Area News

A Gray Court man was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and three years of court-ordered supervision after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Florence. Derrick Bernard Cunningham, 48, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. He was arrested by officers from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED)…

Laurens Police Officer Hosea Ocola Martin, who was killed in the line of duty just before Christmas in 1921, will receive the honors his current-day counterparts believe is long overdue. Laurens Police Chief Chrissie Cofield said Martin’s nomination for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame Memorial Room has been accepted. The Memorial…

CeramTec has announced a planned $20 million expansion to its Laurens County facility. The Laurens County Council was expected to approve third and final reading of an ordinance creating a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes (FILOT) agreement with the company at its regular meeting Tuesday night that would pave the way for the expansion. The expansion had been dubbed…

A Clinton man remains hospitalized after he allegedly pointed a gun at police officers Saturday night on Connecticut Drive in Clinton. Edmund Franklin Anderson III was wounded by officers from the Laurens and Clinton police departments during the incident and is reportedly in stable condition at Greenville Memorial Hospital. Anderson was reportedly by the LCSO…

After deliberating for most of Friday afternoon, a jury was unable to return a verdict in a felony DUI case against a Gray Court woman, and a mistrial was declared just after 5 p.m. at the Hillcrest Judicial Complex. Pamela Michelle Tackett, 32, was charged with felony DUI resulting in death, felony DUI with injury…

A Gray Court woman accused of killing a man on I-385 while driving under the influence of prescription drugs took the stand in her own defense Thursday afternoon on the fourth day of her trial at the Hillcrest Judicial Complex. Pamela Michelle Tackett, 32, was on the witness stand for more than two hours, saying…

  Laurens County School District 55 Superintendent Stephen Peters made an appearance in recently released documentary that was produced and aired by Trinity Broadcasting Network. The nearly 30-minute long documentary called “Taking Care of Business – Education at a Crossroads” featured Peters and two other prominent educators as well as several students discussing the challenges…

Gray Court has a new mayor for the first time since 1987. Stellartean Jones defeated Scott Cook in a runoff election Tuesday for the Town of Gray Court’s top post. Jones, a two-term councilwoman, finished with 126 votes while Cook had 85. “I was confident, and then I was anxious,” Jones said of her emotions…

A ghost of a Polish accent still punctuated the speech of Ireneusz Glodz as he described what he saw nearly a year ago as he and his family drove up I-385 toward Greenville. “It was like a flying man fell from the sky on the highway in front of us,” said Glodz, who said he immigrated to…

A domestic violence incident earlier today (Friday) in Cross Hill sent two people to the hospital. According to the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office, a man arrived at his ex-wife’s home on Ballard Drive and opened fire before turning the gun on himself. A report from the LCSO said the woman was shot in the arm…