Monthly Archives: January 2023
Future growth brings worry about trash
EASLEY — While Pickens County has made progress with issues around the landfill and the county’s litter problem, some are concerned about the impact growth will have on trash.
At a recent Community Alliance for Sustainable Development meeting, speakers and attendees discussed concerns about the impact of large developments such as a proposed 1,268-home development at Lenhardt Road and Jim Hunt Road.
Resident Bill McKinney asked if any studies had been done on developments’ impact on trash and the county’s recycling centers.
“Has a study been done on the impact that it would have, a development like this? The answer to that is no,” Pickens
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Tax season now underway in SC
COLUMBIA — Income tax season is officially open after the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR) started accepting 2022 individual returns on Monday.
Income tax season is officially open after the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR) started accepting 2022 individual returns on Monday.
SCDOR will begin processing returns on Feb. 6 to allow employers time to meet the Jan. 31 W-2 submission deadline, a news release from the agency said. The filing date for both state and federal returns
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School district announces 3 new leadership position hires
COUNTY — Pickens County School Board trustees approved three hires for school district leadership positions for the 2023-24 school year at their meeting on Monday night.
Dr. Paula Alexander was named executive director of elementary education, Michelle Craddock was tabbed as executive director of human resources and Wanda
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CU expands dementia prevention research
CLEMSON — Clemson University and healthy older adult volunteers from Upstate South Carolina will play an increasingly crucial role in the landmark Preventing Alzheimer’s with Cognitive Training (PACT) study.
The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, examines whether computerized brain training exercises can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. Additional funding awarded earlier this
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Signups open for 2023 SC New and Beginner Farmer Program
CLEMSON — South Carolinians looking to launch or grow a farm business have access to comprehensive entrepreneurial education and business training, thanks in part to a $600,000 federal grant.
The grant was awarded in 2022 from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) and supports Clemson University’s South Carolina New and Beginning Farmer Program (SCNBFP) through 2024.
SCNBFP is a Clemson Extension Agribusiness public education program focused on enabling new and beginning farmers to be
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Blue Flame girls take region lead with first win over Easley since ‘19
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — Trailing 26-22 at the half, the fifth-ranked Pickens Blue Flame girls’ basketball team was in dire need of a spark with first place in the region at stake on Friday against rival Easley.
“We knew we were down and we had to find a way to fight,” Pickens guard Ava Owens said.
And in the second half, nobody fought harder than Owens, as the freshman scored 16 points over the final two quarters to will the Blue Flame ahead and help them pull out their first win over Easley since 2019 by a 54-47 final score.
On the night, Owens finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds and three assists as she steadied the Blue Flame offense from
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Liberty survives Chesnee
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — After leading for almost 18 minutes of game time, the Liberty High School girls’ basketball team was on the verge of collapse in the fourth quarter of last 
week’s game against the Chesnee Eagles.
The Red Devils led by as many as six points early in the quarter before the Eagles stormed back, and after trading baskets, Chesnee led 27-26 with just less than four minutes left.
With a crucial region win in the balance, the Red Devils went down the court passing the ball around
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Green Wave top Pickens for first region win
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
EASLEY — For struggling boys’ basketball county rivals Easley and Pickens, Friday night’s contest was an opportunity for both sides to pick up a first region win and 
get back into the playoff hunt.
With such crucial stakes, both teams struggled on the offensive end, but some sharpshooting on the Easley side made the difference in a 40-30 Green Wave win.
“It’s therapeutic,” interim Easley head coach Brian Smith said of the win. Smith, who has served as an assistant under Easley coach Michael Jones, led the team while Jones was out for undisclosed reasons. “We’ve had a lot of noise around us and we lost some focus in our first couple of games, but we got it back in this one. We grew up tonight.”
The Green Wave were forced to grow up quick as Pickens started strong, with Coley Gillian, C.J. Martin
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Undermanned Red Devils blown out by Eagles at home
By Bru Nimmons
Staff Reporter
bnimmons@thepccourier.com
LIBERTY — 2023 has been a year to forget for the Liberty High School boys’ basketball team, but the Red Devils still had to like their chances last week against a 
Chesnee team that also struggled to start off region play.
However, playing with only six players for much of night, Liberty just couldn’t keep up with the Eagles from the start in a 73-45 loss.
“We knew tonight was big one for playoff implications,” Liberty head coach Jonathan Dilworth said. “They just got out to a great start in the first half and they shot the ball really well, while we just got off to a slow start offensively. Still, I thought the boys battled in the second half and really played hard.”
Without starting guards Dre Paul and Weston Cobb for the Jan. 17 game, the Red Devils managed to score
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Deliberating details amid the drama
What kind of person would steal a multimillion-dollar wrongful death settlement from the grieving family of one of his own longtime employees?
The same kind of person who would shoot and kill his own wife and son and stage it to look like a random attack, prosecutors are likely to argue in a murder trial starting this week in Colleton County.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that I’m talking about Alex Murdaugh, whose trial will likely produce the most intensely watched courtroom drama in South Carolina since 1994, when Susan Smith rolled her car into a lake with her two young sons strapped inside.
My only connection to this twisted tale, other than knowing some of the reporters who’ve been covering it, is a certain lawyer who’s involved. He happens to be the one who “broke the dam” that spilled forth numerous other cases of fraud and embezzlement, setting in motion the downfall of the prominent attorney whose family name had been esteemed for more than a century in that neck of the Lowcountry.
My source is a lawyer named Eric Bland. I became acquainted with him when I covered the story of Zachary Hammond, a teenager who was shot and killed in 2015 by a Seneca police officer who claimed he believed the young man was trying
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