Daily Archives: 07/16/2019
‘On the mend’
Businessman planning to bring ‘little
industrial park’ to former OWT site
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — A businessman who has become enamored with the area plans to bring new life — and a number of new businesses — to 
the former Singer/Ryobi/OWT site in Pickens.
David Hosea said Tuesday morning he is set to close on the property “exactly one month from today.”
“On my birthday,” he said. “I’m really excited.”
His Kentucky-based company, Hosea Project Movers, encompasses a lot of operations, and he’ll be moving many of those divisions to Pickens.
“It’s all under the Hosea name,” he said. “Hosea Trucking, Hosea Storage. We do a lot of demolition. We’re going to start a demolition division down here.
“Our family has several businesses,” Hosea continued. “We’re one of the largest moving companies in the United States. We have operations in Augusta, Ga. We’re going to move it here. We build pallet racks — we’re going to start an operation here. We’re going to move our Southern trucking operations here.”
The company also sells and liquidates factories, he said.
“We want to make this our big liquidation center,” Hosea said. “We have a very, very large new and used furniture
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Easley man charged with murder
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — An Easley man is charged with murder in the Saturday shooting death of a Greenville woman.
Jonathan Richard Rackley, 38, of Ruby Drive, is charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Creed Hashe said in a news release.
Deputies responded to reports of a gunshot victim on Ruby Drive at 2 a.m. Saturday, Hashe said.
A woman later identified as 37-year-old Jamie Lynn Scruggs was found in an outbuilding behind the home “with significant trauma to the head,” Hashe said.
She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead
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Bomb suspect facing federal, state charges
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
GREENVILLE — The man authorities say planted bombs at the Pickens County Courthouse and the Pickens Department of Social 
Services office last week appeared before a federal judge Wednesday.
Bombs caused slight damage to windows on the lower level of the courthouse Sunday evening. The devices planted on the roof of the DSS office were found before they went off.
“This was a very scary time for the community of Pickens and for the citizens of South Carolina,” Lance Crick, 1st Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South
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City election filing to open
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — With election season inching closer, the municipal general election candidate filing period will begin on Thursday.
The period, which runs through noon on Aug. 1, will have filing available for candidates in Central, Easley, Liberty, Norris, Pickens
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New name for Pickens post office would honor soldier who gave all
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — An effort is underway to rename the post office in Pickens in honor of
Charles Johnson, the first Pickens County resident killed in the Vietnam War.
During a special called meeting Monday evening, Pickens City Council members unanimously approved a resolution in support of renaming the post office.
Councilman Fletcher Perry introduced Johnson’s family members who were present at the meeting.
Perry asked Judge Perry Gravely and Rev. Isaiah Scipio to speak about Charles Johnson and the Johnson family. Charles Johnson Memorial Park, located at the corner of Lee Street and South Catherine Street, has become an important place for Gravely’s Boy Scout troop. They hold flag ceremonies there, he said.
“I knew where it was, but I didn’t know who it honored,” Gravely said. “When I got into it, I realized there was a very special story behind Charles Johnson. Charles Johnson is not the whole story. The whole story involves his whole family.”
Specialist Fourth Class Charles Johnson Jr. was killed on March 30, 1966, in Pleiku Province. He was 25 years old.
As a teenager, Charles enjoyed reading military
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Pickens man charged with attempted murder
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — A Pickens man is charged with attempted murder following a shooting at a Pickens home Thursday morning.
Terry Alton Moore, 61, is charged with attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Creed Hashe.
Hashe said deputies were dispatched to reports of a gunshot victim at a home on Dublin Lane at 9 a.m. July 11.
Hashe said Moore and another man, both residents of the home, were in an argument with other people at the home. Witnesses said one of the two men retrieved a shotgun
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Sheriff asks SLED for investigation of inmate incident
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Pickens County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Creed Hashe said rumors that a detention center inmate died last week are unfounded.
Hashe told media Thursday the sheriff’s office had received inquiries about the death of an inmate
the previous day.
Hashe said a male inmate was taken to the hospital at 4 p.m. July 10 to be treated for “a self-inflicted injury.”
The inmate was detained in a cell by himself when he was found unconscious “with visible evidence he had attempted to hang himself,” according to Hashe.
EMS took the man to the hospital. Hashe said Thursday the man had not died, but was in critical condition.
Following the incident, Sheriff Rick Clark requested assistance from the South Carolina State
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New restaurant headed to Easley
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — A new pizza and pasta restaurant will be occupying a building in downtown Easley that has been empty for more than five years.
Amici will open its second Pickens County location at 121 S. Pendleton St., operator and general manager Ferrante Johnson announced during Easley City Council’s July 8 meeting.
“We’re very excited about it,” Johnson said.
During the meeting, council members unanimously approved second reading for the execution and delivery of an economic
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Clemson, Prisma Health partner to offer grants
CLEMSON — The Clemson University Division of Research and Prisma Health are set to fund up to $200,000 a year in grants in a 
partnership announced last week.
The university and health care provider recently signed an agreement to fund the money through the new Innovation Maturation Fund.
“The health care-focused grants are intended to advance the development and implementation of new medical initiatives, advance translational science, create job and educational opportunities, improve health care and drive economic growth in the region,” according to a news release.
The fund is set to be managed by the university’s research foundation, which has awarded more than
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School lunch prices to go up this year
PICKENS — Pickens County students will pay about a dime more for their meals at school starting this year.
Jenaffer Pitt, nutrition services director for the School District of Pickens County, said paid breakfast will increase from $1.40 to $1.50, while paid elementary lunch will go from $2 to $2.10 and middle and high school lunch will increase from $2.25 to $2.35. The last meal increase was in the 2016-17 school year.
Reduced breakfast and reduced lunch in Pickens County schools will remain at 30 cents and 40 cents, respectively.
Pitt said the USDA stipulates school districts that charge less than $3 for paid lunches must either increase their meal prices using a weighted average formula provided by the USDA, add non-federal funds to the school food service account or apply for an exemption.
“We have received the exemption for the last two school years,” Pitt said.
