Monthly Archives: August 2021
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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DHEC promotes back-to-school vaccines, safety
By Andrea Kelley
Courtesy The Journal
akelley@upstatetoday.com
ANDERSON — AnMed Health has announced a policy requiring all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or request an exemption by the end of next month.
A Monday news release from the health system, which operates AnMed Health Cannon in Pickens along with facilities across the Upstate and Northeast Georgia, said the requirement includes all employees, volunteers, students, medical staff members and onsite vendors.
“Although the number of COVID-19 cases in the communities we serve has gone down dramatically
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Trooper urges caution on roads as school returns
By Andrea Kelley
Courtesy The Journal
akelley@upstatetoday.com
COUNTY — With students returning to school in the Upstate this month, Cpl. Joe Hovis of the South Carolina Highway Patrol reminds drivers to drive slower and watch for buses on the roads.
Though it may take people a few days to switch over from summer driving habits, “the good news is it’s not our first rodeo,” he said. “We should all be used to school starting back again.”
Hovis urged drivers to focus on two priorities — school zone speed limits and stopping for school buses.
Signs with flashing lights designate the beginning of a school zone, and the speed limit will decrease
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COVID safeguards still needed
We’ve been fighting COVID-19 together for nearly a year and a half. And it hasn’t been easy.
Within a week of our first confirmed positive test on March 10, 2020, we set up a drive-through test collection site at our North Campus. We spent hours in 
full protective gear and in all sorts of weather, collecting samples from long lines of people who were anxious for answers. Our nursing team developed a capacity expansion plan to ensure we were prepared for the growing numbers of patients who needed inpatient care, never dreaming that at our peak we would stretch to accommodate 141 patients at one time.
We found joy and relief in the many patients who recovered and were reunited with loved ones — and we held the hands of others in their final moments, and we held iPads so grieving families could say goodbye. And, when a vaccine became available, we were one of the first to open a mass vaccination clinic to get
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The best summertime treat
There is nothing better on a hot summer day than watermelon. My father would place it on the picnic table in the backyard and begin cutting it with the precision of a Samurai warrior. Its name says it all. The watermelon is 92 percent water. It is big, it is green, it is messy — and it is the absolute best 
summertime treat.
My sisters and I would have a seed-spitting contest to see who could spit the black seed over the backyard fence. We were careful not to swallow the seeds, because Uncle Matt told us that if we swallowed a seed, it would grow a watermelon in our belly. We believed it to be true, because Aunt April had swallowed one and we could see the
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The devil’s on a leash
For those who are followers of Jesus, I want to encourage you today. There is nothing to fear, because God loves you and has promised that He will be with you forever.
Have you ever seen those retractable dog leashes that extend several feet? Picture in your mind that God is taking His dog Satan out for a walk, and this allows 
us to understand the spirit realm. The Lord has a tight collar on the devil, and He allows him to run around roaring like a lion, causing all this chaos and confusion.
A key point in this analogy is that we must realize that God is in total control and Satan must obey God’s
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Courier Letters to the Editor 8-11-21
Ripping the nation to shreds
Dear Editor:
Back in the 1950s and 1960s there were the protests, demonstrations and riots over civil rights and the Vietnam war. Some became violent and deadly. Watts burned, Freedom Riders killed, ROTC and Selective Service offices bombed, protest marchers water bombed and beaten. And then there were the killings at Kent State in 1970. During the 1970s, we had Watergate, the Nixon tapes and the Pentagon Papers. The 1990s had the Rodney King incident, Watts and L.A. burned again. The 2000s brought us 9/11, the Afghan and Iraq wars, non-existent weapons of mass destruction, school shootings, mass shootings, police killing black men and with
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Courier Obituaries 8-11-21
HEYWARD PRESTON ‘TREY’ SCOTT III
SENECA — “For the entrepreneur, it’s not a job. It’s a lifestyle. It defines them.” There are no truer words for Heyward Preston Scott III, who passed away Thursday morning, Aug. 5, 2021.
“Trey” was always looking for the next business to embark on and the next new adventure to begin. Trey’s latest adventure was as owner and operator of 
Keowee Funeral Services of Oconee County. His path to assisting others began years ago when he joined law enforcement, where he proudly served a multitude of agencies over many years. This drive continued, even after his police service, through operating the Seneca-based funeral home.
Trey’s legacy goes beyond his passion for his business, however. He was the epitome of a people person; his personality was a culmination of positive attributes. While helping other families celebrate the lives of loved ones who’ve passed on was his day-to-day job, his generosity didn’t stop there. He continuously strived to instill pure joy in everyone he met and never hesitated to give or share with those in his community. His love for life, selflessness
Sweet Potato Pie Kids alumni, YAM instructors gaining recognition
Kids on Bluegrass” is a unique group of 25 young talented bluegrass musicians meticulously selected from all over the country who are assigned into bands 
and are given the opportunity to perform at the International Bluegrass Music Associations’ (IBMA) World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, N.C., at the end of September.
The IBMA program’s goal is to provide guidance and to present an enjoyable experience in performing, as well as producing and emceeing a professional
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