Local councils take part in state leadership training
COLUMBIA — City council members from the City of Liberty and the City of Pickens spent last week in Columbia More »
Hot-shooting Hillcrest keeps Easley winless in region play
By Bru Nimmons Sports Editor bnimmons@thepccourier.com EASLEY — Holding a 60-57 lead entering the fourth quarter of their matchup against More »
LWVOP receives empowerment grant to expand local voter education efforts
UPSTATE — The League of Women Voters of Oconee and Pickens Counties (LWVOP) is excited to announce that it has More »
PC Native Plant Jubilee returns on May 2
LIBERTY — The Pickens County Native Plant Jubilee will return for its second year Saturday, May 2, bringing together gardeners, More »
Lady Blue Flame varsity wins first three regular-season matches
PICKENS — The Pickens High School Lady Blue Flame won its first three matches of the regular season last week, including a home match against crosstown archrival Easley High School.
Lady Blue Flame middle hitter Caroline Lucas (left) and setter Lauren Dow await a serve during the recent match against Easley High School, won by Pickens in three sets. Lyndsay Earnhardt/photo
The Lady Blue Flame downed Easley in three sets in a home
Jessie Lee Gilstrap (left) of Pickens High and Gabby Warren of Easley High display snacks that were set out for the Easley players by the Lady Blue Flame in a spirit of sportsmanship before the volleyball match.
match Aug. 28: 25-16, 25-19, 25-18.
In the match against Easley, senior right-side hitter Olivia Dow led in kills with 15, followed by senior outside hitter Brooklyn Johnson with five. Senior setter Kaylee Gillespie led in assists with 22, while freshman setter Lauren Dow had 11. Sophomore libero Bailee Earnhardt led in digs with 15, followed by sophomore defensive specialist Maggie Sizemore with 10. Olivia Dow had four blocks in the match, and sophomore middle hitter Caroline Lucas had three.
In a tri-match Aug. 26 at Pickens, the Lady Blue Flame defeated Southside Christian in two sets, 25-8, 25-11, and downed Greenville High School in three sets, 25-2, 25-27, 25-13. In the first set against Greenville, Sizemore served 15 straight times with five aces.
During the matches against Southside Christian and Greenville, the Dow sisters achieved the “Double Dow,” as Lauren led in kills with 13, followed by Olivia with 10. Gillespie led in assists with 27, and Lauren Dow had 14. The Dow sisters also led in blocks, with each having two. Sizemore had 26 digs, and sophomore defensive specialist Ali Pace had 18
The Lady Blue Flame plays a non-region match Thursday night at Eastside High School. The region schedule begins Sept. 16 against Wren at Pickens High School in the Peggy Harden Anthony Gymnasium.
Plans moving ahead to transform old Easley mill into apartment complex
After more than a decade of planning, the transformation of the old Easley Woodside Mill into an upscale apartment complex is finally set to begin.
That’s the headline. Now let me tell you the story, or at least the bit of it I know.
Once upon a time, there was a man named Harry King. He lived in Easley and made his living buying and selling used textile machinery.
His company was called IP Southern. You may have noticed that name on the water tower of the old Woodside
Mill on South 5th Street in Easley.
Sometime in the early 1990s, as the region’s textile industry began to fall on hard times due to cheap foreign imports, Woodside decided to close its Easley mill, which was one of the oldest in its system.
King saw an opportunity in this local tragedy. He bought the mill, and all the equipment inside it, and had sold all the machinery within a few years.
He died in 2007.
King had four daughters — Sophie, Julie, Popie and
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Cliffs course worker dies in accident on job
SIX MILE — A worker died last week after being injured at The Cliffs at Keowee Springs golf course.
Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley identified the victim as Benjamin Wood, 32, of Lebanon Road in Pendleton.
Kelley said Wood was cutting down a tree at the golf course on Aug. 28 when he became injured.
He was pronounced dead at AnMed Health Cannon, she said.
An autopsy was scheduled Thursday, Kelley said, and no foul play is suspected.
The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, the Pickens County Coroner’s Office and the Occupational Safety and Health
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Clemson chamber to offer ATAX training
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — The Clemson Chamber of Commerce hopes to help county officials educate applicants on the accommodations tax process.
In recent months, county council members have expressed their frustration with a lack of requested data regarding accommodations tax applications.
ATAX funds are intended for programs and events that draw visitors to Pickens County from at least 50 miles away, who will stay in local hotels.
