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THURSDAY. JULY 20. 2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
What happens to the weapons
cited in the sheriff’s beat?
asks a reader
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
"What happens to the
guns that are reported each
week [in the sheriff’s Beat]
as caught in the screening
process at the Pickens Court
house?”
Sheriff Donnie Craig and
Major Kristine Scurry both
responded that the majority
of the “weapons” they find in
the screening line at the
courthouse are pocket knives
and the owners are allowed
to return them to their vehi
cles.
Scurry replied, “So
‘weapons’ found can be mis
leading. Weapons are usually
knives or leatherman-type
tools, every once in a great
while there will be a gun.
Mostly, people are asked to
take their weapons back to
their vehicles.”
Craig said weapon could
actually be anything the
deputies manning the secu
rity station believe could
pose a threat, though they
rarely see firearms.
“We have caught them
with a gun, someone with
one in a pocketbook and for
got to take them out. Or
someone with a concealed
carry permit and it is an
everyday thing and they for
get about it,” said the sheriff.
He said they don’t make
cases on these, “just send
them back out.”
But he reminded the pub
lic there have been a time or
two in recent years they have
made charges, when it ap
peared the person had inten
tionally brought the weapon
or was being deceitful.
The sheriff commended
the deputies working the
courthouse security for being
very thorough and recording
any time they spot a weapon
of any nature.
Letters
totM Editor
To the Editor:
As we shop at the big
stores we find a high percent
age of items are made in
China. For sure these are not
gifts from China. Rather they
are products to be sold for the
benefit of the retailer and
shareholders.
Then along comes the
virus, COVID. Not some
thing any of us would have
ordered and has resulted in
the deaths of millions around
the world. Most experts say
the virus came from a re
search lab in Wuhan, China
and probably from some gain
of function research that
somehow escaped from the
lab. We may never know but
my money is on it came from
China.
Then some years ago
(many) along came Kudzu.
Yes my friends Kudzu is a
gift from China. I understand
it was brought to America for
erosion control back in the
1800s. I’m sure aliens, as
they look down on our
planet, see the South covered
in a massive green blanket.
I’m sure if we ask the folks
on the International Space
Station they too could con
firm our green blanket of
Kudzu.
For some reason this year
seems to have produced a
bumper crop of this incredi
bly invasive “plant.” It’s
been said if you live close to
a large patch you can actually
hear it growing over night (if
your windows are open).
It’s coming across roads,
covering trees and actually
on Cove Road the stuff has
actually swallowed road
signs. By now I’m not sure
the road maintenance crews
can even find the signs.
Surely there is a way to rid
Kudzu from our trees, road
sides, guardrails, etc etc. in
case you haven’t noticed this
stuff kills everything it cap
tures. (Strangles) Suggest
our city and county leaders
check with the power com
pany as they have found
something they spray under
the power lines that kills
everything it touches. (Hope
fully, it’s not harmful to our
environment or other trees in
the area).
Would someone please
find a way to ship this stuff
back to China. The gift that
keeps on growing.
Jack Foster
To the Editor:
Reading the article on
controlled burning in the
Pickens County Progress
June 29th edition compelled
me to submit the following.
Wild Huckleberries;
Growing up in the 1940s and
50s in Pickens County there
were an abundance of wild
huckleberries on Henderson
Mountain Road where we
lived. We picked them by the
gallons.
Old timers burned off the
woods where there were
patches of them. They would
come back much hardier with
much larger berries. Unfortu
nately, that is no longer the
case.
I now live in Canton and
had a patch of bushes with no
leaves but I knew what they
were and decided to see if I
could bring them back to pro
ductivity. I fertilized them
with cottonseed meal three
times. The first year I had
leaves. This past year I had
an abundance of leaves and
blooms. Unfortunately, a late
frost killed most of the
blooms. I have had a few
small berries. I would like to
burn them off but they are
next to my neighbor’s woods
with many layers of leaves. I
hope to get some help and try
to do that this fall.
I have blueberries and
they will thrive with dead
pine mulch and no other fer
tilizer. I believe that will
work for the huckleberries as
well.
Let’s work to bring back
our wild huckleberries.
Sue Tatum
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30143; All letters must have a full name that will be published, and contact info.
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The Sheriff’s Beat
From the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
In addition to the activity
from the Uniform Patrol Di
vision, Court Service
Deputies reported the fol
lowing statistics for the past
week:
Persons Scanned at
Front Door: 1,199
Weapons Found: 11
Courts Held: 10
Arrests Made in
the Courthouse: 0
Civil Papers Received: 50
Civil Papers Served: 56
In the Adult Detention
Center:
Total Jail population: 98
Total male inmates: 72
Total female inmates: 26
Sex Offenders:
There are currently 76 sex of
fenders registered with the
Pickens Sheriff’s Office.
PS Q®
rep6rt
The Pickens Sheriff’s
Office responds to many
calls for service every day.
The following incidents
are a few deputies respond
to each day.
Dog went missing
A woman called for a
deputy to come to her home
because her dog was missing.
The woman said she had
been working in the yard and
heard several cars go by, but
wasn’t sure if anyone actu
ally stopped. The deputy
helped search for the dog and
asked neighbors if they had
seen the dog. Later, the
woman called the sheriff’s
office to let them know the
dog had returned home and
was safe.
Missing medication
A woman called a deputy
to report her medication
missing. The woman said her
granddaughter had taken her
to the pharmacy earlier in the
week to pick up her medica
tion. The woman seemed
kind of disoriented and was
difficult to understand. The
woman told the deputy when
she got home from the phar
macy that her husband would
not give her any of her med
ications. The woman said she
was missing her oxycodone,
Xanax, and another one she
could not remember the
name of that prescription.
