COLUMBIA — State Sen. Larry Martin entered this week cautiously optimistic that a bill designed to keep coal ash out of Pickens County and other counties in the state would receive final passage by the Senate.

He got his wish on Tuesday, as the state Senate passed final reading of the bill, H. 4857.

“The bill was sent back across the hall to the House of Representatives for its consideration of the Senate amendment on the bill,” Martin said Tuesday.

Martin said the House vote was expected Wednesday.

“After the House vote tomorrow, the bill will need to be ratified and then sent to the governor’s desk,” he said. “It’s my intention to have the bill on the governor’s desk before the end of the week.”

The Pickens County Legislative Delegation has expressed opposition to out-of-state company MRR Pickens LLC’s application for a variance to DHEC. That variance, the delegation said, would allow the company to dispose of coal ash in the landfill they said is “much too close” to the City of Liberty and the Pickens County Industrial Park.

Martin and State Rep. Davey Hiott each introduced bills in their respective chambers. Senate Bill 1061, introduced recently, would require any utility that disposes of coal ash in a South Carolina landfill to use a Class 3 landfill.

Martin and Hiott’s bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee, with language added by Martin to the House version.

The Pickens County senator, who said South Carolina utilities use Class 3 landfills and doesn’t see why that also can’t apply to MRR Pickens LLC, said getting second-reading approval of the bill was key. Martin’s legislation also includes a five-year “sunset” provision that would require the Senate to go back and revisit when the time comes.

Assuming the House agrees with the revised bill, which doesn’t appear to be an issue right now, Martin said “it will be off to the races to the governor’s desk.”

“I’ve already talked to her staff, and they say it won’t be an issue,” he said.

Martin said there are 67 Class D landfills across the state, which means there are more than one for each of the 46 counties — none of which are using Class 2 licenses to dispose of coal ash. Unless legislation is passed, the senator said any of those landfills could be converted to coal ash by placing a liner inside.

“I told senators if they didn’t want this in their backyard to vote for the bill so out-of-state companies will be disposing of coal ash in the same manner the in-state companies are doing,” Martin said.

While acknowledging that the contract dispute between Pickens County and the out-of-state company will have to be resolved in court, Martin added the legislation, if passed, “ends the issue of coal ash.”

Hiott said he is optimistic that the manner in which the legislation has been able to avoid opposition so far is a good sign of its potential for final passage.

“We hope it’ll be law before too long,” Hiott said.

On Monday, MRR Pickens LLC hit another roadblock when circuit court judge Robin Stilwell denied the company’s request for an injunction. The company filed for the injunction to allow it to move forward with construction of the landfill for the disposal of coal ash.

According to court documents, Stilwell felt the company failed to show that the Pickens County Planning Commission’s decision to revoke the permit at the site would cause irreparable harm to the company. The planning commission faces a $25 million lawsuit from MRR Pickens LLC. Pickens County hired Gary Poliakoff, an environmental attorney, for the case. According to Poliakoff, Pickens County would still allow the construction of a landfill at the site for construction and demolition debris.

The decision will halt the company from dumping any form of coal ash at the site until the lawsuit with Pickens County is settled.

EASLEY — A shooting at a popular Easley bowling alley last week left one teenager dead and four other young people charged with murder.

One of the suspects was out of jail on bond after being charged with attempted murder four months ago, according to online Pickens County Sheriff’s Office records.

Easley police responding to Tri-City Lanes in reference to an altercation at around 9 p.m. last Wednesday found a teen in the parking lot with an apparent gunshot wound to the chest. EMS arrived on scene and could not revive the victim.

Kejuan Mitchell Brown, 17, of Easley, was pronounced dead at the scene, and police immediately began a search for the suspects in the case.

A short time after the shooting, a vehicle described by witnesses was found at a Spinx store on S.C. Highway 183 near Dacusville, according to Easley Police chief Tim Tollison.

The four people in the vehicle were transported to the Easley Police Department while detained for questioning, and the four were later arrested and charged with murder.

Ja’mari Trayvar Fair, 18, of 129 Wickersham Way in Easley, Dennis Ezell Gibbs, 19, of 401 N. A St. in Easley, Albert Lavern Taylor, 22, of 101 Wallace Drive, H103, in Easley and an unnamed juvenile were each charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime in the case.

