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 »
250 jobs leaving
Central plant announces plan to close in June
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
CENTRAL — A plant that has spent nearly a half-century in Central is set to close its doors by the end of June — affecting 250 employees.
Shaw Industries Group Inc. announced Thursday it plans to shift production from its extension yarn facility on S.C. Highway 93 in Pickens County to other Shaw facilities throughout the Southeast. Plant officials said the consolidation process would begin immediately, with operations at what is
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PCSO hopes to get help with sex offenders
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — With the number of registered sex offenders in Pickens County at an all-time high, the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office is requesting more funding for its sex offender unit.
Chief Deputy Creed Hashe said the agency is requesting $42,000 from county council in next year’s budget to upgrade a part-time civilian position in the unit to a full-time detective position.
Hashe, Capt. Chad Brooks and detective Lee Clark recently discussed monitoring and investigating offenders.
“Somebody’s got to be the watchdog for that,” Hashe said. “Otherwise we’re just merely reacting to crime. We’re reacting
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The growth of hemp
Some Easley residents — myself included — were a bit taken aback when a store called Upstate Hemp popped up downtown 
a few months ago.
Its logo, which looks, for all the world, like a marijuana leaf, called to mind visions of black lights, psychedelic posters and multi-flavored rolling papers of the “head shops” of the late 1960s.
But this is no head shop. It’s a store dedicated to the dispensing of the oil of marijuana’s non-psychoactive cousin, industrial hemp, which users say eases their pain and anxiety but doesn’t get them high.
Now, I’m not taking a position on whether the stuff works or not, although there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that it does. The research hasn’t been done yet.
But I thought it was worth noting that not only is such a store in operation in downtown Easley, but there’s also a facility in
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Official: County has high child sex abuse rate
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — Pickens County has a high number of child sexual 
abuse cases, according to 13th Judicial Circuit assistant solicitor Brandi Hinton.
Hinton spoke at Monday’s Pickens United meeting in Liberty.
When Hinton began working in the 13th Judicial Circuit around eight years ago, Pickens County had one of the highest levels of child sexual abuse cases in the state per capita, she said.
The circuit, which includes both Pickens and Greenville
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Doing their part
Members of a Rock Springs Baptist Church youth group pause for a photo after taking part in Easley Clean Up Day Saturday. City Councilman Terry Moore said the group covered Easley’s half of the Doodle Trail, Doodle Park, East North Street, North A Street and Fleetwood Drive and picked up enough litter to fill his truck. “What hard work, and they made it so exciting,” he said.
Courtesy photo
Countywide litter blitz postponed
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — Predicted rain caused county officials to postpone a countywide cleanup that had been planned for April 26.
County community relations manager Jamie Burns said May 24 is the new date for the next Team Up and Clean Up Anti-Litter Blitz.
Sen. Rex Rice and county council chairman Roy Costner both
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Community to sleep in boxes to help homeless
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
CLEMSON — A new neighborhood will be constructed on Friday night.
Its residents will sleep in cardboard boxes to learn firsthand what it’s like to be homeless.
Family Promise of Pickens County’s fourth annual Cardboard Box City event will begin at 6 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of Clemson.
Executive director Armilla Moore said Cardboard Box City events are one of the signature fundraisers for the national Family Promise organization.
“The idea is for people to get a feel for how it feels to sleep in a cardboard box,” she said. “I’ve done it, and it’s not easy. It seems a lot easier than it really is. I did it where I knew I was
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Holly Springs Center to host first-ever Appalachian Arts and Culture festival
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Holly Springs Center is throwing a party Saturday.
The Appalachian Arts and Culture Festival will be held from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at the center, located at 120 Holly Springs School Road north of Pickens.
Holly Springs Center chair Abby Baker said the event is rain or shine.
“We can move it inside if there’s an issue,” she said.
Admission is free.
A BBQ food truck will be at the center during the festival.
“We’re going to have vendors of handmade items,” Baker said.
The Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail is celebrating its 10th
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The visitors
Each year in mid to late November, you would see them walking toward the house from mid-afternoon until just before dusk — generally one or two at a time, and sometimes more.
Some wore their work clothes, while others wore some type of camo or dull clothing. They all wore boots or work shoes, and none were hatless. Occasionally, you would see a man bringing his son.
I don’t believe we had zombies back in those days, but if we did, these men and boys surely would have set the mood. They all carried firearms — from shotguns to pistols, and here and there a small-caliber rifle, with lots of ammo swinging in a bag at their waist. Each bag had a large opening for quick access to more ammo.
These people did not speak — at least not loudly. They all had stern, driven looks on their faces. Some were there smoking,
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Courier Letters to the Editor
Thank God for atheists
Dear Editor,
I’d like to say thank God for atheists. Say what?!
Seriously, they’re helping to keep God’s existence fresh in the minds of the people. If it weren’t for the atheists continually harping on God with such things as taking down the 10 Commandments or trying to remove prayer from school, He’d probably be forgotten by now. I know it isn’t intentional, but thank you anyway.
If we had to rely on so-called Christians to keep God alive in the memories of all, He would have been forgotten long ago. Many Christians go to church once a week and listen to several hymns and a sermon, then leave and probably never mention or think of God again until next time they’re in church. The way some
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