Daily Archives: 09/01/2020
Dozens quarantined for virus during first week of school
COUNTY — Dozens of School District of Pickens County employees and students were in quarantine during the first week of the school year last week, according to district officials.
As students made their return to in-person learning for the first time since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced classes to move all online throughout the state, 32 staff members and 60 students from Pickens County were quarantined last week, though only seven staff members and
11 students had tested positive for the virus.
Only five of the positive cases had been inside school buildings, according to the district’s weekly case count, sent to parents Friday by superintendent Danny Merck.
SDPC spokesman John Eby said that on Aug. 24 — the first day of the school year — the district had 30 employees under
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4 NEW DEATHS IN PICKENS COUNTY
COLUMBIA — South Carolina officials have reported four new COVID-19 deaths in Pickens County 
over the past week, increasing from last week’s total of only one.
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported the confirmed death of one elderly person and the probable death of another elderly person in the county, while the other two probable deaths are currently under investigation.
The county opened the week last week with a huge number of cases, announcing 52 on Tuesday, but the numbers trailed off the rest of the week, with the county averaging about 15 per
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‘I wish that on nobody’
City official shares virus experience
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Pickens City Councilman Rev. Isaiah Scipio said he believed, like many people, that 
coming down with COVID-19 couldn’t happen to him.
“It happened to me,” he said.
Scipio spoke recently with Pickens City COVID Task Force members Norm Rentz and Dr. Jim Mahanes during a Facebook Live video.
Scipio, the senior pastor at O’Zion Baptist Church in Seneca, said he and eight other members of his church contracted COVID-19.
Scipio began feeling weakness and shortness of breath.
“My heart rate for two days was 128, 130 beats per minute,” he said. “That’s way past stroke level.”
The virus attacks victims physically and mentally, Scipio said.
He experienced “anxiety, insomnia and just total
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County’s Highway 183 expansion project not selected for funding
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — The county’s application to the State Infrastructure Bank for funding to use to widen S.C. Highway 183 was not selected to move forward this year, although there is a chance that some smaller fixes could receive money.
Rep. Neal Collins gave an update on the application to the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) during a Pickens United meeting held virtually Monday afternoon.
“Four years ago, we finally got together and made the application,” Collins said. “It was under different rules back then.
At that time, county officials applied for $105 million in funding for two projects — the S.C. 183
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Wrecks claim 4 lives Sunday
EASLEY — A Liberty woman died after a wrong-way head-on collision on U.S. Highway 123 near Easley on Sunday night, less than 24 hours after a single-car wreck that killed three people in Clemson.
Pickens County deputy coroner Gary Duncan said Brittany PalPal-Latoc, 34, of 132 Yates Road, died at the scene of Sunday night’s wreck, which happened at 10:46 p.m. at the Georges Creek bridge.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol said SUV going north in the southbound lanes of Highway 123
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Scammers claiming to be Easley police
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The city of Easley is warning residents to beware of scam artists posing as members of 
the Easley Police Department during “aggressive” telephone calls.
Public information officer Chase Campbell issued a release Saturday about the scams.
Residents from inside and outside the city limits received calls Saturday, the release said.
The callers told residents they have violations or active warrants
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Clements: Clemson furloughs, pay cuts ‘difficult but necessary’
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
CLEMSON — The furloughs announced by Clemson University last week aim to help the university 
recover from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Clemson University president Jim Clements addressed the “difficult but necessary” cost reductions, which include furloughs and voluntary pay cuts, in an update issued Friday.
“I remain confident that Clemson will emerge from the pandemic strong, but this unprecedented situation continues to take a financial toll on our university — and all of higher education,” he said.
Current projects place the economic impact of the pandemic on Clemson at between $120 million
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SC Botanical Garden Fall Plant Sale online this year
By Denise Attaway
Clemson University
news@thepccourier.com
CLEMSON — For the first time ever, the South Carolina Botanical Garden is holding its fall plant
sale completely online this year.
Nursery manager Misty Shealy said orders can be placed Sept. 7-25 online.
“We want to keep everyone safe from COVID-19,” Shealy said. “The only way people can buy plants this year is to order from the website and then schedule a contact-free curbside pickup.”
Links to the online plant sale catalog are available on the Plant Sale webpage at the Botanical Garden’s website, clemson.edu/public/scbg/. A link to the online store will be posted on the website and the
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Easley’s Pete’s No. 6 set to move
EASLEY — There will be a lot of tears shed when Pete’s No. 6 on U.S. Highway 123 in Easley closes the doors at its 56-year location for the last time on Saturday.
However, there will be lots of cheers when Pete’s No. 6 opens up at 7 a.m. next Monday in its new state-of-the-art venue, located half a mile east of its old location in the totally remodeled facility that once housed Ruby Tuesday.
Pete’s No. 6 is the oldest sustaining restaurant in Easley, opening its doors in 1958 on East Main Street. Six years later, the restaurant moved to its current location.
In making the announcement, Pete’s owner Costas Petromichelis said, “I have always had a dream of having a very nice dining place where the family can go and enjoy a nice evening without breaking
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COVID-19 myths and misinformation
A myth is a broadly held but false ideation that is frequently spread through our various media in relation to an illness or other phenomenon. COVID-19 is no exception to that hype.
Many of these are simply anecdotal references to chemical, physical or environmental propositions that might alter the course of an illness. Homeopathic or holistic approaches to any malady are, however, very important concepts to promote our physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual modalities that can be beneficial in our healing. Rumors and misinformation can be dangerous, and as of today, the best cure for COVID-19 is prevention of spread of the virus. In an effort to root out some of the myths associated with
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