During council’s recent 19 committee of the whole meeting, acting county administrator Ken Roper gave an update on
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State DSS head: Group homes not long-term answer
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The new director of the South Carolina Department of Social Services believes that group homes should only be a temporary measure.
Department of Social Services and foster care were the main topics of a recent Pickens United meeting.
“Group homes are fine, for the right child,” SCDSS director Mike Leach said. “There’s a lot of research to show that now. The federal government is forcing states to move forward and say ‘Use it, let’s make it sure it’s quality when used, use it for the right kids and don’t use it for too long.’”
Long-term group residency can create “disconnect from the community,” he said.
“That child loses access to their family a lot of times,” he said. “It does more harm than good. A lot of young people do thrive in those settings … but we need to make sure it’s only for the right young people.”
Leach said DSS “is the hardest job in state government,
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Veteran begins statewide walk at Sassafras Mountain
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Greg Quarles is walking across South Carolina to help raise awareness for the sports opportunities available to injured veterans.
Quarles kicked off his walk Thursday morning atop Sassafras Mountain.
“We’re going 357.4 miles over 14 days, from here to Patriots Point down in in Charleston,” he said.
He’ll finish his walk on Sept. 11.
Quarles is the executive director of Arrows for Heroes and the chapter president of South Carolina Arrows for Heroes, a nonprofit that specializes in helping “injured and ill veterans overcome their
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Board recognizes SkillsUSA winners
The School District of Pickens County board recently recognized several students from the Pickens County Career and Technology Center who participated in the national SkillsUSA competition this summer. Jacob Campbell (above) was crowned national champion in the CNC technician competition. Campbell is now senior at Pickens High School and still has one year of eligibility to compete. The district’s mobile robotics team (below) also won silver at SkillsUSA. The team’s members were 2019 Liberty High School valedictorian Isaac Cook and Pickens High School senior Brady Reece. CTC teachers Brian Aiken and LaMarr Brooks coached the students to success at the highest levels of competition.
Working hard for our county
My first summer job was as the groundskeeper at Flat Rock Baptist Church. I had a Sears riding lawnmower to cut the 
lawn, a Briggs and Stratton push mower to cut between the cemetery plots, and an International Cub Tractor to bush hog the field between the church fellowship hall and the parsonage. I had different tools to accomplish different tasks, which allowed me to get the job done more effectively. I remember it as being hard work, and thinking back, I hope I did a good job for the church.
As the years went on, my jobs changed, and so did the tools I used. I used hand trucks to move refrigerators when I worked for Nalley’s Furniture. I used a soldering iron when I worked for Sangamo on the mini shift. Once I entered college and law school, I traded in those tools for books and libraries. And my senior
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The sad tale of Butch
Butch was a great little guy. We hung together for a couple of years when I was a teenager. Although he was much younger than I, he was one of my best friends.
There wasn’t much we could not talk about. He was a great listener, but usually just wanted to play. As I recall, he 
loved the water. We would go swimming together in Daddy’s lake. He could swim much better than I. He could out run me. As a matter of fact, he could do a lot of things better than me. Brother Fred always said that he was better looking than me. Even though I did have large ears and a large nose, that’s debatable. However, Brother Fred is a pretty astute observer and wise individual.
Did I mention that Butch was a bulldog? A thoroughbred boxer, to be exact. But he didn’t know that, and I didn’t tell him. He thought he was human. I never knew his mom, but his dad was Rex and belonged to Brother Bobby. Since Butch and I favored so much, he decided to give him to me.
Now dogs back in the ‘60s did not enjoy the family status of today’s dogs. Nor did they have the privileges of today’s dogs. They had to stay outside
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Was Ernest T right?
Ernest T. Bass is a character on the beloved “Andy Griffith Show” who burst upon the scene in the ‘60s. When Ernest T. came into Mayberry on occasion, he’d announce his presence by throwing a rock through a window and cackling an 
rnest T. Bass is a character on the beloved “Andy Griffith Show” who burst upon the scene in the ‘60s. When Ernest T. came into Mayberry on occasion, he’d announce his presence by throwing a rock through a window and cackling an insane laugh, yelling out, “It’s me, it’s me, it’s Ernest T.”
Ernest T. had a somewhat limited view of life. He had grown up in an area cut off from much of the outside world.
In fact, he was illiterate, and the boundaries of the world as he knew it consisted of Old Man Kelsey’s Woods and Old Man Kelsey’s Creek.
In many ways he was like a wild animal, but he did live by a code. Free from peer pressure or the need to fit in, Ernest T. was completely free.
He lived off the land, hunted and fished and
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