UPSTATE — The change of location that growth demanded, for this Seventh Annual Birchwood Arts and Crafts Fair,will not take the show out of themountains, nor the mountains out of the show.

PICKENS — The second annual Upstate Youth Rally, hosted by All For Him Ministry, will be held on Saturday, Oct. 6 at Bruce Field in Pickens.

This year’s event will feature Seven Day Slumber, Blank Pages and The Beautiful Refrain. Gates will open at 5 p.m., with music starting at 6 p.m.

PICKENS — An Pickens Police Department officer was fired Monday after he posted details of a traffic stop involving Clemson University head football coach Dabo Swinney on a University of South Carolina internet message board using department equipment, police chief Rodney Gregory said Friday.

According to a press release from Gregory, a vehicle driven by Swinney, whose legal name is William Christopher Swinney, was stopped for speeding in the parking lot of Bi-lo in Pickens at around 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 3.

Click here for Dabo Swinney Traffic Stop Dashcam Video

By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter

PICKENS — The city of Pickens is expecting success at the first annual Founders Day Music Festival this Saturday. The free event will kick off at 10 a.m. and continue until around 9 p.m.

Conceived and planned by many volunteers associated with the Pickens Revitalization Association (PRA), Pickens city administrator Katherine Brackett believes that this fall festival will be the type of event that puts Pickens on the map.

EASLEY — A local attorney died in a multi-vehicle accident on S.C. 183 last Thursday.

David Michael Parham, 62, of Walhalla Highway in Six Mile, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, Pickens County coroner Kandy Kelley said.
Parham, who was wearing a seatbelt, rear-ended another vehicle just after 10:30 a.m., according to Kelley.

CLEMSON — A former Clemson University employee was arrested last week, charged with using university money for personal expenses.
Eli A. Ker, 29, of 107 Ledgewood Way in Easley, was charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent, $10,000 or more.

Ker, a former associate director for fraternity and sorority life at the university, was entrusted with funds from the Panhellenic Recruitment account, according to an arrest warrant, and is accused of converting more than $33,000 for personal use.

Ker was arrested last Friday and booked at the Clemson Police Department following an investigation conducted by the university’s police department and SLED.

PICKENS — Cannon Hospital is once again planning its annual trick or treating event as a means of providing a safe, family-oriented atmosphere for trick or treating in the city of Pickens. 

This year’s “Trick or Treat on Main” will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27, from 5-8 p.m. on Main Street in Pickens and is open to all children ages 12 and under, free of charge. Because of liability issues, no animals will be allowed. 

By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter

COUNTY — There has been a lot of buzz and excitement, both good and bad, concerning the idea of developing a “Rails-to-Trails” project in Pickens County that would create an 8.5-mile multi-modal greenway connecting the cities of Easley and Pickens.

The Doodle Line or Doodle Trail, named after the Pickens Doodle train that ran from Pickens to Easley in the heyday of the railroad in the area, is currently owned by the Pickens Railway Company. The cities of Pickens and Easley are working together with the hope of purchasing the 8.5 miles of train rail and developing it into a greenway, much like the popular recreational Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville.