Monthly Archives: March 2022
Ex-elections board member slams senator after non-reappointment
Rice says nothing finalized, cites social media concerns
By Greg Oliver
Courtesy The Journal
goliver@upstatetoday.com
PICKENS — Former Pickens County Board of Voter Registration and Elections member Lillian Boatwright took to social media last week, saying she wasn’t reappointed to another term because State Sen. Rex Rice disagreed with her political views.
Fellow board member Bobby Rauton also said he plans to resign from
the board to protest the legislative delegation’s decision on Boatwright.
“I have the utmost respect for my fellow Board members, the department staff, county leadership and many of our legislative delegation members,” Boatwright said in an online post. “I
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County council approves pause on Highway 11 development
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — Pickens County Council has voted to declare a temporary development and construction pause for certain residential and non-residential structures along S.C. Highway 11.
Council approved the third and final vote on the six-month moratorium during its March 1 meeting.
No one spoke on the issue at a public hearing held before the vote.
County Councilman Alex Saitta said the short-term moratorium is against “new manufacturing, new commercial development, new signage, large subdivisions.”
“It does not affect single residential or subdivisions 10 homes or less,” Saitta said.
Although Highway 11 is also known as the Cherokee Foothills Scenic
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Missing man’s body found in Lake Hartwell
SENECA — The S.C. Department of Natural Resources found the body of a missing Clemson 21-year-old in Lake 
Hartwell on Sunday morning, according to officials.
Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis said Andruw Noel Earnhardt’s body was found around 10 a.m. in a cove near the U.S. Highway 123 bridge connecting Seneca and Clemson at the nearby railroad trestle.
He was first reported missing to the Clemson Police Department on
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Administrator updates county paving projects
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
COUNTY — At the beginning of 2022, county administrator Ken Roper told Pickens County Council that residents 
would see paving projects begin as early as this spring.
During county council’s March 1 meeting, Roper gave an update on paving projects “that are going.to start happening here in the next few days,” he said.
Last year, county council approved amending the county budget to create two funds —
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DHEC: Livestock possibly exposed to rabid horse
By Jason Evans
Staff Reporter
jevans@thepccourier.com
CENTRAL — A horse from Central tested positive for rabies last month, according to a news release from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The horse was from the Browning Road and Maw Bridge Road area and was in Georgia when it began showing symptoms, the release said.
The animal was submitted to Georgia’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for testing on Feb. 23 and was confirmed to have rabies
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Quinn announces bid for SC House District 5 seat
EASLEY — Allan Quinn of Easley has announced that he will run again this year for the S.C. State House District 5 seat currently held by Rep. Neal Collins.
Quinn made the announcement last weekend at both nights of the 24th annual spring IPRA World Championship Rodeo at T. Ed Garrison Arena in Clemson put on by his company, Easy
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Virtual town hall set to discuss deadly fentanyl
COUNTY — The Prevention Department of Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County will host a virtual town hall meeting on Facebook Live at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 15.
The topic will be the powerful and potentially fatal painkiller fentanyl. Counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl have become a deadly crisis in South Carolina, particularly in the Upstate.
Participants in the town hall will have the opportunity to learn where
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Easley student shares top prize in electric cooperative contest
COLUMBIA — Micah Jordan, a native of Easley and student at Clemson University’s Honors College, is part of a team that claimed the top scholarship prize of $5,000 in the “Pay it Forward” competition sponsored by South Carolina’s electric cooperatives. The competition challenged students to search for solutions to pressing social and 
economic problems in the state’s rural areas.
With the inaugural contest, students at the state’s largest public honors college programs put their educations to work by brainstorming solutions. Honors students at Clemson and S.C. State universities were named as
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Local firefighters among 20 SC Fire Academy graduates
COLUMBIA — The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s South Carolina Fire Academy graduated 20 recruits from its eight-week firefighter candidate school in Columbia on March 4, including two from Pickens County.
The firefighters underwent a 320-hour training program of classroom and hands-on firefighting skills development. The keynote speaker was Deputy Chief William Shiver Jr. of Clemson University Fire and EMS.
“This challenging program requires commitment, passion and dedication,” fire academy superintendent Dennis
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A much broader perspective on history
When you get as old as I am — which is really not extremely old, but fairly well-seasoned — it gives you a much 
broader perspective on the grand sweep of historical time.
For example, when I was in elementary school in the early to mid-1960s, World War II was “20 years ago.” That seemed like an eon ago. Now, 20 years ago was 2002. That may seem like a very long time to you if you’re a Millennial, but not to me.
This idea of collapsing and expanding time comes up in my mind all
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Write to Ron Barnett at rbarnett@thepccourier.com.
