Monthly Archives: February 2021
Man faces trafficking and other charges
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — An Easley man faces multiple charges, including trafficking methamphetamine, after being arrested Thursday.
Ryan Christoper Ballard is charged with a third offense of trafficking between 28 and 100 grams of methamphetamine, a first offense of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, two counts of second or subsequent offense possession of controlled substance and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, the release said.
According to a Pickens County Sheriff’s Office news release, deputies with the PCSO Community Action Team responded to 130 Beaver Pond Court in Easley in reference to suspicious
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College students’ input needed for awareness program
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — The input of local college students is needed for an effort to protect them and others from drug-facilitated sexual assault.
Kaitlyn Looper is a community educator with the Pickens County Advocacy Center. She is a part of 
the newly-created Community Coordinated Prevention Team (CCPT), which is comprised of community leaders and members who want to end drug-facilitated sexual
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Wilson: Human trafficking continues through pandemic
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
STATE — Anderson and Greenville counties were among the top five counties in the state for reports of suspected human trafficking last year.
“Human trafficking is a horrible, horrible blight on this state,”
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said last month during a news conference on the release of the South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force’s 2020 Annual Report. “We continue to see cases of both labor and sex trafficking, even through the pandemic.”
January was Human Trafficking Awareness Month in South Carolina.
“Human trafficking is a complex crime that infiltrates
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Pickens sweeps Red Devils in finale
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — The Pickens High School basketball squads hosted senior night against Liberty on Friday, and for both the girls and the boys, there were plenty of positives.
For the Pickens boys, it was a night to remember following a long season. The Blue Flame hadn’t won since a December matchup with the Red Devils, but that didn’t stop them from putting together an almost perfect game en route to a 60-57 victory.
“I’m just proud of our guys,” Pickens coach Jeff Harrelson said. “They kept believing and kept
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Easley’s region title hopes dashed by TR
By Ryan Davenport
For The Courier
news@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The Easley Green Wave boys’ basketball team solidified its playoff spot, although a little 
short of the region championship they likely had in mind.
Only two teams from each region make the postseason in the pandemic-induced reduced playoff format, so Easley will be among the 16 Class 4A squads still in action statewide. That should lessen the sting of Friday night’s 51-34 loss in a winner-take-all matchup against Travelers Rest.
“We’ve still got basketball left,” Easley head coach Mike Jones said. “This isn’t the last game. We gotta
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Wave fall short of playoffs
By Ryan Davenport
For The Courier
news@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The 2020-2021 Easley Lady Green Wave basketball team should not hang their heads, from an outside perspective. To this talented group, it would probably be difficult to convey that 
fact.
This season’s edition of the Lady Green Wave finished 11-8 overall, with a 3-5 third-place finish among the five schools in Region I-4A. The Lady Green Wave amassed a collective total of 12 wins in the prior four seasons, finishing last in the region each of the previous three
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Pickens club volleyball team wins tourney
PICKENS — The Pickens Carolina One 18 Elite volleyball team went 5-0 and won the K2 Wilderness tournament Jan. 30-31 among a powerful group of teams playing in Sevierville, Tenn.
The Pickens Carolina One club volleyball team, which goes by the name “Pride,” features upper-level players from four area high schools: Pickens, Easley, Powdersville and Seneca. Pride is coached
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Daniel’s Hicks picked for state all-star team
CENTRAL — Daniel High School senior guard Sincere Hicks earned a prestigous accomplishment last week, as she was named to the roster of the Carolinas Classic All-Star Basketball Game.
However, the game, which annually pits the best players in the Carolinas against one another, won’t be played this season due to COVID-19.
Hicks, an all-state selection in 2020, is averaging 10.5 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.6 steals and 0.9 blocks per game this season for the Lions (10-5, 9-1 Western 3A).
We all want good government. Here’s how we can make it happen.
There’s a lot to unpack in “Uncovered,” an innovative collaborative project between The Post and Courier and several smaller newspapers across South Carolina that debuted in this week’s editions 
and will continue throughout this year. The stories essentially are an expose within an expose: an epic tale of governmental corruption on all scales, bad behavior that too often slips by state and federal law enforcement and increasingly goes unreported by journalists because many smaller newspapers have had
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Resist the devil and he will flee
Someone sent me a text the other day about all the trash talking during the Super Bowl and how it seemed to bother some of the players.
As a sports fan, I’ve watched the power of words throughout the years and remember that Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, just to name a couple of athletes, also used this tactic to intimidate and frustrate the opposition. The idea is to lure someone you are battling against into listening to what you are saying in order to distract and confuse them. This attempt to rattle our competitor is associated with words such as discredit, mock, slander, belittle,
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