AUG-SEPT 2013 H ISSUE #46
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AUG-SEPT 2013 H $4.95
SOUT HM AG AZ IN E.COM
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aug | sept 2013
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T H E FA L L A N D R I S E O F T H E LO C A L B A N K I NG I N DU ST RY T H E B A N K E R S W H O K E P T S AVA N N A H A F L OAT T H R O U G H T H E G R E AT R E C E S S I O N T E L L A L L .
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BY MICHELLE K ILBOU R N E
54 S UCC E S S 101
W H AT I S S U C C E S S ? A M A S T E R C L A S S W I T H S O M E O F S AVA N N A H ’ S T O P P OW E R P R O F E S S I O N A L S .
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BY CL A R K BY RON
G R E AT E ST B O S S E S THE WINNERS OF SOUTH’S F I R S T A N N UA L CO N T E S T.
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BY KRISTEN SMITH
106 G R E AT E ST PET S
T H E PAW S A R E I N ! T H I S Y E A R ’ S W I N N E R S R E A L LY A R E T H E B E S T .
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BY A NNA MOR R IS
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south
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[ LIVE & THINK ] 32 SLANG Bless your heart
34 APPS & GADGETS Tools to help you unleash your inner Power Pro
36 PET GEAR
118 QUICK TRIPS Get out of the office and back to nature with an authentic farm stay
120 A REAL GEORGIA PEACH
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The historic Barnsley Gardens Resort
124 OUTDOORS SOCIAL
Everything you need to spoil your pet rotten
Dove hunting with Marty Fischer
130 LEGAL MATTERS
38 FLYING HIGH
How to protect your business
Gulfstream’s Live Well. Be Well. series
134 JUDGE CLAIRE CORNWELL-WILLIAMS
42 GOING GREEN Hobby Farming in the South
Savannah’s “Mama Judge” lays down the law
70 MONEY TALKS Cash and cache
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[ MEET ] 98 MORE THAN A MASCOT Uga IX is no ordinary bulldog next door
136 SHERIFF AL ST. LAWRENCE Reflections on a life in law enforcement
138 SO YOU WANNA BE A COP? A day in the life of a cadet at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center
145 CYBER INTELLIGENCE
102 RESCUE ME, PLEASE! South’s guide to adopting your next furry friend
[ G O , S T AY , S H O P ]
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Behind the scenes at Armstrong’s Cyber Forensics Division
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[ E A T & P L AY ] 168 CHEWING THE FAT Tasty trends and dining news
170 FOOD AS MUSE Local blogger’s work receives international recognition
172 THE ART OF POWER DINING Where to go and what to eat with your boss, your clients, or on an interview
194 THROUGH THE LENS OF DAN WINTERS A never-before published photo
S PECI A L A DV E RT I S I NG S ECT ION S
MONEY MAGNATES ➼ page 75 RAISING THE BAR ➼ page 148
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194 MOUTH OF THE SOUTH Suzanne Kirk has the keys to a great work culture
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publisher’s letter
aug | sept 2013
THE ART OF INSPIRATION
TEAM SOUTH (top l-r): Travis Teate, Frankie Brooks, Michael Brooks, Alyssa Marohn, Chantel Coxhead, Teri Gardner, Kim Kuprijanow; (bottom l-r): Kristen Smith, Fifi Brooks, Dodge Brooks, Sara D’Eugenio Y ES, IMITATION IS THE SI NCE R E ST FOR M OF F L ATT E R Y . A N D W E ’ R E F L A TT E R E D ; R E A L LY, W E A R E . At South, we believe that the greatest sort of publishing means exploring new ways of telling stories and expressing ourselves. And over the past several years, concepts like “Meet the Doctors” and “Finest Lawyers” have
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been published in mos t mid-sized to large cities with reputable magazines. We felt that it w as long overdue that Savannah be included on that lis t. In 2007, we released our M eet the Doctors issue, and five years ago our first Finest Lawyers issue. Shortly af ter , other local publications began releas ing their o wn versions. We’re not bragging (well, ma ybe a lit tle) and
we’re not complaining. It’s good to know we’re doing our jobs well and that our peers appreciate—and maybe even admire—our efforts. But that means we ha ve to k eep re-examining those efforts. We have to be our toughes t critics and k eep rediscovering what made us unique and inspiring in the first place. It’s not an easy standard to liv e up to. It’s always hard. Sometimes it’s downright exhausting. But we do it happily be cause, when we get it right, it’s incredibly rewarding. So, we expanded the scope of our 6th Annual La w issue, which features our region’s finest law prof essionals, to also include the South’s top Money Magnates. That’s a lot of impressive and influential people for one issue, which left us with an interes ting challenge: how to portray these powerful professionals in a w ay that’s as compelling as their accomplishments deserv e. Hmm, not easy. We were prepared to lose more than a lit tle sleep. The answer came to us in the form of talented photographer, Travis Teate. We were looking for an intriguing, thought-provoking lens through
which to view our subjects , and we found it. The photo shoots themselves inspired emotion, dialogue and ev en controversy, but mostly they just inspired. We were definitely not resting on our laurels. We were prepared to dynamite the w alls of our comf ort zone. We were excited, engaged and a little nervous. You can see wh y on pages 75 and 148. I could go on about how amazing the results are, but you need to see them for yourself. Then, I ask you to think about all the people at South who, once again, have managed to set a new s tandard. I’m thinking (incredibly apprecia tively) of every one of them right no w. And I know our competitors will be., too. Many Thanks & Keep Reading,
Michael Brooks Publisher/Creative Director
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P.S. Working at South requires talent, flexibility, patience, persistence and, above all, team effort. Recently Team South stepped outside the office and participated in the JCB Mud Run. After setting up camp at the crack of dawn, running 4.3 miles of obstacles and mud—a piece of cake compared to deadline week—we had an opportunity to bond like never before. We all slept well that night.
About the Covers
SOUTHMAGAZINE.COM
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER
2013 ★ ISSUE #46
photographer: Travis T.
s a v a n n a h
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t h e
c r e a t i v e
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E OM SOUTHMAGAZINE.C 46 #46 SEPT 2013 ★ ISSUE AUG-SEPT AUG
LAW&
★ $4.95 AUG/SEPT 2013
SOUTHMAGA ZINE.COM
EY MONE MONEY ★★★ ★★★★ ★ R CYBER L& INTEL INTEL& POLICE ACADEMY ★★★★ TRAVEL& HUNTING ★★★★ JUDGE& SHERIFF ★★★★ FOOD&
FARMS
DELILAH WINNER OF SOUTH 'S GREATEST PETS
creative director: Michael Brooks
South raised the bar with this month’s cover, doing what we do best: mixing art and business. “We felt that model and entrepreneur, Laura Lill, was a perfect representation of a powerful, artistic cover,” says creative director Michael Brooks. Photographer Travis Teate agrees. “This is a progressive picture,” he says. “It’s a throwback to classic styling and modern lines. It was inspired by the power of a woman in motion, in black and white, moving forward. I love the look of feminine lines in a masculine suit.”
In addition to our Power Cover, a limited edition run featuring one of this year’s winners of South’s Greatest Pets is available. Go to southmagazine.com for more information.
$4.95 AUG-SEPT 2013
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editor’s letter
aug | sept 2013
POWER & PROGRESS magazine
i’m afraid to admit how much of my life i’ve spent being, well, afraid. As a little girl, I was afraid of my childhood ending (I was very self-aware); in high school, that I would choose the wrong colleg e; in colleg e, that I would choose the wrong career; post-graduate school in 2008 , that America and I would be brok e forever; as a new bride, that I would be ma rooned on the West Coast indefinitely. If you told me a year ag o that I would be happily re-es tablished in Savannah, I would ha ve laughed—if I could ha ve stopped crying. My husband and I spent a relatively terrifying year and a half of uncertainty in Los Ang eles, chasing our tails careers in film and marketing, respectively. The weather was great, we saw celebrities all the time and it only took 45 minutes to driv e three miles to the beach. We’d spend Saturday mornings in our apartment off Wilshire Boulevard watching Paula’s Best Dishes and Home for Dinner with Jamie Deen, crying into our pancak es (true story). We were blessed with so much— jobs , friends, a place of our o wn— but it wasn’t enough. We missed our families. We missed living where people smile and s ay hello; where no thing is open before noon on Sunday because everyone is in church. W e missed the South. We took the plung e and moved back to our belo ved Savannah. It wasn’t exactly the path of least resistance—frankly, we probably should ha ve been a lit tle more afraid to lea ve our jobs in a down economy and absorb the cost of a cross-country move than we were—but a deeper sense of purpose, formed from a desire to contribute to a community that we lo ve and to build a life supported by faith and family (and foo tball) far outweighed the fear . It’s fitting that our Power Professionals issue is the first of my tenure at South. In preparing this issue, I have been introduced to some truly ex traordinary folks who are moving the needle of progress forward. You’ll be inspired to tackle pre tty much anything after reading “ Success 101” (page 54) or to stand up straighter for what you believe in, like I was after my conversation with Judge Claire Cornwell-Williams (page 134). Maybe your prayers will be a lit tle longer tonight after reading “The Fall and Rise of the Local Banking Indus try,” (page 47) thankful for those who kept Savannah’s banks from collapsing lik e so many others. Stevie Nicks said it best: “Time makes you bolder.” Thank heavens for that. As we begin col lectively to stand down the fear left in the w ake of the great recession, I think we’ re all a lit tle bolder. We have a keener sense of what mat ters; we know what we’re about. All boats are rising, y ’all. I’m just glad to ha ve mine docked in this g orgeous harbor. Enjoy every page!
publisher/creative director Michael Brooks ➼ mb@thesouthmag.com managing editor Kristen Smith ➼ kristen@thesouthmag.com art director Sara M arie D ’Eugenio ➼ sara@thesouthmag.com advertising art director Kim Kuprijanow ➼ kim@thesouthmag.com sales manager Nancy Marshall ➼ nancy@thesouthmag.com account executives Teri G ardner ➼ teri@thesouthmag.com Alyssa M arohn ➼ alyssa@thesouthmag.com financial and circulation manager Ivy B evill ➼ ivy@thesouthmag.com director of marketing and events Chantal Coxhead ➼ chantal@thesouthmag.com food editor Janice S hay copy editor Cameron Spencer contributing writers Sam B oyken, C lark B yron, G en F uller, Rhianna Van Helton, L auren Hunsberger, Michelle K ilbourne, J im Reed, J anice S hay contributing photographers Zoe C hristou Welsh, J abberpics, R yan Gibson, C hina Fagan, J ohn A lexander, T ravis Teate, C hristine H all, Christina Montes, A ngela Hopper-Lee, L ogan Crable, Scott H arris, H adley Henry, I van Feign, K im Topley editorial interns R aine Blunk, M argaret H arney, Morgan E llen Johnson, A nna Morris, E rin S cott, Lilli S erral, E lizabeth S heffield, A nna Wells production, photography and marketing interns Joanna Kulesza, S amantha M arti, A urielle L ee south mag a zin e i s p ubl ish ed b imon t h l y b y b a d i n k , b r o ok s a dv er t ising desig n, i nc . r epr od uc t ion b y a n y me a ns of t h e w hol e or p a r t of b a d i n k wit hout w r it t en p er mission f r om t h e p ubl ish er i s p r oh ibit ed. v ie ws e x pr essed i n t h e e dit or ia l p ag es d o n o t i mpl y o ur e n dor sement . w e wel c ome y our p r od uc t n e ws. i nc l ude p r ic es, pho t os a n d d ig it a l f il es wit h y our p r ess r el e a se. pl e a se f or wa r d p r od uc t s a mpl es a n d m edia k it s t o r ev ie ws e dit or , south mag a zin e, 1 1 6 bul l s t r eet , s ava n na h , g eor g ia 3 1401 . w e c a n no t b e r espon sibl e f or u nsol ic it ed p r od uc t s a mpl es. subsc r ipt ion r at es: u .s.: $19 for one year; $28 for two years; s ing l e c opies: $4.95. c h a ng e of a ddr ess n o t ic e: s ix t o e ig h t w eek s p r ior t o mov ing , pl e a se c l ip t h e m a il ing l a bel f r om t h e most r ec ent i ssue a n d s en d i t a l on g w it h y our n e w a ddr ess t o: south mag a zin e, c h a ng e of a ddr ess no t ic e, 1 1 6 bul l s t r eet , s ava n na h , g a 3 1401 , a t t n: c ir c ul at ion
south magazine: A D ivision of B ad I nk 1 1 6 B ull Street, S avannah, G eorgia 31401 phone: 91 2.236.5501 f ax: 91 2.236.5524 southmagazine.com
Kristen Lee Smith, Managing Editor
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contributors
aug | sept 2013
Featured Contributor
R H I A N N A VA N H E LT O N Rhianna Van Helton is a freelance writer, actor, and film professional living and working in Savannah, GA. Her blog, killallyourdarlings.com, chronicles the pleasure and privilege of eating, traveling and existing in the South. A graduate of the University of Mississippi and SCAD, she is currently at work writing and producing a TV pilot about the American Locavore Movement called Dishtory—a culinary adventure show that dives into the history of regional dishes and gathers the traditional ingredients straight from their source. She can also be seen on stage in Bay Street Theatre’s production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street through August 25. READ HELTON’S WORK IN “SO YOU
ANG E LA HOPPE R-LE E Angela Hopper-Lee has ten years of experience as a photographer in Savannah. A SCAD graduate, she loves all realms of photography, yet finds great joy in photographing animals and their people. “Our best furry friends are part of the family and should have beautiful portraits,” she says. Angela shares her home and studio with her husband, Wayne, and daughter, Annabelle Blu, along with their two Siamese cats, Click and Snatch; two Aussies, Bruiser and Copper; and two African Spur Thigh tortoises. When you come to visit her home studio, you may also see the herd of chickens!
WANNA BE A COP?” (PAGE 138).
(PAGE 106).
ZOE CH R ISTOU WELSH Zoe Christou Welsh is a fashion, beaut y, hair and celebrit y photographer based in S a va n na h , GA . Growing up in London in a family involved in the fashion industry inf luenced her to pursue a career internationally as a fashion designer. She embarked on a second career in photography two-and-a-half years ago. Her images have since been published in national and international magazines. She has won several photography competitions and has been involved in a televised photography show. SEE WELSH’S WORK IN “SUCCESS 101” (PAGE 54).
SEE HOPPER-LEE’S WORK IN “SOUTH’S THIRD ANNUAL GREATEST PETS”
THE AMAZING INTERNS Six talented young women holed up in South’s offices all summer, working tirelessly on print and digital content for this issue. Our summer editorial interns Margaret Harney (UGA ’13) Morgan Ellen Johnson (UGA ’13), Anna Morris (Georgia College ’14) , Erin Scott (Ol’ Miss ’14), Lili Serral (USC ‘18) and Anna Wells (GSU ’14) brought their a-game every day and saved a certain managing editor from tearing her hair out entirely. Creative, inspiring and always on the ball, these writers generated excellent ideas and work f or blog posts, articles and social media. They also proudly repped Team South at events all over Savannah. We miss y’all already! Don’t forget to send us your resumes af ter graduation.
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A N G E L A H O P P E R - L E E P H O T O : J A D E M C C U L LY
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letters ➼
aug | sept 2013
write to us at editor@thesouthmag.com or 116-a bull street, savannah, georgia 31401
A N D T H E W I N N E R ( BY A S L I M M A R G I N ) I S . . . Many thanks to our online community for your consistent feedback. Recently, we conducted a p oll on our June-July 2013 covers and after all was said and done, the results came in by a n extremely slim margin. Most agreed both were winners.
RI P BEN TUCKER
WINNER
[The Jeri cover] says “Southern women are strong...don’t mess with us!” – CON N I E L . AR NOLD PAU L A - G AT E When scandal broke at Paula Deen Enterprises, South posted a p hoto from a 2007 photo shoot (right) on our Facebook page to show support for our hometown girl. That post reached 25,984 people, got 393 likes and 107 passionate comments. Needless to say, it kicked up some grits. “I still believe in Paula Deen. Still love her and respect her. If nothing else look at all the good she has done for the city of Savannah.” —MICHAEL W. JOYNER
“Amen South magazine!!!!! You who are without sin cast [the] first stone! So proud of you for standing up not for Paula Deen but for what’s right.” —JODI SEBRIGHT PIRROTTA “There’s a lesson for ALL of us... be kind to the folks you pass on the way up the ladder to success... you may need them on the way back down.” —CRAIG BISZICK “Can’t get blood from a stone. What more does everyone want from this woman? She’s apologized. What else should she do?” —ASHLEY NOEL MCLAIN
“Here’s my question: you ask a white woman of a certain age from the deep South if she has ever (!!) used the N-word, and you are outraged by her answer and vilify her for her honesty? I don’t get it.” —JULIE CARTER PECENKA
“Paula Deen is receiving fair treatment by her employers and endorsers, just like every other celebrity. When you are a celebrity, you have no private life. You can’t be perfect, but don’t be surprised when your imperfections become public scandal. It’s what you signed up for.” —MONISHA JOHNSON “This is America. This magazine can post whatever it wants to post. It appears they are standing up for someone they know. Do you know her?” —VYVYAN LYNN
This was a great issue....the whole mag was just good, good, good!! –DIAN E MU R RAY EAK I NS 20
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REMEMBERING BEN On June 10, 2013, Savannah said goodbye to Ben Tucker with a N ew Orleans-style jazz funeral and procession through the city. Although his resume as a world-renowned jazz musician and songwriter was extraordinary, his reputation as a kind, compassionate and vibrant man are what we will remember the most.
[Correction, Please] In “Behind the Scenes Beauty Pageants,” Brittany Rowland was misquoted as saying that she won Miss Gerogia Southern 2011. Although Miss Georgia Southern was the first pageant that Miss Rowland participated in, it was not a title that she won. We apologize for the innacuracy.
P R O C E S S I O N : M A R G A R E T H A R N E Y; B E N T U C K E R A N D PA U L A D E E N : C O L I N D O U G L A S G R A Y
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stay connected
aug | sept 2013
contests at southmagazine.com
✱ EVE NT CALE NDAR
connect FAC E BOOK Like The South Magazine on Facebook for exclusive polls, content and photos.
TWITTE R We’re always out and about, live Tweeting at events. Follow us @south_mag.
TH E SOUTH ’S GUI DE TO EVE RYTH I NG I N SAVAN NAH
ABOUT TH E CONTE STS To showcase the greatest Southerners and what we love most about life in Savannah and the Lowcountry, South magazine hosts several readervoted contests a y ear. From “Greatest Kids” to “Greatest Chef s” and more, winners are f eatured in an editorial spread shot by one of our award-winning photographers. This month, see the winneres of South’s “Greatest Pets” (page 106) and South’s “Greatest Bosses” (page 92). To vote in our current contest, visit southmagazine.com.
Next time you want to head out on the town or are bored out of your mind, don’t forget to check out South’s calendar. Whether you are looking for a fun festival to attend or a play to see, we’ve got you covered with all the information you’ll need. Don’t miss our Weekend Guide blog that comes out each Friday—we’ll let you know what the South team is up to for the weekend. To enter an event, visit the events page of southmagazine.com and submit your own event easily.
TUM BLR Don’t miss our behind-thescenes photos on Tumblr at south-magazine.
RSS Stay up-to-date on all of our latest blogs and articles.
PI NTE R E ST Follow us on Pinterest (southmagazine) to see what inspires South.
I NSTAG RAM @Instasouth is your one-stop handle for the coolest pics in Dixie.
blogs
ABOUT GOSOUTH The newest (ok, only) addition to our mobile fleet, the GoSouth RV is Team South’s home-away-from-home on the road. Look for us at events around Savannah this fall! 22
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DAILIES We’re consistently updating the blog on our award-winning website southmagazine.com to keep you in the know with what’s happening around town—everything from art openings to live music to networking events and fashion shows— and what’s going on at South with online-exclusives f rom current issues, behind-the-scenes photos and more! If you want South delivered right to your inbox, sign up f or our bi-weekly newsletter. Weekly event listings, Scenes of the South galleries, and weekend guides are just a click away. Visit southmagazine.com to sign up and stay in the know.
C H I N A FA G A N , J O H N A L E X A N D E R
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scenes of the south
aug | sept 2013
PHOTOGR A PH Y BY JOHN A L E X A N DER
SOUTH’S WHITE-HOT RELEASE PARTY ✱ MAY 30, 2013 The Mansion on Forsyth Park was the perfect backdrop for South’s Issue #45 White-Hot Release Party. The swanky celebration included glam P orsches courtesy of New Riv er Auto Mall and tunes spun by DJ Jeff Kaar of First City Events. The Mansion catered with outs tanding heavy hors d’oeuvres and decadent desserts while United Dis tributors provided the evening’s libations. A silent auction w as held to benefit the Rape Crisis Center of the Coastal Empire.
Yolian Ortiz, Natalie Hendrix, Kris Hummer Drs. Jared and Samantha Brown
Sue Else and Rex Osborn
Greg Lard and Tracie Irminger
Allison McCray, Taylor Deen, Mandy Livingston
Jeri Hodby
Luke and Stephanie Duke
Amy, Anna and LukeJohn Dickson Jean and Dr. Eric Bull
Dru Nelson and Jason Usry
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scenes of the south
aug | sept 2013
PHOTOGR A PH Y BY JOHN A L E X A N DER
SOUTH’S WHITE-HOT RELEASE PARTY ✱ MAY 30, 2013 Guests at South’s White-Hot Release Party got real red carpet treatment with an ev ening at one of Savannah’s most beautiful hotels. Natalie Hendrix and the team from WSA V’s The Southern Scene interviewed guests for the sho w before they s tepped up to be pho tographed at the South backdrop. And did we mention the high fashion pho to shoot? Party attendees enjoyed watching—and participating in—a shoo t during the soiree. Shannan Hunt, Elaine Seabolt, Ryan Hunt
Tina TyusShaw, Kesha Gibson Carter, Russ Riesing
Rob and Emily Horton
Alex Ames and Beth Ann Walker
CATCH US ON INSTAGRAM @INSTASOUTH
Liana Nunn and Lauren Davis Omar Portigliatti and Teckla Paraventi
Darrel Smith, Jennifer Hagan, Jessica and Brett Perle
Natalie Moore, Mark Winchell
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Mandy Starling
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Shot at South’s White-Hot Issue release party amid clinking cocktail glasses and silent auction bidding, the spread featuring the understated chic of the new office look was captured by photographer Travis T., who added camera clicks and flash to the buzz of the party, and the w ork of stylist Katherine Barron. work Shooting live at the party partyw was as a first for fashion portrait portrait photographer Travis T. “I love the energy of ofpeople peoplein inggeneral,” eneral,” he says. “People always inspire me. IIha have ve always wanted to shoot at a party but butha have ve never had the chance. chance.It Itwwas as like a dream.” Stylist Barron was able to thro throw w out the sub subtle tle rules of of “dress “dress to impress,” out the windo window. w. Though the in invitations vitations for the White-Hot Party encouraged monochromatic all-white dress code for party gues guests, ts, Barron had room roomto towork workoutside outsidethe thebo boxx of traditional as she shechose choselooks looksfor forthe thespread’ spread’ss models. She paired modern separates to todeliv deliver er work wear inspired inspiredbbyy the Mansion’s exotic interiors; the sstyle tyle was all about the theing ingenuity enuity of power dressing with simplicity. simplicity. “I wanted the looks to toblend blendggently ently with the back background ground of the Grand Bohemian Gallery,” Gallery,” said Barron. “All the garments were influenced by the colors and andtex textures tures of the fantas fantastically tically eclectic decor.” With the energy of ofthe theparty partyand andopulent opulentdecor decorininback background ground and Barron’s modern sartorial spread in the theforeground, foreground,this this fresh take on after hours hoursdressing dressingisisas aseas easyy as black and andwhite. white. —margaret harney
➤ “The suit gives you power,” says Lara Lill of Rise Models
who is South’s August/September cover model. Lill, c ofounder of the web and graphic design company The Lills Design, rocked the workplace staple for photographer Travis T. and explains why it’s a classic: ““We We have this great ability to transform the way we’re perceived by what we’re wearing. So if you want to be strong and powerful, walk in wearing a suit.” 28
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P H O T O G R A P H Y: T R AV I S T.
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ST Y LI NG : K ATH E R I N E BA R RON
LO C AT IO N : T H E M A N S IO N O N FO R S Y T H | H A I R & M A K E U P: RO B S S A LO N AT D R AY TO N TOW E R M O D E L S : E R I N N A . L AU R E N DAV I S , S O P H I E D E S I M O N E , S TA R L A L I T T L E , LI A NA NUN N, K ATI E R E E D, M A RGA R ITA S M ITH OF H A LO MODE L M A NAGE M E NT
➤ On Sophie [L]: Dress by Tibi [$119] Copper Penny. On Liana: Top by Steven Alan [$59] Cherry Picked Consignment. Pant by Very J [$52] Red Clover Boutique.
➤ On Vi [L]: Dress by BCBG [$187] Copper Penny. On Erinn: Dress by Rickie Freeman for Teri Jon [$410] James Hogan.
➤ On Starla [L]: Dress by By Smith [$224] Copper Penny. On Lauren: Vintage Dress [$24] Civvies. Cheetah belt [$28] Villa Savannah.
➤ On Margarita [L]: Sequin Dress by Wren [$60] Cherry Picked Consignments. Vintage belt [$10] Civvie’s. On Katie: Dress by Tibi [$276] Copper Penny.
STYLIST TIP
Don’t try too hard be trendy and fashionable— there’s nothing impressive about that. STYLIST TIP
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A R T
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T H E S AVA N N A H VO I C E X P E R I E N C E F E S T I VA L 2 01 3 LILLI SERRAL
August begins with the launch of Savannah’s newest festival, The Savannah VOICE Experience Festival, featuring artistic director and legendary opera singer Sherrill Milnes. At the Festival’s 11 events, Milnes, among others, will perform and teach. Members of Team VOICE, an ensemble of seven young musicians and singers, will be hosting guest artists and assisting during the festival. A VOICE Society membership includes access to members-only events and special discounts throughout the festival. Sponsored by the Savannah Friends of Music, Festival events will take place both downtown and at the Westin Savannah Harbor. ➼ savannahvoicefestival.org August 3rd–7t h. Tickets $15-$55 and VOICE Society Membership $150-$300
C U L T U R E
CONTENTS
32 sl a ng
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a pps & g a dg et s
36 pet g e a r
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f ly ing h ig h
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g oing g r een
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t h e f a l l a nd r ise of t h e l oc a l ba nk in g indu st r y
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suc c ess 101
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money ta l k s
Soprano Rebecca Flaherty will perform at the Savannah VOICE Festival
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CHR ISTINA MON TE S
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slang
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Southern dialect is ripe with clever turns of phrase. Each month, we ask one of our favorite Southerners for their favorite....
august | september 2013
“Bless Your Heart” NAME: Nicole Jones OCCUPATION: Field Recruiting Manager for TMX Finance FAVORITE SOUTHERN SLANG: Bless Your Heart 1.) A phrase used by Southern women to soften the blow of speaking ill of someone, or in response to the unwanted advances of the opposite sex; an expression of pity. 2.) A phrase used to soften harsh words about someone in a conversation. 3.) A term used by the people of the southern United States particularly in the Southeastern region to express to someone that they are an imbecile without being blunt. ABOUT THE SOUTHERN BELLE: Nicole Jones, Field Recruiting Manager at TMX Finance, isn’t one of those nine-to-fivers who pushes the snooze button and wishes it were the weekend. “I don’t wake up in the morning and say ‘I gotta go to work.’ I say ‘I’m ready to make money and put someone in a job!’” says Jones, who was the 2011 TMX Recruiter of the Year. “I think I have a great eye for fitting the right candidate with the right position,” she says. “Knowing what to look for goes back to having a relationship with your client or your hiring manager and knowing what they want.” She graciously shares some of her best tips:
➊ The best or nothing. If you’re hiring, make sure to have an accurate job description so you’ll attract only top talent. Jones also recommends asking for referrals and conducting research on LinkedIn.
➋ For job seekers, networking is key. “Make sure you have a LinkedIn and make sure it is updated,” she says. She encourages applicants to get involved with networking in the community. “Keep your resume updated. Don’t wait until the last minute when you are looking for a job. Know the company you are applying to and do the research.” Have a hard copy of your resume on hand at interviews.
➌ Stay current.
Fit matters. “Some people don’t know the company and take [the job] and it’s not the right fit,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to professionally decline a position.”
➍
PH OTO G R A PH Y A N D WA R D RO B E ST Y L I ST: ZO E C H R I STOU W E L S H | H A I R A N D M A K E U P A RT I ST: K I S S I E NG O | D R E S S A N D R I NG : COPPER PENNY
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Apps & Gadgets N E E D H E L P S TAY I N G O R G A N I Z E D A N D M O T I VAT E D I N A N D O U T O F T H E O F F I C E ? T H E R E ’ S A N A P P F O R T H AT. ELIZABETH SHEFFIELD AND MORGAN JOHNSON
S T A N D A P P : StandApp reminds you to tak e a break and offers a variety of video-guided stretches and activities to reg enerate muscle activity. Interrupting inactive behavior can help with physical problems as well as stress by re-regulating blood f low to the areas that need it after hours of sit ting. $ f r e e f o r i p hon e s , sta n da p p. bi z E V E R N O T E : Perf ect f or the power pro on the g o. From office computer and iPhone to home computer, Evernote saves your ideas on the run and impro ves your productivity by taking notes, capturing photos, creating to-do lists and searching through past notes. When you’re ready to share, pos t notes to Facebook or Twitter or send them via email. $ f r e e ; $ 4 .9 9 f or p r e m i u m , e v e r no t e .c om
C A R R O T : Need a l ittle motivation? CARROT’s Sirilike digital personal assis tant helps you check off your to-do list, but beware: if you take too long to g et things done, CARROT will experience a mood swing. Unlock upgrades and levels by completing challenges, such as finishing a task in the middle of the night to become a “Night Owl.” With 30 challenges and over 400 rewards, CARROT will keep you organized and entertained. $ 1 .9 9 f or i p hon e or i pa d, m e et c a r ro t.c om D R A F T S : Draf ts is the digital alternative to carrying around a pen and paper . This quick and easy-to-use app opens a blank draft ready to type ev ery time. It has widespread output options—Twitter, Facebook, email and E vernote—that allow for sharing and reworking reworking later. later.
