EASLEY — A man was killed after a trailer detached from a truck and careened through the wall of the shop in which he was working on Saturday.

Pickens County coroner Kandy Kelley said 48-year-old Brian Keith was waiting on a customer inside the Home with a Heart Resale Store at 249 Saco Lowell Road in Easley shortly after noon when he was struck by the trailer.

Keith was pronounced dead at the scene of blunt-force trauma.
According to South Carolina Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Gary Miller, a 1999 Ford F-250 was traveling east on Saco Lowell Road when the trailer detached from the truck, ran off the side of the road, sideswiped a parked vehicle, went down a hill and smashed into the metal store building.

No charges have been filed in the accident, although the incident remains under investigation by state troopers.
Home with a Heart officials expressed their grief on Facebook on Sunday.

“Keep us in your prayers, as we lost a great man to a tragic accident yesterday,” the post read. “Brian Keith was an all-around good person and had a radical love relationship with Jesus Christ.”

By Ben Robinson
Staff Reporter
brobinson@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — Pickens County Humane Society president Pree Hamilton appeared before Pickens County Council to advocate for her organization and its struggles to get funding.

“Thank all of y’all for letting me come back,” Hamilton said. “You’ll notice I don’t have any notes, because this is coming from the heart.”

The main need Hamilton spoke of was for a new computer and printer.

“I know I can’t get one from y’all because of the hard drive,” Hamilton said. “But if there’s any way y’all can help us with that, because with the Internet, Facebook and all that available, you wouldn’t believe how we’re matching up dogs with their owners.”
Hamilton said the Humane Society has benefitted from recent county funding.

“We’ve got doors, we’ve cleaned up the place — we just want to keep doing what we’re doing,” Hamilton said.
Interim county administrator Ralph Guarino reported that the remodeling of the former high school building in Liberty into a magistrate’s office is almost complete.

“Next week we’ll have all the furniture delivered,” Guarino said. “The office will be open 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. starting Sept. 1.”
Because of the late moving of the furniture, there will be no open house or grand opening, Guarino said.

“I’d like to thank the staff for all the work they’re doing,” Guarino said.

Council held two public hearings about the definition of junkyards and one about a proposed industrial park in Oconee County. No speakers were present for any of the public hearings.

Council also passed third reading of an ordinance transferring ownership of the former Liberty Middle School gymnasium and football field to the city of Liberty.

Council approves 2015
Justice Assistance Grant

Also at Monday night’s meeting, council members voted unanimously to approve the 2015 Justice Assistance Grant.
Sheriff Rick Clark said the grant was a pretty usual one that his department gets every year.

“It’s pretty much just rubber stamped each year,” Clark said.
The grant has been very helpful to the sheriff’s office, Clark said.
Last year it was used to pay to place cameras inside the Pickens County Courthouse.

“This year, we’ll probably use it to pay for some self-defense training,” Clark said.

PICKENS — The deadline for applications for a new Pickens police chief is approaching, though city administrator Bruce Evilsizor hinted an extension is a possibility.

“We have a good number already,” Evilsizor said. “We just want to make sure we find a really good candidate for the city of Pickens. It may take more time.”

The application deadline is Sept. 4.

“It’s more about the process and how many interviews we have to do,” Evilsizor said. “We will be working on that end of things.”

The anticipated appointment date is Oct. 19, Evilsizor said.
The position became available after chief Rodney Gregory announced his retirement in June.

CENTRAL — Southern Wesleyan University’s School of Education has been approved to offer graduate-level Read to Succeed courses.
The university will offer four courses for endorsements in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education and one for the Read to Succeed endorsement at the middle and secondary school levels. The courses satisfy requirements set forth by Read to Succeed legislation that requires teachers in South Carolina to complete the endorsement.

Southern Wesleyan has earned a statewide reputation for preparing quality educators in South Carolina, as evidenced by the many graduates who have won awards at district and state levels.

These courses can be taken fully online, and can be taken as stand-alone courses or as electives within the M.Ed. in classroom leadership program.

For details about Read to Succeed, go to swu.edu/readtosucceed or contact Donna Pittman at dpittman@swu.edu.

For details about Southern Wesleyan degree programs, go online to swu.edu.

PICKENS — The Pickens Athletic Association is now accepting nominations for the 2015 class of the Pickens High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

The 2015 Hall of Fame Game is scheduled for Sept. 25, when the Blue Flame play host to the West-Oak Warriors.

