Daily Archives: 05/07/2019
Hagood Mill director fired
McDaniel resigns as foundation chair
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Pickens County administrator Gerald Wilson said Hagood Mill Historic Site director Billy Crawford was terminated with cause on Thursday.
“We had a personnel issue we had to address,” Wilson said.
Crawford became Hagood Mill’s director following the death of director Eddie Bolt in 2013.
Wilson said the Hagood Mill director position will be filled at some point in the future.
“After all the dust settles, we’ll regroup and put a plan in place,” he said.
Crawford’s termination will not cause any
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Classics at the co-op
Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative hosted its 22nd annual Blue Ridge Fest at its headquarters in Pickens on Friday, bringing thousands of people from around the Upstate together for a night of classic music, classic cars, food and dancing to raise money for charity, headlined by a performance by the Oak Ridge Boys. The event also featured performances by Jim Quick and Coastline and The Tams. To see more photos, visit Facebook.com/PickensCountyCourier. Photos by Rocky Nimmons and Bru Nimmons
Coal ash saga still continues
I sort of hate to bring this up since most of you probably think it’s a long-dead issue, but the legal battle over a proposed coal ash landfill near Liberty is raging on.
In fact, lawyers representing Pickens County have filed a motion asking for a jury trial.
This fight has taken all kinds of nasty twists and turns ever since the local legislative delegation got the state law changed to 
specifically bar coal ash from being deposited in a Class 2 landfill, which is the type of facility that a company called MRR Pickens wants to operate. The company, however, says the county breached its contract, which predates the change in the law.
The two sides have been at each other’s throats in depositions, motions and maneuvers.
“MRR has engaged in obstruction and delay extensively in this case, in addition to its ongoing misrepresentations and deceit from June of 2014 to the present,” lawyers for the county assert in one of the recent court filings.
I checked in with Gary Poliakoff, the lead attorney representing Pickens County, to see if anything has happened since Jan. 29, when he filed the motion asking for a jury trial.
“That motion and several other motions remain pending,” he wrote in an emailed reply. “Hopefully they’ll get scheduled and heard soon, but no date yet.
“Also, we are hopeful that trial will take place before the end of this year.”
The lead lawyer for MRR didn’t reply to my email.
So, here it is, approaching the middle of 2019, and this dispute, which dates back to late 2015, may be coming to a head sometime
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Easley budget has no millage increase
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The city of Easley’s proposed fiscal year 2019-2020 budget does not contain a millage increase.
“Property tax is proposed to remain the same at 68 mills,” city administrator Stephen Steese told council during a budget work session April 23. “There is no tax increase recommended.”
Some residents will see an increase related to the local option sales tax.
“That is the amount that we get from sales tax that comes in annually to offset property tax,” he said.
Officials say the local option sales tax multiplier will be decreasing.
“This is the first time it’s dropped in about four years,” Steese said. “What that means is people will receive a smaller discount off their property taxes. Even though millage will not be going up, they’ll probably see some small increase from that multiplier being
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Chief releases more in women’s killings
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — A woman kidnapped and later killed by an ex-boyfriend initially told police the man had not threatened her, according to Pickens Police Chief Travis Riggs.
Riggs released more information about the killings of Rebecca Purry and her aunt, Claudette Purry, on Friday.
Claudette Purry was shot by Marco Vaught in the early-morning hours of April 17 at her home on Pendleton Street, police said. Vaught then forced Rebecca Purry to get into a black 2000 GMC Denali, according to witnesses.
Claudette Purry died later that morning. Vaught, initially charged with aggravated assault and kidnapping, was charged with murder
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No tax hike in district budget proposal
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
EASLEY — The Pickens County School Board approved first reading of a proposed $128,597,450 general fund budget last week that includes pay raises for teachers and support staff and expands district services for early childhood, mental health and world languages, but does not include a tax increase.
“We are very pleased with the increase in teacher pay, and specifically the improved starting teacher pay ($38,513),” district superintendent Danny Merck said.
Merck said the district is adding teachers for 3- and 4-year-old kindergarten in Liberty, world language teachers at Clemson Elementary, Six Mile Elementary, Pickens Elementary and Hagood Elementary and another teacher to the Pickens County Career and Technology Center.
“We are making these improvements and more without recommending a millage increase,” Merck said. The proposed budget consists of a 4 percent increase on each cell of the teacher state minimum salary scale, one step increase for certified teachers paid on the teacher scale who are not at the top of the scale and pay initiatives for other employees, including one step increase for bus
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State commission OKs rate hike for ‘tone deaf’ Duke
By Riley Morningstar
Courtesy The Journal
rmorningstar@upstatetoday.com
SENECA — The South Carolina Public Service Commission has approved a request allowing Duke Energy to raise its monthly basic facilities charge to from $8.29 to $11.96 per month for residential customers.
But a member of the commission criticized Duke officials this week, saying they “demonstrated they were tone deaf” about the impact the company’s original request for an increase in the basic facilities charge to $28 per month would have had on elderly, disabled, low income and low-use customers.
The commission took action last week on the rate increase application on the request proposed by Duke to increase monthly basic
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Legislators honor responders
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — State legislators recently honored the members of the Pickens County Emergency Management Response Team for helping victims of Hurricane Florence last year.
Members of the Pickens County Legislative Delegation presented the response team with a resolution passed by the S.C. House of Representatives recognizing them for “their heroic efforts.”
The resolution said Pickens County sent three divisions of its Emergency Management Response Team — the swiftwater rescue team, fire engine crew and communications team — to the Pee Dee on Sept. 12 to “lend a hand in the crisis brought on by Hurricane Florence.”
While deployed, the Emergency Management Response Team completed 3,672 man-hours of rescue work in the Pee Dee, the
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Sheriff’s office warns of utility phone scam
PICKENS — Residents should beware of phone calls from scammers trying to pass themselves off as utility company representatives, according to police.
The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office issued a news release Monday that said local residents have received phone calls from unknown people claiming to be utility companies.
The callers tell homeowners their monthly bill is overdue and unless they provide funds over the phone using “Green Dot” cards or
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VA officer asks for assistant, more hours
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Pickens County Veterans Affairs officer Sherry Harris says the claims and paperwork her office deals with are becoming more complicated and time-consuming.
“It’s a constant, ever-changing environment,” Harris said. “We have over 8,000 (veterans) in our system.”
Harris asked county council at its meeting last week to fund a part-time administrative assistant, as well as increasing her work
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