Monthly Archives: September 2020
Election board hears social media complaints
No changes planned after petitions calling for members’ removal
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — With the general election just two months away, the Pickens County Board of Voter Registration and Elections has once again been forced to deal with controversy.
The board, which has only served for a few months after the abrupt resignation of the previous board members in March, is now facing accusations of bias from some local residents.
Last month, social media posts by board secretary Lillian Boatwright drew scrutiny after some residents said they appeared to show her liberal political beliefs.
That scrutiny led Pickens County conservative activist Johnnelle Raines to launch a petition calling for Boatwright’s resignation, and the issue was a prime topic during the election board’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Election board chair James Liddle addressed the
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All Systems Go
No. 1 Tigers set to kick off season on Saturday
By Eric Sprott
Courtesy The Journal
esprott@upstatetoday.com
CLEMSON — The Clemson football team has won the ACC championship each of the last five years, and with preseason first-team All-Americans Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne back to lead the 
way this season, the media that covers the conference sees little reason why the Tigers won’t make it six in a row.
The conference announced the results of its preseason media poll on Friday, and the top-ranked Tigers — who will kick off the season this Saturday — were predicted to finish first by 132 of the media panel’s 134 voters. The
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Cyberattack disrupts SDPC online learning
EASLEY — With most students in the School District of Pickens County completing their 
schoolwork from home this week, the district was the target of an attack that disabled internet service on school and student devices on Tuesday.
According to a statement from district spokesman John Eby, the internet outage was caused by a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on the district’s web
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Opioid summit inspires at SWU
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
CENTRAL — At the height of his baseball career, Darryl Strawberry stepped up to the plate, helping his teams win four World Series titles.
These days, Strawberry steps up to the microphone, traveling the world and sharing his story of 
substance abuse, treatment and recovery.
Strawberry spoke at the recent Road to Recovery Through Christ Summit at Southern Wesleyan University. The Steppin’ It Up Coalition and Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County
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District updates virus numbers
COUNTY — Only two of the School District of Pickens County’s more than 20 schools had no staff or 
students quarantined due to the threat of COVID-19 as of Friday.
Ambler Elementary and Dacusville Middle were the only schools in the county with no students or staff testing positive or quarantined, according to data posted on the district website.
The district reported Friday that eight staff members had
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Local COVID-19 spread increases
COLUMBIA — South Carolina officials have reported just one new COVID-19 death in Pickens County over the past week, but the virus’ spread in the county over the past two weeks is cause for 
concern, as Pickens has moved from the state’s lowest two-week incidence rate to one of its highest over the past three
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Fund could provide some road repairs
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — A county fund could be used to help pay to fix smaller road issues through Pickens 
County.
The issue came up during county council’s Aug. 10 meeting.
The Forfeited Land Commission is a company created by state law “that bids in for property when no one bids on it at the delinquent tax sale,” county administrator Ken Roper said.
“Something bad will have happened,” he said. “Someone didn’t pay
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Clark gives update on sheriff’s office
Counseling programs to begin soon
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark says the detention center has only had one inmate with COVID-19 during the pandemic.
“We’ve done very well as compared to a lot of people across the state, especially the Department of Corrections,” he said.
Clark gave an update on the sheriff’s office during a virtual Pickens United meeting Aug. 31.
“We talk about it every day,” Clark said of COVID-19. “We’ve been very lucky.”
His agency’s biggest concern regarding the pandemic “is the detention center,” he said.
“We’ve done well with that,” Clark said. “We’ve only had one person booked in that had COVID that we know of, and we tried to get them out the next day.”
The detention center staff “has been great” in dealing
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Easley company sponsoring 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb
GREENVILLE — An Easley-based company is set to sponsor a memorial event to honor and remember New York first responders who selflessly gave their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
Safe Industries, which has provided safety equipment, firefighting products and services to first responders for 15 years, is sponsoring the Greenville City 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb, set to be held
New cycling event coming next year
Public meeting planned for next week at mill
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — A new cycling event is coming to the Jocassee Gorges next year, and organizers expect the inaugural event will draw 1,000 cyclists to the area.
The Gran Fondo Hincapie-Jocassee is set for March 6, 2021, according to a release from Hincapie
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