Monthly Archives: January 2015
Ring in the new year at Hagood Mill
PICKENS — Traditional musicians from the Upstate area will gather to celebrate a new year with 100-year old music from the mountain culture that surrounds the beloved Hagood Mill.
Pretty Little Goat String Band
This Saturday, Jan. 17, Hagood Mill will feature the “Pretty Little Goat String Band” delivering a fresh, driving, energetic take on old-time string band music.
The five-piece group from Brevard, N.C. includes the driving and innovative bass fiddle work of J.T. Linville, the train-whistle fog-horn buck dancing of Tim Fisher’s fiddle, the cigar-box-chunking
Easley High NJROTC wins regional orienteering meet
EASLEY — The Easley High School Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) orienteering team easily took the title of Area Six orienteering champion on Saturday at Oconee State park in Mountain Rest.
The competition was also hosted by Easley NJROTC, however setting the course and all scoring was professionally done by Georgia Orienteering Club (GAOC).
Twenty two NJROTC units from North and South Carolina with teams strong enough to
4-H shooting sports instructor certification workshop planned
CLEMSON — Clemson Extension will conduct a 4-H Shooting Sports Instructor Certification workshop at the Clemson University Pickens Bend range in Clemson on Jan. 23-24.
Cost for the one-day workshop is $125, which includes snacks, drinks, lunch, ammo, targets, all necessary equipment and curriculum manuals. Lodging is on your own, if needed.
The Clemson Extension will be offering shotgun, rifle or archery certification, assuming the minimum number of registrants sign up for each discipline. Each participant can get certified in
Acting company announces productions
EASLEY — The Young Actors Company of Easley will produce two classics this spring.
The junior troupe (ages 7-11) will be performing J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan,” and the senior troupe (ages 12-18) will perform Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The Fine Arts Center of Easley also recently announced a film and TV acting class with Upstate talent agent and acting coach Shelby Ferguson.
Ferguson will share her expertise with actors interested in adding film and TV acting to their resume. The class is open to adults and teens only, and registration is open now, with limited space available. The class will be held on Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. starting Feb. 5.
For parts in both casts or to get more information on the acting class, call The Fine Arts Center of Easley at (864) 442-6027.
American chestnut expert James scheduled to speak at Native Plant Society meeting
CENTRAL — At the Jan. 20 meeting of the SC Native Plant Society at Southern Wesleyan University, Dr. Joe James will present the latest “progress report” regarding his extensive restoration work with the American Chestnut Foundation and Clemson University.
The great American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) — the trees that once dominated eastern forests, reaching heights of more than 100 feet and diameters of more than 10 feet, whose nuts
Extension connects dots to successful farm management
CLEMSON — Theresa Milanesi’s Upstate cattle farm is entering its fourth year of operation, and the retired teacher has made just one sale and has few prospects for her next.
She needs a shooter to test her cows’ fertility and a trailer to transport them. She needs grass for cows to graze. She also needs a marketing plan after the sales deal that was the impetus of her business plan fell through.
“I don’t want to keep borrowing from my retirement,” said Milanesi, whose husband is also
Stand up, be heard
The terrorists’ outbreak in Paris was another act of hatred. The extremists who carried out these attacks have nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with the cult mentality which is 
embraced by those who feed on hatred and cultivate it.
The journalists and cartoonists who were slaughtered lost their lives because they used the written word and political cartoons to comment on what they found ridiculous and illogical.
The magazine suffering the loss of so many valuable staff members wasn’t silenced by the attack. They put out another issue — with one million extra copies — because they won’t allow this act of terrorism to silence the free press.
We will miss Mr. Lake
The word goes on, I guess, but it is definitely poorer.
Mr. Lake Looper of Dacusville has passed away at age 100.
My contact with Mr. Looper was limited, but he made a deep impression on me. When I was a child of maybe 8 years old, my parents made the courageous decision that instead of going to Easley to go to Rock Springs Baptist Church, we would start going to Nine Forks Baptist Church in Dacusville, just a couple of miles from our house.
The four Robinson kids had started school in Easley so we could spend time with our grandmother and our beloved uncle Cecil. When my eldest sister, Rhonda, came to
Courier Letters to the Editor 1-14-16
No repeating our mistake
Dear Editor,
Recent news on economic development in the Upstate has omitted the fact that Pickens County is not a member of the Upstate Alliance. The county dropped out of the alliance two years ago.
S.C. Commerce Department officials have stated publicly that they only want to work with regional alliances, not individual counties. Commerce has $5 million annually to market the
Courier Obituaries 1-14-15
Blanche Dodson
Liberty — Blanche Naomi Alexander Dodson, 88, of 227 Alta Vista Drive, died Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015.
Born in Easley, she was the widow of Edward W. “Buck” Dodson Sr. and the daughter of the late Foster Pickens and Maggie Brucie Vaughn Alexander.
She was a longtime member of First Baptist Church Liberty.
Surviving are three daughters, Sheryl Lyons (Jim) of Jefferson, Ga., Brenda Boggs (Doug) of