The deputy asked for a de
scription of her granddaugh
ter that took her to the
pharmacy, however, she
could not describe the grand
daughter because she has so
many grandchildren.
Vacant home damaged
A man called to have a
deputy come to a vacant
property because it had been
damaged. The man told the
deputy he is the
groundskeeper for the prop
erty and he had not been
there in a couple of weeks.
He said the last time he was
there everything was fine.
The man called the property
owner and asked when the
last time he had been there,
and it had been a few days
prior, but all was fine then
too. There were windows
busted out on the outside and
inside of the home, trash was
thrown all over the floors and
outside of the home. The man
showed the deputy where a
pump had gone missing from
under the well cover. The
man did not know who
would have been responsible,
but he did say the last tenant
had to be evicted and left on
bad terms.
Report of a person
pointing a gun at another
person
A man came to the Pick
ens Sheriff’s Office to report
a person pointing a gun at
him while he was driving on
515. The man said it was
someone in a truck and he
flipped him off and pointed a
gun at him while he was driv
ing, the man said it was near
the county line. The man said
he passed the truck and then
the truck passed him by
going through the median.
He said as the truck passed
the driver pointed a gun and
flipped him off again.
Driver ran over trashcan
in a neighborhood
A deputy responded to a
call about trashcans being run
over. When the deputy got to
the area, the driver of the car
told the deputy she became
distracted and accidentally
ran off the road and ran over
a trash can. There was no
damage done to the car and
the homeowner only needed
a report to give the trash
company about the damage
to the trashcan.
Person being followed
A man called to report
someone on a motorcycle
following him and his fiance.
The man said the motorcycle
first followed his fiance and
then started following him.
The man was not sure who
the person on the motorcycle
was, but he thought it might
be his fiance’s ex-husband.
The man told the deputy they
had problems with the ex-
husband in the past.
Man slumped over
in his car
Deputies responded to a
gas station because there was
a car that had been running
and a man slumped over the
steering wheel. The caller
thought the man might be
sleeping. When the deputy
got there the caller told him
the car had been parked in
that space for about four
hours. The car was running
and the man was slumped
over the wheel. The deputy
knocked on the window and
the man did not wake up, the
deputy opened the door and
shook the man and he finally
woke up. The man tried to
give the deputy a credit card
as his driver’s license. The
man was in and out of con
sciousness. The deputy called
for a med unit. The man was
evaluated and it was believed
he was overdosing on some
thing. The man was taken to
the hospital. The deputy did
find a glass pipe in the car
with what was believed to be
heroin.
Wanted person
Deputies were called to a
camper about a person tres
passing and a possible
wanted person. The deputies
spoke to the woman at the
camper, she told them she
had permission to be there at
the camper. The deputy
thought the man had a war
rant and needed to check to
make sure, and had the man
sit down outside the camper.
While the deputy was check
ing the information she heard
the woman yelling. The
deputy then saw the man get
up and he put his head down
and started running towards
the woodline. The man ran
about 50 yards and ran head
first into a tree and knocked
himself unconscious. The
man did have a warrant, once
he regained consciousness he
was handcuffed and taken to
the hospital to get checked
out.
Criminal trespass
A property owner called
for a deputy to report a
woman that was trespassing
on his property. The property
owner told the deputy he had
been target practicing on his
property when the woman
drove up on his property and
parked next to him. The
property owner said the
woman showed him a gun.
He asked her what she was
doing and she told him she
was here to play. The prop
erty owner told the deputy
the woman never pointed the
gun at him but only displayed
it. The property owner told
the deputy the woman had
been criminally trespassed
from his property.
Stalking report
A woman called for a
deputy to report a man stalk
ing her. The woman said she
knew the man because he had
been a customer where she
worked. She said the man
kept staring at her and made
her feel uncomfortable. She
said she has seen the man
driving up and down the road
while she is outside and he
will rev his engine when he
sees her. The man told the
deputy he rides up and down
the roads because he has no
job and he sometimes has to
rev the engine to keep the
truck going. The man said the
woman is mentally unstable.
During this past week, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office
responded to or initiated 1,752 calls for service.
These numbers are taken from the report provided di
rectly from the 911 Center where all calls are logged
as they are performed. Below is
a breakdown of all
dispatched calls by the call type for each incident.
Accidents
12
Suicide Threats / Attempts
6
Domestics
19
Theft / Burglary Related
6
Forgery / Fraud
3
Traffic Stops
167
Citations Issued
15
Animal Investigations
9
Suspicious Persons/Activities
25
Alarm Calls
9
Stranded Motorists
7
Street Hazards
17
Vandalism
4
Abandoned Vehicles
2
Extra Patrol - neighborhoods, businesses, resi
dences 1,227. In addition to these, other calls include
search warrants, civil service, 911 hang-up calls, as
saults, disorderly persons, missing persons, assistance
with medical calls, natural death investigations, de
mented persons, funeral escorts, harassment, trespass-
ing, and many more.
17 individuals were booked into the Adult Deten
tion Center on charges from the Pickens Sheriff’s
Office. Out of these, the following charges were
taken by PSO deputies (note: some individuals have
multiple charges):
Driving w/ license susp/revoked - 2
Driving without a valid license -1
Susp/cancelled/revoked Reg -1
Marij-possess less than 1 oz -1
Pur/poss controlled substance -1
Court order -1
Criminal Trespass -1
Hold for another county - 3
DUI - 1
Aggravated Assault -1
Cruelty to Children - 3rd Degree -1
Hit and Run -1
Disorderly Conduct -1
Forgery - 1st Degree -1
Sale/Dist/Poss/ Dangerous drug -1
GRISHAM, POOLE
& CARLILE, PC
Criminal Defense I Family Law
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but you can start where you are and change
the ending." ~ C.S. Lewis
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