ridge will focus on getting the substation at Ponderosa Park in Six Mile up and running and then build another at Gap Hill Road (just west of SC 133). Those substations and their fiber lines are scheduled to be installed by the end of 2024. This will primarily light up Six Mile, greater Six Mile, and the Mountain View area with high speed internet. However, these stations will also reach the western part of my district along Walhalla Highway – areas like Mile Creek Rd, Brandy Lane, Stephens Road and others.
On the other side of my district, out Glassy Mountain way, soon they will start work to light up Chinquapin Road. Other spots in that area will depend on the demand and whether or not Blue Ridge Electric serves that area. (Don’t shoot the messenger on this, as I am just relaying what I’m learning.)
Also keep in mind, if your area is not served by Blue Ridge Electric and it doesn’t have Blue Ridge infra-structure in place, it is unlikely the service will make it out your way in this phase of the project. If you want the service and are on the Blue Ridge grid, go to UpCountryFiber.com and put in your address to let them know you want the service. Demand also plays a role as well.
Alex Saitta
Pickens, SC
Safety amidst Spring cleaning
It’s time to begin my annual spring cleaning, and this year it’s going to be a bit different. Instead of just sticking with the window cleaning, closet organizing and dryer vent vacuuming type of 
activities, I’m going to concentrate on safety.
Grab bar in the shower: I’m going to bite the
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No ‘one-size fits all’
Service-connected injuries and conditions for which you can receive compensation can be either physical or mental. But there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to how much compensation you 
can receive. Whether it’s hearing loss or depression, or cancer or PTSD, each one has a
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Takeaways don’t always go according to plan
In 1920, the taverns ran dry. The 18th Amendment, also called the Volstead Act, was passed by the U.S. Congress, and the amendment was ratified by three-quarters of the nation’s states, despite a 
veto from President Woodrow Wilson (bless his heart). It was never illegal to “consume” alcohol
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Control your thoughts, or they will control you
We all know the feeling of having something on our minds that we have a difficult time letting go of. Similar to an image or a catchy song that gets stuck in our head, commonly called an earworm, 
negative thoughts can be very difficult to remove and the more we replay them the more familiar they
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Courier Letters to the Editor 4-10-24
Doing the impossible
Dear Editor,
There are some things in this world that are impossibilities. Here are just a few.
Dribble a football, whistle with your mouth full of cornbread. Find the beginning or ending of a circle. For that matter, find the end of a rainbow. Stop a cold cough from happening. Sneeze with your eyes open — well, maybe possible, but very difficult.
Remember what you ate for your evening meal several weeks ago, although you can remember
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VA by the numbers
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been going all out to provide expanded access to care to veterans. They’re calling it Access Sprints, and it means they’re scheduling more appointments at night and on weekends, as well as scheduling more veterans into their daily schedule.
The effort seems to be showing progress. Just this year
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What seniors worry about
It’s very helpful to have friends and acquaintances scattered across the country when I need to do another informal poll. This time my questions to them concerned what seniors worry about.
I got them started with a list of suggestions on a page, to be ranked in order, with a blank place under each one for comments, and space below for
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The need for reliable electricity
If you get nervous when your vehicle’s gas light comes on, you know how the leaders of South Carolina’s electric cooperatives feel amid our state’s looming energy crisis.
If only it were as easy to refuel our supply of electricity as it is to pull into a gas station.
Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of people in the Carolinas felt like they were stranded on
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When are we too old for ladders?
Months ago I’d made my resolutions list for 2024, carefully picking options that I could surely accomplish this year. I chose things like adopting a kitten pal for my cat, selling my father’s coin collection, and hiring my handyman neighbor to paint the bathroom.
Thus far it’s the bathroom painting that is
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