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 »
On hamburgers and helium
Now that I have finished downing a delicious Mexican Burger from Serendipity Cafe in downtown Easley — which, by the way, was recently voted the Best Lunch in Pickens County by the readers of the Courier — I will sit back and purport to write a column for you.
Speaking of burgers, here’s some more news from across the pond that you may not have heard about. McDonald’s UK has just 
introduced the South Carolina Stack: “Two 100 percent British and Irish beef burgers with bacon, smoky cheese, a Carolina Gold BBQ sauce, onions and lettuce in a cornbread-style bun.”
Now if that doesn’t start your lips to smacking, I don’t know what to do for you.
What I’m wondering, though, is why McDonald’s is selling the South Carolina Stack in the United Kingdom but not in the United States — not even in the sandwich’s namesake state.
And I’m wondering if we South Carolinians ought to be getting some royalties or something out of the use of our state’s name and sauce to sell hamburgers overseas. Perhaps this is something our burger-loving commander-in-chief ought to look into. Forget tariffs — give us royalties.
While we’re at it, I think the Brits still owe us a lot for the grief they gave us back in the Revolution and the War of 1812, not to mention how we saved their royal hind ends in World War I and World War II.
But, blimey, all they want to talk about is breaking away from the European Union. Meanwhile, they’re gobbling up a variety of wonderful burgers from McDonald’s “Great Tastes of America” specialty line.
We’ve already missed out on the New York Stack, which was available from May 1-14. It was two beef burgers, bacon and chunky coleslaw on a sesame seed bagel. The Mississippi Stack, which featured bacon, onion relish and a “rich and sticky BBQ sauce,” and
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Honoring Their Service escort to start at Southern Wesleyan
CENTRAL — Southern Wesleyan University will once again serve as the starting point for a motorcade carrying U.S. Special Operations Command Marines to Keowee Key for a week of rest and relaxation.
SWU officials invite the public to join them in welcoming the Marines on the Central campus June 17.
Each year, the service personnel, who have been deployed overseas one or more times, travel by motorcycle and Jeep escort to Lake
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Life jacket loaner station unveiled at Mile Creek Park
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
SIX MILE — It didn’t take long for visitors to begin using the latest amenity at Mile Creek Park.
Even before last week’s official unveiling of the new life jacket loaner station at the park, boaters and swimmers were borrowing the life jackets to help keep them safe on and in the water on Memorial Day.
Stocked with life jackets ranging in sizes from infant to extra-large adult, the station is available for park visitors to use free of charge.
The station at Mile Creek Park is Pickens County’s first, according to park superintendent Tyler Merck..
“This just showcases the need for this type of program in our area,” he said. “They’re already being used real heavily today.”
The station, located between the park’s boat docks, is the result of a partnership between Mile Creek Park, Prisma Health Children’s
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How the Doodle got its name
I think most folks know that the Pickens Doodle was named for some insect known as a “Doodlebug,” but I can find no record of anyone having ever specified just exactly which insect that was and why it would be associated with the train.
Well, I have done a fair amount of research on the subject, and I can say with some confidence that in the 1890s, when the Pickens Doodle made its historic maiden voyage down the tracks, it came to be known for its similarity to the larval stage of the antlion.
The larva of the antlion, known to generations of children, is a little bug that feeds on ants and captures them by making a conical tunnel in sandy soils. The tunnel is rimmed with a mound of loose sand, and when an ant approaches, the doodlebug waits in the bottom of the hole for the ant to lose its footing on the edge of the sand trap. The antlion, with its wicked-looking mandible claws, clamps down and then pulls the hapless ant into its lair.
Children (including myself) have for time immemorial obtained some amusement by taking a blade of grass, a small twig or a pine needle, and sticking it down in the doodlebug’s tunnel, which the bug grabs and holds on tight. The child then pulls out his catch and
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Who do we stand up for?
Americans fought, died, were wounded and were captured in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953.
The North Korean ruler, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the current dictator, secured supplies and training from the Soviet Union and a steady supply of soldiers from communist China. Grandpa had been a major in the Soviet army during World War II and 
joined the Communist Party.
Korea had been ruled by the Japanese since 1910. After the war ended, America and the Soviet Union agreed to divide the country at the 38th parallel, forming North and South Korea.
Kim Il Sung, an ambitious dictator, wanted to unite the country under his dictatorship.
With help from the Soviet Union and China, he fought against the United States and other United Nations forces for three years. At the end, more than 1 million people were killed, and the country was still divided.
Approximately 36,000 American soldiers died in Korea during the war, and about 100,000 were wounded. As of April of last year, according to data from the Pentagon,
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Never shoot a skunk in a barrel
One blustery and cold November day, I headed to the barn to milk the cow. I had to stop first at the corn crib to get the sweet feed. Sweet feed was used to get the cow occupied with eating so she would hold steady while being milked.
Just as I opened the corn crib door, I heard something in the sweet feed barrel. Ever so carefully, I peered over the top of the barrel and saw a striped kitty or pole cat — some call it a skunk — in the bottom of the barrel helping himself to sweet feed. Well, the furry intruder didn’t know who he was messing with.
I promptly headed to the house and came running back with my old .22 rifle. In those days, you shot varmints with no questions asked. Well, I did just that, and he did it right back.
Actually, he may have shot first, because I was covered with his skunk perfume. I didn’t realize to what extent until I went back into the house.