$ 2 .9 9 f or i p hon e , $ 2 . 4 9 f o r a n d r oi d , a g i l e t ort oi s e .c om E V E R E S T : For the g oaloriented power pro, Everest helps you organize your goals and stay on track. Not only is it jus t a to-do list, but you can design what you want to learn—a new languag e to learn or a location to g et more information about visiting—then s tart planning the steps to complete those goals. Receive reminders and, if you aren’t sure where to g o next, get unstuck by looking at the s teps and lessons of users g oing in a similar direction. $ f r e e f or i p hon e , ev er.st F E D E X O F F I C E : If you don’t have time to lea ve the of f ice but need those documents
M YC H A RGE : Caught dead again? The folks at MyCharge have a lline ine of on-the-go chargers to bring life back to your digital lifeline. The AMP 4000 gives an instant power boost to your iPhone, Android or tablet. Or try the Freedom 2000 to keep your iPhone charged and safe in its protective case. STA RTING AT $39.99; M YCH A RGE. C OM
printed and deliv ered to be mailed out pronto, there’s a FedEx Office app for that. From directions to the nearest location and a search function for stores with specialty services ( like color printing and binding ), the FedEx Office app puts everything you need for shipping and printing right at your f ingertips. $ f r e e f o r i p hon e a n d a n droi d, f e de x .c om SU N R ISE CA L EN DA R : Of f ering real-time s yncing with Google Calendar for quick ev ent additions, reminders and time zone support, Sunrise also allo ws you to add Facebook events and birthdays to keep you on track and up-to-date. Sunrise f eatures location-based weather forecasting so you’ll never be caught without an umbrella. $ f r e e f or i p hon e , s u n r i s e . i m
SOL A R K EY BOA R D FOLIO: Logitec’s solar keyboard folio simultaneously protects your iPad and self-charges by indoor and outdoor light. Flip open the top, and one side of the case is a keyboard that syncs with your iPad via Bluetooth. Close the folio, and the iPad turns off; open it back up, and the case’s on/off feature automatically wakes your iPad to get you back to business quickly. $129.99; L O GI T E CH .C OM
SQUA R E STA N D: The always-innovative team at Square has once again revolutionized the digital POS game with the Square Stand. The sleek Stand includes a credit card scanner and a swiveling top that makes it easy ffor or your customers to sign on the iPad with their finger and turn it back around to the cashier. $29 9; S QUA R EU P.C OM
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Pet Gear
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B E C AU S E W E S P O I L A N D L OV E O U R P E T S L I K E FA M I LY, S O U T H U N D E R S TA N D S T H AT O N LY T H E B E S T P E T P R O D U C T S W I L L D O . W E ’ V E C O M P I L E D A L I S T O F P E T E S S E N T I A L S D E S I G N E D T O P R I M P, PA M P E R A N D C O M F O R T YO U R F U R R Y F R I E N D . ANNA MORRIS | PHOTOGRAPHY SARA MARIE D’EUGENIO
ORGANIC OSCAR ALOE VERA SHAMPOO This wash, made f rom all natural ingredients, helps soothe your dog’s skin when it’s suffering f rom pesky allergies. $13 THE GRATEFUL
HOUND 912.236.7297 THEGRATEFULHOUND.COM 32 BARNARD ST., SAVANNAH, GA
OLLIE B. CLASSIC BISCUIT JAR Keep your dog happy with these glutenf ree cookies made with honey, ginger, applesauce and other natural ingredients. $38.95 OLLIE B’S 912.201.1688 OLIVERBENTLEYS.COM 13 W YORK ST. SAVANNAH, GA
DID YOU KNOW... DOG TV, the newest channel on the airwaves, offers 24/7 programming to soothe, stimulate and entertain your dog.
NO MO “O” This product helps clean up the stains and odors lef t behind by your not-so-pottytrained puppy.
$12.99 TAILSPIN 912.691.8788 TAILSPIN.COM 4501 HABERSHAM ST. AT 61ST SAVANNAH, GA
ALLIGATOR LAP QUILT This handmade, 100 percent-cotton blanket is stylish and comf y. $225 FABRIKA 912.236.1122 FABRICKAFINEFABRICS. COM 2 E. LIBERTY ST. SAVANNAH, GA
OLLIE B. HIGHLAND DOG DEODORIZING CANDLE This hand-poured soy-based candle blends notes of cinnamon bark, clove and citrus for a warm, f resh (deodorizing!) scent. $24.90
OLLIE B’S 912.201.1688 OLIVERBENTLEYS.COM 13 W YORK ST. SAVANNAH, GA
BOWTIE COLLAR Make sure your dog is just as fashionable as you are in this dapper, seersucker collar. $28 THE GRATEFUL HOUND 912.236.7297 THEGRATEFULHOUND.COM 32 BARNARD ST. SAVANNAH, GA
LEASH There’s no need to bother with grungy, worn-out leashes when you can own a polka-dotted leash for you and your dog’s morning walks. $24
FASHION SNEAKERS FOR DOGS These fashionable booties not only look cute, but they also help protect your dog’s feet f rom the hot, summer asphalt. $20 CANINE PALACE
912.234.3336 CANINEPALACESAVANNAH.COM 612 ABERCORN ST. SAVANNAH, GA.
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DEER ANTLER Dip this treat in chicken broth to give it some extra flavor—your dog will thank you later. $6.99-$29.99 TAILSPIN 912.691.8788 TAILSPIN.COM 4501 HABERSHAM ST. SAVANNAH, GA
CANINE PALACE 912.234.3336 CANINEPALACESAVANNAH. COM 612 ABERCORN ST. SAVANNAH, GA
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Maria Shriver will speak in January as part of the Live Well. Be Well. series
Gulfstream’s Savannah facility employs more than 8,400 people
Flying High W I T H A S U P E R S TA R L I N E U P O F H E A LT H A N D W E L L N E S S E X P E R T S , G U L F S T R E A M ’ S L I V E W E L L . B E W E L L . S P E A K E R S E R I E S I S E M P OW E R I N G S AVA N N A H I A N S T O G E T H E A LT H Y F R O M T H E I N S I D E O U T. KRISTEN SMITH | PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF GULFSTREAM
What do Tony Robbins, Suze Orman, Dr . Oz and Maria Shriv er have in common? Gulf stream. The nation’s leading producer of business-je t aircraf t is bringing some of the most recognizable names in health and wellness to Sa vannah through their Live Well. Be Well. speaker series. An initiative of the company’s corporate responsibility department, the year-long series w as designed with a holis tic approach to health in mind. “Wellness to us is a health y lifestyle: making good wellness choices, financial health, emotional health, motivation, the ability to chang e and resilienc y in your life,” says Jen Giffen, Gulfstream’s Vice President of Human Resources . And the goal of the program is to pro vide people with the tools , the resources and the motivation to live a healthier life. W e want it to really be about the whole person.” Personal development coach Tony Robbins kicked off the series in February, followed by financial powerhouse Suze Orman in April. Tick ets for both Robbins and Orman quickly sold out, and both speakers had audience members on their feet. “The response has actually been overwhelming and extremely positive,” says Jason Aiken, Gulfstream’s CFO and executive sponsor of health and wellness programs. “People have been taken by the events and what it means to have Gulfstream offer this kind of access to these marquee individuals. The 38
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messages they have on the subjects of health and wellness really ha ve been received better than I would ha ve expected at the outse t of the program. ” Gulfstream employs more than 8 ,400 individuals at its Sa vannah facility where the G650, considered the top business jet on the market, is manufactured. A subsidiary of General Dynamics , the company continues to grow regionally and around the world. Gulfstream sees an investment in Savannah as a key business move. “We are a larg e part of Sa vannah, but Savannah is also a larg e part of Gulfstream,” Giffen says. “Our employees live in this area, our children g o to
“The Live Well. Be Well. series is just one part of a broader effort to create a partnership with the community. I want this to be a sustainable initiative.”
—jason aiken, cfo
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Suze Orman took the stage in April
Life coach Martha Beck will speak in January
Dr. Oz will speak in Savannah on Sept. 7th
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LIVE WELL. BE WELL. LINEUP
“Savannah is the perfect size to be able to make sustainable change. We want to get healthy as a community.”
own way have really gotten a great crowd reaction and a great cro wd interaction.” —jennifer giffen, vp of Ever community-minded, Gulfstream human resources is using the series as a w ay to give back. Proceeds f rom ticket sales are being school here, we v olunteer here. The communities reinvested in Savannah through contriin which we live and work are very important butions to local nonprof it organizations and the to Gulfstream.” development of various grants and initiativ es aimed So important, in f act, that the mission of the at increasing accessibility to health y food. company’s corporate responsibility department is “Nonprofits are a critical piece to this ,” Giffen to strengthen the communities in which Gulfs tream says. “Not everyone in Savannah has access to, not employees work and live. And only the best will do. only healthy f ood and health y lif estyle choices, “We thought it was important that we bring the but maybe no access to financial health, or counselbest in the business to Savannah if we were going ing services.” to do this,” Giffin says of the impressiv e lineup. A number of complementary tick ets have been Aiken agrees. “As we looked across the various given to the United Way to distribute at their discrespectrum of health and wellness—ph ysical, emo- tion to those the organization thinks would benefit tional, mental and so on—we were really going to from attendance at a Live Well. Be Well. session. identify some of the foremos t thinkers in each of Halfway through the four-part series, the team these areas.” at Gulfstream is pleased with the positiv e response “We did extensive research with community —and they show no signs of slo wing down. change experts and lifes tyle help experts and identi “I plan to certainly keep this going,” Aiken says. fied those areas that we really w anted to focus on “Given the success and reaction we’ ve had, I w ant surrounding the holistic approach,” Giffen says. Once this to be a sustainable initiative to see what it will the roster was solidified, getting buy-in from each of provide to the community.” the award-winning speakers was a breeze. “They were Giffen shares the enthusiasm. “No t only is this enticed by the concept of looking at the whole person. a wonderful, helpful community, but it’s the perfect They were intrigued by the other speakers and could size to be able to mak e sustainable change. We want see how we were really fitting this together. And they to get healthy as a community.” loved the idea of coming to Sa vannah.” Dr. Oz takes the stage on September 7th. Maria Each speaker’s passion for the subject mat ter Shriver and Martha Beck are scheduled for J anuary and mission for the series has been evident. “These 25, 2014. for tickets, visit gulfstream.com/ are big personalities,” Aiken says. “Each in their livewell or call 912.525.5050 40
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Jason Aiken and Jennifer Giffen give a behind-the-scenes look at what each of these power pros is bringing to Savannah. TONY ROBBINS µ Spoke February 16, 2013
➤ Personal Motivation The first of four speakers, Tony Robbins got the Live Well. Be Well. series off to a great start. “Tony really livened up the group and the room,” says Aiken. “That was probably one of the most memorable moments for me—being in that room and part of that level of energy. That was a great send off for the program.” SUZE ORMAN µ Spoke April 20, 2013
➤ Financial Health Suze Orman’s advice on money and life was met with a standing ovation. “She was very intrigued by the Savannah community,” Giffen says. “She liked that idea of business taking a key role in community health.” DR. OZ AND LISA OZ
Coming September 7, 2013 ➤ Physical and Mental Health Dr. Oz and his wife, Liza, will speak on physical and emotional health. “The program as we’ve described it is about holistic health, but we certainly couldn’t ignore traditional physical and medical health,” Aiken says. “Dr. Oz was an obvious candidate to give us that perspective.” MARIA SHRIVER AND MARTHA BECK
Coming January 25, 2014 ➤ Living Health To round out the series, the former first lady of California and life coach Martha Beck will offer their perspectives on health and wellness. “Maria and Martha can bring this first part of the series together by giving us practical insight into how they apply this notion of holistic well-being in health and wellness,” says Aiken.
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Jason Williams of Plantation Properties turns city folks into hobby farmers
THE WILLIAMS FARM
Going Green A N E V E R - I N C R E A S I N G N U M B E R O F S AVA N N A H I A N S A R E E M B R AC I N G T H E S I M P L E L I F E N O T J U S T F O R P E AC E , B U T F O R P R O S P E R I T Y. T O H E A R S O M E F O L K S T E L L I T, H O B B Y FA R M I N G I S T H E I D E A L WAY T O P U T YO U R M O N E Y T O WO R K F O R YO U . JIM REED | PHOTOGRAPHY JABBERPICS & LIL’912
Essentially, hobby farming—or recreational farming as it’s also known—is the act of owning and maintaining farmland or rural property without the expec tation that it will g enerate income. Whether one uses the land to gro w crops or livestock, maintain a private hunting or fishing compound, or merely as a quiet, isolated getaway spot, people from all w alks of life are finding the idea of owning their own swath of rural property a dream come true. Jason Williams of Plantation Properties has become a regional pioneer and expert in brokering hobby farms. A longtime farmer himself, his background is in fores try and crop insurance, but no w he manages his own firm specializing in farms, timberland and recreational properties. “I’m not just selling it; I’m out here living it,” he says. “Initially, hunting drove our business, 42
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and it still does. There are lots of doctors, lawyers and other professionals in Savannah who want a place an hour or two a way that they can g o to hunt on the weekends.” One such person is Gary Oe tgen. The President of Gary Oe tgen Insurance, he, too, used Plantation Properties when seeking to create a private hunting preserve. And like many of his contemporaries who are jus t now getting into this lifestyle, he had no prior experience of country living or farming. “I have zero knowledge in farming and in hunting, ” says Oetgen. “All my background was in sailboats. I’ve raced and cruised in them for 30 years . This was all new to me. ” About six years ag o, at the reques t of his son Graham, Oe tgen sold his
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The Millers’ farm boasts acres of timber and a stocked 3-acre pond
THE MILLER FARM SEED MONEY Not every aspiring hobby farmer has to have a bankroll to get started. Jason Williams of Plantation Properties helps his clients find the perfect spot for their specific needs.. “My company can help educate people on some o f the great resources that are at their disposal,” he says. ➊ conser vation reser ve progr am ➋ wildlife enhancement progr am ➌ environment al qualit y initia tive ➍ conser vation stewardship. “These government programs provide subsidies for landowners, which makes buying a farm very attractive and sometimes much easier,” Williams explains. “There’s also the A gSouth Farm Credit that will finance these properties for 20 years. There are ways to make this really easy for people.” plantation properties: landandrivers.com; 912.764.land (5263)
sailboat and bought 230 acres of land and se t about creating an his son’ s friends could hunt to their hearts’ content and he could relax, hang out b y the grill or the fire pit, roast oysters, cook venison and “watch Georgia football games in the woods .” “We spend on average at least two weekends a month there,” he says. “It’s a place for me to decompress . I’m in the health insurance business , and I’ll be spending most of this nex t Saturday up there doing no thing but reading up on healthcare reform. There is literally no thing to interrupt me. It’s peacef ul and away f rom everything, so I can jus t f ocus and concentrate on the twists and turns of m y business.”
Dr. Bobby Miller with his children on the family farm
Although f inancial gain w asn’t “the driving reason” behind Oe tgen’s purchase, he’s hopeful it will turn out to be a wise in vestment. “When we took down trees to mak e room for the roads and shed, that timber actually helped pay for much of the improvements. So, it was refreshing to learn that the property could g enerate cash so easily.” Retired OB-GYN David Thomas is finding ways to make his 275-acre parcel work f or him. Lik e Mr. Oetgen, Dr. Thomas had no back ground in farming before making this leap . “Not a bit,” he chuckles. “My background was in hunting and f ishing. When we started looking, most of what we s aw was either f or hunting or august | sep t em ber 1 3 southmaga zine.com
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THE THOMAS FARM farming only. I w anted something that would involve the whole family and give us investment potential for the f uture, which is what we g ot: timber pine trees, f ields and pas tures. We’re now growing corn, peanuts—everything I’ve dreamed of. We have several thousand blueberry trees, and we can currently g et about eight or nine thousand pounds of blueberries per season. W e can turn this into a business or jus t keep it as a hobb y farm.” It’s this outdoorsman’s love of the land that mak es the v enture worthwhile. “I’ve taken the advice of my neighbors. All I went into this with was the desire and the joy of the outdoors. The place was pristine when I bought it, and we ha ve tried to keep it that w ay.” Williams says that many people actively seek out property that is as
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Blueberries, corn and natural beauty on Dr. Thomas’s farm
raw and unadorned as it gets. “I think that’s a big part of the f un— developing your property the w ay you want it. Each property we sell is unique. One may have a hug e lake or a nice river running through it, or great irrigation that might bode well to, say, a pecan orchard. What we
specialize in is large enough parcels of land that the o wners can f eel a sense of privacy.” Privacy is exactly what Dr . Bobby and Natalie Miller were af ter when they purchased their 60-acre farm between Statesboro and Metter. The Millers’ primary interes t in
hobby farming came from a sense of excitement at “the idea of being able to go somewhere quiet on the weekend at 5 p .m. on a F riday and come back by Monday.” It was important to the parents of two that their children grew up with a s trong bond to outdoor life.
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THE OETGEN FARM “I really notice their appreciation for being out there,” Natalie says. “I also treasure the chance for things to be more simple and hones t.” Like Mr. Oetgen’s land, there were tens of thousands of pine trees covering the majority of the Millers’ property, and the timber has pro ven to be a financial boon. “We lucked into it,” says Bobby. To the Millers’ pleas ant surprise, revenue from the trees already har vested, along with proceeds from the next planned thinning in about sev en years (they’ve already planted a whopping 10,000 new ones) will nearly pa y for their entire in vestment. Both Natalie and Bobb y heap praise on Williams who guided them through f inding and buying their land. “His personal kno wledge was instrumental in helping us make the
Gary Oetgen’s 230-acre farm is a haven for hunting, relaxing and spending time with family and friends
right choice,” Dr. Miller says. While many of Williams’ clients were af fluent bef ore making these fruitful investments, there are growing numbers of decidedly middleincome families who are buying in. Williams prefers to sell parcels of at least 25 acres, but he will gladly help
his clients find the perfect spot for their specific needs—if it’s five acres, or as small as one lo t. Whatever the size, it’s worth every penny. “I feel buying this land w as a wise decision,” Mr. Oetgen says. “The idea was my son’s, but I’ve never looked back. It’s a very refreshing change of pace.”
Dr. Miller agrees, relishing the chance to reconnect with a simpler time and old-fashioned values found in a rural se tting. “Out there in the country , it is almost like old times,” he ref lects. “Everybody is so nice, and when ever you run into someone, they ’re so helpf ul and pleas ant. It’s really refreshing.” For Dr. Thomas, it’s been a winwin, both in terms of lif es tyle and his f amily’s f inances. “That’s the point of a hobby farm: you can do it for fun or for income. The jo y is in the f reedom,” he says. “When I’ve invested over my lif etime it’s been mostly in intangibles like stocks. With land, you can see it and take care of it. You can actually be responsible for it yourself. Values go up and down, of course, but it you f ind a good piece, you should grab it and hold on to it. ”
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[L-R] Jerry Barton, Austen Carroll, Gene Gibson, John Helmken, Jenny Gentry, Tommy Hester, Jim LaHaise
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THE
RISE OF THE LOCAL
BANKING INDUSTRY S I N C E T H E G R E AT R E C E S S I O N B E G A N I N 2 0 0 8 , G E O R G I A H A S L E D T H E N AT I O N I N T H E N U M B E R O F B A N K FA I L U R E S . B U T S AVA N N A H WA S T H E E XC E P T I O N . T H E B A N K E R S W H O DEFIED THE ODDS TELL ALL. M I C H E L L E K I L B OU R N E | P H OT O G R A P H Y RYA N G I B S O N
In 2008, the nation resembled a h yperbolic disaster film. By October, major banks already had tee tered or fallen, and Hank P aulson, secretary of the U.S. Treasury, warned that $5.5 trillion in national wealth would evaporate if the nation’s banks did no t accept a federal bailout. The sky seemed to be falling, and fear struck the nation. Savannah was no exception… except that Savannah is, well, Savannah. Ever its own agent, this city tends to do things its o wn way. Some banks here accepted federal help, but the iron y was that only “ healthy and viable” banks were eligible. Others had the foresight to tak e cover before the shrapnel fell, or they engaged in creative strategizing to bunker against recession. Those banks that faltered were quickly tak en under wing b y solvent soldiers in the war against collapse. Through the hard work and business acumen of Sa vannah’s key financial august | sep t em ber 1 3 southmaga zine.com
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recession
timeline Pre-2000 1994: Congress loosens restrictions on interstate banking and branching
1999: Congress repeals the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which was designed to prevent a domino effect from Wall Street to the corner bank
2000 Congress prevents the CFTC from regulating most over-thecounter derivative contracts, including credit default swaps, which were instrumental in the bank failures of 2008 The prime rate, at 9.5% in May, begins a two-and-a-half year-long decline
2001 After 9/11, in terest rates begin a five-year decline, boosting real estate sales
2002 The Patriot Act is passed, encouraging banks to look closely at who is borrowing money
2004 Interest rates begin to rise again as the real estate industry hits its peak
2006 The national housing bubble bursts Interest rates reach the decade’s peak at 8.25% bef ore beginning a long decline
2007 Unemployment is at a decade-long low of 4.4%
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troops, the city witnessed lit tle instability and only one tumultuous episode, proving f ormidable in creating an eco nomic fortress around the city . “They don’t call us the State of Cha tham f or nothing,” says Jenny Gentry, Wells Fargo’s market president, with a laugh. “Savannah’s been blessed with a lot of good bankers.” ■ ■ ■ That’s not to say people didn’t blame the banks. “So much of the rhe toric was misdirected toward banks and misconstrued by the average person about their local banks,” says Stephen Green, chairman of the holding compan y f or Firs t Chatham. “But the local banks weren’ t selling derivatives around the world lik e Wall Street.” While the cover story was that banks had been on a reckless bing e, “the issues were broader than that,” says Jerry Barton, president of Sea Island Bank. More than 30 years ag o, now-distant drums warned of the crisis. Beginning in the 1980s, a continuous decline in real income meant that people needed money. Savannah banks benefited, but the virtual f unding f eas t was soon truncated because competition arrived—lots of it. Between 2000 and 2008 the number of banks in Savannah nearly doubled. “If you’re sitting in some non- Savannah market, you’re looking at Sa vannah, going, ‘That place is growing! Let’s go get some of that!’” says John Helmken, CEO of The Savannah Bank. To compound matters, banks had a new kind of competition that shrank their market share “dramatically because there are a lot of other suppliers out there— credit cards that are non-banks , title companies, and so f orth, ” explains Jim LaHaise, president and CEO of Coastal Bank. Online banking, ATMs, and o ther technology, such as digitized loan docu ments, only f acilitated activity . Easy money meant easy growth—in population, expansion and revenues. “Savannah was isolated for so man y years from the res t of the s tate,” notes Tommy Hester, president of Colony Bank. “All of a sud den, we became a me tro area.” Under pressure to stake ground, banks
enticed clients with “sophis ticated products,” a euphemism f or less-thanoptimal loans. To name a few , subprime rates and balloon no tes with 90 to 100% financing were utilized by even the most staid banks. “There were only so man y customers to go round, so we all s tarted to get a little looser,” says Hester, noting that those banks that took the greates t risks “grew like sky rockets. They took off. But they didn’t do it with caution. ” The risky lending crisscrossed socio-economic s trata, f rom the real estate developer speculating in outlying areas and the professional on his third home, to the shee t-rocker’s spec house and the eag er, first-time homebuyer. “There was such a sincere desire f or ev ery American to be a homeo wner,” remembers Gentry. Hoping to snag loans, banks required lit tle except self-disclosed income— another area not wholly the banks’ fault: the g overnment allowed banks, as well as its o wn agencies, to loosen underwriting. In addition, “you s aw Bcredits getting A+ pricing,” Helmken says. “The reason w as too much money chasing the opportunities.” In 2001, after 9/11, interest rates also began a long slide do wn, but in the first half of the decade, no one w as worried. “ Values had been increasing as much as 30% or more, so the feeling then w as that banks would inherently get the equity,” explains Gentry. In hindsight, everybody knows they all went too far in one way or another. “When banks start pulling back on requirements in order to be compe titive, they’re gonna get bit,” explains Hester. “And we all did it. ” But consumers were at f ault as well. “ We’re all guilty of no t doing our homework,” says Gentry. “When we select a doctor , mechanic, or landscaper, we probably spend more time interviewing them than we do when we’ re mak-
“Character is character regardless of social level. Some people want to find a way to pay you back, and some people want to walk away.” —Gene Gibson, president/CEO, United Community Bank ing a selection in our financial institution. We assume that they ’re all equal,” especially, she says, if they ’re willing to lend us money . When deposits weren’t high enough to capitalize loans , banks either shared the burden with ano ther bank, or they entered a national financial trade network of wholesale f unding. Unf ortunately, the networks were tied to Wall Street. With the repeal of the Glass- Steagall acts, a domino effect was not only inevitable, but it also reached the local lender . “There was easy, free-flowing money, not just from the banks, but also from Wall Street, and the risk-taking there made credit and liquidity—availability— something that everyone participated in either directly or indirectly ,” says Helmken. “We all participated in the heady times of the early 2000s .” ■ ■ ■ In 2006, bankers here were not surprised that the bubble burst, but they were unprepared for what came nex t. “Everybody’s perspective had been based on his torical 18-month slowdowns and then everything picks back up again,” LaHaise says. “Nobody had any idea that everything was going to come to a screeching halt in 2008 .” “For Lehman Brothers to go bankrupt was just a blow to the entire indus -
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try,” Gentry says. “There was a certain sense of fear about where it w as going to go and when it w as going to end.” As bank casualties mounted elsewhere, bank lending came to a s tandstill in Savannah, even as the bank ers kept moving. Mostly ranging in ag e from their 30s to 60s , they rose early , worked all day and through lunch, and me t constantly—even at night—to make hard decisions to protect Savannah’s wealth. Battle f atigue appeared quickly , with premature gra ying, ulcers and o ther health issues, long marriages ending in divorce and—as one banker quipped— a greatly increased golf handicap. Courses and clubs were left behind for desks , and in the evening the bankers glued themselves to the latest economic news. At night they tossed and turned, some times befriending Ambien when the number of sleepless nights became too numerous . At least some pressure w as relieved through the Troubled Asse t Relief Program (TARP), accepted by such banks as Ameris , Colony Bank, Synovus/ Sea Island, Uunited Community Bank and W ells Fargo. “You don’t turn down TARP money,” explains Hester. “Many banks here didn’t qualify for TARP. We were healthy enough that we did qualify, and that was a very good program to boos t the bank.” Other bankers who accepted TARP also believe the program accounts for an upturn in the econom y. “The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury helped restore confidence in the s tock market and restore consumer conf idence,” Barton says. Not only did T ARP help the econom y, it also ga ve banks “a lit tle extra capital to take on some of the failed ins titutions,” says Austen Carroll, President of Ameris Bank, which took o ver the failing Darb y Bank. Had banks such as Ameris and First Citizens not acquired f ailing ins titutions, he says, “more banks would have failed.” Some banks, however, were hesitant about T ARP. For example, Savannah Bank was eligible but worried whe ther it would carry a s tigma. “What would the customer and shareholder reaction be to our taking g overnment money?” Helmken remembers his board thinking. Unsure of the effect, the bank pulled its application. Others were not eligible for T ARP but righted their ledg ers and became healthier by themselves. Most notable are First Chatham Bank and Coas tal Bank. According to LaHaise, Coastal looked even worse than some banks that
“So much of the rhetoric was misconstrued by the average person about their local bank.”— Stephen Green, First Chatham Bank failed. “We were considered a w alking-dead organization financially,” he says, “so we implemented Operation Bootstrap, which is picking yourself up b y your own means. We said, ‘Guys, ain’t nobody here to help us; we’re going to do this on our own.’” Not every bank was successful, of course, but Sa vannah has never been a city to air its dirty laundry . Instead, bankers here worked behind the scenes to protect the city ’s wealth, merging banks to mutual benef it or acquiring unstable ones before they flat-lined. Between 2007 and 2012, “banks were uncovering problems, and finally some of them ga ve a white flag to say, ‘I’m out,’” explains Reeves Skeen, market executive of First Citizens, which moved into the Sa vannah market when it won the bid for the failing A tlantic Bank & Trus t. Of all the s truggles, Savannah had only one true bank f ailure: Firs t National. Not only did the bank fail, it also pro ved an embarrassment to Savannah bankers who had integrity, as seven First National executives face a 35-count indictment for defrauding their emplo yer and other banks out of millions . Indeed, while Georgia had the larg est number of bank failures in the nation, most occurred well north of here. “ Atlanta is probably close to ground zero for the whole country,” explains LaHaise. As a r esult, a Savannah bank with branches that had lent in A tlanta felt the recession more quickly than those whose mark et was restricted to this area. “We were seeing significant loan problems in other markets of our com pany a year in advance of seeing issues in Savannah,” says Barton of Sea Island, a subsidiary of Syno vus, headquartered in Columbus and branched across
BANK
EXECUTIVE LEADER
NUMBER OF BRANCHES
TOTAL ASSETS
SUNTRUST
Kay Ford
1,574 (nationally)
$172.4 billion
WELLS FARGO
Jenny Gentry
Over 9,000 (nationally)
$1.4 trillion
SEA ISLAND
Jerry Barton
33 (regionally)
$27 billion
BB&T
Toby Moreau
1,800 branches (nationally)
$178.5 billion
FIRST CITIZENS
Reeves Skeen
Over 400 (nationally)
$8.38 billion
UNITED COMMUNITY
Gene Gibson
103 (regionally)
$6.8 billion
COLONY BANK
Tommy Hester
29 (in Georgia)
$1.15 billion
AMERIS BANK
Austen Carrol
Over 60 (regionally)
over $3 billion
THE SAVANNAH BANK
John Helmken
7
$5.1 billion
COASTAL BANK
Jim LaHaise
6
$449.2 million
FIRST CHATHAM BANK
Stephen Green
8
$430 million
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• THE BANK INVESTMENT PROGRAM HELPED STABILIZE THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
2007 (continued) Defaults on subprime loans send shockwaves through the secondary mortgage market, and interest rates in the entire financial system fall
2008 Texas ratios, a balance between capital and assets in any one bank, drop nationally March: Bear Stearns collapses and is sold to JP Morgan Chase July: The government places guarantees on new mortgages to subprime borrowers; authorizes the FHFA, which eventually places Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship September: Lehman Brothers declares bankruptcy October: U.S. Treasury purchases distressed mortgagebacked securities, and establishes TARP to provide relief to “healthy” banks November: Unemployment climbs to 7.2%
2009 Texas ratios in Savannah decline July: Economic recovery begins October: Unemployment reaches its peak at 10.2%
2010 February: Economic recovery takes a short dip Texas ratios in Savannah hit rock bottom First National bank fails
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five states. “Savannah definitely trailed Atlanta,” agrees Gene Gibson, president and CEO of United Community Bank (UCB), which had investments in Atlanta because of its corporate offices in Blairsville. Not only did the recession lollygag on its way to Savannah, it also didn’t hit here as hard. “ We had certain parts of the community where the values went out of sight, and they f ell a lit tle f aster,” says Gentry, “ but Savannah weathered the recession very well and with f ewer f oreclosures compared to the rest of the country.” The proverbial real es tate chant, “location, location, location,” turned out to be one factor . “Coastal markets tend to be a lit tle stronger,” Gibson s ays. “People want to live on the coast, and that helped a lot.” Yet the mojo wasn’t just any coast, but this coast because cities such as Bruns wick and New Orleans didn’t fare so well. Instead, this coas tal region has what Green calls a “three-legged stool.” Georgia Ports, military bases, and a local econom y buffeted by tourism, a medical hub , and manufacturing such as Gulfstream and JCB all helped buffer Savannah. Moreover, even within the region,
differences appeared. “The recession wasn’t as dramatic in Bryan and Chatham counties, but Tybee and Ef f ingham had it tough, ” says Green. “It hit them pretty hard because valuations were so inflated.” Bankers also played a role in s aving Savannah. As potential foreclosures and defaults multiplied, they did ev erything they could to modify or res tructure loans. “I’d get a phone call from someone who w as doing everything they could be doing to mak e the loan pa yment,” Gentry says. “They were doing the right thing because they had tremendous character .” Conversely, others would call to demand refinancing at an extremely low rate and then threaten def ault. “These were folks who had cash in the bank, but they felt lik e it was our fault that they were in that predicament. ” Other bankers answered similar phone calls . “ Customers that were highly leveraged were seeking res tructured terms to ex tend their ability to pay,” Barton explains. No matter the outcome, the bankers continued to be civil to clients, including those who took their business elsewhere. They did this because Sa vannah, for all its size, continues to be charmingly courteous . “The reality of it is that I’ m going to g o to an ev ent and see so-and-so ,”
First National Bank Savannah had just one true bank failure: the 35- count federal grand jury indictment in early 2013 of s even bankers who had defrauded First National, as well as other banks, out of millions. An embarrassment to those with integrity, Savannah’s other bankers worked even harder to prove to the community that their banks were operating under sound, respectable practices. First National’s deposits and operation of its four branches were acquired by The Savannah Bank.
gr a ph court e sy of t he u n it ed stat e s depa rt m en t of t r e a su ry
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Gibson explains. “I’m going to say hello and shake his hand. We try to do ev erything in a friendly, non-confrontational manner. Our company is good about not drawing a line in the s and.” Bankers also understood that defaults, foreclosures and bank closings all af f ected more than one person. “There are f amilies , there are emplo yees,” Gibson explains, “so we tried to work with people the bes t we could.” “When you’re facing having to work through a loan with someone you ’ve done business with, you s till see them at church, you s till see them at Cham ber meetings, and now you have to tell them, ‘ You’ve got to pay me,’” LaHaise says. “That’s when true character comes out. If you treat people with respect in that process, they will treat you the s ame way.” “It was heart-wrenching,” Gentry says. “There were customers you’d been friends with, because Savannah is a very small town, so you really g et to know the businesses; you really g et to know them. It w as tragic. People lost their jobs not through any fault of their o wn. The stress on them w as huge.” If clients appreciated bank ers’ compassion and respect, they also valued familiarity, as many had partnered tog ether for 10, 20, even 30 years or more. “The fact that we are kno wn in the community —same bank, same name, same people, same board—those things really benefited us,” Helmken says. Barton agrees. “I am from Sa vannah,” he says. “I think being from Sa vannah gives me a greater unders tanding of the mark et and of the business dynamics. Long-standing relationships are always benef icial in getting things done.” Whether hailing f rom Sa vannah or no t, many bankers try to immerse themselves in the community, serving the Savannah Economic Development Authority, the Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Armstrong and Savannah State Universities, Savannah Technical College—the list goes on and on.
