PICKENS — Less than two weeks after a successful benefit concert in his honor, beloved upstate banjo player and teacher Al Osteen died last week following a battle with cancer.
Osteen, 61, died at his home in Landrum.
An all-star cast of bluegrass musicians put on a concert Sunday, Dec. 19, at Pickens High School to benefit Osteen, who in recent years had used his talents to teach area children how to play bluegrass music as part of the Young Appalachian Musicians program.
All proceeds from the concert and a silent auction held the same day went toward Osteen’s medical bills.
A memorial service was held Sunday afternoon at the Chapel at the Cliffs at Glassy off S.C. Highway 11, featuring touching bluegrass performances, including a song from Kristin Scott Benson, one of Osteen’s most successful former students.
Benson, a three-time International Bluegrass Music Association banjo player of the year, also performed at the benefit concert two weeks ago.
“Without Al’s influence, I doubt that I would have become a professional musician,” Benson said prior to the concert. “His impact, personally and musically, is immeasurable.”
Osteen touched many children ranging from third grade through eighth grade in Pickens County through his involvement in the Young Appalachian Musicians program, including Isaac Ferrell, who won first-place at two different national banjo festivals last year.
“If it wasn’t for Al, I probably would not be playing the banjo,” Ferrell said. “Al took time with me; he never got frustrated when I needed help.”
Charles Wood, a nationally known banjo player who also learned many of the tricks of the trade from Osteen, recently said that Osteen’s impact will be remembered for many years to come.
“Al is not only my biggest musical influence, but one of the most influential people in my life overall,” Wood said prior to the benefit concert two weeks ago. “He was one of the first and few highly accomplished Scruggs style five-string banjo players anywhere and learned to play in an era when there were no banjo teachers or instructional material. Al is a much more accomplished musician than and highly spoken of by many legendary players I have met.”
Osteen is survived by his wife, Rebecca Mullinax Osteen, as well as two sons, a daughter, a grandson, a brother and a sister.

PICKENS — The mother and grandmother of the two children at the center of a recent false AMBER alert were arrested last week on conspiracy charges.
According to the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, the mother of the children, Keyly Martay Wade, 20, of 2225 Cannon Bottom Road in Belton, was charged Dec. 29 with four counts of conspiracy to file a false police report and two counts of unlawful neglect of a child in relation to the incident.
Belinda Marie Wade, 47, of the same address in Belton, who is the grandmother of the children, was also charged with four counts of conspiracy to file a false police report, deputies say.
The charges stem from a case reported on last week by the Pickens County Courier where an Easley woman was arrested after police say she filed a false felony report to authorities.
In warrants issued by the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, Lisa Ann Jordan, 40, of 4725 Old Easley Bridge Road, was charged with four counts of filing false police reports of felonies, including the theft of her car, breaking and entering her home and the abduction of two minors in her custody.
In a release from the PCSO, deputies say that on December 22 at approximately 7 a.m., the sheriff’s office received a report from Jordan, that two female children, one-year-old Kynadi Leigh Grace Manley and two-year-old Alexis London Marie Manley, had been kidnapped from her home.
Upon investigation, detectives determined that Jordan had filed a false report related to the burglary, kidnapping and motor vehicle theft. Warrants were issued charging Jordan with four felony counts of filing a false report in reference to the two kidnappings, burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.
An AMBER Alert that was issued based on the false report was cancelled when officers determined the report was not genuine. Investigators worked with out-of-state authorities to determine the location and wellbeing of the children. Investigators believed the children were with their mother, Keyly Wade, and their grandmother, Belinda Marie Wade.
On December 23 at approximately 1:30 p.m., the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office received a call from Bazetta, Ohio, Police Department Officer Joe Sofcheck.
Sofcheck said he had stopped the vehicle that Keyly Wade and Belinda Wade were occupying with the two children reported missing.
Belinda Marie Wade was arrested December 29 and released on a $16,000 surety bond on January 3.
Keyly Martay Wade was also arrested December 29 and was released on a $20,000 surety bond on January 3.

