Monthly Archives: June 2015
State mourns
Photo courtesy Charleston Post and Courier
Mona Lisa Staggers of Goose Creek cries out as she prays Friday during a memorial service held at the TD Arena in Charleston to honor and remember the victims of the shootings last week at Emanuel AME Church.
SWU employee among church shooting victims
Ed Welch/Southern Wesleyan University
Southern Wesleyan University president Todd Voss places a rose during a prayer event on the school’s Central campus Friday in honor of the families and friends of the victims of last week’s church shooting in Charleston.
CENTRAL — As the world mourns for the nine victims in the wake of the June 17 shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Southern Wesleyan University is mourning the loss of an employee and alumna.
DePayne Doctor, admissions coordinator at Southern Wesleyan’s Charleston learning center, was in historic Emanuel AME Church and was among the shooting victims.
Police say 21-year-old Dylann Roof of Lexington sat through nearly an hour of Bible study at the
Sen. Martin remembers Pinckney as ‘the best of us’
By Ben Robinson
Staff Reporter
brobinson@thepccourier.com
COLUMBIA — Sen. Larry Martin was still reeling Monday after spending the day in ceremonies remembering his colleague Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney, who died in last week’s shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where he served as pastor.
“I’ve been in Columbia for 37 years now,” Martin said. “I have never been through anything so emotional.”
Martin praised Pinckney.
“He was among the best of us,” Martin said. “He had a real down-to-Earth manner. But he had a
Pickens councilman reflects on tragedy
By Ben Robinson
Staff Reporter
brobinson@thepccourier.com
Photo courtesy Charleston Post and Courier
Emanuel AME Church shooting suspect Dylann Roof appears via video before a judge during a hearing following his arrest last week.
PICKENS — As the nation reacted to the news of tragedy in Charleston last Wednesday, the devastation hit home especially hard for one Pickens city councilman.
Among the nine dead in the attack at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church was a man who had for a number of years served the public, both as a preacher and as a government official. Emanuel pastor Clementa Pickney was first elected to the S.C. House in 1997 before seeking a seat in the State Senate in 2001.
Isaiah Scipio has served on Pickens City Council since 2011. He is the son of legendary local pastor
County teachers getting raises
Other school employees also get increase without tax hike in new budget
COUNTY — School District of Pickens County teachers will get overdue pay increases at no extra cost to county taxpayers under the district’s 2015-16 budget, which passed its final reading Monday night.
The school board gave the budget its final OK by a 5-1 vote at its meeting Monday, with board member Alex Saitta casting the lone dissenting vote.
The budget of nearly $110 million comes with no tax increase, but provides pay increases across
2 charged with aiding escapees
PICKENS — The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office arrested two people last week on charges of aiding escape from prison after the escape of two men from the Pickens County Stockade the week before.
According to sheriff’s office chief deputy Creed Hashe, police believe Semeca Danyelle Oglesby, 21, arranged for transportation and was present when inmates Jeffery Shane Mauldin and Dustin Ryan Floyd were picked up June 9 after walking away from the stockade.
Hashe said Oglesby and the two inmates were taken to a home in Easley, where police believe
BLWS host team roster announced
EASLEY — Six hometown boys will be representing Easley on the host squad when the Big League World Series returns for its 15th year in town next month.
Officials announced the roster for the team last week, and Easley’s Holden Martin, Jacob Nelson, Jameson Spitzmiller, Andrew Stanifer, Mason Stewart and Casey Woodey will all suit up for the S.C. District 1 squad, which is looking for its first tournament championship since 2007 when the event returns to the J.B. “Red” Owens Complex beginning in late July.
Also returning to the team is former Daniel High School standout Christian Cain, who will play behind the plate at catcher for the hosts.
The Pickens County natives will be joined on the squad by Chase Carpenter, Adam Hill and
CDE celebrates 20 years in Liberty
Cornell Dubilier Marketing is celebrating the 20th anniversary of manufacturing in its Liberty facility. The facility employs approximately 230 employees. On Saturday, Cornell Dubilier had a “fun day” to celebrate with activities for employees and their families including entertainment, games and food. The estimated attendance was more than 500 people throughout the day. “We are very thankful for our employees and their families in making this milestone unforgettable,” general manager Tom Crumpton said.
Rocky Nimmons/Courier
Woman charged with assaulting Clemson officer
CLEMSON — Clemson University police charged a Seneca woman with assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest and several misdemeanors after a Saturday-night traffic stop on campus.
Melinda Jane Paris, 27, was charged with assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest, a felony; and misdemeanor charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence, improper turning, child endangerment, simple possession of marijuana, and having defective equipment on a vehicle. She is not a Clemson student or employee.
She was arrested at 9:30 p.m. Saturday after an officer stopped the vehicle because of defective equipment and during the traffic stop, noticed the odor of burning marijuana. The driver refused to obey the officer’s commands there was a physical altercation that resulted
Afternoon naps are a thing of the past
It was a typical afternoon in June. A sunny day, hot, but shady and cool on the porch, or cool enough to stretch out on the porch swing with a book.
The plan was to read and sip ice water, but after a pretty rigorous morning of yardwork, the book lay open atop the reader, unread. The reader dozed in the half-awake, half-asleep state of the twilight zone.
The family who live on the hill across the road are excellent neighbors, kind and helpful. On this particular afternoon, the father was out in the yard cutting up a felled tree with the chainsaw. The sound of the chainsaw was almost hypnotic and didn’t bother the swing dozer in the least.
His companions in work were the dog, Molly, and Oswald, the goat. Yes, the goat. Some time back, the family acquired a baby pygmy goat as a pet. He is now an adult, an unneutered Billy,