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“It takes time and effort to earn the respect of the community,” says Hester, who has served Savannah for decades. “You don’t get that by education; you get it by doing.” In fact, many banks use community in volvement in the hiring process . “I think if you hire the right people, they ’re interested in their communities ,” says Carroll. Not incidentally, those relationships also bring in new clients because no matter how big Savannah gets, somebody always knows someone you kno w. Playing bridge or golf or taking a vacation with friends , Savannahians spread the word. “Usually, people don’t change banks, but the reason they kno w you is because somebody said you were a g ood banker,” Hester says. “Relationships are the key to good banking here.” Then, with a twinkle, he adds , “It’s Savannah.” ■ ■ ■ Regulations, of course, meant that bank ers had to walk gingerly in the metroprovincial contradiction that is Sa vannah. No long er could they lend money based on historical information—whether they had known the client’s grandfather, or whether the client always paid their bills. Regulation made the borrowing field equitable and banker instinct somewhat obsolete, but it also made some clients initially resistant as bankers asked for copious documentation. “Regulation made people think of us as no t their friends or proponents or partners in their business, but rather as a barrier to doing business ,” explains Hester. “Regulation is g ood because it controls the bad guys from doing bad things to good people. But it also res tricts the good folks from trying to help good people, and it cos ts them a lo t of money.”
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In the recession’s early years, when oversight was stringent, banks such as Coastal “worked as hard and as creativ ely as we could within the cons traints that we were giv en,” LaHaise says. “At that time there w as a high lev el of regulatory oversight, and your wiggle room w as very, very small.” For example, a cus tomer might request that he pa y only the $4000 inter est on a loan for undev eloped property because he could no t afford the $8000 principal until the economy recovered. “That sounds like a reasonable request, but the regulatory agencies said no, you need to get them to amortize,” LaHaise says. “You have to be able to con vey to borrowers that you have those restrictions, yet we can work within those bounds and find a solution.” Today the regulations ha ve become more reasonable, and it helps that everybody is required to pla y by the rules. “Clients are dealing with it, regard less of who they choose to do business with, ” says Carroll. Regulation thwarts risky lending, but it also af f ects the bo ttom line, as stipulated rates, charges and rules cos t them money. Even regulated fees for bounced checks affect profits, costing one area bank $47 million in the las t three years alone. ■ ■ ■ Today the economy has greatly impro ved, but bankers still worry about two adversaries: competition and interest rates. “We had too many banks, and we still have too many banks,” Helmken says. “There are banks that will no t fail, but they ha ve an extremely limited future of vibrancy or growth.” North Carolina, for example, has a similar amount of deposits per capita with about half as man y banks as Georgia. Because risky loans are unlik ely with regulation, “The aggressiv eness now
“We learned our lessons well. We’ve been able to apply those lessons in our practices. We’re much better at what we do than we’ve ever been, and everybody should be able to say that.” —Jim LaHaise, president, CEO,
Coastal Bank
is being done is no t with credit risk, but with v ery aggressive pricing,” says Carroll. Bankers are also w atching rising interest rates. If a bank mak es a 10-year loan at 3.2 percent and the interes t goes up to 6 percent rapidly , “the banks are going to get squeezed,” Gibson explains, because they will be lock ed in for years on that particular loan. Together, competition and interest rates may make weak banks weaker, and bankers here say they expect future merg ers and acquisitions. Barring another recession, however, they also believe that precisely the same things that helped insulate Sa vannah from the full onslaught of the recession are precisely those things that will help it to gro w: Good economic div ersity, good opportunities for expansion and g ood people. An economy is always helped, too, if a town’s got good bankers. As Gentry points out, “We do have a lot of smart people in this indus try here.” Reeves Skeen notes, “There is a different culture here than in some of the other older towns. I can’t put my finger on it. This is the bes t city I’ve lived in yet.”
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W H O B E T T E R T O T E AC H T H E T E N A N T S O F S U C C E S S T H A N T H E P OW E R P R O F E S S I O N A L S AT T H E T O P O F T H E F O O D C H A I N ? H E R E , I N T H E I R OW N WO R D S , W E L E A R N W H AT C O N T R I B U T E S T O T H E I R S U C C E S S . CLARK BYRON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ZOE CHRISTOU WELSH
POWER PROFESSIONAL—IT’S A MONIKER THAT SOUNDS A BIT LOFTY TO SOME, MAYBE JUST A BIT SENSATIONAL, OVERBLOWN, AND EVEN ELITIST TO OTHERS. But the individuals profiled on the following pages are proof positiv e that there is no such thing as an o vernight success. They are po werful professionals, indeed. We see many common threads woven all through their stories: family, vision, hard work, wise choices , putting customers first, treating employees like family. They tell us to s tick with what we kno w, to do what we lo ve and do bes t. They tell us to pay close attention to our cus tomers’ needs and to pa y no attention to the noise and s tatic that seeks to div ert us away from our ultimate g oals. They show us that you do ha ve to be wise, but you don’ t have to be a g enius to be an inno vator. Above all, they testify to the fact that no one can do it alone. The credit goes to the team you build and the loyalty they return. Very little personal credit is taken by any of these Power Professionals. They all say their power is in the people they work with and the partnerships they’ve forged. CLASS STARTS NOW ❱❱❱
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WARNER PEACOCK OCCUPATION: President, CEO, dealer principal, New River Auto Mall, Hardeeville, South Carolina. POINT OF PRIDE: The New River Auto Mall. This was an idea that one of my partners and I came up with about 1 1 years ago. We had to convince every manufacturer whose brand we represent here that this was a valid place to have a dealership location. Not only have we done that but we have excelled with our sales here. WINNING ADVICE: Do what you do well and what you know well and, of course, what you enjoy doing. I know a lot of people who go off in a bunch of different directions and think that’s the way to make it happen. I’ve been involved in a lot of different businesses, but my safety net has always been the retail automobile business because I know it the best and I enjoy it.
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❰❰❰ DR. KATHY S. LOVE OCCUPATION: President, Savannah Technical College POINT OF PRIDE: One of the things I am most proud of is the completion of the Aviation Training Center that we recently built at our Crossroads Campus. POWERFUL GROWTH: Everyone at Savannah Technical College has come up with ways to serve many more students with much less state support. I think I can honestly say we’ve done that without letting the quality of what we’re doing suffer. We’ve actually expanded the programs we offer. We work with government agencies looking at labor market statistics. A lot of it is just being in the community, working with our business partners, having them serve on our advisory committees and providing us with information we need to have a trained workforce in place for what’s coming. Opportunity for a career is the driving factor in whether or not we offer a program. THE SOLUTION: The more open the line of communication, the better we at Savannah Technical College can serve the needs of our business and industry partners. There is nothing more distressing to me than to hear something in the community about the lack of a skilled workforce. We hope that when that statement is made, we are looked to as the answer to the problem. ■
MICHAEL OWENS OCCUPATION: President, CEO, Tourism and Leadership Council of Savannah POINT OF PRIDE: Keeping the people. When I look at the landscape, I don’t just think about the business, I think about the individuals. When you’re in a position where you help manage and direct revenue streams and costs, you obviously have a responsibility to its people—to employees that over the years become family. Our business of tourism and hospitality is nothing without its people. When all is said and done, our product is people. GROWING RIGHT: The vision is for responsible growth. It’s something that’s constantly in the back of my head when we look at new development opportunities. The question is always: Is this responsible growth? Does it work within the infrastructure that we have or will it work within the infrastructure we have planned? One in seven jobs in Savannah relies on tourism and hospitality. WINNING ADVICE: Always look internally. It’s easy to come up with the reason why the business isn’t doing well. But at the end of the day, it’s my responsibility to work my way through the challenges and create a path of success. What that means, more often than not, is internal reflection on what I’m doing and what my business is doing. ■
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MAGGIE GILL ❱❱❱ OCCUPATION: President, CEO, Memorial Health POINT OF PRIDE: Our team has achieved a financial turnaround that we’ve sustained and continue to improve upon. It’s the foundation of some of the progress we’ve been able to make over the past two-and-a-half years, and it also sets the stage for future accomplishments. STAYING ON TOP: We take a very keen approach to cost management. We believe in fiscal accountability. We have to make sure that as the different forces around us change, we’re nimble and responsive enough to that change so we can stay ahead of the curve. POWERFUL CHANGES: The push to create more seamless communication through advancement in IT makes sense. It will help break down some of the silos in healthcare. It will enable patients to have more control over their own health information and, in turn, their health. We’ve made some major investments in information technology, which, once we have it fully developed at Memorial, we’ll be able to offer it to other providers. We’re also working with some regional hospitals to try to figure out ways to work together to reduce overall cost structures, and to ensure that patients are getting the right level of care at the right location. We want people to seek care in the right place at the right time. ■
DR. CHERYL DAVENPORT DOZIER POINT OF PRIDE: President, Savannah State University POINT OF PRIDE: We have had enormous challenges. One of the strategies that I created was the Closing the Gap Initiative where I have been raising funds from donors and others to help students who are in the last semester of their academic work at the university. These students have exhausted their resources. We realize that this is the new economy, the new normal, so we often have to step in financially to ensure that students can complete their degrees by offering other assistance. POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS: Today’s universities cannot exist in a cocoon. We recognize that we need partnerships. We are confident that through our partnerships and through our ability to raise funds to assist our students that we will continue to be successful in producing graduates who are successful in our workforce, in this community, Chatham County, the state and throughout the nation. WINNING ADVICE: It’s imperative to establish a clear vision of where your vision is going. Engage in partnerships with others who demonstrate that they have a clear strategic vision for moving forward. ■
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❰❰❰ BEA WRAY OCCUPATION: Executive Director, Creative Coast NETWORKING NOW: Though I am new to the position, I am not at all new to the organization. I have been working with it as a client and in other capacities for about 1 0 years. What I’m able to do now that they couldn’t do 1 0 years ago is that we have about 5,500 people who “like” our Facebook page, which means they get access to sharing information, receiving information, updates of calendar events, encouragement and idea sharing every day. We have over 6,000 people who follow us on Twitter. We have 2 ,900 people who are in discussion groups on LinkedIn. Now people can communicate with the people who are hosting seminars and having talks and selling development. NEXT UP: We are launching a new website to transition the Creative Coast to be a more effective entrepreneurial tool in moving entrepreneurs forward by offering, among other things, strong interface capabilities with social media sites. POWERFUL TRAIT: My greatest strength and weakness is my inability to give up. WINNING ADVICE: Keep going, but keep your head down. Keep focused on what you’re doing. I see too much worry about what the other guy is doing. Go do what you know how to do and do it well. ■
STEVE GREEN OCCUPATION: President, CEO, Morris Manning Martin Green Consulting Group, LLC; Chairman, FCB Financial Holdings; Vice Chairman, First Chatham Bank; Vice Chairman, Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport; Secretary/Treasurer, Savannah Economic Development Authority POINT OF PRIDE: In my professional life, I’ve always been fiscally conservative, and I think that has always served me extremely well since I’ve been in commercial and real estate and banking. And it has served me quite well in this economic downturn that hit banking and real estate so hard. We had good, loyal tenants that stuck with us, and we’ve just always been prudent in our investments. PLANNING AHEAD: Until the federal government can get its financial house in order, there’s going to continue to be a lot of uncertainty in the financial areas of the country. We have to be more selective about what we do, and we have to invest smarter. Over the next several years the business environment is going to continue to be challenged by what monetary and regulatory policy is going to be as it comes down from the federal government. The discussion of government and regulatory outreach and its impact on the cost of doing business is going to be a big part of that discussion. Businesses are going to have to become more activists. ■
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CURTIS FOLTZ OCCUPATION: Executive Director, Georgia Ports Authority POINT OF PRIDE: Anyone you speak to in the business today sees the GPA as not only the fastest growing port in the country but a port that’s done it in a very responsible way, from an environmental stewardship standpoint, and a port that is really second to none in its safety standards. WINNING ADVICE: Remaining flexible and adaptive to change is critically important. You have to be able to re-evaluate your business and understand how you can better service your customers, and that’s going to change as both the economic and the geopolitical landscape around the globe changes.
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❰❰❰ DR. WILLIAM H. DASCOMBE, MD OCCUPATION: Plastic Surgeon, Georgia Institute for Plastic Surgery POINT OF PRIDE: To be able to provide excellent surgical results for any type of problem, at a reasonable cost to patients, with service that they admire, day in and day out, to over 3,000 people a year. That’s a pretty big challenge. WORKING RIGHT: We have to function like a business, but we also have to function like a church. We have a lot of people who are struggling economically in Savannah, so we do well over $ 1 00,000 per year in uncompensated medical care to people with cancer or trauma, and we do it with pleasure. WINNING ADVICE: Become a “triple threat” individual. 1 . Be smart. 2 . Work hard. 3. Be compassionate. I’ve studied successful people. When you look at them, they’re triple-threat people. ■
STRATTON LEOPOLD OCCUPATION: Owner, operator, Leopold’s Ice Cream; Vice President of production, Paramount Pictures POINT OF PRIDE: Furthering my dad’s ice cream business. WORK IN THE NEW ECONOMY: In the motion picture business, there have been fewer large movies being made. I have counteracted that by looking to independent films which is a road that I am not as familiar with. A lot of the risk capital isn’t there, so I am trying to counteract it by putting together smaller, independent films. In terms of ice cream, [the economy] has actually enhanced [sales]. It’s a comfort food. LOOKING FORWARD: For motion pictures, producing smaller, independent films while being able to stay in Savannah and scoop ice cream. In ice cream, I will be slightly increasing our gallonage. Right now we struggle to keep up with ourselves. In a few months we’ll be able to produce a little bit more, still making it the same way, in small batches like my dad made it. That will allow me to reopen the original shop on Gwinnett and Habersham with a soda fountain. Another goal is I want to open a small place on the south side. Many Savannahians don’t come downtown as often because of the parking issues and because we’re so crowded. So I need to open something small, just for us—just for Savannahians. WINNING ADVICE: Two words: Customer service. I think people aren’t used to getting really great customer service. I’m not sure it guarantees success, but it certainly helps it. ■
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STEPHANIE CUTTER OCCUPATION: City Manager, City of Savannah POINT OF PRIDE: We’ve always heard the message that government is expected to do more with less. The way I look at it, government is expected to maximize the resources that are available. I firmly believe that government was created to serve the people. We need to hear the voice of the people in order to have programs and services that meet the needs of the community. POWERFUL ADVICE: Challenges really encourage us to be creative and to highlight the value of cooperative and collaborative approaches to addressing community problems.
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❰❰❰ ELAINE SEABOLT OCCUPATION: President and CEO of Seabolt Brokers LLC, Savannah, GA POINT OF PRIDE: I kept the business going in a brutal economy when everyone, including my accountant, was telling me I should shut it down. I just couldn’t give up. I didn’t open this business to close it. It was tough, but we all hung in there. STAYING IN BUSINESS: My agents and I have the privilege of working with wonderful agents, not only within our own office, but with outside brokers as well. It is this cooperative relationship that helps all in our industry. Our customers take priority and our staff and agents work diligently to accommodate their needs. TOP TRAITS: I think I am a very determined woman with a vision, and I think that to build and grow a company in any market—especially the market we’ve had over the last seven years, which is when I started my company—you have to stay true to your vision and you have to stay true to who you are within that vision. My vision is still there. It is so there seven years later that I know innately every next step that I need to take. I grew my business because I am tough, I am focused, I have a vision and I do it with integrity. I don’t tell you something you want to hear just to get a listing or a sale. I tell you the truth. WINNING ADVICE: It’s all about focus. You cannot let that outside noise keep you away from your focus, and that’s what happens to so many people. There were a lot of things that were not true that were said about me and my company. I just don’t listen to the outside noise. ■
LISA GROVE OCCUPATION: Director & CEO, Telfair Museums POINT OF PRIDE: I guess what I’m proudest of is looking forward rather than looking backward. I’m proud to be able to lead the museum into this next phase of growth. Nationally, we want to be seen as a leader in creating important exhibitions and traveling them to other cities. LOOKING FORWARD: We’re very conscious of engaging a younger generation of donors. With the idea that so much is available now online and virtually, how do you make that experience valuable and ensure that future generations of donors will recognize and are willing to support it? In museums, it used to be the curators that were telling you what’s important. Now, I think it needs to be a two-way conversation. NEW ECONOMY: We have been working to establish new funding partnerships with companies that share a goal of providing access to the arts and to education among some people in our community that don’t have access to it. We’re always looking to be as frugal as possible where we can, but we’re always looking for partners and ways to provide great service. 62
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LOWELL KRONOWITZ OCCUPATION: Owner, Levy Jewelers, Savannah, GA POINT OF PRIDE: My three children. The rest of this stuff, to me, it pales in comparison. NEW DIGS: We were at the corner of Broughton and Drayton streets for about 7 5 years. My uncle Jack built that building in 1 937. When I looked at this [new] building, I hired local architects and contractors. It’s my intention that we will be in this location for the next 75 years. POWERFUL ADVICE: To be able to continue to grow our economy, focus locally but think globally. Be able to take some appropriate risk at the appropriate time; rewards definitely come at that point. Take a risk, hire some people. Put some people back to work. Small business is the backbone of the economy, but jobs are the backbone of small business.
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❰❰❰ CATHY HILL OCCUPATION: Coastal Region Vice President, Georgia Power POINT OF PRIDE: I am extremely proud of the significant improvements Georgia Power has made in our community. Since 2 006, over $ 350 million has been invested in our infrastructure. These include the rebuilt underground downtown network, new substations and rebuilt poles to serve Wilmington and Tybee islands, as well as transmission upgrades to the south side. Additional projects scheduled to begin this year will allow for continued load growth and greater reliability for Savannah’s future. SENSE OF COMMUNITY: I credit much of my success to the work ethic instilled in me by my parents. While growing up in Dublin, Georgia, one of the most invaluable lessons I learned was the importance of community and giving back—a tradition I continue today through service to many boards and organizations. ■
DIANA MORRISON OCCUPATION: Founder and president, Advertising Specialty Services POINT OF PRIDE: Having people in my life— family, friends and clients—who have helped me succeed. I don’t think you can have those people in your life helping you succeed if you haven’t given back to them what they’ve given to you. STAY OUT THERE: When the economy first failed, we did a ton of research on what industries were most affected and least affected. The ones that were most affected were the ones we felt like we needed to reach out to, especially from a small business perspective, helping them to survive on the budget that they had. I think our outreach to some small businesses helped them to realize that you can’t stop marketing your business when budgets are cut. You have to always stay out there marketing, marketing, marketing. When a lot of our competitors and other folks were ignoring the companies that were most affected, we reached out to them and tried to support them and keep them viable. This helped us keep our name out there because people were appreciative of not being ignored. This has allowed our account base to remain true to us as we come out of an economy that is still troubled, but not like it was four or five years ago. LOOKING FORWARD: In the past five years, survival has not allowed family and personal time to be a top priority. I feel that as the workforce looks toward their next step in employment or their next steps toward retirement, a large piece of what they are looking for is the benefit of good strong work hours and good strong home hours. ■
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COL E W H IT WORT H & S A R A M A R I E D ’ EUGE N IO
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❰❰❰ JOSEPH MARINELLI OCCUPATION: President, Visit Savannah POINT OF PRIDE: We’ve become a leader and innovator in our industry in effective use of social media, creative and interactive digital marketing strategies, and growing the amount of print marketing when other organizations are cutting back on print. Now, in 2 01 3, business is strong. We are marketing to a more affluent visitor, one who is likely to stay longer, spend more and hopefully return multiple times. ALL TOGETHER NOW: A lot of people see Charleston as our competitor. I actually see Charleston as our—and this is my made-up word—complimentor. If Charleston is doing well, then we will do well. What we’ve done along this coast is we’ve worked together in kind of a regional tourism marketing collaboration. We recognize that if we all collaborate in our efforts, we’re going to grow together. WINNING TRAIT: Be strategic in your planning. Don’t ignore social media any longer and resist the urge NOT to be innovative with your marketing. We’ve done some wacky stuff. Not all of it has worked, but most of it does. ■
DR. LINDA M. BLEICKEN OCCUPATION: President, Armstrong Atlantic State University POINT OF PRIDE: Armstrong needed to become much more linked to the community. [We created] those intentional partnerships with the higher education institutions through community outreach in providing volunteer service back to the community. GROWING SMART: We have looked closely at the programs offered to make sure that they are the ones the community would find beneficial. The health profession is one area. Criminal justice is another area we are trying to ramp up. Linking the technology piece to criminal justice in cyber security, and also with healthcare in health informatics, are great avenues for us. There is also a demand for helping people become more articulate in what one might call “special communication leadership.” We have become much more focused on creating partnerships in the community with other educational institutions, the military, employers and the community to find out where those opportunities are. WINNING ADVICE: Stay flexible, partner where you can and just remember what a tremendous advantage the city of Savannah is. ■
❰❰❰ CHAD BARROW OCCUPATION: President, CEO, Coastal Logistics Group POINT OF PRIDE: The positive impact on people’s lives that work for us and with us in terms of financial wherewithal. We also believe very strongly in giving back to the communities in which we work and live. At the end of the day, corporate and social responsibility is just as important as the other motivating factors in a for-profit corporation. GROWING RIGHT: We really invested in the new economy. The strongest place we invested was in the human capital and intellectual size of our business. I do believe the human capital side is always going to have a great ROI. It’s your people, it’s your processes, it’s your methodologies and your proprietary ways of doing business that are going to add to this value and create a synergistic relationship with your clients where you become more of a collaborative partner. COLLABORATION IS KEY: Become collaborative partners with your customers. When customers are leaning hard on you for ideas and you’re not giving them to them, you’re missing the opportunity to offer them cost savings and solutions to problems. POWERFUL ADVICE: Stick to your values. Stick to your morals. Do what you do. Do it right. Do business the right way. Work hard. Do business with high integrity, high morals and treat others the way you want to be treated. ■
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❰❰❰ TRIPP TOLLISON (Pictured with SEDA Vice President Brynn Grant) OCCUPATION: President, CEO, Savannah Economic Development Authority, World Trade Center Savannah POINT OF PRIDE: Having such a great staff here and working well together. Eighty percent of what we do in the economic development world is relationship driven. I always tell the staff, “Maintain and cultivate those relationships before you really need them.” I’d like to think that becoming a big focus here is a good accomplishment. ON TASK, ON TREND: In the economic development world, we are judged by the number of jobs we have created and the level of investment. This is our barometer. What we have to do is focus on those items that can make us more competitive. We have to focus on workforce development and other incentives that entice companies to locate to Savannah. The trend is toward stronger financial incentives from states to attract large business investment in an extremely competitive market. Tax incentives and regulatory changes are also needed to attract new business development. POWERFUL ADVICE: Continue marketing, networking, using the general sales approach, use out-of-the-box thinking while at the same time be as cautious as ever about expenses. Even though the economy is picking up, I still urge people to remain somewhat cautious. Know where you can go for help. One of the things we started at SEDA years ago was the Business Retention Action Team. This team goes out, meets with individual companies and makes sure they’re happy with being in Savannah, and if there’s anything we can do to help them. ■
BILL HUBBARD OCCUPATION: President and CEO, Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce and Visit Savannah POINT OF PRIDE: The team we’ve been able to assemble who are very good at what they do. LOOKING FORWARD: I think the future is very bright. In our tourism, we’re having a higher demographic visitor. Our manufacturing sector is growing. We are well positioned to grow militarily with Fort Stewart and Hunter. We have a vibrant small business community. And then, of course, you have the ports, which not only impact us, but impact Georgia and the entire Southeast. WINNING ADVICE: There is still plenty of uncertainty out there. You have to be especially judicious in your decision making. You have to take risks, but they have to be measured. You can’t sit on the sidelines. And it’s all about getting good, quality people and personal customer service. ■
❰❰❰ JAY SELF OCCUPATION: Director, Savannah Film Commission POINT OF PRIDE: [When Savannah] was going through a budget and leadership crisis, there was a push by the then City Manager to get rid of this program, and I did not have to say a word. The greatest accomplishment isn’t anything that I did, but rather the accumulation of all the hard work and all the things that have been done to get us to the point where we are now. It happened with the community. The community recognized the benefit of this program. POWERFUL ADVICE: Wisdom is knowing you don’t have all the answers. Wisdom is knowing whom to go to for advice. Wisdom is soliciting ideas from other people. One of the most important traits that any person can have in a project that requires collaboration is empathy. Understanding everyone else’s motives fosters cooperation. Robert W. Woodruff put it well: “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”
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money
“Nearly all men can stand Money adversity, but if you want to Talks test a man’s character, give him power.” —Abraham Lincoln EXPLORING SUCCESS IN THE NEW SOUTHERN ECONOMY.
other people’s money T H E OW N E R OF T H E ON LY DAV E R A M S E Y E ND OR S E D TA X ACCOU N T I NG F I R M I N T H E R EG ION W E IG H S I N ON MON E Y M A NAG E M E N T. ANNA MORRIS
Visit CSPCPA.com for tax tips and a link to Cordasco & Co’s blog.
〉〉〉 cordasco & company p.c. is the only Dave Ramsey Endorsed Local Provider (or ELP) for tax services in the region. “We were the ELP before anyone here knew who Dave Ramsey was,” owner Rob Cordasco says. “It’s kind of an old staple in our firm.” Cordasco believes in the power of individualized advice. “We all
have our own personal relationships with money,” he says. And we all have our own little idiosyncrasies with how we keep track of and deal with money. The way I do it works for me but it could be completely wrong for you.” With one exception: “Go to the supermarket with cash. It’s usually one of the most horrifying experiences.”
“The World Trade Center helps to brand the state as a place that is welcoming to international investment.” —Honorable Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta 〉〉〉 SINCE SOUTH FIRST BROKE THE STORY IN 2011, THE IMPACT AND REACH OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER SAVANNAH HAS INCREASED DRAMATICALLY.
delegates hosted from 17 nations
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CONTENTS 72 PARTY LIKE A PRO Networking is king in the South. Our guide to growing your social network with Savannah’s power pros.
72 WILLIAM HENRY The ultimate luxury accessory line includes pieces made with dinosaur bones. (Seriously.)
72 CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS Who needs a business valuator? You do. Brad Whitefield is the greatest in town.
73 CLIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK
BY THE NUMBERS
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Visit southmagazine.com for extended versions of Money Talks chit chats and exclusive online content.
secured
16 investment partners
hosted/ participated in seven educational events
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Savannah entrepreneur, Ron McGinty, and his worldfamous M-Clip.
75 MONEY MAGNATES A special advertorial section featuring South’s finest financial professionals.
World Trade Centers to Attend the 2012 WTCA Member Seminar in New York
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money
10,000 year old Woolly Mammoth fossil tooth (Cabernet 1102).