PICKENS — The city of Pickens has started the year of 2011 with many exciting projects on the horizon.
In the city’s first meeting of the year on Monday, city council voted on several projects that are slated to make huge impacts on the lifestyle and business atmosphere of Pickens.
Those projects include the renovation of the city’s aging water plant, a possible mountain bike trail and a Village Renaissance project that will improve the lives of many of its residents.
In the council’s first order of business in the new year, councilman Fletcher Perry told the rest of council that an affordable housing grant had indeed been awarded to the community. As part of the grant process, he asked that council rezone a portion of Lewis Street to RM-16 or Residential Multi-Family District to allow for the project, which will bring low-cost housing into the community. The ordinance was passed unanimously by council.
Council then tackled the process that could allow the city to obtain a $500,000 Village Renaissance Community Development Block Grant that would be used to improve the southern and central part of the city.
Last month, the city was named as one of 12 cities in the state chosen to receive Village Renaissance money, and the city has been awarded a $20,000 block grant to begin improvements. With the passing of the resolution by council, the city will be responsible for a 10 percent match, or $2,000.
The passage of the resolution also gives the city the opportunity to aid the residents of the central and southern portions of Pickens, especially the low- to moderate-income residents, by applying for a Village Renaissance Grant from the SC Department of Commerce, Grants Administration. The Village Renaissance Grant would be used to develop a community development plan and two subsequent construction phases.
Following the vote, council members were addressed by David Shellhorse, an economic development planner for the Appalachian Council of Governments.
Shellhorse outlined the plan, which will develop a strategic five-year revitalization plan. He said that the principles were to address the infrastructure, identify in-fill housing opportunities, improve the physical appearance and property value to promote sustainability, walkability and conservation, to promote civic participation and volunteerism and to promote safety and neighborhood pride.
He added that many of the projects that the city is already doing such as the streetscape on East Main Street and the affordable housing project will help in the efforts to obtain the CDBG grant.
Another move that is being made by the city is to support the Main Street SC program. Council voted unanimously to submit, approve, and endorse the submission of this application to “Main Street South Carolina.” With the vote, the city committed to the supporting annual start-up budget estimated at $20,000 to $35,000.
According to the Municipal Association website, the Main Street South Carolina program empowers residents with the knowledge, skills, tools and organizational structure necessary to revitalize their downtowns, neighborhood commercial districts and cities/towns into vibrant centers of commerce and community.
“We still have to be accepted,” Pickens city administrator Katherine Brackett told council. But the money has to be available just to start.
In another move to enhance the city economically, council voted to award a contract to Ride Garden/PELCOR for master planning for bike trails at Town Creek Trail. The plan is expected to be completed by May 1. The idea is to connect with Easley and Liberty in providing a first-class bike trail that would encourage riders from all over the United States to use for sport and races. Councilman Jason Cassell said that the impact economically to the city would be huge if a full-scale mountain bike trail is built.
In other business, council voted to pass the first reading to issue a general obligation bond to not exceed $500,000. The bond is cited for use in paying the city’s lease payments on certain equipment and to purchase a sanitation collection truck, mower and certain fire-fighting apparatuses.
Council then voted to award contracts to Hulsey, Wallace and McCormick for Waste Water Treatment Plant Permitting assistance and to provide a City Lake Yield Study.
Mayor David Owens ended the meeting by reporting on the sidewalk project on East Main Street.
Owens said that problems had appeared, including the city having to replace a large portion of sewer pipe. The unexpected issue has slowed the project. Owens said that he knew some businesses are not happy with the delays, but felt sure all would be happy when they see the finished sidewalks.
Owens also took the opportunity to thank all those that helped with the Pickens Christmas parade. He also thanked the Pickens Jaycees and the group’s alumni for all the years of service in handling the parade.

The first baby of the new year was born on Sunday, January 2, at 11:55 a.m. at Baptist Easley Hospital’s Birthplace. Alyssa Grace Hickey arrived at 7 pounds, 9 ounces. Proud parents are Angela and Brian Hickey, along with big sister, Kerri.

