Daily Archives: 10/18/2012
School board votes to use accrual funds
Vote in conflict with July decision
to return money to taxpayers
By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter
nicole@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Following Monday night’s school board financial services workshop, School District of Pickens County board trustees Judy Edwards, Jim Shelton and Herb Cooper voted to allocate $3.1 million to complete the technology refresh in 475 elementary and middle school classrooms, as well as to allocate $550,000 to replace the damaged roof at R.C. Edwards Middle School.
Trustees Ben Trotter and Jimmy Gillespie opposed the motion, while SDPC board chair Alex Saitta was not present for the workshop and subsequent meeting.
“I’m not going to be able to vote for the roof to be put on Edwards because it would come out of the building fund and I voted to give that back to the taxpayers, so I’m going to stick with that,” said Gillespie. “Although, I do want a new roof put on Edwards.”
District needs discussed during financial workshop
By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter
nicole@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — At Monday night’s financial services workshop involving SDPC administrative staff and board trustees, superintendent Dr. Kelly Pew expressed the district’s desire to make board members aware of prioritized needs remaining in the building program.
The top five projected needs for the building program in Pickens County are the R.C. Edwards Middle School roof replacement, followed by modifications and improvements to the pick-up and drop-off loops at Forest Acres, Holly Springs and West End elementary schools, and, finally, classroom presentation packages (part of a technology refresh) in the elementary schools.
Letter to the editor carries vital message
Editor’s Note: We generally only run letters to the editor beginning on page 4A, our Opinion page, but this letter from Dan Coke of Easley carries a message that is so timely and meaningful that we could not resist starting it here on page 1A. Carol Coke was a wonderful person whose memory is missed daily by people all around Pickens County, and her legacy lives on, as the school district where she worked for 25 years recently dedicated a professional learning area in her memory at Hagood Elementary School. We ran a photo of the dedication on page 1A of the Oct. 3 edition of the Courier.
Dear Editor:
Thank you for running the picture and words about my wife Carol Littlejohn Coke in the October 3 issue of the Courier. Our whole family is very proud of all the accomplishments of Carol during her school career. It was such an honor that the school district and Hagood Elementary dedicated the Professional Learning Center at Hagood to the memory of her.
Brunswick mill fire cause undetermined
By Rocky Nimmons
Publisher
PICKENS — The cause of a fire at the old Brunswick Yarn building on Oct. 9 is still under investigation, but Pickens Fire Chief David Porter says that his department has ruled it unknown.
Porter told Pickens city council during its regular meeting Monday that investigators with several insurance companies have sealed the area around the old mill, but he feels with the debris and damage the fire caused it is unlikely that a cause will ever be determined.
Easley woman killed by own SUV
EASLEY — An Easley woman was killed last Friday after she was struck by her own vehicle outside her home.
Jessica Hoepelman-Garcia, 34, was walking behind her vehicle, a Mercury SUV, when it rolled backward and hit her around 7 a.m, according to Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley.
Kelley said Hoepelman-Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident is still under investigation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Liberty plans fall festival
LIBERTY — With apples and pumpkins everywhere and leaves changing colors, autumn is definitely in the air in Pickens County.
In celebration, the city of Liberty will host its first-ever Fall For Liberty festival next Saturday, Oct. 27, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Liberty’s Hallman breaks second American record
WALTHAM, Mass. — In the land of Minutemen, the 60-Minute Man prevailed.
A few miles south of Lexington and Concord, where Minutemen once answered the call to oppose the coming British, Jonathan Hallman of Liberty this month felled an American record that stood for more than a quarter century.
Sharing 36 philosophical pearls of wisdom
Life As I Know It
By Nicole Daughhetee
Last week I discovered that Ben and I share a love of October — not to mention that we share it as a birth month. I was born on Sunday, the 10th day of this 10th month at 4:07 pm in Miami Beach, Fla. Happy birthday to me (last week)!
This year I turned 36, and even my third-grader could tell you that makes me closer to 40 than 30. But I don’t fear 40. I say bring it on! A dear friend once told me that I am like a bottle of nice wine: I only get better with age. For the first time in my life, that is a compliment I can actually graciously accept.
It’s a crazy, crazy world
On The Way
By Olivia Fowler
It’s been an unusual year so far. It’s not over yet, so we need to stay alert. There are a lot of unhinged people running for office. That is not an exaggeration, just a fact. And if you don’t believe it, check out Arkansas, where running for senate is a man who wants disobedient children to be put to death. Unbelievable as it may seem, it is true.
This may beat the man in Missouri who thinks women who are raped can’t get pregnant. Now really. Is this the best America has to offer? I think not. To add insult to injury, one of South Carolina’s own United States Congressmen has endorsed this candidate, because he says this man’s vote is needed. Every now and then the crazies just come out of the woodwork.
Honoring the real heroes
All About Ben
By Ben Robinson
The Upstate of South Carolina seems to be divided into two different schools of thought: Clemson fans and University of South Carolina fans. It’s been going on for more than a century and will likely continue another 100 years.
I was actually a Gamecock fan growing up, and I vowed to remain that even after I enrolled at Clemson University for my freshman year. But I by chance met one of the Clemson University cheerleaders, one who was destined to wear the crown of Miss South Carolina a couple of years later, at a convenience store in Clemson one morning before a Tiger home game, and she cleverly convinced me I should pull for the Tigers.
