Daily Archives: 02/12/2020
County officials declare state of emergency in wake of flooding
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Pickens County Council chairman Roy Coster declared a state of emergency following a heavy storm Thursday that caused flash flooding throughout the county.
By Thursday evening, more than 60 roads had been closed in Pickens County due to the storm, with more roads expected to be added to that list.
“We are declaring a state of emergency so that we can be proactive in being able to help as quickly as possible,” Costner said at a press conference held in the county’s Emergency Operations Center on Thursday evening.
In addition to the roads, “numerous roads and businesses” were impacted by the storm, he said.
Declaring a state of emergency allows outside resources to be brought in “to benefit the
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Weird, wacky weather
The talk around town and beyond is that the weather we have experienced in the past couple of weeks is not normal. I served on the state’s Drought Response Committee for more than 20 
years, and based on my long experience, I can tell you — they are right. This is not normal.
Just think about the last 10 days. On top of already saturated soils (5.8 inches of rain in January), we have had more than a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours, resulting in epic flooding all across the region.
We’ve had temperatures ranging from the 20s to a balmy 70 degrees for a couple of days last week. Daffodils have been flowering in Easley for two weeks, and I actually saw someone at the grocery store last
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Under Water
City of Pickens hit hard by storm
By Ron Barnett
Staff Reporter
rbarnett@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — The past week or so has been a challenging time for the city of Pickens, to say the least.
A massive power outage, two snowstorms and a flood unlike any seen in recent years created havoc and inflicted significant damage, with another wave of rainstorms still coming in this week.
Floodwaters drenched the recreation department’s baseball and football fields, damaged its footbridge across Town Creek and covered much of Jaycee Park with a deep layer of silt and sand.
The city is planning a work day for
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A new life for former Gettys site?
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The former Gettys Middle School site could be seeing new life as an apartment complex.
First reading of a zoning request for the site at 105 Stewart Drive was on the agenda of Easley City Council’s February meeting Monday night.
The request was to rezone 16.005 acres at the site from R-10 to GR2.
All schools in the city are zoned R-10, city administrator Stephen Steese said.
The rezoning would allow up to around 220 units to be built on site “should they decide to
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National chains coming to Easley shopping center
By Ron Barnett
Staff Reporter
rbarnett@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — Four new national chain stores will be coming to Easley to fill up the Town ‘N Country shopping center, with the demolition of the former JCPenney store and a row of smaller shops between it and the Hobby Lobby store “moving pretty swiftly,” according to an Easley city official.
HomeGoods, Five Below, Ross clothing and Ulta Beauty will be taking up occupancy with the departure of JCPenney, Radio Shack, Hallmark and Groucho’s Deli, Easley building official Tommy Holcombe said.
Matt Phillips, one of the partners in the new ownership group, said construction is expected to
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One recycling center to open on Wednesdays
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — One of the county’s recycling centers is now open again on Wednesdays.
Last week, county officials announced the Easley recycling center at the county landfill in Liberty will be open from 7:30 a.m.-7:20 p.m. on Wednesdays effective this week.
The center is located at 2053 Old Liberty Highway in Liberty. It was chosen to open on Wednesdays due to its central location. All the other county recycling centers will remain closed on Wednesdays.
During summer 2018, officials decided to close all the centers on Wednesdays as a money-
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County athletes sign with colleges
Pickens County had another huge signing day on Feb. 5, with local high school student-athletes signing with colleges all over the country. Signing at Daniel,
pictured above, from left, were De’Andre Bradley (football, Coffeyville Community College), Hack Hamilton (football, Coffeyville Community College), Jared Kirksey (football, South Carolina State University), Bubba McAtee (football, Clemson University), Jacob Peake (baseball, Anderson University) and Mismeh Balawi (cross-country and track, U.S. Naval Academy). Signing at Easley were, seated below from left, Ashley Gagnon (softball, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts), Joshua Hill (wrestling, Limestone College), Caleb Holcombe (wrestling, Limestone College), Dylan Lyda (football, The Citadel), and Jackson Wilson (football, Presbyterian College). At Liberty High School, senior football standouts Aaron Spruill and Duncan Owen, pictured inset with Red Devils football coach Kyle Stewart, both signed with Erskine College. Pickens High School also had two seniors sign to play football at North Greenville University — Lawson Maxey and Jacob Nagle — but pictures were unavailable at press time.
Liberty Middle boys clinch back-to-back championships
LIBERTY — From 0-13 to back-to-back championships, the Liberty Middle School Falcons boys’ basketball team has completed quite the turnaround over the past couple of seasons.
After going winless in the 2017-2018 season, the Falcons responded in a big way to win both the conference and tournament championships last year — the first season of its kind at
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Devils beat Pendleton
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — After falling behind early, the Liberty High School boys’ basketball team looked to be in big trouble on Friday night against the Pendleton Bulldogs.
However, the standout play of senior point guard Bradyn Moss and junior forward E.J. Stafford turned things around in a hurry, as the Red Devils fended off the Bulldogs in a 58-51 win.
“This is a great win for us,” Liberty coach Jonathan Dilworth said. “We got after it
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Despite hot start, Liberty girls fall against Bulldogs
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — In the midst of a five-game losing streak, the Liberty Red Devil girls’ basketball 
team seemed poised to turn things around on Friday night.
The Red Devils jumped out to a hot start and held a 23-22 halftime lead over Pendleton — which sits at second place in the region standings. Liberty just couldn’t hold on though, turning the ball over in droves as the Bulldogs pulled away for a 52-39 win.
“In the second half we really went back into some old habits,” Liberty head coach Gregg Thomas said. “We were throwing the ball away with some
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