LIBERTY — Weight Watchers holds an annual contest to recognize program members who have been successful in their weight loss goals and who inspire others struggling with similar issues. One of Weight Watchers’ 2010 Role Model of the Year first-place winners is Liberty resident Sheri Cameron.
When Cameron began her journey with Weight Watchers three years ago, her 5’5” frame was lugging around an unhealthy 349 lbs. of weight.
“I had to special order my clothes on the Internet,” said Cameron. “When I got winded walking up the stairs, I knew it was time to do something.”
Following a program that taught her balance, modification and healthy eating habits, Cameron has lost 200 lbs. since April 2007.
In recent years, South Carolina has consistently ranked high among the fattest states in the nation. Obesity is a national epidemic linked to diseases like diabetes and hypertension, as well as costing upwards of $140 billion worth of medical expenses each year. Sheri Cameron, like many overweight adults, have wrestled with weight and dieting since childhood.
“I remember being over 100lbs when I was 8 or 9 years old,” said Cameron. “At 12 years old, I had to have hip surgery and at that time I weighed about 180lbs.” Various unsuccessful attempts at dieting affected her self-esteem and confidence. When she made the decision to join Weight Watchers, Cameron said she surrounded herself with supportive people to whom she would have to be accountable.
“I asked my Mom to join Weight Watchers with me,” explained Cameron. “I knew she had done it in the past and it had worked. I asked people for help and encouragement. Now that I am healthy, I can support other people. It is nice to give back to people because I have had so many people support me.”
Cameron’s weight loss and winning title as a 2010 Weight Watchers Role Model of the Year has awarded her the opportunity guest speak at Weight Watchers meeting across the South Carolina Upstate. She also received a gift card for Macys and Weight Watchers matched one dollar for every pound Cameron lost in a donation to the charity of her choice. With the $200, Cameron purchased 375lbs of food that she donated to Pendleton Place Children’s Shelter in Greenville.
Lisa Craig, Public Relations Manager for Eastern US Weight Watchers, submitted Cameron’s inspiring story to People magazine. Featured in the current edition of People’s “Half Their Size” issue (now on newsstands), her 200lb weight loss has earned Cameron national media recognition. When asked if she is approached out in public, she replied “I’m not that famous.”
Being a winner in the Weight Watchers competition was an unexpected victory for Cameron. The physical health benefits and through-the-roof self-confidence resulting from her accomplishments are, perhaps, the rewards for which Cameron is most grateful.
“When I first started Weight Watchers, I looked around the room and thought no one here has as much weight to lose as I do. No one knows what it’s like to be me. What I know now is that you don’t know at what stage people are in their journeys. There were people who knew what it was like to be me because they had been me when they started.”
Sheri Cameron has triumphed over her struggles with weight loss by taking her journey one day at a time. In the three years it took her to lose 200lbs in a healthy manner, she acquired the knowledge and tools to make her weight-loss permanent. “I am successful because I did not deprive myself of the things I like. I learned that I do have control over what I do and don’t eat. Weight Watchers is a very do-able, live-able program. I am supportive of anyone who has the desire to lose weight, but I also don’t push my journey onto anyone.” Her advice is simple: stick to it and don’t give up!

UPSTATE — Textile tycoon Roger Milliken, who supervised operations at Milliken & Company for approximately 60 years — as president from 1947-83, chairman and CEO from 1983-2003 and chairman from 2003-2010, died Thursday, December 30, 2010 in Spartanburg. He was 95 years old.
Milliken, a billionaire and fixture on Forbes magazine’s list of richest Americans, was born in New York City on October 24, 1915. In 1947 he inherited the family’s textile business, which was co-founded in 1865 by his grandfather Seth Milliken, following the death of his father Gerrish Milliken.
Based in Spartanburg, Milliken & Company is one of the largest textile and chemical firms in the nation, manufacturing materials used in products as varied as flame-resistant gear for firefighters and the balloons in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Another ingenuity credited to Milliken is the ingredient responsible for giving Jell-O pudding its smooth creaminess.
According to Milliken’s company website, Milliken has produced more than 2,000 patents and has developed the largest textile research center in the world. Roger Milliken is responsible for designing the “Crafted with Pride in the U.S.A.” advertising campaign. Interested in protecting the American worker and textile industry, the campaign was created to deflect the flood of imported textiles that threatened the U.S. textile and apparel industry.
In 2001, in his mid-80s, Milliken co-founded the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC). Based in Washington, D.C., this organization is comprised of manufacturers who share a common mission “to preserve and create American manufacturing jobs through the establishment of trade policy and other measures necessary for the U.S. manufacturing sector to stabilize and grow.”
Because of Milliken’s unwavering dedication to the highest business standards and his personal and professional integrity, the industry’s trade publication, Textile World, selected him as the textile industry’s Leader of the Century in 1999.
He was also an inaugural inductee to the American Textile Hall of Fame. In addition, Business Week listed Milliken & Company as one of the “Best Places to Launch a Career” in 2008, and in 2009 FORTUNE magazine named it, for the fifth time, one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”
Milliken & Company has also been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” from 2007-2010.
Business and industry are not the only arenas in which Roger Milliken was a pivotal figure. He was a generous supporter of conservative Republicans. His financial and intellectual contributions to politics helped the Republican Party come to dominate politics in South Carolina. Milliken was a Republican delegate to eight national conventions from 1956-1984.
A proponent of equality in education, Milliken advocated for racial integration at Spartanburg’s Wofford College during the turbulent 1960s Civil Rights era. In fact, he even volunteered to support the college financially if its acceptance of black students drove other financial backers away. Eventually, the college voluntarily integrated its student population.
Before the idea of “going green” became fashionably ubiquitous, Roger Milliken was a devoted environmentalist well-known for his love of trees.
He established the Noble Tree Foundation in 1999 to encourage tree planting — especially in more rundown neighborhoods. In 2004, Milliken received the Frederick Law Olmsted Award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the National Arbor Day Foundation. And in 2007, the American Society of Landscape Architects conferred Honorary Membership on Roger Milliken. He was also awarded the Frances K. Hutchinson Medal by the Garden Club of America.
Various recycling and emissions and waste reduction programs have been implemented and utilized at Milliken & Company for many years and the result is a current “carbon-negative” status.
According to company representatives, Milliken & Company plants divert “99.98 percent of all the company’s waste away from landfills to places where it can be reused, recycled, or converted to energy. Milliken and Company has reduced its rate of water usage by over 50 percent since 1991.”
A graduate of Yale University, Roger Milliken was married to his wife Justine Van Rensselaer Hooper for 55 years. She died in 2003. Together they raised five children and enjoyed nine grandchildren.
“Daddy lived a rewarding 95 years,” his children said in a recent press release. “We are grateful, as was he, for the friendship and support from so many that enabled him to live a full, productive, creative, and passionate life. He enjoyed every minute of it.”
Milliken CEO Joe Salley added, “We are in a profound state of sadness. We will miss him greatly.”