William henry T H E U LT I M AT E LUXU RY ACCE S S OR I E S ANNA WELLS
Where to see and be seen in Savannah
party like a pro N ET WOR K I NG I S K I NG I N T H E S OU T H KRISTEN SMITH
〉〉〉 Wireless network. In the South, more than anywhere else in the country, networking— with face-to-face introductions, elbow rubbing and firm hand shakes— is the secret to success. Take South magazine, for example. We have a proud tradition of hosting some of the finest fêtes in the city, which have resulted in some of our strongest community partnerships. Follow our lead. Grab a stack of business cards and kick your social networking up a notch by attending some of Savannah’s best networking events. They don’t call us “The Hostess City” for nothing. the savannah chamber of commerce is a great place to start. Become a member for exclusive access to industryspecific and general networking events year-round. An arm of the Chamber, launchsavannah engages young professionals (ages 20 to 40) in networking and professional development events. savannahchamber.com 72
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the savannah downtown business association hosts a monthly luncheon the second Wednesday of the month at various locations about town. If you can’t leave the office, attend a bi-monthly after-hours events with drink specials, entertainment and, of course, networking opportunities. savannahdba.com the tourism leadership council is in the business of promoting Savannah— and they host one heck of a lunch every third Thursday of the month, as well as after-hours networking socials April–October. tourismleadershipcouncil.com August 21st (and the third Wednesday of every month) Casmir’s Lounge at the Mansion on Forsyth hosts martinis at the mansion from 5:30–7:30. Make merry with colleagues over $5 specialty martinis and discounted appetizers in the perfect networking environment. 912.238.5158; 700 drayton st; mansiononforsythpark.com
The William Henry product line began with pocketknives in the 1970s and has grown to include luxury products for men like the Cabernet 1102, a rollerball pen with a barrel created from a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth fossil tooth. Other pieces are made from materials such as meteorite, fossil ivories, and fossil dinosaur bone. “I like the idea that William Henry’s creations strike a personal chord in our clients” says CEO Matt Conable. “Every now and then, it is important to invest in objects that are personal, immediately useful, yet timeless in their appeal and relevance.” levyjewelers.com/william-henry.htm to shop.
Crunching the numbers BU S I N E S S VA LUATOR B R A D W H I T F I E L D H E L P S LO CA L BU S I N E S S E S R E ACH T H E I R F U L L P OT E N T I A L MORGAN ELLEN JOHNSON
As Director of Valuation Services at Deemer, Dana & Froehle LLP, it’s Brad Whitfield’s job to estimate the economic value of closely held companies—or those with few shareholders—for local business owners. And as a former Zaxby’s franchisee owner in Savannah, he understands firsthand what drives economic value for businesses. “Over the next ten years, the transition of closely held businesses will increase largely due to the baby boomer generation maturing,” he says. “Many businesses in Savannah have an opportunity to be purchased by larger national or global companies and third-party buyers.” This can be great for the community if companies receive the maximum value for their businesses. To
“Many businesses in Savannah have an opportunity to be purchased by larger national or global companies.” make this transition successfully, Whitfield recommends developing an exit plan with the help of multiple advisors. “A business valuation, or consulting from a credentialed valuation professional is a critical piece of the overall plan.” for more information, visit ddfcpas.com.
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Clip Off The Old Block T H E MON E Y CL I P M A K E S A ST Y L I S H COM E B ACK W I T H S AVA N NA H ’ S OW N M- CL I P MARGARET HARNEY
Ron McGinty and Savannah’s own M-Clips
Sleek, sophisticated, inlaid with mother of pearl—the M-clip has all the aesthetic of fine jewelry, but it’s more than just a pretty piece. A re-imagination of the classic money clip, the M-clip holds up to eight cards and eight bills with a guarantee to never stretch or warp out of place. “The clip is a very elegant piece that would work as well in a boardroom as in a fine restaurant,” says founder and inventor Ron McGinty. “We try to accommodate all the different tastes for something that is driven by
function, not just style.” Alligator and stingray skin join diamonds, emeralds, and rubies for pieces that are more stylized, but the understated platinum or gold clips still pack a punch—and keep the quintessential grip. With in-house engraving, from initials to fishing reliefs, the M-clip can be personalized for a perfect business gift. With all customizations done in Savannah, the M-clip is a local original. McGinty started with a patent design in 1999 and frequently
flies around the country meeting with big names like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales about the one-of-a-kind pieces. The M-clip has grown into three different collections that range from simple to extravagant. So even if the $4500 diamond-encrusted clip isn’t quite your style, keeping the essentials together is always in vogue. shop online at m-clip.com or at local authorized dealer, patrick’s uniforms 2307 hwy. 80, garden city, ga. (912) 355-0205.
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ThE
SouTh
’S
fiNEST
MONEY M AGNATES
THE FIDUCIARY GROUP PAGE 76 • CORDASCO & COMPANY, P.C. PAGE 78 • AMERIS BANK PAGE 80 THE SAVANNAH BANK PAGE 81 • THE COASTAL BANK PAGE 82 • COLONY BANK PAGE 83 • BERNARD WILLIAMS: LIFE, HEALTH AND FINANCIAL SERVICES DIVISION PAGE 84 • THE MURPHY GROUP AT SUNTRUST INVESTMENT SERVICES PAGE 85 SUNTRUST BANK PAGE 86 • DEEMER DANA & FROEHLE LLP PAGE 87 • SWBC MORTGAGE PAGE 88 SANKS INCOME TAX AND BUSINESS SERVICES PAGE 89
“I wanted to portray these powerful people in a classic way, so the composition of these shots was inspired by classic 19th century portraiture. Drawing on my roots as a portrait painter, I approached these shots with that aesthetic in mind. You have to be flexible; I think that’s key. My goal was to capture honest images. And everybody gave me something honest.” —Travis Teate, photographer P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y T R AV I S T. P 7 8 - 8 7
power professionals | special advertising section
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• A DDITIONA L
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y C H I N A FA G A N
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➼ THE FIDUCIARY GROUP services
the reward
Fiduciary investment management for individuals, families, trusts, retirement plans, and endowments for over 43 years.
Helping our clients build their wealth and solve their financial problems so they can live the life they want.
mission
Our mission is to build, protect, and grow our clients’ wealth through sound financial advice and disciplined investment management.
Photo taken on location: Andaz Savannah • Savannah, GA
Joel Goodman, CFA Chief Investment Officer B.B.A., University of Georgia; M.B.A., Duke University
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Andrew Clark, CFP Senior Investment Manager and Director of Financial Planning Services BA, Georgia Southern University; MBA, Georgia Southern University
Julia Butler Chief Operating & Compliance Officer and Director of 401(k) Advisory Services B.A., Emory University; J.D., University of Georgia School of Law; M.B.A., Wharton School of Business
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what sets us apart
In three words—competence, teamwork, and undivided loyalty. Our team members not only have deep expertise and experience, but we collaborate with each other to bring our collective “value add” to bear for all our clients. We also are fiduciary advisors, which means that our clients can trust us to do what’s best for them.
Zach Riddle, CFA Level I candidate Research Analyst and Assistant Portfolio Manager BBA, Georgia Southern University
power professionals | special advertising section
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“I’ve had an interest in investing since I opened my first savings account at 12 years of age. I learned long ago that you have to be a saver before you can be an investor. So if you want to build your wealth, start by spending less and saving more.” —Malcolm Butler, CEO
Malcolm Butler Chief Executive Officer B.A., Duke University; J.D., University of Georgia School of Law
912.303.9000 H tfginvest.com
Scott McGhie, CPA, CFA Level III candidate Senior Investment Manager and Director of Research & Portfolio Construction B.S., Southern New Hampshire University; M. Finance, Bentley College
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➼ CORDASCO & COMPANY
fun and rewarding. An unusual way to describe income taxes? Not for the team at Cordasco & Co. P.C., who gets a kick out of helping clients obtain their financial goals while minimizing and managing their tax liability. “We genuinely care about our clients and their financial well being,” says founder Rob Cordasco, CPA, CITP. “It shows in everything we do.” From tax planning and prep to accounting and auditing services, outsourced bookkeeping and CFO services, Cordasco & Co. P.C. helps clients understand and manage their finances. 912.353.7800 H cordascocpa.com
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➼ AMERIS BANK
business banking specalists. Ameris Bank is known for its steadfast combination of character, service and value. For over 40 years, Ameris Bank has continued to hold true to those core traits while providing innovative and individualized banking and lending solutions. “We understand the power and importance of collaborating with our customers, speaking a common language and building a long-lasting relationship,” says Market President Austen Carroll. “It is so important to work together so that we can fully understand each customer’s current needs, their history and their goals for the future. This allows us to appropriately suggest solutions that are the most relevant, beneficial and valuable.” Ameris Bank, an SBA Preferred Lender, is a regional bank headquartered in Moultrie, Georgia with over $3 billion in publicly-traded assets and a network of banking locations across Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Alabama. The Savannah area Ameris Bank business banking team has over 100 years of combined experience. 912.238.1699 H amerisbank.com left to right: Jimmy Grayson, Brad Brookshire, Frank Scott, Market President Austen Carroll, Kelley Myer, and Jim Pool
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➼ THE SAVANNAH BANK
we are savannahians. Being fully invested in our community is the key to The Savannah Bank’s success. Named one of Georgia’s Top 100 Public Companies and Top 25 Georgia Community Banks, this award-winning institution partners locally with organizations such as the Georgia Historical Society and Hospice Savannah to make a difference here in Savannah. “We are Savannahians who love our community and its people.” 912.629.6500 H thesavannahbank.com left to right: Holden T. Hayes, John C. Helmken II, and Eula J. Parker
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➼ THE COASTAL BANK
local experience. Since 1954, The Coastal Bank has been providing a full range of financial services specializing in small business and consumer banking as well as real estate lending. The Coastal Bank is deeply invested in the community and helping Savannah succeed. “We strive to serve as trusted advisors to help customers achieve their financial goals,” says Jim LaHaise, president and CEO. “As a community bank, our success is directly connected to Savannah’s success.” 912.201.7300 H thecoastalbank.com left to right: Marlene Buhler, Mortgage Sales Manager, Seanne Holliday, Director of Treasury Services Pam Parker, Commercial Banking Division Manager, Terri Sherman, Commercial Relationship Manager
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âžź COLONY BANK
strength and stability. For more than a century, Colony Bank has been providing high quality financial services to customers throughout south Georgia. With assets of over $1.1 billion and an excellent reputation for strength and stability, Colony Bank is positioned to accommodate the varied needs of the communities they proudly serve with outstanding customer service. 912.303.9449 H colonybank.com Commercial Banking Team from left to right: Wesley Olliff, Vice President, Drew Hulsey, Senior Vice President, Tommy Hester, Market President, Michelle Lucento, Assistant Vice President, Clay Price, Vice President. Photo taken on location: Local11 Ten • Savannah, GA
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➼ BERNARD WILLIAMS: LIFE, HEALTH AND FINANCIAL SERVICES DIVISION
leading the way. Bernard Williams & Company has been earning the trust and respect of clients since 1934. This division of the company provides an array of life, health and financial service products and has become a leading resource for upcoming changes being brought on by the Affordable Care Act. “The Affordable Care Act will bring about dramatic changes to health insurance.” says President Dick Williams. “We are dedicating significant resources to properly advise and assist our clients with these changes.” 912.234.4476 H thepoweroftheshield.com left to right: Charles McCoy, Jessica DeLoach, Allen Williams, Teri Robertson, Rob Bowden. (not pictured: Kelli Gay) 84
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âžź THE MURPHY GROUP AT SUNTRUST INVESTMENT SERVICES
designed to prosper. With services ranging from retirement income and high net worth financial planning to investment management, the team at the Murphy Group is committed to helping people and institutions prosper. With over three decades of combined investment experience, they understand the importance of taking the time to get to know their clients in order to design and implement personalized and comprehensive solutions to reach financial goals. 912.944.1021 left to right: Debbie Spears, Jan Jackson, and Ryan Murphy
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➼ SUNTRUST BANK
lighting the way to financial well-being. SunTrust and its predecessors have been providing financial solutions and
delivering outstanding client service in Savannah and Chatham County since 1889. The award-winning institution has made a difference in countless lives by helping light the way for clients and communities with warmth and integrity. “We have a long and proud history of serving the Savannah market and helping to foster economic growth in this community,” says Kevin Blair, Chairman, CEO and President of SunTrust Bank, Georgia/North Florida Regions. “I am fortunate to work with a top-notch team of bankers who put our clients first.” 912.944.1277 H suntrust.com left to right: Kay Ford, President, SunTrust Bank, Savannah and Kevin Blair 86
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➼ DEEMER DANA & FROEHLE LLP
celebrating 50 years of creating value. A national practice with a small firm feel, the team at Deemer Dana & Froehle LLP strives to create value in each relationship by providing personal attention and professional resources to each of their clients. The award-winning full service CPA firm specializes in tax, small business and audit and accounting services. Their professionalism is matched by a commitment to community. “We believe it is very important for our team members to be involved in our community,” says Managing Partner, John Matthews. “We are proud of the quiet ways in which our individuals are contributing in their areas of passion.” 912.238.1001 H ddfcpas.com left to right: Brad Whitfield, CPA, CVA, Arthur Dana, CPA, CVA, John Vandaveer, CPA, CVA, Daniel Rowe, CPA
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➼ SWBC MORTGAGE
working smart. Helping clients achieve home ownership is the name of the game for SWBC Mortgage. Specializing in residential mortgages, the firm prides itself on local processing and on time closings. “We enjoy the challenge of meeting the needs of purchasers and sellers,” says vice president Marsha Graves. “We know that working smart, not just working hard, will help achieve results.” 912.355.1553 H swbc.com seated: Marsha Graves. left to right: Carla Estep, Kathleen Efird, and Traci Lopez
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➼ SANKS INCOME TAX AND BUSINESS SERVICES
personalized service. With over 30 years of experience, Bobby Sanks has prepared over 25,000 tax returns. Specializing in business and personal tax return preparation, tax and estate planning, small business consultation and tax debt negotiation, he and the team at Sanks Income Tax and Business Services are committed to solving complicated tax issues and building long-term relationships with their clients. “We have a reputation for personalized service,” Bobby Says. “It is rewarding to give service to my community in this area of finance.” 912.233.2439 H sanksincometax.com
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MEET
C H A R A C T E R S
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C O M M U N I T Y
Dr. Beauchamp and Dr. Bull of Spine & Sport, one of the fastest growing private companies in the country
N O PA I N , B I G G A I N LILLI SERRAL
Since cofounding Spine and Sport in 2004, Dr. Jacques L. Beauchamp and Dr. Eric C. Bull's practice has been ranked as one of the fastest growing private companies by Inc. 500 for four consecutive years. Offering occupational therapy and various fitness programs to traditional physical therapy, which treats conditions such as pains, burns, wounds, and osteoporosis, the doctors and their team treat it all. “It is gratifying when a patient realizes that they do not have to suffer with their problem forever and that help is immediately available," Dr. Bull and Dr. Beauchamp say. "Pain is not normal.” ➼ spine & sport 22 W. Oglethorpe Ave. 912.443.1400 spineandsport.org Photo taken at the Bohemian Hotel on River Street
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STARS OF THE SOUTH
q
Check out ou latest conte r st at
southmagaz ine.com.
s ou t h ma g a z i n e pr e se n t s
GREATEST BOSSES
It may sound like an oxymoron, but these five people prove that there really is such a thing as a great boss. The winners of South's first annual Greatest Bosses contest, voted on by their employees and our readers, are testaments to the power of excellent leadership. K R I S T E N S M I T H • P H OT O G R A P H Y BY C H I N A FA G A N
LINDSEY REED
title: vi ce pre sident of t ale nt acquis iti on company: tmx fin an ce hometown: dublin, vir gin ia “my favorite part of working with tmx is being around such a dynamic group of individuals. We have one of the best teams in regard to talent, culture, fit and personality.” “i think the most important thing is being able to spend time with your employees; really hearing them in regard to what their development needs are and trying to create an action plan for those needs. In my field, recruitment has a high level of burnout. From my perspective, making sure they have incentives to keep them engaged and to foster that group dynamic is important.” greatest strength as a boss: “Being able to empathize with my employees. I was promoted into this position. I can relate to their challenges.” “i always try to hire people who are better than myself… the people I’ve surrounded myself with are capable, bright, driven individuals.” her dream hire: “You have to be able to roll with the punches, be resilient and be able to make changes quickly. I need someone that when I meet with them, I feel that need for them to be able to get promoted; I feel that want in them internally to be able to move up the ladder. I don’t want anyone that I hire to just want to maintain the status quo.” one more thing: “If you want to work for a dynamic company that really values their employees and values performance, come to TMX finance.”
The people who I’ve surrounded myself with are capable, bright, driven individuals.
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STARS OF THE SOUTH "The will to go above and beyond—I think that's key."
LAURA KENNEDY
title: dire ct or of stud ent success an d advis in g company: sca d hometown: j acks onville, fl orid a “i just celebrated my 20th anniversary at scad last friday. It’s just flown by! There’s never a dull moment at SCAD.” What does it take to be a great boss? “I think it’s probably having enough confidence to realize that you are not the smartest individual and that your way is not always the best way—to listen to people and to have confidence to make mistakes.” “my greatest strength is that i treat people the way i want to be treated.” “My leadership, the executive leaders, Dr. Philip Alletto and my team make my job easy. They make it easy to do the right thing. my boss has been a good model for me.”
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MIKE CAMPANARO title: co -owner company: aok wat ers por ts hometown: old saybr oo k, ct
i encourage my employees to really invest themselves in what they love. I got into this business because of a passion, and we are successful because we find other people who feel the same way to work for us.
"Make decisions in seven breaths, hunt for the pack not for yourself, never stop accelerating and dress for success."
I am able to put aside my ego and work alongside my employees. every job is important, even if it means getting down and dirty, and although I delegate tasks well, it doesn't mean you won't ever find me with a broom in hand or a paddle board over my head. what do you look for in a great employee? Someone who can wear an animal printed Tshirt proudly for all occasions. I also look for an exceptional tolerance for adversity. It is important that my employees are confident, always thinking about safety, and provide a smiling and friendly face at AOK.
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STARS OF THE SOUTH CANDACE LANASA title: deli /bake r y manage r company: bi-l o hometown: syl van ia, ga
Her biggest challenge: Managing employee schedules with a focus on family. “I have a fouryear-old and a six-year-old. I have a lot of moms and single moms in my department, so making sure we have enough time off to spend with our families on holidays and on the weekends… trying to make sure we get that good balance of work and family.” What does it take to be a great boss? “i think it takes a lot of compassion and being able to relate to your employees, being able to get along with them. It’s being able to understand your employees and know what their needs are. “ “I look for people who are hard workers. there’s just something really outstanding about someone who gives their all.”
"I will always be thankful for the support, encouragement, challenges, constructive criticism and teaching that Bi-Lo has given me."
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DR. ROBERT A. VAUGHT, D.M.D., M.S.D. company: vaught or th odo nti cs hometown: winte r park, fl
“After practicing as long as I have, i have a really clear vision of how i want to care for folks and how i want to care for their families. I think by having that clear vision of how I want to care for people, it trickles down.” What does it take to be a great boss? “Surrounding yourself with great people. It makes it very easy to be a great boss if you have a great staff. I have a great staff and it’s easy to treat them all like family. i think that’s the key, having great folks around you.”
"Most of the compliments that my practice gets have to do with my staff. I could not want for more."
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pets
PAUSE FOR PAWS ✱ HAPPY TIPS
Look for some of our best tips for keeping your pets happy and healthy in this section. —lilli serr al
98 MORE THAN A MASCOT Hometown pup, Uga IX
100 CHIT CHATS
102 RESCUE ME, PLEASE
106 GREATEST PETS
New Doc on the Block; the Nose Knows; Home Alone
South's complete guide to adopting your next pet.
Winners of our third annual contest
AN UGA TIMELINE 1956–67: The first Uga was given to Frank and Cecilia Seiler as a wedding gift. He served the longest time as mascot—a total of ten years. 1966–72: Uga II, son of Uga I, watched from the sidelines as UGA participated in five bowl games and won two Southeastern Conference Championships. 1973–80: Uga III, son of Uga II, barked on as Herschel Walker took the Bulldogs to the 1980 national championship. He retired on his 100th game, the season-opener of 1981, and he died only a week later. 1981–89: Uga IV, son of Uga III, is the only dog to attend a bowl game every year of his service. He personally appeared at the Heisman Trophy Banquet with Herschel Walker, and posthumously received the highest honor available to UGA mascots—the Georgia varsity letter. 1986: Otto, though not an official Uga, was the younger brother of Uga IV. He took over as an interim when Uga IV injured a ligament in his left knee. 1990–99: Uga V hit the scene as the last puppy sired by Uga IV. 1999–2008: Uga VI has a bronze statue in his likeness that Sonny Seiler dedicated to the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine after Uga VI’s death. 2008–2009: Uga VII died of heart failure after 14 months as the official Uga. 2010–2011: Uga VIII, “Big Bad Bruce,” who died of canine lymphoma early 2011, is named after UGA veterinarian Dr. Bruce Hollett. 2009–PRESENT: Uga IX, or Russ, was an interim between VII’s death and VIII’s collaring in 2009–10. After VIII’s death, Russ was collared in 2012 and officially named Uga IX.
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HAPPY TIP
Owning and caring for a dog is a great way for your children to learn about responsibility and nonverbal communication.
Russ holding court as Uga IX on the UGA sideline
More than a Mascot DU R I NG T H E W E E K H E ’ S A B E LOV E D PET BU L L D O G . BU T ON S AT U R DAY G A M E DAYS , UG A I X I S ON E OF T H E MO ST LOV E D M A S COTS I N T H E WOR L D. The crowd is on their f eet, clad in red and black, their faces painted with the letter "G" as cleats rip through the grass. Music blares in the back ground. Blood, sweat and drool are everywhere as the ball is passed from pla yer to player. Screaming, hysterical f ans bounce in the stands, shouting the name of —no , not a pla yer—but of Uga the English bulldog and mascot of the University of Georgia. Uga IX is better known to his family, the Seilers of Sa vannah, as Russ. His path to glory began after the death of his brother, Uga VII. Russ took the collar as the interim mascot for the final two games of the 2009 season and the first six games of the 20 10 season. H e lef t the sidelines when Uga VIII s tepped in to tak e the red spik ed collar. Sadly, just fourteen months later Uga VIII died from ca nine lymphoma. Once again, Russ became the Uga inter im and served the rest of the 2010 season and all of 2011. "Most of the Ugas are white. Russ is a g ood dog, but he
has a lot of brown on him." s ays Charles Seiler, 52, who cares for Russ with his wife, W endy, and son, Cecil.. "W e kept waiting f or a puppy while Russ did the job . But I think what happened was people liked the underdog. One thing led to another, and they said he was doing a good job and people seemed to like him, so they let him be Uga IX." On August 30, 2012, Russ finally received the honor of being the permanent Uga IX, and the official ceremony took place bef ore the first home game on Saturda y, September 15, 2012. This unlikely little hero took the stage to become the first Uga with bro wn patches of fur, though it is hard to tell with his jersey on. No t only does Russ ha ve historically un-Uga brown in his coat, he also lost his eye in an accident on the cotton farm where he grew up. But this pup bravely soldiers on. E ven at 9 years old—"Pre tty old for a bulldog," Seiler notes—he is still as playful and ready to sic 'em as ever.
ug a : a n dr e w dav i s t uck er , un i v er sit y of georgi a ; ow n er photo a ngel a hopper-l ee
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Charles, Wendy and Cecil Seiler at home with Russ
While there w as not a solid white male pupp y born before Russ took the Uga position officially, Russ has sired sev eral litters of puppies that the nex t Uga will come from. Russ’s, owner, Frank “Sonny” Seiler and his wife, Cecilia, ha ve owned the wellknown Uga bulldogs since 1956 when the couple receiv ed a small, solid white Eng lish bulldog as a wedding present. Sonny, a second-year law student at UGA, and Cecilia sewed a black “G” onto a red child’s shirt, put some elastic around the armholes and the bo ttom and dressed up the first Uga, registered as Hood’s Ole Dan. The pooch made the news at that first football game, and the rest is history. Caring for the Ugas has always been a family affair. All of the Seilers have played a role in the lives of the Uga, from taking them to games , feeding them, or in Charles’ case, to being Uga's sideline handler, a post he's held since age 14. Uga IX frequently travels, listens to hysterical crowds and deals with constant demands for his at tention. At the games, he visits with the cro wd and watches safely from his box, which features two-inch foam between the walls to seal in the 60-degree air provided by his personal air conditioner, and to keep sound out. “I take him to all the games,” says Charles, looking fondly at the bulldog. “ Sometimes Russ’s head is red after games from people digging their hands into the flesh petting him,” he says. As for Russ , celebrity has no t gone to his head. H e loves his squeeze-top plastic water bottle and feels most at home on the cotton farm where he spent his days before becoming Uga IX. After an exciting day of Georgia football, he is happy to go home—back to Savannah with the Seilers.
—E L I Z A B E T H
SHEFFIELD
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pets
Dr. Holly Metts practices from the ultimate home office
New Doc on the Block T I P S F ROM T H E D O CTOR ON FOR S Y T H PA R K Dr. Holly Metts opened the doors to her reno vated childhood home on Forsyth Park at the end of May and quickly had her first full day up and running as a veterinary clinic and animal hospital. After 10 months of reno vating the home's upstairs living area, Dr. Metts decided to make the garden level home her practice. “I w as looking to move from
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where I was working and w anted to work with HAPPY TIP high-quality medicine," she s ays. "I asked if it To soothe your dog's arthritis, fill a knotted sock was possible to turn this into an animal hospi with uncooked white rice, tal and they said yes, so here we are.” microwave it for one minute, and place An alumnus of the University of Georgia and on your pup's Ross University, Dr. Metts approaches her work . tender joint. “We want to know the clients and the animals well so we can give them the best care," she says. The personalized care begins with “The pets also get ID cards after yearly exams. It’s like a driver's license for a pe t with all of the information on it, also so if owners take their pets out of town they will have it,” says Dr. Metts. Each pet gets his or her own personalized report card after each exam with clear direction as to what vet and client discussed during the visit. The Forsyth Animal Hospital is located on F orsyth Park, near the corner of Whitaker and West Huntingdon streets. “It might also increase business downtown,” says Dr. Metts of the centrally-located animal-friendly area. “People who do not normally come do wntown will come to see me, as well as people who drop off their animal and go have lunch when I need to keep them a little longer than a regular visit.” Dr. Metts's top tip for fall: flea prevention. “Most of the fleas on your dog come from the yard," she s ays. "Make sure to spray the yard and your home to keep away the fleas. Use year-round flea control with heartworm prevention because temperatures in Savannah do not get down far enough to kill them.” 513 whitaker st. ground floor, 912.349.3953, monday through friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — ELIZABETH SHEFFIELD, PHOT OGRAPH BY J O A N N A KU L E S Z A
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Home Alone: The Pet Version
The Nose Knows
HOW TO K E E P YOU R F U R RY F R I E N D S H A PP Y W H I L E YOU ’ R E G ON E
S N I F F I NG OU T I N T E L ON M A N ' S (A M A Z I NG) B E ST F R I E N D Cat Warren f elt helpless af ter she brought Solo, a German Shepherd puppy with beha vioral problems, home in 2004. The solution? Training Solo to use his nose assis ting law enf orcement in finding human remains in remote areas of North Carolina. This unconventional approach to harnessing the pupp y’s energy turned into a passion projectf or W arren and Solo. “I really fell in lo ve with the work,” she says. “It was f ascinating to me. And Solo loved it.” Warren was inspired to learn more about the science behind the canine nose. Her new book, W hat the Dog Knows is a fascinating look inside what makes service and working dogs tick.
“Dogs are amazing. I think man y people know that,” Warren says. “But not many people kno w how amazing they are, or what a well-rounded working dog is capable of . I don’ t think we’ve hit the limits of that ye t because training is ongoing and we’re learning better and better methods.” order at catwarren.com or simonandschuster.com. —KRISTEN SMITH
Unless you o wn an obscenely larg e brief case, sneaking your dog into work just isn’t going to happen. Cathi Denham, owner of Catnip-n-Biscuits doggie day care and luxury pe t hotel, knows exactly what it tak es to k eep your pets safe and happy when they're home alone. “They should ha ve some g ood toys to chew on that they can’ t rip up and choke on,” she says. “Leave the TV or radio on, and give them a Kong that has f rozen yogurt in it – some thing that will make them happy.” Leaving dogs alone for long periods of time can be de trimental to their health. They can become anxious or develop inf ections f rom missed bath room breaks.
Catnip -n- Biscuits is an alternative. Dogs spend the whole da y interacting with other dogs, which is some thing Denham says is k ey to k eeping them healthy. “Dogs get bored, and they can get destructive and f at, ” she explains . “They need a w ay to burn off their extra energy.” book an all-day or overnight stay for your best friend at catnipnbiscuits.com —ANNA MORRIS
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HAPPY TIP
To prevent hairballs, put a little Vaseline on the top part of his paw, which your cat will lick off as a part of the grooming process.
Rescue Me, Please
W H E T H E R YO U ’ R E A F I R S T T I M E P E T OW N E R O R L O O K I N G T O A D D T O YO U R F U R R Y B R O O D , R E S C U I N G YO U R N E W B E S T F R I E N D I S A G R E AT O P T I O N . C H E C K O U T S O U T H ’ S G U I D E T O W H E R E T O G O A N D W H AT T O K N OW W H E N A D O P T I N G P E T S I N S AVA N N A H . G E N F U L L E R • P H O T O G R A P H Y BY C H I N A FA G A N
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Take a walk downtown in Savannah and you ma y notice that we don’ t leave ourf urryf amily members home alone. We take them with us not just to parks and on w alks, but out to eat at J . Christopher’s, who has doggy-friendly menu items. I’ve even seen one or two pop into the Jinx for a cold brew . From adorable kittens to abandoned dogs , Savannah-area shelters and rescues are filled to the brim with f our-legged f riends looking f or a f orev er home. Here at South we celebrate our greatest pets, and we ha ve all you need to kno w about adopting your next best friend. HUMANE SOCIETY OF GREATER SAVANNAH The friendly staff at the Humane Society will help you pick the perf ect pet for your home. M ost of the pe ts are crate or house trained b y the staff and, even better, are Good Citizen Certified. Established in 1989 , this American Kennel Club program covers all basic commands, as well as meeting strangers and being focused in new environments. All dogs that pass the GCC program receive a special certificate and dog tag. “Once an animal is approved f or adoption, they aren’t too sick or ag gressive, they stay here until they are adopted. We do same day adoptions, so we can’t hold a pe t if you need to think about it, ” says Guinn F riedman, director of operations . “The average length of s tay for an animal at the Humane Socie ty is under 1 4 days. We do f ollow-ups af ter adoptions and we ha ve a trainer on s taff to help if you have any problems.” HSGS is competing in the ASPCA $100K Challenge against 50 shelters around the country to see who can save the liv es of more shelter ani mals than last year. For HSGS, that means finding homes for 787 pets in the next three months. All pe ts are up-to-date on sho ts and are spa y/ neutered and microchipped bef ore being adopted. Adoption f ees f or dogs, which include heartworm protection, range between $150-300. The f ee f or cats, which includes f e-
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HAPPY TIP
Make sure to giv your dog lots of sh e this summer. Too ade mu sun can leave yourch dog sunburned an d dehydrated.
