Daily Archives: 08/20/2019
Off and Running
FOOTBALL FRENZY BEGINS THIS WEEK!
High school football kicks off Friday night
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — Easley High School hosted the final dress rehearsal before football season at its annual jamboree on Friday night, and while showing plenty of positives, both the Green Wave and visiting Daniel Lions showed they had some work to do ahead of this week’s season openers.
Set to kick off the season with a 7:30 p.m. trip to county rival Liberty this Friday, Daniel dropped the opener in the Easley jamboree against the Brookland-Cayce Bearcats, 26-21.
Easley, meanwhile, lost 19-14 to Seneca in the jamboree’s closing half as the Green Wave prepare to host county rival Pickens at 8 p.m. to open the regular season this Friday.
The Lions fell behind early in their matchup with the Bearcats before quarterback Tyler Venables drove the offense 75 yards down the field and threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Billy Bruce to tie the game at 7-7. The
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4-year-old’s death under investigation
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and the Pickens County Coroner’s Office are investigating after a 4-year-old child died after being found unresponsive at an Easley home Monday.
Coroner Kandy Kelley identified the child as Kason Stelling.
According to a news release from sheriff’s office Chief Deputy Chad Brooks, the child was found unresponsive
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County holds opioid summit
By Riley Morningstar
Courtesy The Journal
rmorningstar@upstatetoday.com
CLEMSON — More than 30 people have died from drug overdoses in Pickens County this year, setting an all-time high for the area, according to the county’s coroner.
The Pickens County Opioid Summit was held Wednesday at the Madren Center in Clemson, and Coroner Kandy Kelley told the audience of more than 100 people that 32 people had died from drug overdoses to date.
She said a spike in fentanyl use has been a factor in higher overdose numbers in recent years.
“I’m seeing fentanyl mixed in, and the people who are using the heroin think it’s safe because they’ve used it before, and when
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Town hall meetings to address opioid use
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — The opioid problem in Pickens County will be discussed at an upcoming series of town hall meetings.
The meeting series is called “Unmasked: The Truth Behind the Opioid Crisis in Pickens County” and will be hosted at the branch libraries around the county. The first meeting is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Hampton Memorial Library in Easley. The Sarlin Branch library in Liberty will host a meeting at 5 p.m. Sept. 16. The Village Branch in Pickens will
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2 arrested after late-night chase
CLEMSON — Two men were arrested last week after police said they ran from officers on foot after speeding through downtown Clemson.
At 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, Clemson police noticed a car being driven at a “high rate of speed through the downtown area of Clemson” and officers tried to stop the vehicle before the driver evaded a traffic stop, Clemson Police Chief Jimmy Dixon said in a news release.
Dixon said the vehicle was driven to a dead-end street, and one man was found “trying to swim from the shore within
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Reviving a ranch with rock and roll history
I know a lot of you old hippie types out there have been celebrating the 50th anniversary this month of a certain famous three-day festival of “peace and music” up on Max Yasgur’s farm in New York state. But how many of you remember that we had our own little Woodstock right here in Upstate South Carolina back in the mid-70s?
It was at a venue called Charlie B’s Ranch Arena, just across the river in Oconee County, and it drew thousands upon thousands of “longhairs” from across the region for daylong events featuring the likes of Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top and the Marshall Tucker Band.
I have some very special memories of those events (although they are, admittedly, a little fuzzy), because the band I was playing with at the time, Sashay, was the warmup act for two or three of them, and it was one of the highlights of my career.
Now, the reason I’m telling y’all about this is that after a lapse of more than 40 years, the festival has been revived — sort of. Charlie B is in rock and roll heaven now, but his grandson, Nick Crenshaw, who now owns the ranch out in the country south of Seneca, has consented to let some
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County administrator to explore Fort Prince George site options
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Acting Pickens County administrator Ken Roper will be exploring ways the county can assist with the reconstruction of Fort Prince George, a colonial-era fort and trading post along the Cherokee Path.
The original fort site now lies beneath the waters of Lake Keowee.
During county council’s Committee of the Whole meeting Monday evening, Roper asked for guidance from council on the project.
“I think Fort Prince George is one of the largest untapped historical and cultural ideas that we have in this county, but I need direction from you all,” he said.
Moving forward on Fort Prince George is on the county’s list of goals for the coming year, Roper said. But it has remained on the committee of the whole’s log.
“What I would like to do … is go out and gather
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If only that old pot could talk
A very time the pot is brought in, it brings with it the memories of Grandmama in the big old kitchen at Sycamore Hill. The pot was a huge Mirro-Matic pressure cooker and was in almost constant use for the duration of each 
summer.
Because Grandmama and Uncle Walter had lived through the Great Depression, they worked hard to can enough produce to carry us through the lean times.
Everything humans could grow was planted and harvested and carefully processed.
It supplied us through the winter.
And just as important as the amount put up was the quality of the food.
Not only did the old cooker process hundreds of jars of everything you can imagine, it was also the pot of
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Catching a case of TB
If my best friend Joe and I had not met each other in our early teens, we most likely would have succumbed to a most dangerous and contagious disease called “Teen Boredom” or T.B. for short. When this affliction gets into a teenager’s 
system, it’s pretty much incurable. At least until he or she gets into their middle-aged years, if at all.
Here is just one example of teenage boredom. Joe and I were sitting at his house one day in March with nothing in particular to do. Now, if we had several assigned jobs to accomplish, we would not have to “think” for ourselves. This is definitely bordering on boredom when a teenager has to think.
After a 30-second planning meeting, we decided to go on a road hike. This type of hike is easy to plan. The only requirement for me was to make sure we returned home in time for me to milk the cow(s), slop the chickens, feed the hogs, carry in the firewood, do my homework and eat
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Paul O’Shield is a local native who enjoys writing about his time as a youngster growing up in Pickens County.
Canadian drugs in our future?
If you watch the news, you might have seen there’s a proposal underway that would allow states to import prescription drugs from Canada, where costs are lower. Drugs are cheaper in other countries because their 
governments control the prices.
As it now stands, we can go across the border and bring back a three-month supply of our medications for personal use, but there are pitfalls. Technically it’s illegal, but it’s often overlooked at the border. Going to Canada for your drugs can be inconvenient, and travel costs can
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