Daily Archives: 04/14/2020
Man charged with murder in elderly woman’s killing
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — A 21-year-old Liberty man was denied bond Tuesday on a variety of charges including 
murder in the death of an 89-year-old Liberty woman.
The body of Margaret Alice Karr was founded in her home at 517 Mills Ave. shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley said.
Thomas James Chapman is charged with murder, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of first-degree burglary, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and petit larceny.
Liberty Police Chief Adam Gilstrap said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon that Chapman was identified as a potential suspect during a neighborhood canvass on Sunday after Karr’s body was found.
Gilstrap said Chapman provided details of the crime during an interview at the police department.
Chapman entered Karr’s home through an unlocked window at the
Tornadoes touch down in Pickens County
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Two tornadoes touched down in Pickens County in the early-morning hours Monday.
The National Weather Service said that an EF2 tornado touched down near the Pickens-Greenville county line at 3:42 a.m., producing winds of 120 mph.
The northern and southern parts of Pickens County were the hardest hit, including areas around Liberty, Clemson, Central, Marietta and Pumpkintown, according to Pickens County community
DHEC: County has one of lowest virus rates in SC
COLUMBIA — Pickens County has more than 30 reported cases of COVID-19, but the county has 
one of the lowest rates of infection in the state, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
DHEC announced three new cases in Pickens County on Monday, bumping the total in the county to 31. Across the state, there have been 3,439 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and 87 people have died during the outbreak. None of the deaths have been in Pickens County.
The 31 confirmed positive cases across Pickens County
Could COVID
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Although he hopes the state is on the downward curve of COVID-19 cases by then, Rep. Neal Collins believes the coronavirus could cause the June 9 primary election to be delayed.
During a Facebook Live question-and-answer session he hosted last week, Collins was asked about the possibility of a delay.
“Yes, there is a possibility,” Collins said. “I support it. I think that it’s the fair thing to do, especially,
Sheriff: No plans to make arrests for violating order
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark said his deputies will avoid arresting people for violating Gov. Henry McMaster’s stay-at-home order “unless absolutely necessary.”
Clark took part in a question-and-answer session hosted by Rep. Neal Collins on Facebook Live last week. In order to maintain social distancing, the officials participating submitted statements that were read aloud by Collins.
Clark said he wished to calm people’s concerns about the governor’s order.
“We will not be setting up a police state, as some fear, period,” Clark said. “The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office will not purposefully go out and stop vehicles because they are on the road or stop and ask people why they are out and about. To do so puts our deputies at risk. This is not Soviet Russia, where you are asked for your papers. We can take care of each other like we do every day.”
Deputies will take action, if needed, “on those rare situations where there are a lot of people who are hanging out in public, obviously in defiance of the governor’s order,” he said.
Even then, deputies will not immediately take people into custody, Clark said.
“Even in that case, we will first educate and try to disperse the group,” he said. “We’ll avoid arrests
Roper gives county COVID-19 update
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — The leading cause of death in the United States last week was COVID-19, acting Pickens 
County administrator Ken Roper said.
“It wasn’t heart disease,” he said during a Facebook Live update Monday morning. “It wasn’t cancer. It wasn’t suicide. It wasn’t automobile accidents. It wasn’t homicide. It wasn’t drug overdoses. It was COVID-19. That tells you how serious this is.”
Gov. Henry McMaster’s executive order issued Sunday basically keeps his previous stay-at-home order and other orders “active for 15 more days,” Roper said.
“He renewed the order,” he said. “It’s now active through April
The good and the bad of corona quarantine
Coronavirus diary, week 4:
So, we’re a month in, and the virus has not yet directly touched anyone I know — at least not that 
I’m aware of. But there are still many uncertainties about how long this will last, and how many people it will eventually infect — and kill — right here in Pickens County.
Maybe we’ll be lucky and have no deaths here. Or maybe I won’t be around to write the conclusion of this pandemic.
My mom’s coronavirus test came back negative, so that was good. She’s doing remarkably well for a 94-year-old woman who had a
Letters to the Editor 4-15-20
Be a part of that hope
Dear Editor,
Ever felt out of heart to the point of giving up? Yes, haven’t we all?
No matter how bad we have it, though, in life, there’s always someone who has it at least a little bit worse, if not more.
I have been furloughed for 30 days. I’m not complaining, though. I have sometimes in times past complained when I really shouldn’t have. I’ve complain about my feet hurting and about being tired all of the time. Although I’ve been furloughed, I’ll be retiring in five months and am looking forward
Summer dreams
Surely our world will be back to normal this summer … right? Surely we’ll be able to get out of the house without fearing every person who comes near us. We’ll be able to leisurely wander through 
the grocery store, which will be stocked as it used to be. We’ll stop to talk to friends on the street and sit in coffee shops and chat. We’ll attend church, go to our meetings, stroll through the neighborhood admiring the flowers and
Surveying the damage
The sun rose on Monday morning with many local residents in shock at the destruction done by
overnight storms. Two tornadoes touched down in Pickens County, and high winds and heavy rain caused even more widespread damage. Although there were no deaths in the county, several people were injured, thousands found themselves without power, and many residents were forced to spend the day dealing with insurance companies, downed trees and limbs and storm cleanup. Photos by Kerry Gilstrap/Courier