Last year’s class consisted of brother and sister Chas and Chelsea Anthony, as well as longtime PHS coach Hamp Summey.

Nominations must be turned in by Sept. 18 and may be sent to Pickens High or dropped off at the Pickens County Courier, The Corner Drug Store, Brock’s Department Store or Pickens High School.

Nomination forms can also be picked up at the same locations.

SIX MILE — Pastor Kevin Kuykendall and members of Mile Creek Baptist Church will celebrate 137 years of ministry this Sunday.
Everyone is invited to join the service, which will feature old-time singing and preaching starting at 11 a.m.

Former members and new friends are also welcome to stay for lunch, which will be served at 1 p.m.

The church will also hold revival services Monday, Aug. 24, through Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 7 p.m. The Rev. Leonard Fletcher, pastor of Dyson Grove Baptist Church in Mountain City, Tenn., will be preaching.

CLEMSON — Clemson Extension Service is having an Extension Field Day this Saturday, Aug. 22, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The free educational field day includes lunch and will be held at Clemson University Simpson Experiment Station, which is located at 2013 Lebanon Road in Pendleton.

There will be many different livestock, and activities, including farm tours, beef cattle, pasture management, fencing, youth events, and much more.

For more information, contact Matthew Burns at burns5@clemson.edu.

All Blue Ridge offices celebrated the cooperative’s 75th birthday with cake, punch and gifts for their members last week. Pictured are Blue Ridge’s Liza Holder serving cake to cooperative member Gertrude Hughes as Blue Ridge board members Jimmy Lee Dodgens and Frank Looper look on during the event at the Pickens office.

UPSTATE — Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Organized in 1940, the Upstate utility has been marking this “diamond” milestone through a number of different avenues.

At its late-April annual meeting of members, the cooperative injected a heavy dose of 75th-anniversary flavor into the program. The 5,000 attendees were treated to, among other things, the premier showing of an 11-minute video that reviewed the cooperative’s history and was projected onto big screens.

On the actual date of its founding, Aug. 14, Blue Ridge hosted afternoon drop-ins in the lobby of each of its offices. Attendees enjoyed anniversary cake and other refreshments and also had opportunity to purchase, at a discount, a coffee-table book the cooperative had published. “A History of Blue Ridge Electric

Book

Cooperative” commemorates the first 75 years of the member-owned utility’s operation.

Much of the book’s narrative was authored by Blue Ridge Manager of Communications Terry Ballenger, a 45-year employee at the cooperative. Manager of Member Service and Marketing Denise McCormick directed the design and layout of the volume, assisted by marketing department employees Liza Holder and Amy Childress.

The book takes readers through a decade-by-decade account, from the cooperative’s humble beginnings, to its present state as a modern, community-oriented power supplier. Its pages profile some of the pioneers who were essential to the organization’s birth and survival, while also utilizing both vintage and more-recent photographs and documents to tell the Blue Ridge story.

Co-op president and CEO Charles Dalton noted that the book represents a historical record, but that it’s also designed to establish some markers that will serve to inform future generations. “The expansion of electricity into America’s vast rural areas makes for a truly fascinating story. Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative has its own proud history, and I believe it’s a record of people and events that should be recounted. This 75th Anniversary book represents our effort to accomplish these and some other good purposes. We’re pleased to submit it for the enjoyment of those we serve, as well as for that of other members of the public.”

Another feature of the utility’s 75th observance is its “Bolts of Brightness” program. During the first few months of 2015, area residents were encouraged to put forward the names of Blue Ridge members who were making personal, positive contributions to community life. A committee then selected 75 of these individuals to be recognized at a September awards dinner. In addition, the cooperative is to make $500 donations to the respective causes that these individual award winners support.

Copies of “A History of Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative” can be purchased at any Blue Ridge office for $10 each. The cooperative is presently providing electric service to more than 64,000 households and businesses across a five-county Upstate area.

COUNTY — All Pickens County magistrate offices will be consolidated early next month.

According to officials, all magistrate offices will close the week of Aug. 31, and a single consolidated office will open in the William McWhorter building at 310 Main St. in Liberty on Sept. 8.

The hours of operation will be 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The new phone number is (864) 898-5551, and the new fax number is (864) 843-4652. Information about the Pickens County magistrate office can be found at co.pickens.sc.us.