PICKENS — A driver involved in last week’s wreck that killed a Pickens County DSS worker and a 9-year-old girl has been charged with four counts of felony DUI.
Julie Melton Mason, 45, of 227 Ambler School Road in Marietta, faces two counts of felony DUI resulting in death and two counts of felony DUI involving great bodily injury, South Carolina Highway Patrol Lance Corporal Bill Rhyne told the Courier Wednesday.
According to state troopers, Mason’s GMC Sierra pickup truck crossed the centerline of Pumpkintown Highway in Pickens last Friday afternoon at 4:20 p.m., striking a Chevrolet Impala driven by Chrystal Nicole Harrison.
Harrison, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, as was 9-year-old Raven Alania Stancell. Stancell’s two brothers, ages 15 and 17, were also seriously injured in the wreck. All four were wearing seatbelts.
Rhyne said Mason was arrested Tuesday after being released from the hospital, and she is currently being held at the Pickens County Detention Center.

PICKENS — Tragedy struck the Pickens community Friday, when two people lost their lives and three others were injured in a vehicle accident on Pumpkintown Highway just outside city limits.

LAURENS — A former Clemson University student charged in the 2009 death of a 16-month-old baby was sentenced to 10 years in prison last week.

COUNTY — Legendary gameshow host Bob Barker signed off every episode of The Price is Right by reminding audience members to have their animals spayed or neutered.
Pickens County’s spay and neuter program’s price has indeed proven to be right as well, according to county administrator Chap Hurst.

PICKENS — For the second time in as many weeks, School District of Pickens County officials were forced to issue a statement reporting the loss of a student to a traffic accident on Monday.
Following last week’s death of 10-year-old fourth grader Keelan Odom, the SDPC was saddened by the tragic loss of 9-year-old Raven Stancell, a third-grade student at Ambler Elementary, in Friday’s car accident just outside Pickens city limits.

This oil-based clay sculpture, entitled “Gesture,” by Pickens High School’s Megan Tomberlin, took first place in the recent Pickens County Youth Arts 2011 awards competition. The piece, along with hundreds of works from county students, is currently on display at the Pickens County Museum.

COUNTY — The executive director of Pickens County Meals on Wheels is stepping down later this month, the organization announced this week.

Meals on Wheels board of directors chairman Gerald Reese announced in a release Monday that the organization had recently accepted the resignation of executive director Meg Benko.
Benko has served as the executive director of PCMOW for the last four years. Leaving her position, she said, is the most difficult decision she has ever made.

PICKENS — The City of Pickens is well on its way to passing a balanced budget following the passage of the first reading of both the general fund and utilities budgets during Monday’s monthly Pickens city council meeting at city hall.

PICKENS — The Pickens High School Band Boosters hosted their annual “Pickens Has Talent” talent show Thursday, Feb. 24.

UPSTATE — The Peoples National Bank was nationally recognized for its community outreach efforts during the American Bankers Association National Conference for Community Bankers in San Diego on Feb. 22.