Daily Archives: 12/22/2020
O Holy Night
With COVID-19 putting a damper on many holiday festivities, some local churches have been celebrating the reason for the Christmas season with events including drive-thru nativity scenes throughout the month of December. Pictured here are several scenes from Easley First Baptist Church’s “Journey Through Bethlehem,” a multi-night event that gave visitors an authentic look at what it felt like to be there on the night that Jesus was born. To see more photos, visit the church’s Facebook page.
Photos by Gregory Linsz
Community mourns Stone’s death
83-year-old was nation’s second-longest serving sheriff
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Former longtime Pickens County Sheriff C. David Stone, the man who was South Carolina’s longest serving sheriff, has died.
Stone died Tuesday at age 83.
First elected sheriff in 1969, Stone was reelected 10 times, serving 44 years until his retirement in 2012. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-longest serving sheriff in the United States.
During a ceremony for retiring Pickens County Sheriff’s Office employees at the end of
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County sets new weekly record for virus deaths
COLUMBIA — Pickens County has set a record high in COVID-19 deaths for the second week in a row, with 18 deaths reported in the seven-day period ending on Monday, when the latest DHEC 
numbers available at press time had been released.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control reported the confirmed COVID-19 death of 16 elderly Pickens County residents, along with one middle-aged county resident. DHEC also reported a probable
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Easley officials mandate masks
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The city of Easley’s ordinance requiring masks to be worn to help stop the spread of COVID-19 is now in effect.
The ordinance “requiring face coverings in certain circumstances” passed during Easley City Council’s Dec. 14 meeting and took effect two days later.
Earlier in the pandemic, council adopted a resolution encouraging citizens to wear masks, city administrator Stephen Steese said during the
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Ex-Pickens County Council chairman Nash remembered
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
CENTRAL — Central resident Bob Nash, who died last month at age 82, served others in education, 
government, the military and his community.
“Bob was a first-class person and a person everyone should aspire to be,” Central Mayor Mac Martin said.
Martin said when he was first elected to town council more than 15 years ago and later became mayor, Nash, who was then chairman
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Liberty man, 51, dies in accident
LIBERTY — A Liberty man was killed in a single-vehicle accident last week.
Pickens County deputy coroner Gary Duncan identified the victim as Patrick Steven Barr, 51, of Terrapin Crossing Road in Liberty.
The accident took place at 3:35 p.m. Dec. 16 on U.S. Highway 178 at Red Barn Road, three miles south of Liberty, according to South Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper Brandon Bolt.
The accident occurred as Barr was driving a 2006 Toyota pickup truck east on Highway 178, he said.
The truck passed a car in a lawful passing zone and returned to its lane before traveling off the right side of the road and striking a tree, Bolt said.
Barr was the sole occupant of the vehicle, Bolt said.
He was not wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene, Duncan said.
The Highway Patrol is investigating.
Mayor asks for teamwork
The holiday season is upon us, and now we come to the part of the year where many of us truly look forward to the celebration of Christmas and the coming New Year.
Due to the virus, as a city, we have had to make decisions that we felt were in the best interest of our citizens. With a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the Upstate and in Pickens County, I’m here today asking for your help.
Currently, we have a resolution in effect that recommends citizens adhere to the CDC guidelines of
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What Christmas offers this year
I guess it goes without saying that Christmas will be a little different this year for most of us.
It seems like every year you hear somebody say, “It doesn’t really feel like Christmas this year.” 
Usually, the complaint is that Christmas has become too commercialized — which is certainly true.
I think we all have some idyllic memories of Christmas past, filled with magic reindeer, snowflakes, Christmas carols and the joy of giving and receiving gifts around the Christmas tree.
And, of course, a baby in a manger.
This year, though, it’s not only unfulfilled holiday expectations and too much hustle and bustle that
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Disaster averted — we found a tree
If 2020 has taught us nothing else, we have learned that the everyday life we took so for granted has changed. The simple things we didn’t even think to count as blessings have vanished, and we’ve all 
had to adjust.
Day by day, we found that even though we were almost out of what we consider basic necessities, we can’t just run into the store and pick them up.
Often, if we tried to order something online we were shocked to see the words, “Out of Stock.” During the early days of the coronavirus, we couldn’t find bread. So then, when I decided to bake our own bread, there
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Courier Letters to the Editor 12-23-20
Soapstone thanks all for support
Dear Editor,
Our Soapstone Church family wishes everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
We are grateful for all of your support over the years — this year especially!
With all your support and care, we have paid off the mortgage to our humble church and property and we are now entering Phase 2, establishing an endowment foundation to protect it for future generations.
We invite you all, once again, to celebrate the Soapstone fish fry in 2021. We will have our first fish