Guinn Friedman and HSGS are participating in the ASPCA $100K challenge
line AIDS and Leukemia, are $9-50. All pets also come with a certificate for a free office visit at the veterinarian of your choice and 30 days of free ShelterCare pet insurance.
AM
DID YOU KNOW...
FERAL CAT PROBLEM?
Savannah has more than just a few stray cats wandering around. If you’re willing to humanely trap and release feral cats, the Hilton Head
So what’s Friedman’s best advice for anyone looking to adop t? “Heartworm is very prevalent here,” she says. “It can be deadly and expensiv e to treat, but it is inexpensive to prevent.”
Humane Association will spay and neuter them for free. 843.681.8686 Savannah’s feral cat rescue organization, better known as The Milton Project, is the cat's meow. Funded and supported through volunteer work and donations, The Milton Project is dedicated to helping all feral cats. Volunteers serve throughout the Savannah
7215 sallie mood drive, savannah, ga 31406 912.354.9515 hours: tuesday–sunday 11 a.m.–6 p.m., closed monday, humanesocietysav.org
region to stop feral cats from reproducing by trapping, neutering, and returning the cats to their original home or colony. By using this trap, neuter, and return program, The Milton Project keeps feral cat numbers down in order to put a stop to cruel disposal of our feline friends. miltonproject.org; 912.346.4943
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pets
All pets are up-to-date on sho ts, and are spa y/neutered and mi crochipped bef ore being adop ted. Adoption fees for dogs and puppies , which include heartworm testing, is $150. The fee for cats, which includes feline AIDS testing, is $40. With the summer heat upon us , Scarbrouth warns against the dan gers of heat s troke. “Heat stroke is easy to g et; animals s weat through the pads in their fee t, so they aren’ t able to decrease their body tem perature if you ’re walking on ho t pavement. Make sure they g et plenty of water throughout the da y, and you should nev er leave your animal in the car f or an y reason.” 912.228.3538;coastalpetrescue.org HILTON HEAD HUMANE ASSOCIATION Franny Gerthoffer and two of HHHA's current residents
SAVANNAH CHATHAM ANIMAL CONTROL Located behind the Humane Soci ety of Greater Sa vannah, Savannah Chatham Animal Control is the hub f or los t and f ound pe ts. They also provide aid for an y animal nuisances, including wildlif e and ag gressive behavior. Unlike the HSGS, animals here only ha ve 6 to 1 4 days before they will be euthanized, so it’s important that if you ’ve lost a pe t, or you’re looking to adopt, that you check here first. All animals adopted from Animal Control must be adop ted through a rescue group . Michelle White, a volunteer at Animal Control and f ounder of the P ound Pups Rescue Group, is a vailable to help people with questions, concerns and the initial meet-and-greet of po tential owner and adoptable pet. “Savannah Animal Control goes beyond the call of duty to take care of the animals here,” says White. “They work diligently to socialize the dogs and insure they are healthy, but they don’t have much time.” Pets adopted out of Animal Con 104
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trol must be spa yed or neutered within 30 da ys of being adopted, and the pe t must be tak en to a v et within two business da ys to ensure its health. “This is a long-term commit ment,” explains Michelle, “There is a lot more than an adop tion f ee involved with bringing home a new pet. We are here to help educate people, as well as find homes for as many pets as we can.” 7211 sallie mood drive, savannah, ga 31406 912.351.6750; hours: monday–sunday, 1 p.m.–4:45 p.m.; animalcontrol.chathamcounty.org POUND PUPS RESCUE GROUP Animal Control will work with an y of the animal rescues in to wn to help get those pets adopted, including f ostering animals in order to beat the ticking clock. While adop tion fees vary, pets adopted through Pound Pups are g enerally around $65, but it depends on ho w much medical attention a pet needed when they were f ound or surrendered to Animal Control.
If you’re not ready to commit to adopting a pe t, Michelle has plenty of ideas for w ays you can help these pups out: “ We need f os ter homes, but volunteers would be spectacu lar and supplies would be awesome. People need to g et involved, get the word out that there are animals here f or adoption; that this is the bes t place to look for a los t pet. Any little bit helps to save a life.” 912.401.2991; poundpupsinneed.com COASTAL PET RESCUE Coastal Pet Rescue doesn’t operate a shelter. Instead, animals are fostered in private homes , with mee t-andgreets scheduled af ter an adop tion application is approved, typically in three to five days. Why such a rigorous application process? “We want to make sure that the pet matches the home, ” explains Lisa Scarbrouth. “Once an animal is adopted, we fill that space. We want people to know everything they can about the animal prior to the adop tion. We don’t have the space to take an animal back, so it’ s important that they are adopted for life.”
Just a hop, skip and a jump away on Hilton Head Island, Franny Gerthoffer, executive director of the Hilton Head Humane Association, and her staff are saving 220 lives at a time. “Our mission is to always stay full because that means we are helping as many animals as possible. The goal is to g et the animals adopted in six months, but this is a no kill en vironment, so they s tay until they are adopted,” explains Gerthoffer. Some dogs ha ve been there f or over a year, mostly bully breeds. “The problem is that they are banned f rom the military bases and rental units,” says Gerthoffer. “Insurance is expensive with bully breeds , so they have a lo t going against them. Plus there are still people that do the wrong thing by them, but they need
DID YOU KNOW... WHO TO CALL IF YOU FIND A LOST PET Missing your four-legged best friend? Call Savannah Chatham Animal Control at (912) 351-6750 immediately.
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Animal Planet’s It’s Me Or The Dog visited Savannah's Operation New Hope
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P HAPPY TI ur home
Many items in yo tening can be life threa nds, to cats: rubber bal floss, insecticides, denta bags. plants and plastic
good forever homes too.” All animals at HHHA are up-todate on shots and are spayed or neutered and microchipped. Dogs are $100 to adopt and are also giv en the
oper at ion n e w hope photo cou rt e sy of t h e h u m a n e societ y of gr e at er s ava n na h
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first six months of heartworm pre vention. The adop tion f ee f or cats is $90. “Heartworm prevention is so important; that’s why we pro vide the first six months of medication. Heartworm treatment, aside f rom being expensive, is very painf ul f or the dog to g o through and heart breaking to w atch,” Gerthoffer says. “It’s important to do your due diligence before adopting a pet. Accidents occur, and you need to be prepared. What are you going to do if something happens to your pe t? Check out your local v ets and clin ics bef ore you adop t so, you kno w where to go.” 10 humane way, hilton head isle, sc 29926; phone: 843.681.8686; hours: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. everyday; hhhumane.org ADDITIONAL RESOURCES SAVE-A-LIFE, INC.: In addition to having plenty of pe ts ready to be
adopted, Save-A-Lif e also provides low-cost spay and neuter v ouchers redeemable at the Spa y/Neuter Alliance Clinic and local v eterinary clinics. To purchase a spa y/neuter certificate, visit P etsMart in Sa vannah at 11132 Abercorn St., Saturdays between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. 912.598.spay (7729) savealifepets.org SECOND CHANCE ANIMAL RESCUE: Can’t find the breed you’re looking f or at an y of the res cues in to wn? Run b y volunteers, Second Chance is dedicating to finding new homes f or purebred dogs . Most dogs are rescued f rom animal control, but others are surrendered by owners who can no long er care f or them. All dogs are check ed out by a v et, brought up-to-date with shots and are microchipped bef ore being adopted. guyton, ga, 912.748.6097 gadoglady.tripod.com
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SOUTH’S THIRD ANNUAL
GREATEST PETS q
Want more ? Visit southmagaz in for more co e.com and puppy ntests love.
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TIP HAPPYow signs
Most dogs sh by age of dental disease dog’s three. Keep your althy teeth strong and heses by using oral rin . and dental treats
T H E B A R K S A R E I N ! W I N N E R S O F S O U T H ’ S T H I R D A N N UA L G R E AT E S T P E T S C O N T E S T — VO T E D O N B Y O U R A N I M A L - L OV I N G R E A D E R S — A R E C U T E , C U D D LY A N D F U L L O F P E R S O N A L I T Y. W E G I V E T H E M F O U R PAW S U P. ANNA MORRIS • PHOTOGRAPHY ANGELA HOPPER-LEE
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DELILAH ➼ KYLE HINTON
Never bring a tennis ball around Delilah unless you’re prepared to hand it over. These neon yellow toys are this Basset Hound’s favorite, along with saying hello to everyone in a room, usually more than once. This curiosity once earned her a bite on the nose by a not-so-happy dog, but Delilah didn’t let that stop her from being the friendly pup she is. Her owner, Kyle Hinton, says, “Even though I provide her with love, food and fun, she’s the one taking care of me.”
GRACIE ➼ MEAGAN BURNS
It’s hard to believe three-year-old Gracie was found on the side of the road. Today she is a fun-loving cuddle bug who loves to hold intellectual conversations with her owner, Meagan Burns. Gracie loves to make some seriously funny faces. She would like for the makers of “Air Bud” to know that if they’re hiring any time soon, she’s ready to send her resume. And if that doesn’t work, she’s ready to take her goofy-faces act on the road.
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HAPPY TIP
Dogs are safest an d comfortable weari most ng a harness, not a colla walking. Choke an r, when d prong collars can be painf ul.
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COLONEL OWNER LISA SHEA
Three-year-old Colonel is a City Market celebrity. His owner, Lisa Shea, can’t bring him along unless she’s prepared for a line of people eager to pet him. This American Bulldog/Boxer mix always maintains a mellow temperament when approached by both people and other animals, so it came as no surprise when he won first place in all three levels of his obedience class. When asked what makes Colonel so special, Lisa will simply tell you, “Everything he does is amazing.”
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P HAPPY TI cat has a
Make sure your st near high scratching poto make her sleeping area groom it easy for her to etch. her nails and str
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HAPPY shTIamPpoo
Use a natural and to bathe your dog sh to don't forget to bru oils distribute natural hair. and remove dead
SHAKA BLAIR AND ABBY DIETZ Shaka may pretend to be lady-like, but deep down she’s nothing but a tomboy. Her favorite activities include catching frisbees, playing corn hole and wrestling with her best dog friend, Knuckles. Shaka’s owners, Blair and Abby Dietz, don’t mind playing cornhole with her, but find it a little difficult considering she knows how to play only defense. Although Shaka keeps everyone up with her snoring and drooling, she makes up for it by being extra cute.
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P HAPPY TI cat like
Why does your ad? to sleep on your heand Both for warmth him s because it comfortu. to be near yo
FIONA ➼ CORNELIA STUMPF AND CELESTINO PIRALLA Fiona, a four-year-old American Bulldog, can’t go a day without Frosty Paws doggie ice cream. Although she indulges often, she stays lean by body surfing. Fiona is protective of her family, so sometimes she feels compelled to save them from dangerous things like washing machines. Because Fiona is a rescue, she and her brother, Gabor, enjoy donating money (with their parents’ help) to the Humane Society, and they stress the importance of supporting your local animal shelter.
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HAPPY TIP
Raw meat, dog foo eggs, fat trimming d, raw s, ca caffeine, grapes, an ndy, d onions can be harm or fatal to your ca ful t.
KIWI ➼ LACEY VALLAS Kiwi has a pretty bad habit: she gives way too many kisses. But she can’t help it. She’s too sweet! Owner Lacey Vallas still doesn’t understand why the almost-two-year-old pup was returned to the shelter twice. But Kiwi doesn’t mind, because her new mom often treats her to one of her favorite guilty pleasures: getting her nails painted. For Kiwi, the third time really is the charm.
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change in your vocalization could cat’s an underlying healt signal h Make an appointmeissue., with your vet to se nt e what all the fuss is about.
KAHLO IZZY HUDGINS A N D M A R T I N WA R D If Kahlo were to attend a university, she’d major in playing ball and minor in shredding things. The spunky German Shepherd can be vocal if mom Izzy Hudgins and dad Martin Ward are not paying enough attention to her. Kahlo considers herself a power professional, because she’s an expert at making friends at the dog park by impressing other pups with her ability to sing and give high fives.
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MONSTER ➼ CHASTA PILON
Not many dogs can say they have their own Lazy Boy, but Monster is not just any dog. According to his owner, Chasta Pilon, Monster “loves children, loves his family, loves his food and most importantly loves his Lazy Boy.” He may be large, but the only thing he approaches with gusto is a nice, long nap. Be careful, though. If Monster is too tired to make it to his recliner, he’ll make himself right at home in your lap, completely forgetting about his 80-pound frame.
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HAPPY veTIt P and
Talk to your ve a make sure you ha plan on year-round preventi al for controlling intern parasites, as well as fleas.
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HURLEY ➼ NICK ZECHAR Hurley is one-in-a-million—literally. His breed, the Japanese Kai Ken, is a rarity in the United States, with only around 200 existing. The breed is considered to be the most ancient and purest dog breed in Japan, which owner Nick Zechar believes Hurley is completely aware of. When he isn’t spending time bragging about his royal blood, Hurley gets a good kick out of licking anything and everything— hands, couches, you name it. Nothing is safe from this pup’s tongue.
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P HAPPY TI with your
When traveling e a pet dog be sure to ushim to carrier. Allowing t the stick his head ou window can be dangerous.
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BUDDY ➼ CHELSEA CONNERS
Look up the word “sweet” in the dictionary, and beside it you’ll find a picture of Buddy. He’s a real heartmelter, which is appropriate considering he was adopted on Valentine’s Day last year. Don’t be surprised to find this pup being coddled and spoiled— Buddy is convinced he’s a child since his owner Chelsea Conners treats him as such. He may not be the bravest dog, but what he lacks in valor, he makes up for in love.
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HAPPY TIP
Loud noises and cro can be scary for dowds Make sure yours ha gs. familiar, quiet place s a to escape to when you're entertainin g.
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GOSTAYSHOP
T R A V E L
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F A S H I O N
Savannah Mall's new two-story carousel features handpainted animals
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S H O P P I N G
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L O D G I N G
CONTENTS
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120 A NEW SHOPPING EXPERIENCE LILLI SERRAL
Kids of all ages will love the Savannah Mall's newest attraction: a double-decker carousel. The only one of its kind in Georgia, the carousel stands 28 feet tall and features handpainted animals on both levels.
a r eal g eorgi a pe ac h
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out do or s soc ia l
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l eg a l mat t er s
C O U N T RY MUSIC MEETS S U P E R S TA R F O O D On the other end of the mall, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill is slated to open in early 2014. The first franchise of the country star’s popular chain in Georgia will feature a guitarshaped bar and plenty of cowboy cuisine. Occupying 15,000 square feet, I Love This Bar & Grill will also have outdoor seating, perfect for live music and a rockin’ good time. ➼ SAVANNAH MALL 405 abercorn street 912.927.7467
savannahmall.com
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so you wa nna be a c op?
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CHR ISTINA MON TE S
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Horse Creek Stables in Mineral Bluff, GA
Get away from it all at Stillwaters Farm in Henderson, TN
g o S TAY S H O P
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Cottage room at Stillwaters Farm
Quick Trips
Idyllic landscapes at Horse Creek Stables
G E T O U T O F T H E O F F I C E A N D G E T B AC K T O N AT U R E W I T H A N AU T H E N T I C FA R M S TAY AT O N E O F T H E S E C O U N T RY R E T R E AT S .
Stillwaters Farm enjoys four seasons
RAINE BLUNK AND MORGAN ELLEN JOHNSON
HUNTER CATTLE COMPANY
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BROOKLET, GA
HORSE CREEK STABLE BED AND BREAKFAST
TWIN VALLEY BED AND BREAKFAST HORSE RANCH
For an insider's look at what it tak es to run a farm, spend the week end at the Hunter Cat tle Company, home to grass-f ed beef , pastured pork, free-range chickens, turkeys, fruit orchards and a whole lo t of wide-open Georgia backcountry. Accommodations start at $110 a night; consecu tive nights are offered at a discounted rate for locals. Get in touch with your inner farmer and take part in the A uthentic Farm Experience ($50 per person; guests must stay on the farm f or at leas t two nights) that includes gardening, fishing, gathering eggs, feeding the farm animals and handson chores. Hunter Cattle Company is perf ect f or group celebrations and educational tours that include bull roping, hay jumps, horse and w agon rides, campfires. Specially prepared family-sized meals are a vailable at an additional cost. k 934 DRIGGERS ROAD, BROOKLET, GA; 912.823. BEEF; HUNTERCATTLE.COM
Just outside of do wntown Blue Ridg e in North Georgia sits H orse Creek Stable Bed and Breakf as t, a secluded 36-acre working farm home to rescued horses, llamas and alpacas . Enjoy being the only gues ts during your s tay in the B&B’s single private cottage, which boasts views overlooking the horse pasture and w alking trails, starting at $125 a night. A homemade country breakf ast is deliv ered to the co ttage each morning and prepared with fresh f oods f rom the f arm and nearb y Mercier Orchard—Mercier’s special apple cinnamon French toast is a guest favorite. The area is also a haven for hiking, trout fishing, white water raf ting and more. Head to nearb y Blue Ridg e f or an adrenaline rush zip lining at The Blue Ridge Canopy Adventure, or take a ride on the Blue Ridg e Scenic Rail way. k 574 POSTELL ROAD, MINERAL BLUFF, GA; HORSECREEKSTABLEANDLODGING.COM
Nestled in the f oo thills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Twin Valley Bed and Breakfast is a mountain g etaway where you can experience lif e on a real horse ranch. Lodging op tions range from rustic to modern and start at $110 f or a 1 -2 night s tay. Enjoy a hearty breakf ast of grits and biscuits and spend the da y horseback riding, swimming, fishing and hiking before settling in for a campfire cookout. Other daily f arm activvities include helping with the bunnies , chickens, pigs, goats, llamas, donkeys and other animals on the ranch. Special packages are available that include private cabins and guided horseback rides. k 2848 OLD CHILHOWEE ROAD, WALLAND, TN; 865.984.0980; TWINVALLEYHORSERANCH.COM
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MINERAL BLUFF, GA
WALLAND, TN
STILLWATERS FARM HENDERSON, TN
Proprietors Valeria and Rich Pitoni
provide the quintessential f arm s tay at the Cottage of Stillwaters Farm, located in the heart of West Tennessee. The private co ttage easily sleeps six and f eatures two bedrooms and one bath with antique décor and a cla w f oot tub (f rom $179 a night). Gues ts enjoy a gif t bask et with g oodies f rom the Silo—the on-site gif t shop— with handmade products s traight f rom the farm. Spend your trip helping the crew with the donkeys and sheep, hiking in one of five nearby state parks, or searching for a one-of-a-kind treasure in the local antique shops, all just miles away. k 375 OAK GROVE LANE, HENDERSON, TN; 731.989.4251; STILLWATERS-TN.COM
P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F S T I L LWA T E R FA R M S A N D H O R S E C R E E K S T A B L E S
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{ SHOPPING GUIDE }
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F E A T U R E D G E T AWAY: B A R N S L E Y G A R D E N S R E S O R T
GEORGIA
PEACH
s a m boy k i n | p h o t o g r a ph y c o u r t e s y o f ba r n s l e y g a r d e n s
Born out of a s weeping love story, Barnsley Gardens Resort in A dairsville, Georgia is romantic and refined. The roots of Barnsley Gardens Resort go back more than a century, when an enterprising young English co tton broker built a magnificent mansion f or his Southern belle bride. Rem nants of the mansion s till stand as a f ascinating backdrop to this luxury resort and spa that is rank ed among Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold Lis t of World’s Best Places to Sta y. Here, among the resort’ s 3,300 acres of rolling hills , you can indulg e the senses, enjoy a host of fun outdoor activities and explore the rich his tory of a once-forgotten retreat.
Stay Barnsley Resort is laid out lik e a European-style village, with ornate and meticulously landscaped gardens f raming five one-bedroom cottages, six multi-bedroom cottages, as well as 62 smaller guest rooms and suites. While the accommodations all ha ve modern conveniences such as bigscreen TVs and wireless Internet, they also feature classic touches like clawfoot bathtubs and four -poster beds. The rooms and suites rang e from 400 to 650 square feet, with wood-burning 120
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f ireplaces, wet bars, and private porches overlooking the grounds. The more spacious co ttages vary f rom 1,056 square feet to the grand, twostory, seven-bedroom 4,500-squarefoot Godfrey Cottage, which sleeps up to 22 guests. Rates for gues t rooms, suites and cottages vary by season. All accommodations are within easy walking distance to the resort’ s spa, swimming pool, restaurants, and golf course, but g olf carts are a vailable. Guests have f ull access to ser vices such as in-room mass ages and dining, babysitting, transportation, pet-sitting and pet-walking, and the business center. For truly special occasions, you can ask for the assistance of Denise Webb, better known as the resort’ s “Fairy Godmother,” who helps guests with requests such as arranging the perfect proposal, party, or romantic evening. “I help create ev ents that s tay in people’s hearts forever,” she says. Special travel packages include “A Table for Two” (starting at $450 per night), which comes with breakf ast and dinner. If you’re traveling with that special someone, you ma y want to splurge on “The Art of Romance”
19th century ruins of the Barnsley family's mansion, Woodlands
Sporting clays facility at Springbank Sporting Club
($980 per night at the cozy Arbor Cottage), which includes breakf as t, dinner and a 60-minute couples mas -
sage. There are also special week day packages, available Monday through Thursday, that start at $285 a night
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The Rose Arbor is one of the loveliest spots on the property
The resort's award-winning golf course
The Rice House restaurant is housed in a preCivil War structure
Elegant cottage room
that include your choice of a round of golf for two, a round of sporting cla ys for two or a 50-minute Swedish massage for one.
Play
Barnsley's grounds are the perfect setting for an outdoor meal
With spectacular vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north and moderate late summer temperatures, Barnsley Resort is the perfect des tination to enjoy the great outdoors . If you’re in the mood for a run or bike ride (rentals are a vailable starting at $10 per hour), a 12-mile ne twork of pa ved and dirt trails wind through the property, past landscaped f lower gardens and through pine f orests. Elsewhere, you’ll f ind two tennis courts, a f itness center, a Grecian-style swimming pool, and an 18-hole championship g olf course designed by renowned architect Jim Fazio, who has designed some of the country’s finest courses, including
Explore Barnsley's 3,300 acres on horseback
the award-winning Trump Interna tional Golf Course in W est Palm Beach, Florida. Hunting enthusiasts are sure to enjoy the resort’s 1,800-acre Spring bank Plantation, which offers quail, pheasant, and turkey hunting along rolling hills and flatlands planted with broomsedge, lovegrass and pine trees (hunting season is from October 1 to March 31). There’s also a sporting clays f acility, which is open year round and hosts many special events, including the Atlanta Area Council’s Annual Sporting Cla ys Classic in November. “We’re always busy here,” says Skip Smith, manager of the Springbank Sporting Club. “For our sporting clays, we have 12 s tations and dif f erent layouts including open f ields and wooded areas. Then in the f all and winter, hunting is really popular. You can either do your own trip or we have professional guides with custom-built august | sep t em ber 1 3
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You’d be forgiven for thinking that the history of Barnsley Gardens sounds like a Margaret Mitchell plot—except in this case, everything is true. “One thing that sets Barnsley Gardens Resort apart from other destinations is that its history has all of the elements of a real-life fairytale,” says Clent Coker, Barnsley Resort’s historian. “There is a beautiful love story here.” In 1824, businessman Godfrey Barnsley emigrated from Liverpool, England, to Savannah where he made a fortune as a cotton broker. Barnsley fell in love with Julia Henrietta Scarborough. The couple married in 1828 and had six children. When Julia was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1842, Barnsley bought 10,000 acres in the small town of Adairsville and started construction on a 24-room mansion he called Woodlands, hoping that the clean country air would improve Julia's health. In 1845, before construction was completed, Julia died. Barnsley eventually finished the construction of Woodlands and filled the house with elegant furnishings from Italy and France. Less than 20 years after Woodlands was completed, the Civil War erupted. Union troops ransacked and vandalized the mansion as they marched through Georgia. Nearly financially destroyed by the end of the war, Barnsley moved to New Orleans, where he died in 1873. He is buried in the family cemetery, about 150 yards from the Woodlands ruins. The early 20th century was not kind to Woodlands. In 1906 a tornado severely damaged the home. During the Great Depression, two of Barnsley’s great-grandsons fought over how to manage the estate, and one shot the other dead. The gardens and manor house were auctioned off in 1942 and fell into disrepair. The property sat abandoned and forgotten until Prince Hubertus Fugger Babenhausen of Augsburg, Germany, bought the estate in 1989, reviving the property and gardens and opening Barnsley Gardens Resort a decade later. Babenhausen sold the resort to Shaw Industries, based in Dalton, Georgia, in 2004, which continues to expand and improve the property.
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Southern and fine dining at the Woodlands Grill or the Rice House
(Almost) Gone with the Wind
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Duck Confit at Woodlands Grill
Jeeps and trained dogs .” Keep the kids bus y playing Bocce ball, horseshoes, volleyball, badminton, Frisbee golf, horseback riding and fishing or boating on the 10-acre lake (canoe and ka yak rentals are also available for $15 a da y). Adults can indulg e in some deca dent pampering at the resort’ s spa, which offers a full line-up of services, such as body treatments , massage therapy, facials and even acupuncture. For a look at the resort’ s history, visit the Barnsley Museum, housed in the area that w as the Barnsley fam ily's kitchen in the 1840s. Overseen by Barnsley his torian Clent Cok er, the museum houses family artifacts , such as furniture and pictures, as well as Civil War remnants f ound on the property.
Eat Barnsley Resort has two res taurants, t h e Wo o d l a n d s G r i l l a n d t h e Rice House. “Woodlands Grill is a SouthernAmerican restaurant that prides itself on using local ingredients ,” says Aaron Stiles, director of the resort’ s food and beverage. “That extends into
our bar as well. We grow mint, thyme, and rosemary and use them in our cocktails.” The restaurant overlooks the golf course and is a popular spo t for both dining and socializing with friends and family. Overseen by sous chef Charles Vosburgh, Woodlands Grill serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast options range f rom blue crab eggs benedict and bourbon pecan w affles to a f rit tata served with asparagus, mushrooms, goat cheese and po tato pancakes. Lunch items include soups, salads and sandwiches, as well as more substantial entrees such as grilled flatiron steak with watermelon, red onion relish and roasted red potatoes. Or sit down to a mouth-watering dinner with tasty options, including a Scottish salmon cake or pa n-seared chicken topped with g oat cheese and sundried tomatoes over linguine with cherry tomatoes, asparagus and lemon beurre blanc. To complement your meal, Woodlands Grill has a full wine list and desserts lik e crème brulee and bourbon pecan pie. For a more formal fine dining experience, try the Rice H ouse, which is situated in a historic structure that still bears bullet holes from the Civil War. Coker helped move the structure, which was built in 1854 b y a wheat f armer in nearby Rome, Georgia, to the Barnsley grounds in 1994. “Dining at the Rice H ouse is like
taking a step back in time,” says Stiles. “It’s our tak e on Southern classic cuisine with an American twis t in a very elegant and refined setting.” The seasonal menu, also overseen by sous chef Vosburgh, features a host of gourmet meals, including panroasted Florida grouper, grilled venison chops, grass-fed beef tenderloin, and smoked duck. For a truly memorable desert, Stiles recommends the avocado and lime sorbe t. The sorbet is wrapped in a tequila v eil and, when presented, set on fire. “It burns without melting the sorbet,” Stiles said. “It’s really something.” For a quick bite, grab a ho t dog or sandwich at the resort’s centrally located Beer Garden, which also serv es several craf t beers, such as Twisted Kilt and Sisters of the Moon. At night, gather around one of the property ’s many wood-burning s tone f irepits, kick back in an A dirondack chair and make s’mores—the resort supplies all the yummy ingredients.
Shop Barnsley has sev eral shops. Addie’s Boutique offers one-of-a-kind items, including several from local artisans, such as hand-carved wooden writing utensils, sterling silver jewelry, photographs and artwork. Find everything you need to help you enjo y the great outdoors, including guns , hunting equipment, and f ishing gear at the Springbank Sporting Club. Visit The Golf Shop for a vast array of golf clubs, shoes, hats and o ther items.
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{ SHOPPING GUIDE }
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Marty Fischer and Jill Lynn Burchett in Springfield, GA
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Outdoors Social
G AT H E R YO U R FA M I LY A N D F R I E N D S F O R A D OV E H U N T , A B E L OV E D T R A D I T I O N A N D T H E U N O F F I C I A L K I C KO F F T O FA L L I N T H E S O U T H MARTY FISCHER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY LOGAN CRABLE
It can be said that sons and daughters of the Deep South are by nature very traditional in how they liv e their daily liv es. Southerners tend to be v ery outdoors social in their face-to-face interaction with o thers and are extremely passionate about what they believe and things they enjoy doing. This passion is especially true as the dog da ys of summer begin to usher in the cooler mornings associated with early fall. The month of Sep tember is special in man y ways to those outdoors social folks, as the traditional hunting opener throughout mos t of the s tates below the Mason-Dixon line comes in the f orm of do ve hunting. Nation wide, 38 states have a hunting season for mourning do ves, including every state in the 124
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MARTY SAYS...
outdoors social aut-d rz sĹ?-sh l
1. A M arty Fischer-ism used to describe the dispo sition of Southerners 2. Spending time outside with f amily and friends while engaging in a Southern pas time See also: dove hunting, tailgating, cornhole, fish fry
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Because mourning doves have excellent eyesight, choosing the right color of camoflauge is essential. A well-trained gun dog, like this Vizsla, is also a valuable asset afield.
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The milder temperatures of a September dove hunt make it a delightful all-day affair for entire families, dogs included. Food and friends are as much a part of a dove hunt as the sport itself. Below: Danny Mosley, Jacob Lang and Dan Shealy.
