Yearly Archives: 2020
Pickens Lions Club gives the gift of sight
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — The Pickens Lions Club is looking for additional members to help them provide eye exams and eyeglasses for those in need.
“At the present time, it’s difficult to get into businesses and recruit new members because of all the
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Clemson sets move-in dates
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
CLEMSON — Clemson University kicked off its fall semester with online instruction Aug. 19 and is 
preparing to welcome students back to campus next month.
Clemson president Jim Clements issued an update Friday.
The new academic year is off to a good start, “although it is unlike anything we have previously experienced in higher education,” he said.
In recent months, the university invested heavily in
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A nurse’s perspective
As a nurse, working around illness is nothing new; in fact, it’s the expectation. But lately, working in health care has been challenging and has provided me with a new perspective on care.
The current pandemic has stressed every aspect of our nation’s health care system. And while the lasting impact of COVID-19 is still unknown, your local doctors and nurses are absolutely focused on understanding this virus and providing you with excellent care. We are constantly looking for better ways to treat it and prevent its spread, while protecting
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This was life as we knew it
Does anybody remember when there was an uproar over the length of the Beatles’ hair? Or when Elvis Presley couldn’t be shown below the waist when he performed on the long-ago Ed Sullivan 
show? When radio stations received protested calls for playing “Little Egypt” on air?
These were all matters of interest in the part of the country where we all lived.
When you grow up in a largely rural community in the South, hardly anything ever happens. So the least littleYou must be logged in to view this content.
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Courier Letters to the Editor 8-26-20
Ronald and the Donald
Dear Editor,
Gather around now, boys and girls, and grandpa will tell you all a bedtime story. It’s a story about two men — one named Ronald and the other, the Donald.
Now Ronald said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” And the wall came a-tumbling down!
The Donald said, “I’ll build a wall, and Mexico will pay for it.” The wall never was compelled. Mexico
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Former Easley councilman Dub Fortner dies at age 96
William Lewis ‘Dub’ Fortner
EASLEY — William Lewis “Dub” Fortner, 96, beloved husband of the late Margaret Elizabeth Brewer Fortner, passed away on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020, at his home.
Dub Fortner received his education at Easley High School. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II for 33 months, part of which was spent overseas. He was discharged with the rank of sergeant. Upon his return home, he was employed with the Easley Police Department. Once again, Dub was called upon to serve his country during the Korean conflict for 15 months. He returned to the Easley Police Department, where he assumed the rank of sergeant in charge of the traffic division. While employed there, he attended numerous classes conducted by Georgia Tech, the FBI and the solicitor. In 1964, he received the Policeman of the Year
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The ‘Masketeers’ of South Carolina DAR
DAR members volunteer to sew masks amid pandemic
By Lynda Abegg
Special to The Courier
news@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Sgt. 1st Class Jamal Gregg had a problem.
He needed 1,000 black masks for his South Carolina National Guard Unit at the McCrady Training Center in Eastover. He had requisitioned masks, but was told production was backed up and it could be a while.
He was told by a friend of a friend that the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) may be able to solve his problem. Gregg graduated from Creek Bridge High in Marion and said he knew South Carolinians had a lot of “passion,” but didn’t know what to
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Making an easy-to-make mask?
By Lynda Abegg
Special to The Courier
news@thepccourier.com
Patterns for the easy-to-make mask are all over the internet.
I had joined the Potholder of the Month Club as a way to learn quilting because potholders are pieced together like quilts, so I had plenty of material. I proudly told my husband I was going to make him a mask.
I dug my sewing machine out of the back of the closet and found the bag full of quilting scraps. Quilting is much harder than the easy-to-make mask.
First, I had to thread the machine. I only got stuck with the needle a couple of times. Next step was to check the bobbin. It had black thread, and I had just threaded the machine with white thread.
Filling a bobbin brought up its own set of sewing nightmares. The top thread would be a different color from the bottom thread. So what! These masks were going to save your life — do you really care if the top thread is a different color than the bottom thread?
I dug through the bag of scraps and found some colorful material with a brown background that had bright orange pumpkins with green swirly vines on it. It had come with the October potholder kit that I never
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Exploring sung theology
Southern Wesleyan University professors, student analyze hymns and contemporary worship songs
CENTRAL — Every Sunday, Christians gather in churches across America and make a heartfelt connection to God through musical worship. Two Southern Wesleyan University professors and a student released a new study looks at how the songs we sing align with theology in evangelical Christian churches.
Dr. Mike Tapper, chair of Southern Wesleyan’s Division of Religion, along with Dr. Britt Terry, associate professor of English and Jacob Clapp, a Religion major, performed a lyrical analysis of the 30 most commonly sung hymns and 30 of the most commonly sung contemporary worship songs over the past five years.
Their findings were published this month in Worship Leader Magazine, the Wesleyan Church website, and more of a brief article was published by Christianity Today magazine in June.
The Worship Leader magazine article concludes by saying “Sung lyrics are one of the primary ways many of us connect of God. For some, this article might raise dismissiveness, anger or defensiveness;
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• Pickens Lions plan meetings each month
Sgt. Ashley Anderson with the Easley Police Department visited Creekside
Apartments off Pelzer Highway on Tuesday, Aug. 18. Anderson has been with the EPD for many years and has always had a drive for community policing. The kids were delighted to have the opportunity to be one-on-one with Anderson, and she even had a chance to give them a tour of her police car at the complex.
