Monthly Archives: March 2022
Police investigating fatal Liberty shooting
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a woman’s claims of self-defense following a deadly shooting in Liberty early Monday morning.
The shooting occurred at 5924-B Moorefield Memorial Highway shortly after midnight Monday, according to a
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NWS confirms 2 tornadoes in Pickens County
Cleanup planned Saturday
SIX MILE — The National Weather Service confirmed that two tornadoes touched down near Six Mile last week in a storm that destroyed several homes and left three people with minor injuries.
The most destructive of the two tornadoes on the evening of March 23 struck seemingly without warning, according to witnesses.
The National Weather Service said that tornado was a category EF2 storm that hit at 8:52 p.m. with estimated peak winds of 115 mph and a maximum width of about 440 yards. The tornado traveled 6.31 miles, according to the NWS.
NWS meteorologist Trisha Palmer said during a news conference that the tornado touched
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Courier reporters win SCPA awards
COLUMBIA — Two Pickens County Courier staff members were honored with individual awards from the South Carolina Press Association earlier this month.
The SCPA presented the winners of the 2021 news contest at its annual meeting on March 11 in Columbia, recognizing last year’s best in newspaper journalism from around the Palmetto State, including awards for Courier staffers Ron Barnett and Bru Nimmons.
Barnett, a longtime newspaper veteran who serves as a columnist and reporter for the Courier, received a second-place award in the news feature writing category among weekly newspapers with a circulation between 3,500 and 6,500.
Barnett’s award-winning story — titled “The hand of God” — was about the day in February 1960 when a military plane crash landed in the city of Liberty, causing no major damage or injuries. The story, which ran in the Courier last April, featured interviews with witnesses who recounted the wreck and its aftermath on the day
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Election filing coming to close
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — As the two-week filing period for the November general election comes to an end this week, upcoming battles for local seats are starting to come into focus.
With incumbent Pickens County Council members Ensley Feemster and Trey Whitehurst not running for reelection, three candidates have put their name in the hat for the open council seats.
In District 1, which covers the Clemson area, Claiborne Linvill is the only candidate who had filed to replace
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Local woman renews career as artist after brain injury
By Ron Barnett
Staff Reporter
rbarnett@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — As strange as it may sound, Easley artist Emily Ruff says her art is actually better now than it was before she suffered a broken neck and traumatic brain injury in an accident some four and a half years ago.
She doesn’t recommend flipping a car nine times on an interstate highway for improving one’s
artistic abilities.
But learning how to use the creative part of her brain to compensate for a temporary decline in function of the analytical part seems to have had that effect, she says.
“I feel like I see things a little differently,” she told the Courier. “And that translates into creativity, for sure.”
That would not have been possible without the therapy she received at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, she says.
And her renewed career as an artist is a testament to this year’s theme of Brain Injury Awareness Month, sponsored by the Brain
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DHEC: Calf may have exposed 13 people to rabies
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
CLEMSON — Thirteen people were referred to their health care providers after potentially being exposed to a rabid calf near Clemson earlier this month, according to the South Carolina Department of Environmental Control.
A calf raised near S.C. Highway 28 South in Clemson tested positive for rabies, according to a DHEC release issued Friday.
The calf was part of a rabies-vaccinated herd, but was too young to have been vaccinated against rabies itself, the
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Homeschooling parents invited to presentation
PICKENS — The Prevention Department of Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County is inviting homeschooling parents to attend a special presentation 
next week.
The talk will be held from 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, at Café Connections in Pickens. The topic is “Safe Medication Storage in the Home.”
Coffee and cake will be served, and attendees will have a chance to win a medication lockbox.
The event is free, but registration will give the presenters a head count.
To register, search “Safety at Home Homeschool Event” at eventbrite.com.
Café Connections is located at 319 E. Main St. in Pickens.
Main Street water tank in ‘very bad shape’
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
PICKENS — Pickens officials last week approved undertaking a report that will tell them if a part of downtown’s landscape can remain standing.
During a special called Pickens City Council meeting March 21, Massie Hughes with American Tank Maintenance presented officials with options concerning the inactive empty water tank that overlooks Main Street.
The company assessed the tank prior to the presentation, and Hughes said the company recommends council approve an engineering structural analysis of the tank “before we
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By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
CENTRAL — About 40 to 50 people, some who have lived for years in a historically black area of Central known as “Head Town,” are worried about having to 
relocate as the owner of the property plans to sell.
However, Black Lives Collective and Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) officials are working with about 18 families and asking Central Town
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Central officials eye options for Head Town residents
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
CENTRAL — Addressing pleas by residents of a predominantly African American neighborhood fearing displacement as the property they live on is up for sale, Central Mayor Andrew Beckner and town council say they plan to do everything they can to help.
Beckner said he hasn’t received a formal proposal from Wayne Head, owner of the property known as “Head Town,” but is concerned.
“(Displacement) is the No. 1 thing I want to avoid,” Beckner said. “It gives me a pit in my stomach to think it would happen,
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