STATE — Pickens Savings & Loan and CapitalBank recently joined the South Carolina Bar Foundation to advance justice by improving access, education and accountability.
The banks have elected to go “above and beyond” by becoming Prime Partners. Prime Partner banks voluntarily pay higher interest rates on Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts (IOLTA). The South Carolina Bar Foundation receives the majority of its funding from IOLTA accounts. IOLTA makes it possible for low income South Carolinians to receive legal aid, youth to participate in law related education opportunities and the community to benefit from other justice-related endeavors.
Prime Partner banks, which currently pay 0.75 percent on IOLTA accounts, have a direct impact on the amount of money available to help low income South Carolinians with their civil legal issues. Legal aid offices assist in matters dealing with family, housing, employment and consumer law.
The South Carolina Bar Foundation has seen an 84 percent decline in IOLTA revenues since 2007 due to the impact of low interest rates. Prime Partners, such as CapitalBank and Pickens Savings & Loan, help to mitigate the decline in revenue available to fund valuable programs in South Carolina. Alex Gettys, President of Pickens S&L said, “We are always looking for ways to give back to our community. The Prime Partners Program is an excellent way to do that and we are pleased that we can participate.”
In the 2010 grant year, 9,700 low income South Carolinians received civil legal services. Just under 350 homeless men and women were aided in their time of need. More than 5,500 South Carolina students were reached through law related education initiatives. Another 1,494 children and 618 families got help though a guardian, volunteer or mediator. More than 3,840 people benefited from a clinic or phone bank. On paper these are just numbers, but each number represents a person — a mother — a father — a child — who received assistance from a grantee. Grantees also helped save $1.1 million in jail housing costs and made it possible for clients to generate $604,000 in wages. Lawyers, judges and other engaged citizens that participated in grantee services totaled approximately 2,600. For more information, visit www.scbarfoundation.org.

CLEMSON — Kiplinger magazine has rated Clemson University among the best values in public higher education in its ranking of the “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” released Tuesday.
Clemson’s ranking — 41st for in-state students, 46th for out-of-state students — was based on a variety of factors that matched quality of education with cost.
“Kiplinger through the years has consistently rated Clemson as a high-value, high-quality return on the investment,” said Clemson admissions director Robert Barkley. “It’s gratifying for the value of a Clemson education to be acknowledged highly in a number of publications, but particularly so in case of Kiplinger, which specifically compares costs and benefits. Especially in today’s economy, that’s an important distinction for prospective students and their families.”
Kiplinger uses data from more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities, including SAT or ACT scores, admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios, graduation rates, cost and available financial aid, along with its own editorial assessment, to reach its conclusions.
Tuition for in-state students at Clemson is $5,927 per semester and $13,710 for out-of-state students, excluding room and board, lab fees, library fees and differential costs related to majors.
Ninety-nine percent of in-state entering freshmen receive scholarships, which is a distinguishing factor in the Kiplinger formula.
The Kiplinger study is available online at http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/.