Daily Archives: 04/09/2014
Nominees sought for Hall of Fame
CENTRAL — The D.W. Daniel High School Athletic Booster Club officially inducted the inaugural class into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame last fall, and now officials are ready to get started on class number two.
The booster club and its hall of fame committee are now accepting nominations for the 2014 Hall of Fame class. Interested alumni and community members can find the nomination form, including the criteria, on the athletic booster club website at www.danielsports.org. Click on the “Hall of Fame” link.
The deadline for nominations is April 30. Nominees who were not elected from last year’s inaugural candidate pool are automatically resubmitted into this year’s nominations.
Take time for a song
On the Way
By Olivia Fowler
Olivia Fowler
There is a trellis made of cedar on the pathway from the house to the tractor shed. It was the joint project of Fowler and our daughter Katherine several summers ago, and they built it from cedar limbs and posts on one of the hottest days of the summer.
They said it was one-of-a-kind and that there would never be another. They said some other things too that don’t bear repeating.
There’s a clematis vine that’s grown over it now, woven in with a rambling rose. On a hot day after the vine has leafed out, you can stand beneath it in the patch of darkness and enjoy the shade.
To the right of the trellis are a mixed group of yarrow, iris, lamb’s ear and spring bulbs that are supposed to bloom in increments but don’t. An old oak stump serves as an anchor for the garden angel. She’s made
Going to Kentucky
All About Ben
By Ben Robinson
Ben Robinson
Good news.
After last week’s session of moaning “poor me” about not having the Pickens-Twelve Mile trip to Kentucky available for this year’s vacation, Bobby Haley called me and invited me to go with a group he’s taking from Easley First Baptist to Kentucky.
I was overwhelmed. The chance to go with Bobby Haley to Kentucky is a rare one. He’s been retired several years, but wherever he decides to attend church usually finds a way to sponsor a trip to Kentucky. He sometimes accompanies his son Jeff, who is a youth minister at a church near Columbia.
Plus, I worked for many years in a building next to Easley First Baptist, and I consider its pastor, Dr. John
Spring for the Arts
Larry Zarella
Downtown Easley came alive on Saturday as the city hosted the second annual Spring for the Arts. Hordes of people crowded the city for live music, food and arts. left, Larry Zarella entertains the crowd with acoustic rock. above, local artist Bill Lester paints a downtown scene to teach those in attendance basic watercolor techniques.
BPWC athletes garner medals
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Ten members of the Berkshire-Pickens Wrestling Club traveled south on Saturday to participate in a USAGA-sanctioned tournament held at North Hall High School.
Three wrestlers double-medaled in their respective weight and age divisions.
The only BPWC gold went to Davon Powell of Newberry, who emerged victorious in the Greco-Roman competition in the junior 106-pound division after being defeated by a two-time Tennessee state champion earlier in the day in the Freestyle finals. Powell’s record this spring
Dates set for Number One Volleyball Camp
COUNTY — The dates have been set for the 2014 Number One Volleyball Camp.
Sessions one, two and three will be held at the Larry Bagwell Gymnasium, located at 111 Walkers Way in Easley. Sessions four and five will be held at the Pickens Recreation Gymnasium at 545 Sangamo Road in Pickens.
Session one, for 9th-12th grade players will be held June 11-13 from 9 a.m.-noon and 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Session two, for rising 2nd through 4th graders, will be held June 24-27 from 9-noon.
Courier Obits 4-9014
Hazel Ruth Shehan
Pickens — Hazel Ruth Shehan, 87, of Pickens, died Thursday, April 3, 2014 at her home.
Born in Pickens, she was the daughter of the late Joseph B. Durham and Eva Stephens Durham. Mrs. Shehan was retired after 60 plus years from the alterations business. She was a member of Missionary Baptist Church and a devoted member of the Pickens Senior Center where she loved to cook in the kitchen and make her many crafts that she donated for fundraising activities. Her hobbies included quilt making, crocheting, collecting antique dishes, fishing, camping, and working in the vegetable and flower garden. She has donated all her sewing machines, fabric, and doll clothes to a children’s orphanage. Hazel was the Greatest Mom, Special Grandma, and
The turkey rut
By Dennis Chastain
For The Courier
Just like deer, wild turkeys have a rut season fueled by testosterone. Hunters can easily turn that information to their advantage.