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ways to give dove hunting a try ➊ Check classified ads in newspapers or ask local gun club s or shops to learn about upcoming shoots ➋ Practice at a local tr ap, skeet or sporting clay range ➌ Visit Hanging Rocks Plantation or RoseAllen Plantation
South. In all of the s tates, opening day is somewhere close to Labor Day. Many hunters at tend dove hunts f or two reasons: the social value of the experience and because it is usually the first hunt of the fall hunting season. People who have not had the pleasure of participating in an organized dove hunt in the South might be surprised to hear that such an ev ent is probably more of a social affair than it is a hunting experience. Remember that we're dealing with the outdoors social crowd here, and do ve hunting is usually an outdoor experience where more hunters are usually better than just a few. The number of hunters needed for a hunt is de termined by the size of the hunting area. The hunting usually takes place near a field of corn, sunflowers, peanuts, millet or other grains that doves readily use for a food source. In the South these fields can range from a few acres where a hand ful of hunters can enjo y a great hunt to hundreds of acres where do zens of hunters are needed to k eep the birds moving. In many parts of the South the actual hunt is almost an afterthought, given the additional social activities that organizers often plan for the da y. In most states, the legal shooting time to begin hunting is 30 minutes prior to of f icial sunrise, but many dove hunts are scheduled for the afternoon. There are often barbecues or fish fries for participants, and football is often a big part of the da y. Big screen TV s and radios are just about as important as shotguns and ammunition during dove season. Of course, it is the hun ting experience that draws hunters afield. The mourning dove is the mos t hunted, dov e court e sy of bil l bl e v ins
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most harvested and most shot at and missed of all North American game birds. On a verage, hunters harv est only f our doves f or every box of 25 rounds of ammunition f ired. The birds are capable of flying at speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour , and their ability to maneuv er quickly in flight makes them a very challenging target for hunters. Most dove hunts are well-orga nized affairs. Blind locations within the hunting area are usually s taked and numbered. Prior to the hunters going to the blind locations , there is a drawing for the location number the hunter will ha ve f or the hunt. These locations are spaced a s af e distance apart to insure the s afety of the hunt. A t most dove hunts, a saf ety presentation is given to the hunters prior to their being placed at their hunting location. Dove hunting usually takes place small-gaugee shotgun loaded with a small-gaug with low-powered upland bird or target loads. The most popular shotgun gauge is 20, which is comfortable for most hunters, including ladies and children of ag e to hunt. M ost shots are taken in the 25- to 30- yard range. Doves have excellent vision and will pick up color and any quick movement ahead or belo w them. As a re sult, most hunters v enture af ield wearing some kind of camouf lag e. Most states have two or three shortseason segments between September and January. As a result, choosing the right color camouflage is important. Since the birds' k een vision can detect the smalles t movement in f ront of them, proper camo and remaining still until the shot is taken is important. Hunting has no effect on the overall population of mourning doves, due
20 gauge shotguns are comfortable for most hunters
Taking aim at 2530 yards
most hunted: the mourning dove When dove season begins at noon on Sep tember 1, hunters will be keeping a keen eye out for the mourning dove, or turtle dove, which is char acterized by its muted colors and distinct call. With a population of over 350 million, the mournin g dove is the most abundant of North American birds. No surprise that it's the leading game bird in the U nited States with more than 20 million shot each year.
to their prolific breeding habits. Depending on weather conditions, they have up to six hatches of young each year . Wildlife experts ha ve surmised that the mortality rate of the U .S. mourning dove population would be the s ame year after year whether hunted or no t. Doves are migratory birds and are therefore federally regulated. They are very susceptible to weather changes as fall approaches, and the first hint of cool weather often sends a resident bird population south. Fortunately, birds migrating from the north replace those who ha ve departed, so g ood hunting is still possible throughout the season. There are many ways to give dove hunting a try . The bes t way to find a dove hunt is to check the classified ads in your local paper, visit local gun clubs august | sep t em ber 1 3
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Brothers Jarrod and Jason Miller get their shooting areas sorted out prior to the hunt
The Boykin Spaniel is a South Carolina breed, made for hunting
Fischer, Burchett and Debbie Shealy on the dove field
or gun shops and ask f or inf ormation. In rural agricultural areas, there are often signs nex t to grain fields promoting upcoming hunts that are open to the public. Most people know someone who hunts, and asking him or her ma y be the best way to secure a dove hunt invitation. In southeast Georgia, there are a number of fa -
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cilities that offer everything from single day hunts to season dove hunting passes. Single da y hunts are usually priced in the $100-150 range and usually include a pre-hunt lunch or pos t-hunt dinner. Annual dove memberships can rang e from around $500 to more than $1, 000, depending on the facil ity, the number of hunts of f ered and ex tras like
meals and refreshments. If you are interested in trying dove hunting, there are f acilities nearby where the hunting can be terrific. Try Hanging Rocks Plantation (visit hangingrocksplantation.com) in Millen, Georgia, and RoseAllen Plantation (roseallenplantation.com) in Lyons, Georgia.
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➋
➎ ➊
➍ ➌ ➏
all the gear ➊ Caesar Guerini Maxum Sporting shotgun in 20 g auge, made in I taly. From $6, 495. guerinius a.com ➋ Leather cross-shoulder ammo bag. From $180. or vis.com ➌ Vented Dove Hunter's Hat. $17.99. basspro .com
➍ Custom-fitted ESP (Electronic Shooters Protection) digital ear plugs. $2, 400. espamerica.com ➎ Winchester AA 20 g auge ammunition. $8.99. winches ter. com ➏ Randolph Ranger Shooting Glasses. From $170. randolphus a.com
Closer to the Sa vannah area is the F ort Stewart military base, which offers some of the finest hunting opportunities in the Southeast. The base offers scheduled dove hunts during the season. F or more inf ormation, call 912-435-8061. There are also a number of public hunting areas manag ed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources . These Wildlife Management Areas offer scheduled hunts from time to time during the pos ted dove seasons. For more information, visit georgiawildlife.com and
Carolina (broxtonbridge.com). There are other private facilities in the region that are accessible through members of those facilities , such as Brays Island Plantation and Spring Island Plantation in South Carolina and the leg endary Forest City Gun Club in Sa vannah, Georgia. F or inf ormation on additional shooting locations in the region, contact the Georgia State Sporting Cla ys Association (gasportingclays.org) or ClayTargets Online (claytargetsonline.com).Contact the club first in order to
click on "hunting." Local trap, skeet or sporting clays ranges are great places to practice, find shooting instruction if desired and g etting information on the equipment you'll need for your hunt. Prac ticing the types of sho ts that are similar to what you will encounter in a do ve field is important. The best place to do that is on a skeet field or sporting clays course. There are a number of shooting facilities with public access in the southeas t Georgia and South Carolina Lowcountry region. Here are a f ew of them: Dorchester Shooting Preserve in Midway, Georgia (huntdsp.com), Baygall Sporting Clays in Garfield, Georgia ( baygallsportingclays.com) and Broxton Bridge Plantation in Ehrhardt, South
verify its location and hours of operation. Before you hunt, mak e sure you check the s tate regulations for where you are hunting for things like season dates and bag limits , license information and hunter safety education requirements. Keep in mind that it is the hunter's responsibility to kno w and adhere to the state and federal laws while hunting doves or any other species. There you have it: a hunting experience that is social and a social experience that happens to be hunting. And if you are fortunate enough to bag a few birds, sautéed or fried do ve breasts and grits is considered a real outdoor delicacy, but rubbing elbows with the outdoors social crowd may ultimately prove to be more enjo yable than a great meal. august | sep t em ber 1 3
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law
"At his best, man is the legal noblest of animals. Separated matters from law and justice, he is the worst." —Aristotle HOT TOPICS IN LAW AND JUSTICE IN THE DIGITAL AGE.
Buckle Up THE JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN FOUNDATION WORKS TO END BRAIN INJURIES
Visit southmagazine.com for extended versions of the Legal Matters chit chats and exclusive online content.
MARGARET HARNEY
〉〉〉 heads in helmets, a project of the Justice for Children Foundation founded by Howard Spiva in 1999, is on a mission to make
sure kids are buckling up—a helmet buckle, that is, in the car. If you’re thinking that a helmet in a vehicle is overprotective, think again. The statistics on brain injury are staggering. “The most common place for an injury is in a child safety seat in a car," Spiva says. Almost every risky activity that a child is involved
in requires head protection. Children do not commonly wear protective head gear is as a passenger in a car or in a car safety seat.” Spiva's message is catching on, and affiliates are popping up nationwide. Visit headsinhelmets. com for more information on how to protect your kids.
The most common place for an injury is in a child safety seat.—Howard Spiva BY THE NUMBERS
260,000 children killed in car accidents each year
6,000
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CONTENTS 131 IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU An employment lawsuit, that is. Attorney Sarah H. Lamar of HunterMaclean shares how you can protect yourself.
132 IS LAW SCHOOL RELEVANT? With law school applications down across the country and fewer grads finding work in their field, we have to ask. A third year legal practicum program is changing the game.
133 EXHIBIT A: FACEBOOK The newest trend in admissible evidence is on your Facebook page. How to be sure your next post doesn't wind up in court.
148 RAISING THE BAR
M I LLION E R V I SITS BY CH ILDR E N A R E DUE TO BR A I N TR AUM A
ten million children injured in car accidents each year
A special advertorial section featuring the South's finest lawyers.
CHILDREN DIE E ACH Y E A R FROM BR A IN TR AUM A
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"Fairness offers a practical guide on how to proceed," says Lamar.
1
" D O CU M E N T E M P L OY E E P E R FO R M A N C E A N D D I S C I P L I NA RY P RO B L E M S . There’s an old saying, ‘If it’s not in writing, it didn’t happen.’"
two 3 four
" T R E AT S I M I L A R LY S TAT I O N E D E M P L OY E E S CO N S I ST E N T LY. For example, if two employees who have the same job title in the same department commit the same infraction, discipline them the same. Perceived favoritism or unfairness will get employers into trouble and is often the root of discrimination cases."
It could happen to you S A R A H L A M A R ' S TOP T I P S FOR AVOI DI NG A N E M PLOY M E N T L AWS U I T ERIN SCOTT
In the wake of Paula Deen's recent legal trouble, many small business owners are adding one more thing to their list of issues to worry about: how to protect themselves and their companies from being targeted in an employment lawsuit. Employment attorney Sara H. Lamar of HunterMaclean offers her top five tips for avoiding litigation.
" D E V E L O P A N E M P L OY E E H A N D B O O K that reflects values and practices of the company, and then have it reviewed by an employment lawyer for compliance with state and federal law."
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" T R A I N M A NAG E R S FO R CO M P L I A N C E W I T H E M P L OY M E N T L AW in hiring, managing and disciplining employees. An ounce of prevention will go a long way! "
" CO N DU C T P E R I O D I C S E L F-AU D I T S for form I-9 compliance and evaluate whether your employees are properly classified as 'exempt' or 'non-exempt' under the Fair Labor Standards Act with the help of counsel."
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91.2%
law
Richard Middleton is preparing law students for the real world
40% 65.4% in 2009, that number dropped dramatically to
is law school relevant? E X PE R I E NCE T RU M P S T H EORY I N T H E N E W ECONOM Y ANNA MORRIS & KRISTEN SMITH
Attorney Richard Middleton is on the front lines of developing a groundbreaking practicum at Washington & Lee University School of Law. "You're going to see students who are better trained with more practical skills," he says. "These students are going to find the most employment opportunities with the most chance for success in this profession."
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of law school grads found jobs in their field in '07.
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I NCR E A S E I N L AW S CHO OL A PPL ICAT ION S AT V I RG I N I A' S WA S H I NGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY
law school applications are down 40% across the country
"If law schools are going to remain relevant, they have to change the way they prepare students for the future." — Richard Middleton
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Mike Conner is national co-chair of the ABA's Substantive Fair Rules of Evidence Subcommittee
[TOP TI PS] from divorce cases and murder trials to employee screenings and civil litigations, digital content is popping up as evidence all over the country. how do you protect yourself? attorney mike conner offers his top tips.
exhibit a: facebook S O CI A L M E DI A A S E V I DE NCE KRISTEN SMITH
Social media sites claim that posts are made public only at the discretion of each user. But that's not entirely accurate in the eyes of the law. "The law will tell you that as soon as you disclose content to two or three people, it's not private anymore," says Mike Conner, of the Conner Law Group. "Be careful what you post online. You may end up seeing it again."
➤ consider the spectrum. "traditional posts on social media sites, direct messages through sites, emails and text messages can all be used as evidence."
➤ play nice. "if you are a business owner engaged in a dispute, be careful what you post online," he cautions. "you may end up seeing it again."
➤ georgia law. "one of the elements that courts look at in determining whether or not a message could be admissible is uniqueness. detail tends to prove that the text message or the post is more credible and therefore more reliable than something generic. context also matters. georgia has said that if you can piece those things together, it can come into evidence. then it's argued before a jury."
➤ stay professional. "for pete's sake, if you put pictures of yourself out there, there's really no privacy at all. most employers now review facebook or social media profiles when they interview employees and when they think about hiring somebody. if you put it out there in the public domain, it really is public and people are going to look at it."
➤ easy evidence. social media content can be easily attained for admission in a court case. "most of the time, you send a subpoena to facebook or the server to get the info," conner explains, noting that attorneys must prove that the content was generated by the user and not by someone who may have hacked into the account.
➤ it's admissible. "take away point: this stuff doesn't go away. you put information out there, and it could be exhibit number one in some case at some point." ➤ ...and permanent. "it's like a tattoo. once you put it out there, it's hard to get off."
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ALL RISE FOR THE HONORABLE
JUDGE CLAIRE CORNWELL-WILLIAMS S AVA N N A H ’ S “ M A M A J U D G E ” I S M A K I N G T H E H O S T E S S C I T Y A B E T T E R P L AC E , O N E C A S E AT A T I M E . I N T E RV I E W BY K R I S T E N S M I T H H P H OT O G R A P H Y BY RYA N G I B S O N
In her chambers on a rainy afternoon, Judge Claire Cornwell-Williams rattles off a list of her hobbies: “I am a gardener, I cook, read a lot and I entertain. I sound like just some Southern woman, don’t I?” This devoted wife of 25 years and mother of two sons (and several rescued pets) is "some Southern woman" who happens to have over twenty years of experience as a Recorder’s Court judge. Where did you go to law school? I went to undergraduate at the University of Georgia School of Journalism, and law school was at Mercer. What made you decide to pursue law versus going into journalism? I don’t know that the two are exclusive, because you have to be able to write and communicate in order to be a good lawyer. A lawyer who can’t communicate is not much of a lawyer. Your career began in your hometown of Americus, Georgia. How did you come to Savannah? A job with Brannen, Russels and Searcy, which is now Brannen, Searcy and Smith. And that law firm has actually produced Judge Brannen, Judge Mikell and myself. How did you transition from being an attorney into being a judge? It was actually a fairly long process. I was a pro tem in Recorder's Court for at least 12 years before I became full time. I also served as the administrative judge for the property maintenance cases for probably three years prior to becoming full time. So I have been with Recorder's Court total now about 20 years. What types of cases are seen in Recorder’s Court? Recorder’s Court sees the beginning of all 134
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criminal cases in Chatham County. So in a week I may see anything from a traffic ticket to a misdemeanor possession of marijuana and shoplifting to murder, rape. Anything. It’s every type of criminal case. It’s a huge amount of variety. But that’s exciting. If you get bored in Recorder’s Court, there’s something wrong with you. Over twenty years into your career, what keeps you going? Recorder's Court is never boring. I tend to be the ultimate multi-tasker, so it is a good fit for me. Today I walked in and the misdemeanor docket is completely jammed, it’s standing room only, but I moved it out. And the goal is to do it in a way that is efficient but also fair and allows everyone to have appropriate due process.
Do you take that time regularly? Oh, yeah. We do a lot of lecturing. And hopefully it has an impact. I always feel like if I don’t at least get someone shaking or in tears (the young person) I haven’t quite gotten there yet. But when you see that it’s hitting home: "This is your chance to make a mistake and we’ll work with you." We do a lot of diversion, but, you know, we can’t do it but once. And usually the parents are back there nodding. Thankful, I’m sure. Well, and I’m sure they’ve said the same thing. One of the things I say is, “It’s very different for you to have this conversation with your parents. They love you. I don’t. I just happen to care. And if I have to, I will put you in jail. Just don’t give me reason to do it.”
Who inspires you? The people that I admire the most are these single parents who are working and managing everything. How they do it, I don’t know.
How do people respond to your demeanor in the courtroom? I have a whole drawer of notes from parents. I think that says it all, don’t you?
I understand that on Fridays you handle weddings in the courthouse. I do handle weddings! I spend all the week putting people in jail, dealing with the side of society that is not exactly uplifting, so I end my week with being able to share a very wonderful part of a couple’s life together. It’s a nice way to start the weekend.
Does your work take an emotional toll on you? The job definitely takes an emotional toll because you deal with some horrible cases. On the other hand, the ability you have to give back to prevent that young person from being the next statistic balances it out. I do get called the "Mama Judge" because I take that time. But I’m hoping and praying that the message gets out and we have less families that have to deal with that.
What are some of the other best parts of your job? The opportunity to make a difference in a person’s life, especially the young people’s. Savannah unfortunately has lost a lot of young people due to car accidents. And if by taking that time I help save that young person’s life or someone else in the room whom they have had a wreck with, then it’s so important to that family as well as to our community.
Is “Mama Judge” a title that you’re proud of? It was used negatively against me when I had a campaign one, but I think it’s about the nicest compliment you can give someone: that you care enough about the children in our community to be collectively referred to as a "Mama Judge." What’s wrong with that?
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"I think it's about the nicest compliment you can give someone: that you care enough about the children in our community to be collectively referred to as a 'Mama Judge.'"
Judge Claire Cornwell-Williams presides over Recorder's Court
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S AVA N N A H ' S F I N E S T
SHERIFF AL ST. LAWRENCE O N T H E E V E O F H I S R E T I R E M E N T, T H E G O O D S H E R I F F R E F L E C T S O N H I S S T O R I E D 5 4 -Y E A R C A R E E R A N D T H E J O U R N E Y O F H I S L I F E T I M E . INTERVIEW BY LAUREN HUNSBERGER H PHOT OGRAPHY BY SCOT T HARRIS
Sheriff Al St. Lawrence began his career as a Chatham County Police Patrolman in 1959. When did you become interested in law enforcement? Was it a childhood dream? It wasn’t a childhood dream. I was in the US Air Force, and when I got out I stayed in the area. I applied to the CCPD [Chatham County Police Department] and got hired. You’re a New Hampshire native. Why did you decide to live and work in Savannah? I was transferred to Savannah HAAF [Hunter Army Air Field] in July 1952 at age 18. I fell in love with the place and decided to stay. Why did you run for Sheriff in 1992? After being Chief for the CCPD for 21 years, I decided I wanted to run for an elected office. It was a personal goal. So I ran for Sheriff. I was elected June 5th after a run-off with Gene Mahany. What has been the key to all your subsequent successful elections? A good work ethic. If you really want something, you work for it. This is my sixth and last term. I have no regrets. What are the biggest challenges you face as Sheriff? There have been so many challenges. Moving the department into the 21st century has been a big challenge, but I’ve accomplished that. What is it about your personality that has kept you loyal to this community and the department for over 50 years? I enjoy my work, I enjoy the challenges, I enjoy trying to ensure the Sheriff’s office is well equipped. And I love Savannah. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. 136
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What was your most challenging day in law enforcement? Too numerous to count. However, I can say that whenever a deputy is killed or injured on my watch, it hurts. We have [had] several people killed in my tenure. In 1962, my partner was killed. I should have been with him, but I was in court. Those are very dark days. What do you enjoy most about your job? Coming to work and helping people. Not just with the office but personally too. What do you enjoy the least? That’s an easy question—terminating people! But we have rules and regulations. If you break the rules, you have to pay the price. What are some of your most memorable cases? Again, too numerous to mention. They were all important, especially to the people involved. What are some of the toughest issues facing law enforcement officers in Chatham County? We are really no different from any other sheriff’s office. We all face similar issues. Officer safety is one of the biggest issues. You can get all the training in the classroom you want, but you still have to be able to apply it. So teaching officer safety and making sure it's retained is a constant challenge. How does Chatham County differ from other counties and states in terms of crime? Do we have more organized crime? Typically the federal authorities deal with organized crime; that’s not necessarily a problem in this area. However, we do have our fair share of criminals. The jail has been operating over capacity since 1998.
Now after a few years in practice, do you see the merging of Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department and Chatham County as a success? Questionable. There are many aspects of the merger that still cause me concern. How would you describe your leadership style? I’m a people person. I care about my employees. I don’t micromanage. Have you ever had issues with your officers in terms of corruption or scandal? If not, how have you prevented that? We have had our share of problems, but if an employee is involved in those types of things, we deal with the situation as it comes. How do you think your colleagues would describe you? I would hope they would say I’m cooperative and helpful. There is not one law enforcement agency in the area that can say I haven’t chipped in and helped when asked. You have received numerous awards for your contributions to law enforcement at both the county and state levels. Which mean the most you? If I had to think of one that was really important, it was probably when I was recognized for my contributions by the House of Representatives for being the only law enforcement officer in the state of Georgia for receiving Sheriff of the Year and Chief of the Year. What has been your proudest moment? It would have to be when my employees, family and friends put together a 50-year anniversary celebration. Over my time here I have had a lot of proud moments. I’m proud of my employees and my family.
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"I have had a lot of proud moments. I am proud of my employees and my family."
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THE GEORGIA PUBLIC SAFETY TRAINING CENTER IN GARDEN CITY IS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE STATE. HERE, A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A GPST CADET.
"LAW ENFORCEMENT IS LIKE THE MINISTRY: IT'S A CALLING. NO ONE DOES THIS JOB FOR THE MONEY; THEY DO IT BECAUSE OF THEIR PASSION TO HELP PEOPLE." Harlan Proveaux, Manager Georgia Public Safety Training Center
J U ST O U T S I D E , I C A N H E A R T H E M Y E L L I N G . O N E WA N T S M O N E Y, T H E OT H E R WA N T S TO F I G H T. I J U S T WA N T TO G E T F E E L I N G B AC K I N M Y F I N G E R S S O I C A N P U S H T H E B U T TO N O N T H I S C A N O F P E P P E R S P R AY. I A M M Y OW N F I R ST L I N E O F D E F E N S E . r h i a n na va n h e lt on
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photogr aphy by jabberpics
7:30 SHARP “SIR, HERE, SIR!” The cade ts are lined up in s traight rows being asked to roll call outside. As I scan o ver the class, trying to get an idea of the a verage cadet, I realize that there really isn’ t a typical type. There are men and women, and all seem to vary in ag e, race and body type. The GPSTC definitely does not discriminate. I fall in behind the cade ts, doing as they do , trying to k eep pace. Walking in a straight line while using the s ame foot as everyone else is harder than it looks , people. Lieutenants Mitts and Taliaferro walk and talk a few s teps behind me, discussing the promise of this session’ s two classes. I match m y pace to Mitts' and ask, “Would you mind telling me the exact reasoning behind learning to march tog ether?” Mitts leans down and says in a whisper, “Structure and discipline. The police academy is paramilitary because we apply man y of the same training methods. If you can’t walk in step and in line with another human being, ho w are you supposed to ha ve that person’s back during a high-s tress situation involving guns?” Having more than a little trouble writing, talking and walking at the same time while trying to a void stepping on the lieutenant’s feet, his explanation makes perfect sense to me. It’s all about being able to multi-task in your body and mind while matching the internal rhythms of your partner . I g et it. I g et it big time. 7:35 AM Lt. Mitts calls for a cadence. “UP IN THE MORNING WITH THE S OUTH GEORGIA SUN. Up in the morning with the South Georgia Sun. GONNA RUN ALL DAY TILL THE RUNNING’S DONE. Gonna run all da y till the running ’s done.” 7:45 AM The unfiltered sun is beating down on the top of m y head and face like flames out of a volcano.
“Left, left, left, right of left. DOUBLE TIME!” I might cry. Behind me, I can hear someone doing that very thing. Everyone is struggling. Another cadence strikes up: “IN MY HIP. In my hip. IN MY B ACK. In my back.” Yep. All those places. Plenty of pain in all those places. 8:05 AM We march back to the facility. I catch up with Lt. Taliaferro walking into the building and as he is congratulating me on the run, he stops mid-sentence to yell at a cade t who has tak en his shirt of f to chang e in t he parking lot. Af te r a pretty severe lecture, he concludes his speech with the classic “ Get down and give me 20 while you’re over there." “How you represent yourself is s tressed from the v ery beginning of training here. It’ s paramount to ho w successful a cade t will be,” Taliaferro tells me. 8:15 AM I mee t Maj. Harlan Proveaux—a man whose v oice and demeanor command so much respect t hat he sounds 10 feet tall over the phone. In person, he’ s more like 6’4. I learn from the major that the Sa vannah branch of the GPSTC is one of the bes t in the s tate. Cadets come from all o ver the region to train at this facility. When I ask the major what se ts his branch apart f rom others, he tells me that the Garden City GPSTC is the only training center in the state built specifically with the intention of police training. The equipment being used is s tate of the art: two “ Smart Classrooms” are equipped with activ e smart boards, as well as individual control centers for the s tudents to help ensure class participation. Making the f acility more accessible and appealing to a young er generation of cadets is important to Maj . Proveaux. He particularly
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
At 64 years, 8 m onths and 20 days, Lawrence Troha is the oldest cadet on record to graduate from the GPSTC. “I just stayed my course and did the best I could. I was the first one there every morning,” he says, adding, “I was pretty pleased with myself when I would see a b unch of 20-somethings trailing behind me during our morning runs.” An officer with the Liberty County Sheriff's Department for four years now, he still remembers the most important lesson he learned at the GPSTC: “To not get complacent. Saves my l ife every day.”
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" TH ERE I S NO RIG HT OR WRONG WAY TO DO TH I S JOB B ECAUSE I N EVERY SITUATION , TH E AN SWER I S DI FFERENT. WHAT YOU SEE ON T V I S NOT REALIT Y." - LT. M IT TS
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beams when he tells me about the Judgmental Pistol Simulator (JPS), or “use of force” simulator . It’s the latest training technology available to peace officers, and our region is lucky to ha ve it. He says I’ll see the JPS room on the tour , but first I should come outside and w atch Flag Detail. 8:50 AM As the f lags are f lo wn high over the GPSTC building, the cade ts recite their Code of Honor every morning. To combat the gro wing problem of officers in the state being terminated for “ethical” violations, Maj. Proveaux and the rest of his staff avidly incorporate the code into ev ery course at the academ y. “If they can’t possess the highes t level of integrity to be a Georgia P olice Officer, then we don’ t want them,” the major s ays as we g o back inside. 9:00 AM Class Time. Criminal La w Instructor Capt. Hal Braswell keeps the tone light, but the subject matter he teaches is very real. As the cade ts flip through a gigantic red handbook of laws as big as two Bibles s tacked together, he tells us to look in the very front section. Page after page are lined with the names of officers in Georgia killed in the line of duty. On the wall behind me is a sign talking about safety protocol that concludes with the words “Complacency Kills." These cadets are constantly reminded of how imminent death can be, and it is really starting to freak me out. 9:55 AM You have to have some kind of passion to be able to focus on these de tails. As I look around at the cadets, they all seem to be highlighting their books at rapid fire speed. Good for them. 10:15 AM I pop into the front office where Maj. Proveaux, both lieutenants and Cap t. Braswell are having a serious discussion. A cadet quit this morning. The major tells me that the da y before, he showed some pretty graphic videos about the dang ers of the job to the class. The cadet who quit cited those videos and our Physical Training (PT) session from this morning as his reasons for lea ving the program.
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The major chalks the cade t’s change of heart up to the simple fact of reality setting in. Better now than later seems to be the g eneral consensus of the academy staff. 10:25 AM I g et a tour of what is in store f or the cade ts over the nex t 10 weeks. In the words of Maj . Proveaux: “It’s like trying to drink w ater from a fire hose.” Our first stop is the infamous J udgmental Pistol Simulator, which the cadets don’t get to use until week 11. The simulator will expose cade ts to several different crime-based scenarios where their actions and reactions dic tate the variables, which dictate sev eral different outcomes. As I walk into the dark room, a gi gantic white screen stretching f rom floor to ceiling provides a little illumination, while faint red and blue laser lights glisten from a table. Lt. Mit ts is at a computer in the corner while Lt. Taliaferro hands me a cyber glock—I am not fond of guns as a general rule, so holding this thing, ev en though it is entirely f ak e besides the weight mimicking the exact weight of a real gun, mak es me uncomfortable. The first scenario I experience is a bank robbery with an armed suspect. Before I can get my bearings about what to do with the gun and where to g o in the room for co ver, the figure appears on the screen and shoots me in the face. The second time, I fire my fake glock at the screen, but my aim is terrible and the shot grazes his pixilated shoulder . Thinking the robber is do wn—I honestly f eel a little cyber shell shock—I relax my guard for a nano second and he shoots me again from the ground. Everything happened so quickly, and now I am dead. I feel sick. What leaves me with chill bumps for the rest of the da y is this: in the end, a split second is all you ha ve to make a judgment call, and multiple liv es—including your own—hang in the balance. The amount of pressure, liability and blood-freezing fear felt in that blink of time is too hea vy, too much. I can barely process it. The lieutenants are quie t because they know the weight of what I am feeling all too well. 142
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The major comes into the room and watches me g o through sev eral more scenarios, alternating be tween the glock, a flashlight, and a can of pepper spray. Ov er the course of an hour or more I g et stabbed in the park, kill an unarmed citizen wielding a s taple gun in a w arehouse and pepper spra y some chick in the eyeball having a domestic dispute. 12:00 PM LUNCH. After I eat like I've never eaten bef ore, I interview a few cadets and learn about their various backgrounds: one man is an at torney, one of the girls jus t graduated with a degree in criminal justice, and another cadet is a 12-year veteran of the military. 1:00 PM I find the major and other officers in the break room finishing up their lunch. Maj. Proveaux looks to Lt. Mitts and asks, “You wanna go have a word with them first?” “Yeah, I guess I better,” replies Mitts. Maj. Proveaux says to me cheerily, “You don’t want to miss this .” Lieutenant Mitts opens the door to the classroom, and all the cade ts jump. “WHAT ARE YOU FOOLS DOING STANDING THERE WITH Y OUR MOUTHS HUNG OPEN? TAKE OFF!” Everyone, including me, s treaks out the double doors to ward Highway 307. This def initely f eels lik e punishment for something. At the halfway point, the heads of the pack jump up and slap the s top sign at the end of the road as they turn around and return to the facility, still sprinting. The very last to return, I come upon the cadets lined up in formation being scolded by Mitts. Af ter P T, someone left a pair of underwear out on a bench by the lockers in the shower. A big-time no-no and behavior unbecoming of a future officer. 1:30 PM During a tour of the o ther classrooms with Maj. Proveaux and Lt. Mitts, we chat about the program and what it tak es f or a cade t to mak e it through. Police academy training is only the f irst step up a mountain of learning and experience. This class won’t be patrolling the streets by themselves until next summer, and the res t of their education will continue with the prospective agencies who hire them. The GPSTC provides the foundation.
