Daily Archives: 08/10/2021
Medicaid funding troubling local assisted living facilities
MasterCare may close by end of 2021; legislator agrees to look at issue next year
By Ron Barnett
Staff Reporter
rbarnett@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Pickens County is likely to lose another assisted living facility unless the state increases its Medicaid reimbursement formula, the owner of MasterCare Assisted Living in Liberty told the Courier.
“The way it looks, I’m probably going to have to close up at the end of the year,” Jimmy Masters said. “I hate to do it, but I can’t afford to keep putting money in it and taking care of them.”
Already this year, 12 community residential care facilities statewide have stopped accepting Medicaid residents, including Easley Place Assisted Living, which forced out about 20 residents last month.
There were just five such facilities in Pickens County as of July, according to the state
Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicaid in South Carolina.
DHHS told the Courier the agency can’t raise the funding level without action by the
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Back in Action
High school football is finally back in Pickens County, with each of the county’s four teams taking the field for hard-hitting practices and scrimmages this past week. The defending Class 3A state champion Daniel Lions, pictured above practicing on Friday, Easley Green Wave, Liberty Red Devils, pictured scrimmaging against Carolina Academy on Monday, and Pickens Blue Flame will all take the field for one final tune-up this Friday at the Easley Jamboree, set to kick off at 6 p.m. To learn more about each team heading into their season-opening contests on Aug. 20 and 21, check back next week for the Courier’s Football Frenzy preseason preview edition.
Photos by Bru Nimmons/Courier
County workers get pay increase
PICKENS — Pickens County Council recently unanimously approved a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment raise for all county employees and allotted more than $250,000 for administrator Ken Roper to determine allocation of funds for lower-paid employees.
Roper told council he would like to begin by addressing the county’s lowest-paid employees — recycling center attendants.
“Our recycling attendants make $9.92 per hour — they could walk off the job one day, walk over to McDonald’s and get a big pay raise,” he said. “It’s not the most glamorous job in the world. We would look to recommend as a part of this plan to look at the recycling center salaries so we can get them more in line and try to attract more
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Suspects wanted in carjacking incident
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office is seeking suspects in a carjacking that took place Friday afternoon.
According to a release issued Friday by Chief Deputy Chad Brooks, the incident took place around 2:30 p.m. at a car wash located at 2304 Farrs Bridge Road.
A person was stopped at the car wash when two people pulled into the car wash in what is believed to be a dark-colored 1990s model Chevrolet pickup truck, Brooks said.
A suspect got out of the passenger side of the truck and took the victim’s white 1999
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COVID-19 on the rise again in county
COLUMBIA — As the delta variant leads to COVID-19 case numbers continuing to grow again around the state, Pickens County added four confirmed COVID-19 deaths over the past week.
According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, there were four confirmed deaths and one probable death in the one-week period from last Tuesday to Monday, when the latest numbers were available.
Pickens County remains the worst out of the state’s 46 counties in transmission rate, with 14,155.4 cases per
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SDPC announces new principal at PHS, district operations director
COUNTY — The School of District of Pickens County announced a pair of leadership changes on Tuesday afternoon.
In a pair of news releases, the district announced Jeff Duncan as the new principal of Pickens High School, and Travis Smith as the district’s new executive director of operations.
PICKENS HIGH PRINCIPAL
The principal at Edwards Middle School in Central since 2014, Duncan will take over at Pickens High on Monday, Aug. 23. The move follows the departure of former principal Corey Willimon, who has been named new director of secondary education for School District Five of Lexington and Richland counties.
“This is a great opportunity for Dr. Willimon, and today’s announcement is bittersweet due to his growth and the direction of Pickens High School,” SDPC superintendent Dr. Danny Merck said. “We have been very impressed with Mr. Duncan as principal at Edwards Middle over the past seven years. Having
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Easley releases more information on roll carts
EASLEY — The city of Easley has released more information on its new roll cart program for trash collection.
Roll carts began being delivered to residents last month.
“As of August 5, 2021, all City residents should have received their carts,” a release posted to the city’s website said.
Residents who have not received a cart should call the Public Works Department at (864) 855-7916, the release said.
Collection of bagged trash using the new roll carts will begin soon.
Garbage placed in standalone garbage bags will not be collected after
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Play to open in Liberty Thursday
LIBERTY — A play opening Thursday at the Pickens County Performing Arts Center tells the story of “actual people who did incredible things,” co-director Breann Griffin-Nicholson said.
“The Hiding Place” will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, she said.
The play is the story of Corrie ten Boom and her family, Griffin-Nicholson said.
“She and her father and her sister hid Jews during the Holocaust in their home,” she said.
The family lived above Corrie’s father’s watch shop, which was the family business for more
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Blood donations needed
By Andrea Kelley
Courtesy The Journal
akelley@upstatetoday.com
UPSTATE — Officials are asking for more blood donors because of a shortage of blood donations this summer.
“It’s been several months now — we’re just seeing historically low donor turnout, and it’s just continuing,” said Katie Smithson, Upstate media coordinator for The Blood Connection (TBC).
Smithson said donor levels typically slow down in the summer because people are traveling, but this
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Local group collecting socks for the elderly
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — A local nonprofit is collecting socks for the elderly this month.
Members of Warmth and Comfort for the Elderly Upstate SC use their crochet skills to provide warm items for nursing home patients, hospice groups, home health patients and elderly people who live at home and can’t afford them.
They also hold regular donation drives. The August drive is for new socks, co-chair Tammy
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