The four were also charged with third-degree assault and battery by a mob after an alleged attack on another victim on West D Avenue, according to warrants.

Tollison told reporters the group had met at the bowling alley to fight after an argument on social media.

Fair was arrested in October and charged with first-degree assault and battery, attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime before being released on a combined $15,000 surety bond for the three charges on Nov. 23, according to sheriff’s office records.

Fair, Gibbs and Taylor were each being held Tuesday without bond at the Pickens County Detention Center, while information about the juvenile was unavailable.

EASLEY — After a 36-hour day-and-night investigation following the discovery of a woman’s body Sunday morning at a boat ramp near Easley, a 22-year-old Greenville man is behind bars and charged with her murder.

Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark announced during a called news conference Tuesday morning that Kasey Clayton Waldrop, of 220 Waverly Drive, was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during commission of a violent crime in the death of 35-year-old Reza Farah Kahn of Townville.

“It is hard to believe that a life can be taken by some of the evil we see today in our society,” Clark said, adding that Kahn was a mother of four. “Our prayer, thoughts and hopes for her children are with the Kahn family. We are going to do everything we can to support them during this awful event.”

Two men who had gone to launch a boat on Saluda Lake discovered Kahn’s body on a dock at the boat ramp on Buckskin Road shortly before 9 a.m. on Sunday, according to police.

Clark said evidence suggested that Kahn was driven to the boat ramp and killed there.

“We want to stress we feel there is no threat to the community anywhere around Saluda or anywhere around Pickens County,” Clark said. “We believe we have arrested all the actors in this.”

Sheriff’s office detectives received information that Kahn’s 2014 Dodge Charger was parked at an apartment complex in West Greenville on Monday evening, and when officers traveled to recover the vehicle, Waldrop was arrested after a short foot pursuit at around 7:30 p.m.

Clark said a gun that matched the caliber of the weapon used to kill Kahn was found in the vehicle, which was partially spray painted to try to cover up evidence, the sheriff said.

Waldrop was initially arrested on weapons charges and held overnight at the Greenville County Detention Center, according to a sheriff’s office news release.

Waldrop was also charged with grand larceny, as detectives had evidence that Waldrop kept and continued to drive Kahn’s vehicle for several hours after the shooting.

Police said a motive has not been determined in the killing, although Clark said Waldrop and Kahn knew each other and were friends.

The case is still under investigation, as detectives are continuing to interview friends and acquaintances of Waldrop and Kahn.

“We are still pursuing some other charges on a couple of other people,” Clark said.

Waldrop, who was out on bond for a 2015 Pickens County grand larceny charge at the time of the killing, waived a bond hearing on Tuesday afternoon. He was transported back to Greenville County to face charges there, and will be transported back to Pickens County to answer to the murder charges upon his release in Greenville.

Clark credited the hard work of his officers — including a newly created three-man homicide team — with making a timely arrest in Kahn’s killing.

“Over the past 36 hours our detectives did what had to be done to protect our citizens,” he said. “It all comes down to quality of people, and we have great people here at the sheriff’s office.

“We still have a lot of work to do to wrap it up and make a good case for our solicitor, and we are working together for them as well.”

EASLEY — Two Easley women are being held without bond at the Pickens County Detention Center after their arrests last week in a sexual solicitation case involving a 14-year-old girl.

Emily Briana Brown, 18, of 603 Blair St., and Misty Michelle Collins, 27, of 302 Lucky St., were each charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and engaging a child under 18 years old for sexual performance.

Brown was arrested on Feb. 15, while Collins was taken into custody the following day.

According to arrest warrants, police believe Brown and Collins gave marijuana to the girl, then persuaded her to take nude photos of herself and send them to an adult male. The women are accused of persuading the girl to send the photos to the man for money and drugs.

Brown and Collins are also accused of taking part in a video in which the 14-year-old was partially nude and engaged in a sexual performance.

Warrants also allege the man came to the home for the purpose of having sex with the girl, and the women tried to convince the girl to have sex with the man.