COUNTY— A Liberty woman and her boyfriend each face charges of abuse after Pickens County deputies say a 5-year-old child was forced to place his hand to a hot kerosene heater as a form of punishment for bed wetting.

COUNTY — With a projected $7 million general fund deficit looming on the horizon, discussion between school board trustees and an audience full of Pickens County school principals was heated during the first workshop for the school district’s 2011-12 general fund budget following Monday night’s school board meeting.

PICKENS — A driver involved in a wreck that killed a Pickens County DSS worker and a 9-year-old girl earlier this month 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 last Wednesday.

EASLEY — Although the weather the last few months has been dreary, Sunday will finally mark the official beginning of spring.

The city of Easley will welcome in the season with its eighth annual Spring Fling on Saturday, April 9.
“This winter has been the coldest I can remember, said Scott Buckhiester, chairman of the Spring Fling committee for the Easley Downtown Business Association. “December and January were just frigid, and although February was much warmer it seemed to be raining or very windy all the time.”

PICKENS — The modest church perches on top of a ridge that offers commanding views of the surrounding valley. Table Rock and the mountains of North Carolina are clearly visible in the distance. To the left of the church a large outcropping of soapstone boulders creates a natural platform from which to survey the area. Next to the church are a simple wooden one-room schoolhouse and a small, neatly landscaped graveyard with a scattering of granite headstones adorned with colorful flowers. The area immediately surrounding the church covers little more than an acre.

EASLEY — The Baptist Easley Hospital Foundation recently announced the members of its 2011 Executive Committee.

SIX MILE — Preston Finley, a fifth-grade student at Six Mile Elementary, recently qualified for the state finals of the National Geographic Bee.
Finley was selected after scoring high enough to qualify on the state-level written examination. The top 100 scorers from around the state are selected to compete in the state bee.
The State Geography Bee will be held at the State Museum in Columbia on Friday, April 1.
Finley was Six Mile Elementary’s winner at the school-level geography bee held on Jan. 7.
The state winner will receive $100, the Complete National Geographic on DVD and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent South Carolina and compete at the national finals held at the National Geographic Society headquarters on May 24 and 25.
The first-place winner at the national competition will receive a $25,000 college scholarship and an all expenses paid trip to the Galapagos Islands, where he or she will “experience geography firsthand through up-close encounters with the wildlife and landscape of Galapagos.”
Travel for the student and one parent or guardian for the trip will be provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic.

COUNTY — Only a week after he announced director Meg Benko would resign later this month, Pickens County Meals on Wheels Board Chair Gerald Reese announced Wednesday that her predecessor has been named.

EASLEY — Easley police officers were singing the praise of their new Mobile Data Terminal system that has been implemented in the division over the past six months during Monday night’s Easley city council meeting.