The 12 and under Carolina One Volleyball Club team won its first tournament of the season at the 2016 Kick-off Classic Tournament, held Jan. 9-10 at the Charleston Convention Center. “Fire” proved to be the best of 13 teams, posting wins over Excel U12 (25-10, 25-3), Carolina Islander Boys 12 (25-16, 25-15), Charleston Juniors 12 Red (25-11, 25-16), High Velocity 12 (25-12, 25-3), Charleston Juniors 12 Red (25-10, 25-12) and Carolina Islander Boys 12 again in the finals (25-7, 25-6). Pictured, front row, from left, are Hannah Campbell and Ali Pace. Middle row: Sky Moorrees, Lauren Dow, Regan Powell and Amber Chapman. Back row: Coach Erikka Chapman, Bailee Earnhardt, Megan Carpenter, Calie Covey, Alison Yates, Maggie Sizemore and Coach Peggy Anthony.

By Ben Robinson

Staff Reporter

brobinson@thepccourier.com

LIBERTY — After a hearty discussion, Liberty City Council voted 4-3 not to name the city gym that the city received from the School District of Pickens County after county councilman Neil Smith.

Councilwoman Lisa Hunter first brought up the objection to the gym being named after Smith or anyone else who is still living.

“I feel that Neil has done a great job for the city of Liberty, but I do not agree with naming a building after anyone who is still living,” she said. “It isn’t smart.”

Mayor Eric Boughman brought the proposal before council, citing many things that Smith has done for the city of Liberty including seeing that the county donated the gym to the city, finding funding for restrooms at city athletic facilities, a dugout at the city’s baseball field bringing a magistrate’s office to the city and making the former Liberty High School the McKissick auditorium.

Boughman noted that Easley’s Larry Bagwell has a gym named after him, yet continues to serve as that city’s mayor.

Councilman Brain Petersen pointed out that much of what Smith has done for Liberty is simply part of his duties as a county councilman.

“It’s his job,” Petersen said. “I appreciate what he has done — they didn’t have to give us that facility — but naming a building after a living person can get you in trouble.”

Councilman Dwight Yates disagreed.

“He didn’t have to give us that facility, and I don’t see a problem with naming a building after him,” Yates said. “Several buildings have been named after someone.”

Councilman Josh Harrison noted that anything a council member does for a city also has to have support of his fellow council members.

“All of us vote on any action by the council,” Harrison said. “So other council members helped us by helping him.”

Council member Lavant Padgett suggested council should table the matter until council could come up with an agreement, but Brougham said “We’ve all had ample time to consider this,” and moved forward with the vote.

After the measure failed, Jamie Burns of the community enrichment project said council needs to give the facilities a name so her group would not have to refer to places as “the former Liberty High School stadium” or “the former Liberty Middle School gym.”

Hunter suggested the group could refer to the facility as the “Liberty Recreation Center Old Gym” or the football stadium “the old Liberty High School stadium,” because people would know where it is.

Councilman Chuck Powell suggested the city consider naming the stadium after the late Jim Beeson.

“He put his heart and soul into getting that stadium for Liberty,” Powell said.

Peterson said council should wait until its next work session to consider any naming of facilities.

In other business, Liberty Police Chief Adam Gilstrap reported that the city had issued tickets to 83 people in the past month.

“We try not to take people to jail unless they really need to go,” Gilstrap said.

During Christmas, the city police participated in a program in which officers sometimes offered gift cards for local merchants instead of tickets to promote good will among the citizens.

Council will meet again in a work session Feb. 1, and Boughman challenged council members to come with an idea of how to proceed in the search for a new city clerk and administrator.

Boughman said council would use the work session to discuss what to do about the recent controversy surrounding a proposed coal ash dump at the county landfill. The county planning commission suspended the land-use permit of the company in question on Monday.

“I don’t know what they are doing, but we’re not going to become a dumping ground,” Boughman said. “We need to encourage the people of Liberty that we don’t want that.”

COUNTY — Local groups continued to speak out against a potential coal ash dump in Pickens County last week before the Pickens County Planning Commission voted to suspend all activities at the landfill in questoin.

The Pickens County Legislative Delegation and local manufacturers had voiced their condemnation of the proposal, but the latest opposition came from an unexpected source — the Pickens County Historical Society.

“A historical society may not be a traditional activist organization when it comes to environmental issues, but we strongly believe that here in Pickens County our history and our heritage is intimately linked to the land and our natural resources,” the group said in a release last Thursday. “We will not stand idly by and watch the land of our ancestors become a toxic waste dump for other states.”

North Carolina-based MRR Pickens LLC entered into an agreement with Pickens County Council to create a construction and debris landfill at the site in Liberty in 2007, but the company recently applied for a variance with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to allow the disposal of coal ash in the landfill.

Coal ash — which is the waste material left behind after the burning of coal — can contain arsenic, mercury, lead, and more than a dozen other heavy metals, many of them toxic, according to environmental activist organization Physicians for Social Responsibility.

“Toxic constituents of coal ash are blowing, spilling and leaching (dissolving and percolating) from storage units into air, land and human drinking water, posing an acute risk of cancer and neurological effects as well as many other negative health impacts: heart damage, lung disease, kidney disease, reproductive problems, gastrointestinal illness, birth defects, and impaired bone growth in children,” according to the PSR website.

PSR says coal ash, which is generated at coal-fired power plants across the country, is the second-largest industrial waste stream in the U.S.

In a letter sent to MRR Pickens on Monday, the Pickens County Planning Commission suspended its land-use permit for the landfill.

The Pickens County Historical Society joined a rapidly growing number of Pickens County residents and local officials voicing opposition to the local dump site.

