Monthly Archives: March 2020
SDPC continues to feed children during statewide school closure
COUNTY — With schools statewide closed amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the School 
District of Pickens County is offering breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday for anyone under the age of 18 and special needs adults up to age 21.
Beginning this week, the meals are available from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Central Academy of the Arts, Chastain Road Elementary in Liberty, Dacusville Elementary, McKissick Academy of Science and Technology and West End Elementary in Easley and Pickens Elementary.
In addition, meals are available at the same time at churches around the county, including Shady Grove and Holly Springs Baptist churches in the Pickens area,
Woman, 25, dies after fall
SUNSET — A Simpsonville woman died over the weekend after falling from the top of a Pickens County waterfall in the middle of the night.
Taylor Coleman, 25, was camping with friends when she fell from the top of Laurel Fork Falls in Sunset around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, according to Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley.
Emergency officials responded to the scene just before 4 a.m., according to Pickens County Emergency Management, which said the woman fell about 75 feet.
After steep terrain prevented crews from extricating Coleman by ground, the S.C. Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team was called to help
Kelley said Coleman was later pronounced dead at Prisma Health Greenville. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
Local hospitals preparing to face pandemic
By Ron Barnett
Staff Reporter
rbarnett@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Pickens County’s two hospitals have issued restrictions on visitation as they try to hold down the possible spread of the coronavirus that had infected nearly 300 South Carolinians by early this week.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control listed one person in Pickens County as having contracted the virus by Tuesday morning, but the growth in numbers across the state had jumped by about 100, with 15 cases in Anderson County, 31 in Greenville and with Oconee registering its first two cases. There had been five deaths reported across the state from the virus as of Tuesday morning.
As of March 20, no visitors are allowed at any Prisma Health hospitals, emergency departments or
Virus may have halted road fix
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — The uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 coronavirus strain is causing Pickens County Council and staff to rethink preparations for the upcoming budget.
The outbreak’s timing “is unfortunate,” acting administrator Ken Roper said. “It’s budget time.”
Council members discussed what the coronavirus means for the budget during a special meeting March 16.
County staff are exploring the county’s legal requirements for the budget, Roper said.
“Could we give you a bare-bones budget, could you pass it in a reasonably short amount of time, with no tax increases and those sorts of things, so the public doesn’t have to have anxiety about it?” he said. “We don’t need to add additional anxiety to what the public’s already feeling.”
The county’s response to the virus will create unforeseen expenses, Councilman Ensley Feemster
Spring events affected by outbreak
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused a number of spring events to be postponed or canceled, including the Pickens Azalea Festival.
The Azalea Festival Board of Directors announced the 2020 festival’s cancellation on social media March 19.
“We are in uncharted territories and this decision does not come lightly,” the post read. “We ask that you keep our health officials and afflicted in your thoughts and prayers as our country goes through these trying times.”
Vendors who’d planned to be at the festival can
School board suspends meetings
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
EASLEY — Due to restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pickens County School 
Board won’t be having its regular monthly meetings the fourth Monday of the month anytime in the foreseeable future.
On Friday morning, with only chairwoman Betty Garrison present and the remaining six trustees attending via conference call, the board unanimously voted to suspend regularly scheduled meetings until further notice. School district spokesman John Eby said virtual meetings, such as those held Friday, may continue with at least 24 hours notice to the media and public.
The virtual meeting was held based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines not allowing more than 10 people to be gathered at once.
“With the current restrictions on social distancing and group limitations, the traditional public input format of citizens coming to a podium in a public meeting isn’t possible,” Eby said.
Prayer, common sense and love
Every morning for the past few days, a thick fog has enshrouded the view outside my kitchen window. The gray skeletons of bare trees seem to be brooding over a dark, cold and very quiet 
world.
It’s not hard to imagine that the Angel of Death is lurking out there in the mist. It passed over us this time, but who knows what the future holds?
These, of course, are just the melodramatic musings of someone who has been virtually quarantined for the past couple of weeks, tracking the news of the spread of the coronavirus. As I write this, Pickens County has yet to be touched by the virus, but by the time you read it I expect we will have had our first confirmed cases.
I know that many of you have accepted the notion that this pandemic is basically a story that has been hyped up by the media, possibly for political purposes, or just because that’s
Help is only six feet away
One advantage to growing up in the middle of nowhere was the need to be able to make what we needed out of whatever was on hand.
There was no way to get to town until Saturday, when Mama drove in for groceries and to pay bills. If we went, we’d head for the dime store with our dimes and spend a blissful hour trying to decide what to buy.
But most of the time we’d entertain ourselves with our own home-constructed creations. This has served us all well as adults.
We can make a raincoat out of a shopping bag and a sun visor out of a folded paper plate and a shoestring. We made our own golf course out of soup cans and built our own boat. It leaked, but it floated fine if somebody bailed. We experimented with filling eight Coca-Cola bottles with the levels of water needed to make the notes of an octave when you blew across one. We
County administrator weighs in on coronavirus pandemic
As we all plan and adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, I want all of our citizens to know that your county government is still at work. We are all receiving a flood of information (some reliable, some 
not so much) about the current situation in our country and our state.
Local events and meetings are being canceled, and health experts are urging preparation for when COVID-19 inevitably comes to our community. Accordingly, I felt it would be helpful to share with the public a letter I recently sent by email to all county employees addressing COVID-19.
To All County Employees:
We are all focused on and concerned about COVID-19, the new Coronavirus. With so much news coverage on this issue, and with numerous other voices speaking on the topic, it is easy to become confused or frustrated. It is important to be informed, so please only turn to trusted sources for your information, such as www.scdhec.gov/covid19. I encourage all county employees to remain focused
Courier Obituaries 3-25-20
WILMA C. GILLESPIE
PICKENS — Wilma Coleman Gillespie, 89, widow of Garth S. Gillespie, passed from this life on 
Monday, March 23, 2020, in Pickens.
Born on Oct. 18, 1930, in Lowell, N.C., she was the daughter of the late Fred Coleman and Bertha McKinna Coleman. She was a member of Midway Baptist Church. She enjoyed her life as a homemaker, mother and babysitter to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was happiest when her house was full.
In addition to her husband, Wilma was preceded in death by sisters, Louise Coleman, Sophia Pace and Ruth Morris; brother, Jim Coleman; son-in-law, Gary Wortman; and grandson, Travis Wortman.
Surviving are her children, David Gillespie, Linda Wortman, John Gillespie, Sandy Gillespie (Barry Durham), Joan Williams (Mark), Robert Gillespie, Roger Gillespie (Linda), Kenneth Gillespie, Lisa Lewis (Mark) and Jeff Gillespie; and beloved sister, Betty Bowie (Charlton). In addition, she is survived by grandchildren, Brian Gillespie, Alan Gillespie, Andy Gillespie, Amy Quinn, Shannon Childress,