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"A SPLIT SECON D I S ALL YOU HAVE TO MAKE A J U DG M ENT CALL , AN D M U LTI PLE LIVES — I NCLU DI NG YOU R OWN — HANG I N TH E BAL ANCE ."
To get a better understanding of the skills de veloped at the academ y, Lt. Mit ts shows me a video he compiled for the las t graduating class. I watch as cadets conduct simulated night-time traffic stops, engage in hand-to-hand combat and grap pling technique, practice ho w to load and shoo t their weapons with one hand and learn crime scene investigation and processing. 1:45 PM When we get to the graduation portion of the video, I see Lt. Mitts—a man who has been trained to put the fear of God in people—wipe the corners of his eyes .
Getting up from his chair, Maj. Proveaux says, “Every person sitting in that room do wn the hall will make a difference and help their community. Law enforcement is like the ministry: It’s a calling. No one does this job for the money; they do it be cause of their passion to help people. ” With my own eyes welling up no w, I look at the two f aces I me t just a f ew hours ag o, gratef ul to them for the job they do. It’s surely not something I am tough enough for: emo tionally or physically. It takes a special kind of person to handle bo th.
2:30 PM I am done f or the da y. Walking back to my car, I hear a huge slam behind me. I look up to see the class sprinting back to HWY 307 toward that hateful stop sign again. For the f irst time since I arriv ed this morning, I notice that the name of the s treet they are running do wn is ironically called Sunshine Avenue. I can’ t help thinking of the hard truth that the streets in these cadets' futures aren’t going to be paved with golden bricks; they will find themselves in dark, dirty , scary places filled with dangerous people capable of an ything. However, as the cadets race back, determination on their f aces and s weat on their bro ws, I’m not worried. They are receiving the bes t officer training that Georgia has to offer here at the GPSTC. So, perps beware. They ’re coming for ya.
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[L-R] Stuart Glasby, Lt. Joe Peny, Officer Keith Jeffries, Lt. John Taylor, Lt. John Bennett, Lt. Isaac Strickland
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intelligence T H I N K D E L E T I N G YO U R P H O T O S A N D T E X T M E S S AG E S M E A N S T H E Y ’ R E G O N E F O R E V E R? T H I N K AG A I N . D I G I TA L I N F O R M AT I O N I S P E R M A N E N T— A N D T H AT ’ S G O O D N E W S F O R T H E O F F I C E R S O F A R M S T R O N G ' S C Y B E R F O R E N S I C S W H O A R E O N T H E F R O N T L I N E S O F O N E O F T H E FA S T E S T G R OW I N G F I E L D S I N L AW E N F O R C E M E N T. K R I S T E N S M I T H | P H OT O G R A P H Y BY RYA N G I B S O N
It was late that cold January night when Lt. John Taylor got the call. Not that the time mattered. There are officers on post at Armstrong Atlantic State University’s police department 2 4/7. But this w as Lt. Taylor’s night. And the call w as from the FBI. The Washington office of the bureau was aware that the university, an institution with just shy of 7,000 undergraduate students, had a campus police department with a new C yber Forensics Division. “I think, in truth, they were probably on their las t straw,” says Lt. Taylor, division commander and legal advisor of the CFD. “They were desperate. So they called us .” Desperate because digital f orensics labs throughout the country a verage a seven- to eleven-month waiting period. And this time-sensitiv e case just couldn’t wait. “It was an international case, let me just put it that way,” he says. “The FBI had a confidential informant in this area who had a Blackberry device. There were pictures on the device that they had somehow lost. They weren’t sure what happened to them, but they were no long er there. And these were essential to the case. ”
e or its ce is it's either ther en id ev l ta gi di t ou t in court." "The nice thing ab d. And it looks grea ar rw fo ht ig ra st so not. It's
An FBI agent flew down from D.C. and arrived at the division with the Blackberry in hand. He muscled Lt. Taylor’s digital forensics analys ts to the side. The ag ent hooked the phone up to the division’ s Cellebrite machine and scanned the device for the los t photos. The search yielded nothing. The agent looked panicked as he ran out to call W ashington. “These photos were critical and essential for this case to progress ,” Taylor says. “He was a dejected young man. ” Knowing that not all digital devices s tore information in the s ame places, one of the officers took the phone apart and found a secure digital memory , or SD, card. Using ano ther piece of equipment in the lab, the officer was able to harv est all of the incriminating pho tos in about 10 minutes . “What you’ll find in digital forensics is that some people know how to use some equipment, but very few people know how to use or ha ve access to all the tools ,” Taylor explains. “One of the things that se ts us apart is that all of m y guys, even though they kno w how to use a Cellebrite— which is actually a v ery simple machine to use—they ’re also trained forensic analys ts. All of them ha ve had some lev el of investigative training, so they ha ve a ‘never say die’ attitude. My guys wouldn’t accept ‘the Cellebrite doesn’ t work’ as the ans wer.”
who you gonna call? Since its inception earlier this year, Armstrong's Cyber Forensics Division has worked with over 20 federal, state and local law enforcements on more than 100 cases, including:
federal agencies FBI DEA United States Secret Service Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Federal Protective Service
state agencies Georgia Bureau of Investigation Georgia State Patrol Georgia Department of Revenue University System of Georgia Police
multi-jurisdiction agencies Tri-Circuit Drug Task Force County Agencies Sheriff's Office Municipal Police
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now you see it “The nice thing about digital evidence is it’s either there or it’s not,” says Lt. John Bennett, one of the CFD's c yber forensics analysts. “It’s so straightforward. And it looks great in court. ” The term "digital evidence" covers a multitude of information; finding text messages and photos on smart phones is jus t the tip of the iceberg. “ Any digital device obviously contains digital information,” explains Lt. Bennett. But it also contains logs.” A stolen iPod or laptop with WiFi capability , f or example, is cons tantly scanning to connect to wireless internet. Analysts can evaluate the connectivity history of the device through its Mac address to de termine where it was and when. Location and speed-based logs in GPS devices can be used as tools in accident reconstruction. Lt. Bennett recently pulled data from a tractor trailer ’s GPS to determine the speed the driv er was going (55.7 MPH in a 35 MPH zone) when the truck crushed a car in an intersection. The accident resulted in a fatality . The data resulted in a speedy trial and closure for the victim’ s family. “We are hopef ul that a lo t of this g ood digital f orensics evidence will lead to guilty pleas, because that mo ves everything along a lo t quicker,” says Taylor. Even a video game console can be a key piece of evidence. In a murder investigation with which the CFD is assis ting, one man alleg edly shot the other at point blank range in his living room. The suspect claims that on the ev ening the victim was killed, the two of them were pla ying his Playstation. “What we can do is look at the logs , when they logg ed in, when they did certain things, if they connected to an y other users over the internet,” says Lt. Bennett. “They had headsets on where they could co mmunicate with people across the network. One of the things the de tective wants to know is if there are an y witnesses out there that ma ybe heard something going on.”
starting from zero AASU’s Criminal Forensics Division is the brainchild of Chief W ayne Wilcox, director of the C yber Security Research Ins titute. When he came to Arms trong, the department was in turmoil. “ We had no serviceable v ehicles, no uniforms,” the chief explains. "The Department had no t grown with the univ ersity.” He began forging partnerships with adminis trators and professors to increase the department’s presence on campus. He also began quietly building the Cyber Security Research Institute that would house the Criminal F orensics Division, or CFD, a full-service cyber forensics lab. The plan was to staff the lab full-time with the department's officers—who would also be trained c yber analysts— and develop a han ds-on internship f or criminal justice students unlike any other in higher education. “The [university’s] president charged the chief a long time ag o with two things: getting involved in the univ ersity’s academic teaching mission and helping the university reconnect with Sa vannah,” says Taylor. “As a police department, what better way to do that than through our connections to the greater criminal jus tice community? We can make a meaningful contribution to safety and security in the local community and help out o ther agencies.” Still, the plan w as met with skepticism. “At first, people really doub ted the ability of a police officer to learn about computer stuff,” says Lt. Bennett. “It’s actually a lot easier to teach a police officer about computers than it would be to teach an IT guy ho w to be a police officer. The reality of it is , in the w ay we’ve been trained to think, we’ re inquisitive. We think outside the bo x. We don’t give up on things.” The advent of the CFD is proof positive of that forward-thinking tenacity. “Most university police departments kind of fit that mold you know, being university police—whatever that is," says Chief Wilcox. "We have broken out of that mold and moved into something much more useful. ” 146
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Useful is an unders tatement. Since that first case with the FBI in J anuary, the CFD has worked with over twenty federal and state agencies on hundreds of cases. Quite an accomplishment for an y agency, let alone a university police department that was staffed by fewer than 10 officers several years ago. The department now has 21 s worn officers, one third of which already ha ve their master’s degrees. “Find me another police department that has that!” Lt. Taylor quips. Over 100 cases in, the accurac y and efficiency of the department’s work are building a sterling reputation for the CFD —and cementing its importance as a tool for la w enforcement agencies, both locally and nationally. “There is more work, there is w ay more work than there are people to do it, ” Lt. Taylor explains of the state of the digital forensics field across the country. “We’re providing an in-demand service. Most labs run anywhere from a sevento eleven-month delay. But that’s not actually as bad as it g ets in the digital forensics world.” How long is a typical w ait at Armstrong? Taylor shrugs. “Metro brought a phone in yes terday, and John’s already done with it.” “Yeah, they came and pick ed it up this morning, ” Bennett says."Part of what that time frame gives back to detectives is actionable intelligence. They have intelligence within a da y that they can g o out and use." “You can’t wait seven to eleven months all the time," Taylor adds. "If you pick up a drug dealer on Christmas Eve at 10 P.M. and you find that he has a cell phone, and you think that there’ s police intel on there that you need in order to catch his supplier , you have no place to tak e that. Except you could come over here to Arms trong, and there is bound to be at leas t one officer on shift
who can g et that thing s tarted and maybe get some information off of it for you right away.” Speaking of drug dealers: “One of the things you find on cell phones is you’re able to put tog ether drug networks. Who’s who in the ne twork: Who are the big suppliers, who are the s treet-level sellers, what their various rankings are. It gives you a tremendous amount of information, ” Taylor says. Not only are dealers sending incriminating tex ts or amassing digital contact lists of criminals, they’re taking video of felonious and criminal activities on their cell phones—doing drugs, driving stolen vehicles and bragging about the crimes they've committed. “All we have to do is pla y that video, show that evidence in court and they ’re done. That’s it,” says Bennett.
moving the lines out What started as an idea for an internship program to engag e and prepare Armstrong's criminal justice students for the workforce has gro wn into something that is ha ving a measurable impact on campus and with local, s tate and even federal law enforcement agencies. “When we were moving into this area, we had a lo t of people wondering, 'Can we really do this?'" Chief Wilco x says. "And then we ha ve the first case. And then we have the second case, and the third case, and the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, until we’re where we’ve handled 100-plus cases no w. And we’ve been remarkably successful because we’ re not sitting there saying, ‘We can only be within these lines .’ We’ve moved the lines out. ”
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the south
’s
finest
l aw yers
RAISING THE BAR
THE CONNER LAW GROUP, P.C. PAGE 149 • HUNTERMACLEAN PAGE 150 • THE MIDDLETON FIRM, LLC PAGE 152 • NOBLE BOYKIN PAGE 154 • SMART & HARRIS PAGE 155 • SCHEER & MONTGOMERY, P.C. PAGE 156 • KAREN DOVE BARR, ATTORNEY AT LAW PAGE 157 • BOUHAN FALLIGANT, LLP ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW PAGE 158 • HAROLD J. CRONK, P.C. PAGE 160 • TOM A. EDENFIELD, SR. PAGE 161 • ANDERSON LAW FIRM PAGE 162 BERGEN & BERGEN PAGE 163 • CHRISTOPHER W.T. DALY PAGE 164 • SPIVA LAW GROUP PAGE 165
“I wanted to portray these powerful people in a classic way, so the composition of these shots was inspired by classic 19th century portraiture. Drawing on my roots as a portrait painter, I approached these shots with that aesthetic in mind. You have to be flexible; I think that’s key. My goal was to capture honest images. And everybody gave me something honest.” —Travis Teate, photographer T R AV I S T P H O T O G R A P H Y P . 14 9 - 1 6 0
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• A DDITIONA L
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y C H I N A FA G A N
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➼ THE CONNER LAW GROUP, P.C.
integrity, excellence and diligence. The Conner Law Group is a broad-ranging litigation and business development practice that concentrates on complex commercial matters, business disputes, class action, mass torts and personal injury litigation. “Our firm stresses hard, honest work for the client, exercising the utmost diligence in all that we do,” says Mike Conner, founder and managing partner. “I consider it a privilege to be an attorney. Our clients come to us with questions or legal challenges, and I believe it’s an enormous responsibility to provide thoughtful, thorough solutions to guide them through those challenges.” 877.283.2745 H theconnerlawgroup.com Photo taken on location: Ruth’s Chris Steak House • Savannah, GA
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➼ HUNTERMACLEAN
outstanding client representation. From 19th century railroads to 21st century aerospace and technology, HunterMaclean has served clients with distinction for more than 130 years. The firm combines a forward-thinking approach to the practice of law with a timeless commitment to the core values of the legal profession: professional excellence, uncompromising integrity and outstanding client representation. “For more than a century, HunterMaclean attorneys have served clients and contributed to the community,” says Frank S. Macgill, HunterMaclean’s managing partner. “We’re dedicated to continuing that tradition well into the future.” Savannah: 912.236.0261 H Brunswick: 912.262.5996 H huntermaclean.com
Photo taken on location: Jepson Center for the Arts • Savannah, GA
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➼ THE MIDDLETON FIRM, LLC
national success. The Middleton Firm’s successes have included more than $86 million in verdicts and settlements in the last year and
a half—a record is unsurpassed by any firm in Southeast Georgia. The Firm has achieved a long list of record settlements and verdicts in more than forty states in matters as diverse as products liability, employment litigation and insurance fraud. Richard Middleton is co-lead counsel for the National Industrial Agriculture Project and serves on the Advisory board of the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers initiative for the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System. He has been nationally recognized as a leading advocate for changing law school curricula to include extensive practical and hands-on experiences in practice-focused career disciplines. 912.234.1133 H middletonfirm.com
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➼ NOBLE BOYKIN
helping folks in savannah for over 30 years. The attorneys at Jones, Boykin & Associates P.C. work to help ordinary people play on a level field with corporations and insurance companies in an honest, straightforward way. “Anytime your job allows you to help others while you’re being paid for it, you’re in the right business,” Noble Boykin says. “It is a gift to be a member of a profession where you can affect a positive, tangible change in people’s lives for the better.” The firm specializes in personal injury litigation, maritime and railway injury cases and general litigation. 912.236.6161 H nobleboykin.com
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➼ SMART & HARRIS
making a difference. A general practice firm with attorneys licensed to practice in Georgia and South Carolina, Smart & Harris is equipped with the knowledge and experience to develop solutions to your business and legal challenges. Legal services include personal injury, domestic law, state planning and business law among others. There’s one constant across the firm’s varied caseload: the most rewarding part of the job is making a difference. Savannah: 912.201.2332 H Brunswick: 912.262.9464 H smartandharris.com
Photo taken on location: 17hundred90 Inn & Restaurant • Savannah, GA
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➼ SCHEER & MONTGOMERY, P.C.
experience is everything. The award winning team at Scheer & Montgomery PC specializes in personal
injury, wrongful death, DUI, civil and corporate litigation, government law and other areas of practice. One of the most unique and progressive law firms in the nation, it is the variety of specializations within the legal field that sets this firm apart. With a commitment to seeing the right people rewarded, the attorneys at Scheer & Montgomery operate with one goal in mind: “Do the best you can for your client.” 912.233.1273 H scheerandmontgomery.com left to right: Craig A. Call, Steven E. Scheer, and Donald L. Montgomery Jr.
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➼ KAREN DOVE BARR, ATTORNEY AT LAW
experience and perspective. With a practice that sees cases involving family law, criminal defense, real estate closings and wills and probates, Karen Dove Barr and her team stay busy. The firm has been recognized for providing assistance to military and pro bono counsel to low income families. “I started out as a social worker,” says the John Marshall Law school graduate. “My years of experience allow me to evaluate situations and advise clients realistically,” Dove Barr says. The most rewarding part of her work? “Helping my clients achieve their goals.” 912.352.8053 H karendovebarr.com
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âžź BOUHAN FALLIGANT, LLP ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW
the associates. The full-service firm of Bouhan Falligant handles a broad range of complex legal needs for financial,
corporate, education, small business and individual clients both regionally and nationally. With over 125 years of experience, Bouhan Falligant applies its deep knowledge and sound judgment across the board. The partners of Bouhan Falligant are proud to recognize the associates as its next crop of finest lawyers. 912.232.7000 H bouhan.com left to right: Benjamin Karpf, Harris Martin, Helen Bacon. sitting left to right: John Manly, and Andrew Dekle. (not pictured, Greg Sewell, Stephen Brown, Nathaniel Phillips, and Luke Bradley)
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➼ CHRISTY BALBO, ATTORNEY AT LAW, P.C.
specialized experience. With a degree from New York’s Fordham University School of Law and over 10 years of legal experience, Attorney Christy Carroll Balbo specializes in real estate, contracts, business law, personal injury, general civil litigation, guardian ad litem work and mediation. Certified as a General Civil and Domestic Mediator, she has held many distinctions in her field and holds a strong commitment to her clients. “I try to limit my caseload and concentrate on the things I know I can do well,” Balbo says. “I make sure I do all I can to improve my clients’ situation.” 912.756.5518 H thebalbofirm.com Photo taken on location: FIA Rua Irish Pub • Richmond Hill, GA
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➼ HAROLD J. CRONK, P.C.
fair and equitable. Attorney Harold J. Cronk has been practicing law for 26 years specializing in plaintiff’s personal injury, probate
and general litigation. While a student at Mercer Law School, he was a member of the Mercer Law Review, Moot Court Board, the awardwinning ABA Client Counseling Competition Team and was an Honor Court Justice. Since law school, the Martindale-Hubbell AV rated attorney has served as past president of the Savannah Trial Lawyers Association and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Savannah Bar Association, all Georgia Appellate Courts and the local Federal District Court. He is authorized to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. “My law firm will only accept cases which I am prepared to pursue all the way to a jury trial and, if necessary, to appeal the case to the appellate courts in Atlanta,” he says. “I am adamant about seeking a fair and equitable resolution for all my client’s claims.” Joe Cronk is a 2011 graduate of the Florida Coastal School of Law where he was director of Student Law School Elections. 912.236.4878 H hcronk.com left to right: Joe Cronk and Harold J. Cronk
Photo taken on location: The Mansion on Forsyth Park • Savannah, GA
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➼ TOM A. EDENFIELD, SR.
protecting rights and freedom. Attorney Tom A. Edenfield, Sr. has been practicing law for over 50 years. Currently a Judge in the Rincon Municipal Court, Mr. Edenfield’s services including general trial practice, criminal law, civil law, personal injury, domestic relations and wills and estates. His legal philosophy is informed by years of experience: “To protect the rights and freedom of those who are fortunate enough to be born in a nation under God, where all are entitled to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and justice for all.” 912.234.1568
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➼ ANDERSON LAW FIRM
accessible, personalized attention. Helping clients get back on their feet after a devastating event is
at the heart of Anderson Law’s practice. Specializing in worker’s compensation and asbestos/Mesothelioma cases, the team at Anderson Law prides themselves on providing sound, understandable legal counsel and personalized attention to each client. “Mr. Anderson was reliable in every way,” says one former client. “He is a true credit to his profession.” 912.354.2245 H lawyersavannahga.com
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âžź BERGEN & BERGEN
established success. Founded by Joseph Bergen in 1951, Bergen, Bergen & Bergen, P.C. has built a reputation for achieving justice on behalf of its
clients while maintaining the highest level of professionalism. Attorneys Frederick S. Bergen and Zachary H. Thomas have obtained some of the highest verdicts and settlements in Savannah and the surrounding area in medical malpractice cases, and also specialize in catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, products liability and workers’ compensation. The firm is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell for preeminent legal abilities and ethics. Since 2007, Mr. Bergen has been selected annually for inclusion by Georgia Super Lawyers in the areas of medical malpractice and personal injury, and was named as one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Georgia for 2013 by the same publication. He is among only 1% of attorneys in Georgia to be a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocacy. Since 2009, Mr. Thomas has been selected annually for inclusion by Georgia Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in the areas of medical malpractice and personal injury. 912.233.6600 H bergenandbergen.com
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âžź CHRISTOPHER W.T. DALY
dignity and expertise. Since 1974, the team at Deming, Parker, Hoffman, Green, Campbell and Daly
have been representing clients in workers’ compensation and personal injury cases with dignity and expertise, ever mindful of the challenges that their clients face in recovery. The firm is proud that most of their clients are referred to them by local legal and medical communities. 912.527.2000 H deminglaw.com left to right: Christopher W.T. Daly and Tyler M. Love
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➼ SPIVA LAW GROUP
caring counsel. Trial lawyer Howard Spiva has been called “the kids lawyer.” He specializes in traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries and claims involving children. Mr. Spiva is a founding member of XII Unlimited, a group of attorneys bringing new technology, including smartphone apps and tablets, to the legal profession for the benefit of their clients. “It allows our attorneys to become more deeply involved in our clients’ ongoing care in ways that were never before possible,” Spiva says. “We are collaborating with medical providers and caregivers in meaningful ways to maximize the physical, emotional and financial recovery of our clients.” 912.920.2000 H spivalaw.com
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EAT&PLAY
R E S T A U R A N T S
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F O O D
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E V E N T S
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E N T E R T A I N M E N T
a.lure’s Lowcountry Boil
L O C A L LY E C L E C T I C LILLI SERRAL
Chef Charles Zeran of a.lure—a new fixture in contemporary Lowcountry cuisine in the downtown Savannah restaurant scene— knows a thing or two about food. Having cooked all over the country for more than two decades, Zeran is the perfect fit for the restaurant, which opened in April. His favorite part of a.lure’s menu? “We mix a lot of temperatures and textures, like having hot
and cold in the same dish. There are a lot of international influences, too. It's an eclectic, contemporary American menu," Zeran says. The one-of-a-kind food also comes with one-of-a-kind service. “Along with the unique food, we have very attentive service here,” he says. “You have to have both to get the full experience at a restaurant.” ➼ a.lure 309 W. Congress Street (912) 233-2111 aluresavannah.com
CC OO NN TT EE NN TT SS
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S A R A M A R IE D ’ EUGE N IO
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Savannah Candy Kitchen
Ben and Kellie Deen of Savannah River Farms
Chewing the Fat S T. A N D R E W ’ S S T U D E N T S L E A R N T O S P E L L “ O R G A N I C ”; L O C A L R E S TAU R A N T S S E RV E H A P P Y M E AT; T R E N D S E E K E R S G E T JA Z Z ’ D OV E R C R A F T C O C K TA I L S . M A RGA R ET H A R N E Y, JA N ICE SH AY A N D A N NA W E L L S
Savannah’s only Green Certified restaurant and caterer, THRIVE CAFÉ will be providing all meals to faculty and s tudents at St. Andrew ’s School, a private school in Savannah, beginning in August. In order to be qualified as Green Certified, Thrive Café must meet a set of requirements such as w ater efficiency, energy and pollution reductions that are monitored b y the Green Res taurant Association. The meals will include all natural meats, local vegetables, hormone free milk— and no fried foods . This will allo w the students and faculty of St. Andrew's to enjoy food that is no t only healthy and environmentally friendly but also savory and delicious. For Thrive Café to cater efficiently to St. Andrew’s School, a Kickstarter fundraising plan has begun in order for the café to purchase various startup items including a ho t holding unit, food processor and more. 4700 east hwy. 80, savannah, ga; thrivecafesavannah.com; 912.898.2131 168
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SAVANNAH COFFEE ROASTERS CEO Lori Collins has purchased the former Huskey Auto Parts store and warehouse on Liberty Street. Around mid-September, this space will be transformed into the COASTAL EMPIRE TRADING COMPANY. The venue will feature not only Savannah Coffee Roasters, but also several new additions, including SAVANNAH CAFÉ, featuring paninis and pastries; FRALI GOURMET, an all natural pasta producer; VERDANT KITCHEN, a local, organic grocery that sells local ging er and spices; and sev eral more organizations. The location and additions are sure to attract customers both new and old to enjo y everything the businesses ha ve to offer. 215-217 west liberty street, savannah, ga. SAVANNAH TASTE EXPERIENCE introduces its newes t walking tour, FAMOUS AND SECRET EAST SIDE FOOD TOUR, lined with local fa vorites—not just the trendy spots for tourists. For a sampling of the culinary creativity Savannah has to offer, eclectic foodies will enjoy ZUNZI’S and FIRE STREET FOOD as well as the more traditional fares at WALL’S BBQ, THE PIRATES’ HOUSE and 17HUNDRED90 for a tas te test that’s well balanced. With a final sweet tooth stop at SAVANNAH CANDY KITCHEN, expect the bellies to be full and the taste buds satisfied. 20 east broad street; 800.979.3370; savannahtasteexperience.com SAVANNAH RIVER FARMS—the family-owned operation behind the regionally raised poultry, pork and beef on the menus of BLUE TURTLE BISTRO and LOCAL 11TEN—joins the esteemed ranks of USD A-approved on-farm processing facilities to pro vide meat that is handled as humanely as possible. Owners Ben and Kellie Deen are responsible for their animals from birth, rais ing them organically and providing plenty of roam room. Doesn’ t that make you feel better about that burger? for more information, visit www.savannahriverfarms.com New chef, new drinks , new bartender mix tricks , need we s ay more? JAZZ’D TAPAS is pulling out all the s tops to update their s wanky underground bar b y introducing a craft cock tail list and new menu A ugust 1st. Making their o wn juices and sours, this after hours des tination is also freshening up with trendy beer cocktails and new mix ology training—a perfect combo for a happ y hour drink or two.
WHOLE SAVANNAH On August 13th, Savannahians will bring out our welcome welcomew wagons agons for the new WHOLE
FOODS on Victory Drive. When Whole Foods Foods opened its first store in Austin, Texas, in 1980, the concept of healthy, organic farm-to-market food was just another punchline for a jok e about “health food nuts.” Thirty-three years later, this uber-successful chain, with more than 340 s tores in 39 s tates plus the UK and Canada, has redefined what Americans think of as their neighborhood grocery. With a 2012 company profit of $11.7 billion, who can argue with that? WHOLEFOODSMARKET.COM
P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F S AVA N N A H C A N D Y K I T C H E N ; S AVA N N A H R I V E R FA R M S : A N G E L A H O P P E R - L E E
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The 2013 IACP Best Food Blog Award
Rich oxtail stock featured on Salted and Styled
Behind the Scenes at Salted and Styled
Food as Muse
L O C A L AU T H O R L I B B I E S U M M E R S ’ B L O G , S A LT E D A N D S T Y L E D , G E T S I N T E R N AT I O N A L R E C O G N I T I O N JA NICE SH AY
Less than two years ago, author and food stylist Libbie Summers partnered with f riend and pho tographer Chia Chong to create a blog that immedi ately caught the at tention of online f oodies. Last April, their Salted and Styled blog won the f ood indus try professionals’ coveted IACP award for Best National Blog. Salted and Styled is, happily, an unexpected experience for first-time readers—it contains no restaurants reviews and no sho ts of local dishes recently tasted. Rather, it is a treatise on how food can inspire and inform our daily lives, illustrated artistically, 170
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and stretched to its cultural and philo sophical limits. Summers explains the original concept for S & S this way: “People don’t realize how much food touches their lives, inf orming art, f ashion, design, and much more. W e choose one food item f or each blog and use that as a starting point for visualization, focusing on the color, taste, scent, and tex ture of the food. We also include recipes and how-to projects for readers , and most recently, a podcast.” The podcast is hosted by both Libbie and f riend Brenda Anderson and is called “Simmer Down.” They talk about
a topic, always food-related, for ten to twelve minutes, and during that time the discussion usually tak es unexpected turns. Libbie admits, “Our talks can turn to sex, God, and God kno ws what else. We hope you’ll learn more about food with these podcasts, but you will most assuredly laugh.” Summers also creates recipes that are part of the narrative, with occasional help from Anderson. “Brenda has impeccable cooking skills, plus she owns Habersham Antiques where we get a lo t of the great pho to props we use.” The results are visually stunning and
worthy of an online visit. One of their food photos was recently featured as Most Pinned shot on Pinterest (which, as Pinterest addicts know, is in itself a coveted prize). Is there a book on Salted and Styled in the future? Summers admits, “Right now, I’m f inishing my second book, Sweet and Vicious, a baking book to be published nex t spring. Beyond that, we’ll see what happens . It would be a f un cookbook, though, don’ t you think?” Agreed. VISIT LIBBIE’S ACCLAIMED BLOG AT SALTEDANDSTYLED.COM
F O O D P H O T O G R A P H Y: C H I A C H O N G ; B E H I N D -T H E - S C E N E S : K A T H E R I N E S A N D O Z
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SHOP THIS SPREAD: POWER PERFECT You’ve landed the job . Now it’s time to stock up on all the thin gs that will make your job—and your life—a little easier. And don’t forget about the accessories that are going to help you look the part at dinner with the bo ss (hello, cufflinks!).
m Cufflinks: (left) Cuff
Daddy Guilty/Not Guilty Cuffflinks $50; (right) William Henry CL-2 Dino Cufflinks $550. l evy je weler s 912.233.1163 le vyje wele r s.com
m Cigar: Relax after dinner
with one of your favorite cigars. Prices vary. savannah cigar inc . 912.233.2643 savannahci gar sinc .com 308 w. con gre ss st. savannah, ga. 31401
o Samsung Galaxy: Call, text, email, app from one smart phone. Starting at $69.99 cell ula r sale s 912.944.4200 cell ula r sal es.com 1800 e. victory vic tor y dr. dr. savannah, ga. 31401
o iPad mini: The
16GB iPad mini is the perfect sidekick for power pros. $559 cell ula r sale s 912.944.4200 cell ula r sal es.com 1800 e. vic tor y dr. savannah, ga. 31401
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The concept of power dining, or combining business with the pleasure of a meal, mos t assuredly began no t long after the first strangers broke bread together. It’s an easy leap of faith to believ e that difficult decisions can be better made in a con vivial atmosphere around a table. If you don’t believe me, just check out almost any episode of Mad Men and watch how they land an account over drinks and dinner. Sure, that was the '60s, but things haven’t really changed much over the years—except, of course, what we order . And there’s the rub. Sometimes the simultaneous efforts of eating food and attempting dignified discussion can lead to disaster. If you’ve ever tried to eat spaghe tti while arguing the f iner points of a deal, you learned the hard w ay that business dinners require laser-focused attention on the subject at hand without the worry of how to get and keep f ood in your mouth. Elaborate dishes can work against you, but you also have to be wary of the obvious pitfalls of menu items . Is there spinach on your tee th? Your boss won’t tell you. No t sure where to put those pesky olive pits? Is the client looking at that s auce stain on your collar and not listening to your proposals? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. What follows is South’s guidebook to successful business dining, with appropriate dishes from local res tau-
rants to help you avoid the pitf alls of ordering and eating a power meal.