Mamma was in the kitchen preparing supper, and there was no need to announce my presence. She promptly ordered me to get back outside and strip to my undies. As I recall, she brought me a jar of canned tomatoes and instructed me to clean my entire skinny little body with tomato juice.
It was quite cold there on the back porch mostly naked covered with tomato juice. A valuable lesson in life was learned that evening — never shoot a skunk in a barrel.
Paul O’Shield is a local native who enjoys writing about his time as a youngster growing up in Pickens County.
Courier Letters to the Editor 6-5-19
Suggesting a Hagood Mill solution
Dear Editor,
I am very upset, like a lot of people, that the director of Hagood Mill was fired! He obviously needs to be rehired.
I trust Betty McDaniel’s judgment, and when she resigned, I knew this shouldn’t have happened. I trust Danielle Yother and Dean Watson’s judgment as well.
That being said, I have an obvious single solution to this financial problem. They should charge a fee of admission of $5-$10 to the mill on their Saturday events, with children 12 and under being free. This way the people benefitting from the events will be paying for it.
As Olivia Fowler said, a nonprofit group is not expected to be profitable. If all else fails, add a 1 cent sales tax in Pickens County to pay for it. Also, groups like Blue Ridge Electric that raise money for charity can pay for the mill as well.
Diane Finley
Easley
Ungrateful school board?
Dear Editor,
As a retired first grade teacher with a master’s degree in early childhood education and 29 years under my belt teaching, as well as
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Courier Obituaries 6-5-19
BETTY JEAN CHRISMER
EASLEY— Betty Jean Chrismer, 82, passed away peacefully on Thursday May 30, 2019.
She was born on Oct. 15, 1936, to the late Roy and Mary Reeves.
Mrs. Chrismer attended Holy Cross Catholic Church in Pickens and was a member at Zion Methodist Church in Easley. She truly loved entertaining friends and family, as she had a very generous heart. She also enjoyed making people laugh and to laugh herself. Those who knew her best also knew that she never met a stranger.
She is survived by her husband, Robert Chrismer; two sons, Robert Chrismer II (Jiamin) and David Chrismer (Michele); one daughter, Elizabeth Hitchcock (Ken); and two grandchildren, Johnny and Patrick.
A graveside service was held on June 3 in Hillcrest Memorial Park with Father Jim Dubrouillet officiating.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hospice of the Upstate at 1835 Rogers Road, Anderson, SC, 29621, and Holy Cross Catholic Outreach at 558 Hampton Ave., Pickens, SC, 29671.
Messages of condolence may be expressed by visiting dillardfunerals.com.
MICHAEL PAUL BOHM
EASLEY — Michael Paul Bohm, 59, passed away on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, at his home.
Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was the son of the late Frederick Walter and Anna Marie Kasner Bohm. Michael received an associate degree from Pinellas Technical College in Clearwater, Fla., and was an electronics technician with Abbott Laboratories in Liberty.
He enjoyed spending time with his friends and family, especially his nieces and nephews, and playing different instruments.
He is survived by two sisters, Michelle Papke of Fletcher, N.C., and Mindy Maiden (Chris) of Ladson; two nieces, Kristina and Caitlyn
‘Who lynched Willie Earle?’
By Dr. Thomas Cloer, Jr.
Special to The Courier
For four weeks we have reviewed some highlights from They Stole Him Out of Jail: Willie Earle, South Carolina’s Last Lynching Victim, the most comprehensive
book ever written about the subject. The book was written by Pickens County native and University of Denver professor emeritus William B. Gravely. The book was recently published by the University of South Carolina Press. The book is available for sale at book stores and online at uscpress.com, Amazon or other outlets.
The book has so much interesting information about how the religious and civic communities reacted in this segregated era of South Carolina’s history when a young African-American was taken from the old Pickens jail and brutally beaten, stabbed repeatedly and shot in the face with a shotgun. The murder was carried out by a mob of 31 men who were arrested, arraigned, tried and acquitted in 1947.
Reaction from Pickens County
Gravely writes in great detail how different individuals and groups from the religious communities in the town and county of Pickens
reacted. For example, the editor of the weekly Pickens Sentinel, Gary Hiott Sr., a Baptist layman and son of a minister, immediately after the lynching wrote a front-page editorial condemning the lynching and blatantly interfering with Earle’s right to a fair trial. He wrote about the shame the community would share because of this evil. How brave was Hiott to talk of how lynching violated the feelings of Christian people who had a responsibility to provide the protection any human should expect? In the next week’s edition of the Pickens paper, Hiott’s minister at First Baptist Church of Pickens, E.R. Eller, praised Hiott’s editorial, You must be logged in to view this content.
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Back To Work 50+ workshop set for Thursday
UPSTATE — Job seekers who are 50 and older are updating their skills and may be eligible to receive free job training through the AARP Back to Work 50+ grant at Tri-County Technical College.
The next seven Smart Strategies for Job Search Workshop will be held this Thursday, June 6, from 2-4 p.m. at the Tri-County Technical College Pendleton campus.
For more information or to register for the workshop, call the AARP Foundation at 1-855-850-2525.
The Back To Work 50+ program is designed to help unemployed men and women over the age of 50 update their job-search skills and in some cases, get short-term job training. At Tri-County Technical College, eligible participants may receive tuition assistance to enroll in training programs that would prepare them to work in administrative offices/medical offices, logistics, computer service
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