Monthly Archives: November 2014
STATE BOUND
Liberty Volleyball Team 2014
Pickens Volleyball Team 2014
The Liberty and Pickens high school volleyball teams both moved to within one win of claiming State championships on Tuesday, winning Upper State matches on their home courts. Liberty, left, defeated North Central in five games, by scores of 18-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19 and 18-16. The Lady Devils won game two and game four before finding a way to ice the contest in game five. The Pickens Lady Blue Flame earned their spot back to the state championship by beating the Eastside Eagles 25-22, 16-25, 25-16, 21-25, 18-16. Pickens took games one and three, then, after losing game four, the Lady Flame took the match, coming from behind in the final contest. The two teams will play for State on Saturday at White Knoll High School. Liberty will play the Class AA Lower State champion at 1:30 p.m., while Pickens will play the Class AAA Lower State champ at 4 p.m.
Evilsizor named administrator
EVILSIZOR
PICKENS — The City of Pickens officially has its new administrator, as city council members met in executive session after their meeting Monday night to remove the interim tag from Bruce Evilsizor.
A former clerk to council and administrative assistant for the city, Evilsizor stepped into the position on an interim basis when former city administrator Katherine Hendricks left to accept an assistant administrator position in Mount Pleasant.
Mayor David Owens admitted he would have been lost without the help of Evilsizor during the busy past month.
Council voted 7-0 to give Evilsizor the job Monday night. Owens promised to hire someone to handle duties Evilsizor had handled in his former position with the city. For the past few weeks, those duties were handled by other city employees to
Bowers, Wilson win SDPC seats
COUNTY — With only a handful of local seats being decided Tuesday, about 40 percent of Pickens County’s registered voters made it to the polls to cast their ballots.
Three seats on the Pickens County School Board were up for grabs. In District 6, challenger Henry Wilson (2,643 votes) knocked off incumbent Jim Shelton (1,385).
In the District 2 race, Phillip Bowers (1,533) took the victory, followed by Tony Qualkinbush (1,224), Jennifer B. Wood
Charles Garrett remembers Navy service
VETERANS DAY 2014
Editor’s Note: In honor of Veterans Day next Tuesday, Nov. 11, we at The Courier decided to run this profile of a local World War II veteran written by Countryside Village administrator Serina Durrah. To see local businesses’ support of our nation’s veterans, turn to pages 6A and 7A.
GARRETT
As I walked into Mr. Charles Garrett’s room for the first time, I observed a Navy blanket on the bed, a picture of a handsome young man in a Navy uniform, a Navy hat, a picture of a young Navy man and his young wife, as well as a picture of a smiling older couple. I sat down with Mr. Garrett and asked him if I could talk with him about his recent Honor Flight and his service to our country.
Mr. Garrett is a Navy veteran who recently went on the Honor Flight to visit the Veterans memorials in Washington, D.C. He had been to Washington, D.C., once before, but it was long before the memorials were built. He had always wanted to return to see the memorials, but his wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimers and was afraid to fly. He knew she would
Ft. Prince George marker dedicated at Mile Creek
Pickens County Historical Society members Anne Sheriff, Wayne Kelley, Julia Woodson, Nancy Pace and Ken Nabors are pictured at the dedication of the Fort Prince George marker at Mile Creek.
SIX MILE — A sizable crowd witnessed the dedication of the South Carolina State Historic Marker for Fort Prince George as it was unveiled at Mile Creek Park recently.
Sponsored by the Piedmont Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Colonists, it is the 17th state historic marker in Pickens County.
Fort Prince George was built in 1753 by His Majesty’s Royal Governor James Glen at the request of Attakullakulla and
‘Welcome Table’ reaching community
Pictured are Marion Dancy, Becky Ford, Steven Ford, Pastor Kevin Pires, Karen Pires, Florence Eckright and Debbie Kinzer.
PICKENS — Despite limited funds, time and manpower, the Pickens Seventh-Day Adventist Church has committed itself to the community in a new way, with wondrous results.
On the last Tuesday of each month, the church sponsors the “Welcome Table” for any and all members of the Pickens community. Working in concert with volunteers from both the church and the food bank next door, the church serves a hot meal between 12 noon and 1 pm to anyone who comes to the church.
“God has blessed this effort beyond our wildest dreams,” said Becky Ford, leader of the Welcome Table team. “We
Flying south
This morning when I took the puppy outside, I heard what sounded like a thousand birds all singing at once. Then with a whir like helicopters taking flight, hundreds rose from the field across the road and were airborne in such numbers as covered a large patch of sky.
At first I wasn’t sure what they were. They looked black from a distance but were much too small to be crows. As they whirled and flew across the housetop, I could see they were truly black.
I stood outside for perhaps 15 minutes just to watch.
They appeared to be migrating, and they had all the characteristics of blackbirds. A little research confirmed my guess. Blackbirds they were.
This made me realize that the predicted cold snap is really going to
Lending a helping hand up
Readers, you knew it was only a matter of time before this liberal Yankee from Miami reared her leftist head. Of course, I imagine you all know me well enough by now to know that I do so only to offer another perspective, not to create conflict or point fingers.
Covering the school board debate in Six Mile recently felt a trillion light years away — like I was completely out of my element. I haven’t covered a school board meeting in how long? And I had to ask intelligent questions about issues that I haven’t spent much thought on in quite some time.
Luckily, some issues remain the same regardless of the passage of time: poverty in Pickens County will, I fear, never be out of vogue when it comes to conversational hot-button topics.
I’m not certain who said this, and who said it doesn’t matter, but
Courier Letters to the Editor
Thank for support for festival
Dear Editor,
A little more than a week ago, our school hosted a very successful Fall Festival. The PTA would like to take a moment to thank all who contributed to this event.
First and foremost, we thank Mrs. Terry, principal of A.R. Lewis Elementary, for her support of the festival. We also wish to thank the teachers, the staff and the parents who donated their time to set up the event, run games, snap pictures, sell balloons, serve food and clean up the event. We also wish to recognize the following sorority sisters from Clemson University who volunteered time to work our event: Megan Meadows of Kappa Delta and Mary Gamble and
Courier Obituaries 11-5-14
Linda Smith Jones
Pickens — Linda Lou Smith Jones, 71, wife of Donald Dwayne Jones of Pickens, departed this life Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014.
Linda was born in Shelbyville, Ind., a daughter of the late Paul and Eileen McKinney Smith. She was retired as a respiratory therapist in Lake City, Fla., and she was a Methodist.
Survivors include her husband of 54 years, Donald D. Jones of the home, sons, Chris Jones (Linda) of Lake City, Fla.,
