COUNTY — Dr. Danny Merck and Dr. Kelly Pew, both assistant superintendents in the School District of Pickens County, have been named the finalists for the position of SDPC Superintendent.
The new superintendent will succeed Dr. Henry Hunt, who is retiring at the end of June.

An accident involving a Durham’s Hardwood log truck stopped traffic on U.S. 178 last Wednesday at around 5 p.m. According to officials on the scene, the driver of the truck and the driver of the car it collided with were not seriously injured. Motorists were forced to take detours until the accident could be cleared from the highway.

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a multi-part series of interviews conducted between Courier staff reporter Nicole Daughhetee and SDPC board trustee Jim Shelton, a former board chair.

When I was a freshman in high school, I remember one of my teachers (and it bugs me no end that I cannot remember which class this was for) showed us the film All the President’s Men. The film chronicled Washington, D.C., journalists who investigated, uncovered and reported The Watergate Scandal that caused Richard Nixon’s presidency to crack and crumble and crash down around him.
That film inspired me as a writer. Jim Shelton is not my equivalent of Woodward and Bernstein’s “Deep Throat” — we aren’t meeting in secretive, darkened parking lots, and I do not have to protect my source, risking jail time or some other legal penalties. Still, there is something every bit as intriguing and exciting as I listen to Shelton’s story unfold.

EASLEY — An Easley man faces multiple charges after deputies say he tried to break into a home and abducted a child last week.
On January 31, deputies with the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to 220 Ridgefield Circle in Easley regarding a trespassing incident. While en route, the deputies were advised that the subject was breaking into the home and that dispatch had lost contact with the caller.

LIBERTY — Unexpected death is difficult for a mature adult to deal with, but it can be even tougher on elementary-aged children.
So the death of Emma Elizabeth Boughman presented a unique challenge for the staff of Chastain Road Elementary School, as teachers attempted to help students as they dealt with unique emotions while dealing with their own personal sorrow over the situation.