Nothing gets a deer hunter excited like the coming of the rut. That’s the magical time of the year when thick-necked bucks are overcome with love lust and do stupid things like standing out in the middle of a cow pasture at midday, crashing through shopping center windows and chasing does around right in front of deer stands. Well guess what — there’s a wild turkey rut too.
This has long been a pet theory of mine, and now after 30 years of chasing wild turkeys from the mountains to the sea, I can tell you that it is true. Most long-time turkey hunters are aware that there are days during the month of April when there is nothing you can do to pull in a gobbler, and there are days when all you have to do is holler “come here turkey” and they’ll come running.
It’s all about testosterone, the male hormone that is both a curse and a blessing. Whether you’re a wily white-tailed buck, a lovestruck teenage boy or a mature wild turkey gobbler, testosterone has the ability to take over your brain and make you do things that you would not ordinarily do. Testosterone can get you in trouble. More deer are taken during the rut in South Carolina than any other time of the five-month-long season. It’s testosterone that drives the rut, in both deer and turkeys. And like the deer rut, the turkey rut comes and goes in various stages.
There is the pre-rut, the rut and the post-rut. The trick to taking advantage of the turkey rut is recognizing what stage the gobblers are in where you are hunting. Here are some signs to look for.
If it’s still near April Fool’s Day and you can’t raise a gobble with an owl hoot or a crow call, it’s the pre-rut. If you’re standing out there on a fine warm spring morning at first light and there are turkeys gobbling at crows, woodpeckers and car horns, the rut is on. On the other hand, if it’s toward the end of the season and it’s a silent spring out there — in other words, you can’t buy a gobble — the turkeys are in the post-rut blues.
So, how do you turn all this to your advantage? Well, depending on which stage of rut you determine the turkeys are in, adjust your hunting strategy accordingly. During the pre-rut, the turkeys are more interested in food and security than in breeding. Set up in areas where the sign indicates they have been feeding or scratching.
If all indications are that the turkey rut is on, get ready. Never call until you are ready to set up or you have already set up in front of a big tree with your gun up. I have had turkeys during the rut fly straight from the roost to right where I was calling from. I have also had testosterone-pumped turkeys fly off the roost and literally come running in. It pays to be ready.
Finally, if all indications are that the gobblers are in the post-rut doldrums — just like cooking good barbecue, the secret to success is to take it low and slow. Don’t be aggressive. Don’t push the turkeys. Use low, soft clucks, purrs and yelps. Be patient. It may take a turkey an hour or more to amble over your way. One good strategy during the post rut is to just go to a place with lots of scratching in the leaves or in the woods adjacent to a lush green food plot, and just sit up right there until you get a response. Just be advised that sometimes lackluster gobblers will silently sneak in from behind to check things out. Keep in mind the Boy Scout motto — be prepared.
Heard, not seen
All about the big ol’ bullfrog
By Scott Stegenga
For The Courier
More likely to be heard than seen, bullfrogs’ eyeballs are raised above their skulls so they can stay almost totally submerged and still be aware of their surroundings.
Anyone who has spent even a little time near the shore of a lake or pond has probably encountered a bullfrog now and then. They are more likely to be heard than seen. In the Upstate, bullfrogs are the largest frog in their family, reaching a length of 6 inches or more. Smaller species in the same family are the leopard, pickerel and green frog.
A bullfrog is perfectly suited for its aquatic habitat. The frog’s color is a plain green or a mottled gray or brown pattern on a greenish background, providing excellent camouflage among
How to protect natural animal habitats
Though birds or other small animals may routinely gather on your property, what if you one day looked out and saw a black bear lapping up water in your swimming pool? That’s what happened to Cheryl Pawelski of Altadena, Calif., in the hills not far from Los Angeles, during the summer of 2013. After losing interest in the water, the bear retreated to the hills.
In early 2014, a woman in Cicero, N.Y., saw three coyotes in her backyard while taking her dogs outside for their morning walk. And while people who live near the Florida everglades are accustomed to seeing alligators, a woman in Skyesville, Md., was surprised to find one roaming