“We are appalled and disappointed that our own South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control would permit a facility, lined or otherwise, that would allow the owner to bring toxic coal ash waste into our state and specifically into our county,” the group’s release said. “We are also at a loss to explain how our own state agency, the very agency charged with protecting our environment and our health and safety, would put the health and safety of our children and other citizens at risk from the transport and disposal of a widely recognized toxic waste product.”

PICKENS — The Lonesome River Band will perform Saturday, Jan. 23, at the fifth annual Winter Bluegrass Jubilee to be held at Pickens High School, located at 150 Blue Flame Drive in Pickens.

Tickets are $12 and can be purchased in advance at phsarts.ticketleap.com/yam/. For more information, call (864) 878-4257.

The Lonesome River Band’s enduring fans and peers have supported the group for more than 30 years and recently honored them with four International Bluegrass Music Association nominations. Three of the nominations are for songs from their current Billboard Bluegrass Chart album “Turn On A Dime,” released by Mountain Home Music Company.

Lonesome River Band has been in the studio this month recording a soon-to-be-released new album. Fans can expect to hear new songs and fan favorites during the concert. Band members include Virginia Country Music Hall of Famer and five-time IBMA Banjo Performer of the Year Award winner Sammy Shelor, Brandon Rickman on guitar, lead and harmony vocals, Mike Hartgrove on fiddle, Barry Reed on bass and Jesse Smathers on mandolin and lead and harmony vocals.

Last year, Shelor and Hartgrove performed with actor Martin Short when Steve Martin was honored with the 43rd American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award — the highest honor for a career in film. The award was presented to Martin during a gala tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif., and aired on TBS. The star-studded event included Tiny Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Conan O’Brien, Dan Aykroyd, Jack Black, Kevin Nealon, Steve Carell and many more.

For more information on Lonesome River Band, visit lonesomeriverband.com or find the band on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

LIBERTY — The Fraternal Order of Police – Foothills Lodge No. 9 selected Pickens County Meals on Wheels (PCMOW) as its designated charity recipient in 2015.

Secretary/treasurer R.A. Gibson was pleased to present a $500 donation [cointent_lockedcontent]to Meals on Wheels executive director Meta Bowers.

R.A. Gibson of the Fraternal Order of Police – Foothills Lodge No. 9 presents a $500 donation to Meta Bowers, executive director of Pickens County Meals on Wheels.

The Fraternal Order of Police consists of active and retired police officers, which includes SLED, city, county and state officers who raise funds to serve those in needs. There are approximately 150 members in Pickens County, all of whom are in good standing. The FOP consists of a six-member board which meets the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Silver Bay in Easley.

Founded in 1980, Pickens County Meals on Wheels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that exists to combat the effects of hunger, loneliness and isolation for seniors living in Pickens County. Located at 349 Edgemont Ave. in Liberty, the McKissick Center for Senior Wellness is the home for the newly established PCMOW kitchen, its home-delivered meal program, the Young at Heart dining and activity center. Community-based programs like Meals on Wheels provide are a cost-effective way of helping people “Age in Place.” To find out more about Meals on Wheels and the importance of the work it does in Pickens County, visitpcmow.org, call 855-3770 ext. 303 or email info@pcmow.org.[/cointent_lockedcontent]

SIX MILE — Six Mile Recreation will be holding sign-ups during the entire month of January for participants on youth ball teams, which are scheduled to begin play in April.

Access to the registration form can be found at sixmilesc.org. Sign-ups will be held each Saturday in January from 8 a.m.-noon at Six Mile Town Hall or they can be dropped off at town hall Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or placed in the drop box by the front door. The last day to turn in a registration form is Jan. 31. After that, there will be a $25 late fee, with no exceptions.

It is suggested you pay the participation fee during sign-up, however, if you don’t have the fee, sign up anyway. The departent will work with you if you need more time. It is very important that everyone gets signed up during January, officials said.

The annual spring baseball/softball clinic is set for March 12-13.

PICKENS — The Pickens Recreation Department is taking registrations for the spring volleyball and soccer seasons during the month of January.

Signups for both sports began Monday at the Pickens Recreation Center on Sangamo Road in Pickens and will run through Jan. 29.

For volleyball, the following age divisions are offered: 7-9, 10-12, 13-14 and 15-17.

For soccer, coed age divisions offered will include 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12. Depending on the size of leagues, the top two division may be combined.

Birthdate cutoff for both sports is Sept. 1, 2015.

Following registration, a skills/evaluation day will be held for each age division in each sport. The registration fee provides a jersey to be kept, and the fee is $45 for in-city residents and $55 for out-of-city residents. Birth certificates are required at registration.

If you are interested in coaching or need more information, contact the recreation department at (864) 878-2296.

PICKENS — Arise From The Ashes Community Development Corporation will host a free Pickens Community Block Party on Jan. 30 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 450 Garvin St. in Pickens.

The event will be for the people of Pickens and surrounding areas to get better acquainted with what Pickens has to offer. Many businesses are excited to be on board. AFTA has secured the Pickens fire, EMS and police departments and has many restaurants excited to showcase their menu items with free samples and giveaways. Local businesses including shop owners, community service organizations, churches to attorneys are getting in on this event.

Participation is free for any business and the community at large.

“Everything from your reserved space to your advertising is free,” officials said. “Your business gains great advertising, you get direct face time with many potential customers and you get to show your current customer base that you too care about this place that they call home. AFTA continues to encourage each business to take this opportunity to showcase what you have to offer the public.”

To participate in the event, contact Block Party lead coordinator Alexander Dukes at adukes61@gmail.com or (864) 534-7212.

“Thank you in advance for your time and commitment to this vision of community togetherness,” Dukes said. “Without a doubt I believe that it will ultimately become a successful and impactful annual event.”