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THE JOB INTERVIEW
You’ve landed a coveted interview for a dream job and you want to put your best foot forward. The owner of the company wants to conduct the interview over dinner. He wants to get to know you, not just your resume, and he chooses a time and place to meet. Most restaurants post their menus online, so if you aren’t familiar with the place, you can figure out ahead of time what to order. There are a few dos and don’ts to remember. ✘ DON’T order the most expensive thing on the menu. It won’t impress your hos t for a number of reasons . It looks like you’re not cost conscious—and what business isn’t these days? Or worse, it looks lik e you’re hungry and desperate for a job and a meal. ✔ DO let the host order first and check out what the price point is for his meal. Come in under that for the cost of your dish. ✘ DON’T order anything that takes a lot of chewing: steak, octopus, chops, etc. You must be ready to ans wer questions and do a lot of talking. Remember: you are there to convince him you are the bes t person for the
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Chef Geir Kilen’s bleu cheese filet mignon at 700 Drayton
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Chef Brandy Williamson’s Grilled Savannah River Farms Pork Chop at Local 11Ten
job. You can’t talk with a mouthful of tough protein. ✔ DO order small plates of bite-size food that are eas y and quick to eat. ✘ DON’T order anything that is heavily sauced. ✔ DO ask the w aiter to serv e the sauce on the side. Y ou can choose to dip or, if the s auce is drippy, just bypass it altogether. SUGGESTED SAVANNAH POWER DISH Lobster Ravioli, Leoci’s Trattoria Ordering lobster shows your potential 174
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boss that you kno w your way around sophisticated food, but you don’ t go for the high-priced items that would break a budget. Some ravioli are small enough to eat in one bite, but at the most you would only need to cut it in two pieces to eat. This giv es you less time staring at your plate and more time looking him directly in the eye as you hit the high points of your personal sales pitch. Ha ving your sauce on the side le ts you decide whether to risk dripping an ything on your clothes—and, worse, not knowing about it until the meal is over. • ☛
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Chef Lauren Teague’s breakfast casserole at 22 Square
POWERPOINT CLIENT LUNCH
You landed the client and now you’ve created plans to help their business. You realize that your ideas may cost a little more than they had originally expected, so you invite the top people at their firm to lunch so you can make your presentation in a relaxed atmosphere. Here’s how to achieve serenity. ✔ DO allow your guests to order f irst. Price doesn’t matter because you are footing the bill. When you order last, make sure you tell the w aiter to bring the check to you. ✘ DON’T order a larg e, multi-course lunch. ✔ DO order something super simple, preferably a onedish item or hand-held f ood that you can either eat quickly or easily nibble on occasion. Y ou will have to guide the presentation and field questions and answers, so you canno t be focused o verly much on food. That said... ✘ DON’T forgo food altog ether. It might clue the client in that some thing may be wrong and raise their antennae. Y ou don’t want to look desperate or nervous, so eat your small lunch and... ✔ DO begin your presentation while they are s till eating. Ask them to con tinue eating, and get your major points across while they are busy with forks and spoons. They know you are there for a presentation, so there's no reason to force small talk until the meal is o ver. SUGGESTED SAVANNAH POWER DISH Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque, Vic’s on the River This is a delightful soup that is a great one-dish meal. •
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POWER BREAKFAST
The only time your team can get together to discuss the project is for breakfast. You may lead the group, or you may be just one of the players, but you know you’ll need to do some talking during the meal. You want to impress the people who are over you and, at the same time, be seen as a team player. Keep these things in mind… ✘ DON’T order expensive or fussy items. This is no t a celebratory brunch with friends or family . Order things you might eat at home on a work day morning, or a simple one-dish item. ✔ DO order a wrap or hand-held item that is casual and eas y to eat. Cas seroles are also g ood because they are simple and health y—and usually not too expensive. ✔ DO offer to pay for your o wn meal, unless someone from the group (i.e., your boss) insists on paying. Breakfasts are usually a meal where ev eryone is expected to pa y his or her o wn way. SUGGESTED SAVANNAH POWER DISHES The Breakfast Wrap, B. Matthews Eatery AND Breakfast Casserole with Baked eggs, Swiss Chard, Walker Farm Potato and Vegetable Hash, 22 Square Restaurant at the Andaz. Either of these dishes are casual, simple and eas y to eat—just the kind of food that everyone enjoys, with the added bonus that it won’ t end up on your business clothes. (Ask for the s auce on the side.) •
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TAKING A POTENTIAL CLIENT TO DINNER
You’ve just started your own business, and you would really like to land a special client. You’ve introduced yourself and made an initial presentation of your services at their office, but you feel they need to know you better to make the decision to hire you. You could invite them to a game of golf, but maybe you’re a woman and so is the client. And neither one of you likes golf. The best way to get to know someone is breaking bread together, so you invite them to join you for dinner. ✔ DO choose a quiet, upscale restaurant that you are familiar with and whose waiters may even know your name. Alw ays impressive. ✔ DO realize that you are the host in this situation but you are still going to defer to your gues t in a couple of ins tances, such as… ✔ DO order what you w ant. This is the time to order that s teak if you'd like. It will give the client a chance to follo w your lead, or ... ✔ DO ask them to order first. This lets them feel free to order what they ’d like rather than follo w your lead.
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✔ DO suggest an appetizer that you can share, if they don’t order one first. It’s a g enerous gesture and pairs well with a drink. Charcuterie plates are found on many menus these da ys. ✔ DO match the client course-for -course. It increases the sense of camara derie, and that’s the feeling you ’re trying to achiev e. SUGGESTED SAVANNAH POWER DISHES Bleu Cheese Filet Mignon, 700 Drayton With Crispy Calamari appetizer, Belford’s The steak at 700 Drayton is a standout dish that shows off your local steak know-how. Your clients will thank you. The crisp y calamari is slightly spic y, so it pairs well with dinner cock tails. •
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DINNER WITH THE BOSS
You got the job and now the boss has invited you to dinner to celebrate your first successful deal. She has picked an upscale restaurant that you have never been to. You want to show that you have the right stuff to play with the big boys/girls, and you realize that you should know how to order and which fork to use. It’s all about table manners; however, what to order is a big part of what you need to know. As with The Job Interview (#1), study the menu online beforehand to familiarize yourself with the food, so you don’t have to ask the waiter too many questions.
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✘ DON’T order first, regardless of whe ther the waiter asks you first. Defer to your boss. This gives you an idea of what you will eat, because you will want to order some thing slightly less expensiv e. ✘ DON’T take too long deciding what you w ant because that could send your boss the message that you are indecisiv e. ✔ DO order a dish that sho ws your expertise with local products , sustainable farm practices, and the kind of current res taurant trends that show you know your way around good food. ✔ DO order a meat dish if he orders meat. I’ m sorry, but allowing that you’re a vegan if your boss is more at home with a rib-eye is nev er going to get you a raise. On the other hand, if your boss orders a v egetarian dish, it might just be the time to g et on that bandw agon, or at leas t go for the pas ta with vegetables. If your boss orders a T-bone and you don’t care much f or steak, order pork chops or v eal instead. ✘ DON’T taste your food first, or offer a bite to the boss. This is jus t good manners; no need to explain. SUGGESTED SAVANNAH POWER DISHES Grilled Savannah River Farms Pork Chops with Crushed Potato and Grilled Asparagus, and Sauce Choron, at Local 11Ten These chops hit all the right no tes, plus it is a fabulous dish, well-prepared. Shows you know your way around meat, ev en if you don’ t order a s teak.
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{ DINING GUIDE }
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Yellow Daisy Festival
Yellow Daisy Festival Sky High Hot Air Balloon Festival
Best Southern Fests
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TA K E YO U R P I C K F R O M C AT F I S H , C R A F T B R E W S A N D H O T A I R B A L L O O N S elizabeth sheffield
GULLAH/GEEC HEE NATION INTERNATIONAL MUSIC & MOVEMENT FESTIVAL WHEN: August 2–4 WHERE: St. Helena and Hunting is -
lands, SC WHAT: A celebration of the emancipa tion of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, the festival winds its way through Beaufort County, South Carolina. The fes tival’s opening ceremony will f eature the Ujaama Drummers and Dancers and the Gullah/Geechee Nation Leaders . Take De Gullah Root Experience tour of St. Helena and Hunting islands led by Queen Quet and learn about Gullah history and languag e. Attend the Spiritual Worship Services on Sunday morning at Bethesda Christian Center on historic St. Helena Island. It will leave you f ull of song and praise. GULLAHGEECHEEMUSIC.EVENTBRITE.COM
PEACHTREE VILLAGE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WHEN: August 23–25 WHERE: Atlanta, GA 178
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WHAT: The Peachtree Village Interna-
tional Film Festival is back as one of the Southeast’s premiere film and arts festivals. Hosted by the African American Cinema Gallery and Gipp . Museums, Inc., the week end will of f er a variety of juried f ilm screenings, workshops and networking events at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Atlanta. PVIFF.COM; 678.615.8651 SKY HIGH HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL WHEN: August 30–September 1 WHERE: Callaway Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA WHAT: See the earth from above at the 15th annual Sky High H ot Air Balloon Festival. A Night Balloon Glo w kicks off the first night of the fes tival, and the weekend continues with balloon fights and tethered balloon rides high over the gardens. Ground lovers will enjoy a classic car sho w, live music, and the sight of beautiful balloons in flight. CALLAWAYGARDENS.COM, 1.800.CALLAWAY
SAVANNAH C RAFT BREW FEST WHEN: August 31 WHERE: Savannah, GA WHERE: The Savannah Craf t Brew Fest takes beer lovers across the Savannah River to the Westin Hotel f or unlimited samplings of domestic and international beers and ciders . Spend the af ternoon relaxing in the beer garden while enjo ying drinks and snacks from the event’s featured breweries, such as Sam A dams, Moon River and Abita. SAVANNAHCRAFTBREWFEST.COM
KINGSLAND CATFISH FESTIVAL WHEN: September 2–3 WHERE: Kingsland, GA WHERE: Celebrate Labor Day at the 30th annual Kingsland Catfish Festival. Activities include arts and crafts dis plays, antiques and collectibles , a 5K race, a classic car , truck and tractor expo and two days of live music. Don’t forget to put out some feelers for the Labor Day Catfish Festival Parade on
Monday morning. KINGSLANDCATFISHFESTIVAL.COM; 800.433.0225
YELLOW DAISY FESTIVAL WHEN: September 5–8 WHERE: Stone Mountain, GA WHERE: One of the most beloved arts and crafts festivals in the country, the Yellow Daisy Festival has been a favorite of mothers and daughters for 45 years. Enjoy live entertainment or browse the offerings of over 400 arts, crafts and food vendors . There’s even a Men’s Den, in case dad decides to tag along. STONEMOUNTAINPARK.COM; 770.498.5690
OKTOBERFEST WHEN: September 12 – 15 and 19 - 22 WHERE: Helen, GA WHERE: Enjoy German music, danc ing, f ood and, of course, beer at the 43rd annual Oktoberf est. Learn the waltz or how to polka with a Southern twist in Georgia’s most Germanic city. HELENCHAMBER.COM; 706.878.1619
P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F C A L L AWA Y G A R D E N S A N D S T O N E M O U N T A I N PA R K
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{ ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE }
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event calendar
AUGUST 1 $1 KIDS’ MOVIES Make your way to Pooler Stadium Cinemas for $1 movies with the kids! At 10 A.M. kids can enjo y their choice of either Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two (PG 13) or How to Train Your Dragon (PG). Popcorn and drinks are only $1.50 each, so bring the whole fam i l y ! 4 2 5 P O O L E R P KW Y; 912.330.0012 AUGUST 2 THE BEAT GOES ON Join the Sa vannah Theatre as it presents a two-hour liv e tribute performance of Beat Goes On, featuring music from the Beach Bo ys, the Beatles, the Bee Gees, and many more. The sho w begins at 8 P .M. and will end around 10 P.M. Tickets are $35 for adults and $17 for chil dren 17 and under. The performance will continue until A ugust 7. 222 BULL STREET; (912) 233-7764; SAVANNAHTHEATRE.COM COMEDY REVUE PRESENTS HYPNOTIST GARY CONRAD AND COMEDIAN VIC CLEVENGER Local comedy venue and bar Com edy Revue presents a s tand-up comedy show at the Ba y Street Theatre with hypnotist Gary Conrad. The show will last from 8 P.M. until 10 P.M. There will be a full bar and only those 21 and older ma y attend. 1 JEFFERSON STREET; 912.232.0200; SAVANNAHCOMEDYREVUE.COM
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enjoying the peaceful se tting that the Westin has to offer. 1 RESORT DRIVE; 912.201.2000; WESTINSAVANNAH.COM FIRST FRIDAY FIREWORKS ON THE RIVER Celebrate the f irst Friday of the month and plan a trip to Riv er Street. This beautif ul f ireworks extravaganza is impressive and great for a family night out. Remember to get there early for a g ood spot! Free admission. RIVER STREET; 912.234.0295; RIVERSTREETSAVANNAH.COM SOMETHING FOR ALL THE WORLD: THE GIRL SCOUT MOVEMENT Experience an in-depth tour of The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace. The expert professional staff will lead a detailed tour of the his toric house, including a special viewing of the Girl Scout Collection, w hich f eatures uniforms, insignia, books, and more! Admission is $15 by reservation only. 10 EAST OGLETHORPE AVE; 912.233.4501; JULIETTEGORDONLOWBIRTHPLACE.ORG AUGUST 3 FIRST SATURDAY ON THE RIVER Come start your day off right with First Saturday on the Riv er. There will be music, arts and crafts , and fun for everyone on famous Riv er Street. 404 EAST BAY STREET; 912.234.0295; RIVERSTREETSAVANNAH.COM
CHASING THE SUN SEPTEMBER 21 MORE INFO: Get ready to run from da wn to dusk at the Chase the Sun Ultra marathon benefitting Liam's Land. Choose to run for 6 or 12 hours at the Whitemarsh Island Preserv e. Food will be pro vided. Race registration is $65, and relay registration is $200. BRYAN WOOD ROAD; DANHERNANDEZ.COM/CHASETHESUN2013; LIAMSLAND.COM
at Doubles Night Club . Don’t have a partner or an y experience? No problem! Free admission. 7100 ABERCORN STREET; 912.352.7100; DOUBLESNIGHTCLUB.COM BEE GEES TRIBUTE BAND: “STAYIN’ ALIVE” Need a blast f rom the pas t? This tribute is the perfect way to experience the Bee Gees’ greatest hits in a live performance. The night is sure to be a winner f or bo th kids and adults! Tickets are $43 for A dults and $33 for children ages 4-15. THE ARTS CENTER OF COASTAL CAROLINA, 14 SHELTER COVE LANE, HILTON HEAD SC; 843-8422787; TICKETS.ARTSHHI.COM
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street f rom A ugust 9 until August 25. Jeffrey DeVincent directs the musical with musical di rection by Brandon Kauf man. Tickets range from $20-$30. 1 JEFFERSON STREET; 912.232.0200; BAYSTREETTHEATRE.ORG AUGUST 10 BILL COSBY AT JOHNNY MERCER THEATER Comedy legend Bill Cosby will be taking the stage at the Johnny Mercer Theater at 8 P.M. as a part of the Bill Cosby Comedy Tour. Tickets range from $38-$65. 301 WEST OGLETHORPE AVENUE; 912.651.6550
AUGUST 9 AUGUST 15
FIRST FRIDAY OYSTER ROAST Enjoy fresh oysters and live entertainment with the Westin Savannah from 7 P.M. until 10:00 P.M. Dance the night away under the stars while 180
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AUGUST 8 FREE SWING LESSONS Spice up your Thursda y night. Beginning at 7:30 P.M., open dancing and requested lessons are available
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET The terrifying barber Sweeney Todd will be coming to Ba y Street when the Bay Street Theatre presents
ASPCA COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT VOTING Help the Humane Society of Greater Savannah win The Community Engagement Award of $100,000 by RYA N GIBSON, JOHN A L E X A N DER
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voting the HSGS shelter your favorite! Voters can g o online or to the HS GS shelter and vote once a da y from August 15-31. ONLINE OR AT HSGS SHELTER, 7215 SALLIE MOOD DR.; HUMANESOCIETYSAV.ORG; 912.354.9515
showdown between the Savannah Derby Devils and the Texas Rollergirls’ Hustlers. The events will take place at the Savannah Civic Center. 301 WEST OGLETHORPE AVENUE; SAVANNAHDERBY.COM; 912.651.6550 AUGUST 23
AUGUST 17 NEAR EAST FAMILY DAY Telfair’s Family Day “Near East Family Day” will tak e place f rom 1 P .M. until 4 P.M. featuring a Middle Eastern music concert and various workshops. 207 WEST YORK STREET; 912.790.8800; TELFAIR.ORG SAVANNAH DERBY DEVILS The Savannah Derby Devils women’s roller derby league is bringing two back-to-back derby events! The f irst event begins at 5 P.M. and includes a “Back to School Brawl” that will highlight various roller girls f rom the Southeast region. The second ev ent begins at 7 P.M. and will be a derb y
PIVOT RALLY Seeking to bring men together through worship, speakers and interview sessions, the PIVOT Rally is a one-night event for men seeking the heart of God. Group tickets are $18 per person and $24.50 for single admission. SAVANNAH CIVIC CENTER, 30 1 WEST OGLETHORPE AVENUE; PIVOTRALLY.ORG AUGUST 24 OLD FORT JACKSON ANNUAL AUCTION AND LOWCOUNTRY BOIL This annual fundraiser f or Old F ort Jackson is a great w ay to pay tribute
FASHION'S NIGHT OUT SEPTEMBER 5 MORE INFO: Join the haute crowd on Broughton Street from 7:0011:00 P.M. for Savannah's third annual Fashion's Night Out. Celebrating all things fashion, this annual sho wcase of the finest local retailers as well as designers from across the country will include liv e music, f ashion shows and more. A dmission is f ree. FACEBOOK.COM/ FASHIONSNIGHTOUTSAVANNAH
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to Savannah’s history! The event includes a silent auction, music, cannon firings, a Lowcountry boil, and family activities. All proceeds benefit Old Fort Jackson. FORT JACKSON ROAD.; CHSGEORGIA.ORG; 912.232.3945
Dogs are welcome for this game, and kids under 12 g et a free slice of pizza and soda! The game is se t to start at 2 P.M. 1401 EAST VICTORY DRIVE; 912.351.9150; SANDGNATS.COM AUGUST 28
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“HAWAII FID-O” FRIENDS OF ANIMALS 15TH ANNUAL AUCTION Located at the Sa vannah Station, the Friends of Animals A uction serves to create awareness and benefit organizations like FACTS, Second Chance Dog Rescue, Save-A-Life, and more! Tickets include bar tickets, food station access, and participation in bo th the live and silent auctions! A dmission is $45. 7 P.M.-11 P.M. 601 COHEN STREET; 912.233.5400
DEEN FAMILY BOOK SIGNING The famed Lady and Sons will be hos ting a book signing with P aula, Jamie, and Bobby Deen from 2 P.M. until 4 P.M. Only 350 tickets will be given out one hour before the book signing, so get there early! No cameras are permit ted: a professional pho tographer will be on site to tak e your photograph. 102 WEST CONGRESS STREET; 912.233.2600; THELADYAND SONS.COM
AUGUST 25
AUGUST 29
BARK IN THE PARK Head down to the His toric Grayson Stadium for an afternoon of family fun!
MURDER MYSTERY CRUISE Delve into a family friendly liv e action murder mystery with the River Street
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River Boat Company. Participants will solve the mystery with the chance to win prizes while also enjo ying the scenery that the Sa vannah River has to offer. The cruise begins boarding at 9 P.M. and will return at 11 P.M. Tickets are $29.95 for adults and $19.95 for children 4-12. 9 EAST RIVER STREET; 800.786.6404; SAVANNAHRIVERBOAT.COM AUGUST 30 “MASTERS OF MOTOWN” Get ready to experience famed artis ts of the Motown era! Stylish cos tumes, impressive choreography and a liv e band make this an unforgettable perf ormance! The show includes songs f rom artists like Marvin Ga ye, the Temptations, Jackson Five and more! Ages 18 and up. Admission is $44. THE ARTS CENTER OF COASTAL CAROLINA, 14 SHELTER COVE LANE, HILTON HEAD SC; 843-8422787; TICKETS.ARTSHHI.COM
SEPTEMBER 1 TYBEE ISLAND LABOR DAY BASH Tybee Island will be hos ting a Labor Day Bash at the Tybee Island Pier and Pavilion! The event will include liv e music featuring the Swingin’ Medallions and a fireworks show that can be seen from the beach, pier, or anywhere on the island. The party will last from 7 P.M. until 10 P.M. with fireworks around 9:15 P.M. STRAND AVENUE, TYBEE ISLAND, GA; VISITTYBEE.COM SEPTEMBER 5 INK SLINGERS CREATIVE WRITING GROUP Join the Ink Slingers at the Southwest Chatham Branch Library twice a month on Thursdays at 5:45 P.M. to discuss poetry, engage in writing exercises, and exchange ideas! Anyone who is interested in poe try and prose is welcome! 14097 ABERCORN
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S T R E ET; FA C E B O O K . C O M / GROUPS/SAVINKSLINGERS FASHION’S NIGHT OUT Join the haute cro wd on Broughton Street from 7:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. for Savannah’s third annual F ashion’s Night Out. The showcase of local fashion retailers and designers from across the country will include live music, fashion shows and more. FACEBOOK. COM/FASHIONSNIGHTOUTSAVANNAH SEPTEMBER 6 FIRST FRIDAY OYSTER ROAST Celebrate the first Friday of September at the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort and Spa for oysters, grill items, drinks and more! After dinner , dance under the stars with music pro vided by the live band! 7-9:45 P.M. 1 RESORT DRIVE; WESTINSAVANNAH.COM 912-201-2000
COASTAL JAZZ ASSOCIATION GOLF TOURNAMENT Held in memory of beloved jazz musician and golfer, Ben Tucker, join the CJA at the Landing ’s Club Palmetto Course for a day on the links. Registration begins at 11:30. CJAGOLFTOURNAMENT.COM SEPTEMBER 7 GULFSTREAM PRESENTS DR. OZ Dr. Oz and his wife, Liza Oz, tak e the stage at the Savannah Trade and Convention Center as part of Gulfs tream’s Live Well. Be Well. series. Tickets are $10 and all proceeds g o to charity. 1 INTERNATIONAL DRIVE; GULFSTREAM.COM/LIVEWELL WILMINGTON ISLAND FARMERS' MARKET A group of residents from Wilmington Island have come together to present the first Wilmington Island Farmers'
LEOPOLD’S ICE CREAM BIRTHDAY BLOCK PARTY AUGUST 17 MORE INFO: Leopold’s, Savannah’s premiere ice cream parlor , celebrates 94 years of memories with a summer celebration. There will be live music, games, dancing and, of course, your favorite ice cream. 212 EAST BROUGHTON STREET; LEOPOLDSICECREAM.COM; 912.234.4442
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Market of the season! The mark et will last from 8 A.M. until 1 P.M. 111 WALTHOUR ROAD; WIFARMERSMARKET.ORG
SAFE KIDS SAVANNAH, 420 MALL BOULEVARD; 912.356.2160; SAFEKIDSSAVANNAH.ORG
SURFERS FOR AUTISM BEACH FESTIVAL Families and surfers will be able to hit the waves at Tybee’s third annual Coastal Empire Surfers for Autism Beach Festival at the Tybee Pier. The event will begin at 9 A.M. and end at 4 P .M. STRAND AVENUE, TYBEE ISLAND, GA; 912.652.6280; SURFERSFORAUTISM.ORG
SEPTEMBER 12 SAVANNAH SINGS! Join female singers of all ages for this fun event every Thursday at 7 P.M. for nothing but singing. No guys allo wed! Singers meet in the lo wer level of the Savannah Mall, in the mee ting room. 14045 ABERCORN STREET; 912.598.3005
THE LEUKEMIA CUP REGATTA Benefitting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Leuk emia Cup Regatta in Sa vannah is the second largest in the country! Held September 14-15, events include clay shooting, a yacht hop, auction and 5K run. Registration required. SAVANNAH YACHT CLUB, 730 BRADLEY POINT ROAD; 912.897.1314; LEUKEMIACUP.ORG/GA/
SEPTEMBER 10
SEPTEMBER 14
SEPTEMBER 16
SAFE KIDS SAVANNAH CAR SEAT SAFETY INSPECTION STATION Ensure that your car seat is s afe and installed correctly. At 9 A.M. a certified child safety technician will check for recalls and the o verall safety of your car seat. By appointment only.
TELFAIR’S “SHINY SHAPES AND DETAIL" Telfair’s Family Day “Shiny Shapes and Detail” will tak e place f rom 1 P .M. until 4 P.M. Families will be able to observe pieces of American and Euro pean silver in the Rizza Silv er Collection and will also learn the ideas be -
SAVANNAH RIVERBOAT CRUISES Experience a taste of the South on the Savannah Riverboat Cruises through October 28th. The cruise includes liv e gospel music and authentic Southern cuisine, such as f r ied chicken and other savory dishes. The event will last
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hind shapes and scrip ts in art. 207 WEST YORK STREET; 912.790.8800; TELFAIR.ORG
f rom 6 P.M. until 9 P.M. Tickets are $44.95 per adult and $2 4.95 for children 4-12. Children three and under may attend free of charg e. 9 EAST RIVER STREET; 800.786.6404; SAVANNAHRIVERBOAT.COM SEPTEMBER 19 FISH FRY Head down to the American Legion Post for some great food on the third F riday of every month. The f ish fry will include fish fillets, hush puppies, cheese grits, drinks, desserts and more! 3003 ROWLAND AVENUE; 912.663.8353; AMERICANLEGIONPOST184.ORG SEPTEMBER 21 MONTE CARLO: DEAL OUT THE DECADENCE Join the Telfair's William Jay Society for an evening of gaming, a silent auc tion, dancing, cock tails and hors d’oeuvres starting at 7:00 at the Jepson
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Center. Come early for the Southern Hospitality Hour at 6:00. Black tie p r e fe r r e d . 2 0 7 W E S T Y O R K STREET; TELFAIR.ORG
Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s f amous Symphony No. 5 in C minor. 32 ABERCORN STREET; 912.525.5040; LUCASTHEATRE.COM
CHASING THE SUN ULTRA MARATHON Get ready to run from dawn until dusk with the Chase the Sun Ultra, benefitting Liam’s Land. Runners ha ve the choice to run for 6 or 12 hours at the Whitemarsh Island Preserve, and food will be provided after the race. $65, for the races and $200 f or the rela y. BRYAN WOOD ROAD; DANHERN A N D E Z . C O M / C H A S ET H E SUN2013; LIAMSLAND.COM
“COASTAL CONNECTIONS”: DR. MAURICE MELTON The Ships of the Sea, Gra y’s Reef, and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography present the f inal speaker of its five-part series “Coastal Connections.” Dr. Maurice Melton will be speaking on the true life of sla ve Moses Dallas, one of the best steamboat pilots on the Georgia Coast. The ev ent is f ree to attend. 41 MARTIN LUTHER KING BOULEVARD; 912.232.1511; SHIPSOFTHESEA.ORG
OPENING NIGHT: BERNSTEIN, BUCKLEY, AND BEETHOVEN The Lucas Theatre for the Arts pres ents Opening Night: Bernstein, Buckley, and Beethoven, a performance b y the Savannah Philharmonic featuring Bernstein’s famous Candide Overture, the American premiere of Buckley ’s
SUBMIT YOUR EVENT AT SOUTHMAGAZINE.COM OR EMAIL US AT INFO@THESOUTHMAG.COM
SANDRA BERNHARDT SEPTEMBER 8 MORE INFO: Known f or her acerbic s tyle, Sandra Bernhardt of Roseanne fame is back at the mic for a one-da y stop in Savannah. The brash comedian with credits on Hot in Cleveland and Will & Grace doesn’t hold back, but it’ s all good fun. Performing at Club One at 4 P.M., this one-woman show is the definition of entertainment. 1 JEFFERSON STREET; CLUBONE-ONLINE.COM; 912.232.0200
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scenes of the south
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I VA N F E I G N , J O H N A L E X A N D E R A N D H A D L E Y H E N R Y
JCB MUD RUN ✱ JUNE 15, 2013 Nearly 2,000 runners—most of them in in cos costume— tume— battled the pits at at the the second annual JCB Mud MudRun Runsponsored sponsoredbbyy South magazine. After the race, TeamSouth welcomed runners to tothe theGoSouth GoSouthRRV V and the after afterparty which included BBQ and and pralines pralinesfrom fromSa Savannah vannah Candy Kitchen and music from the Domino Effect and The Train Wrecks.
Critz family
Mom’s Muddy Minions of Mayhem
Captain America
The Muddy Rascals
Rachel Watson and Lee Dasher
SCAD FASHION SHOW ✱ MAY 18, 2013 There was no shortag shortagee of beautiful designs designsat atthe the20 2013 13 SCAD Fashion Show, one of the premiere student fashion shows in the country. The annual show featured collections from SCAD’s top senior fashion fashion design designmajors majors.. Editors from various various national nationalmagazines magazines,, including Teen Vogue and Nylon,, were on hand handat atthe thesold-out sold-outsho show w to chronicle the theev evening ening of high style.
Savannah, featured designer Kourtney Wilson, Sarah, Emily, Danny, Bre and Kaleigh
Linda Howard and Staci Cannon
(above) Model wearing design by Michelle Leal; Brittani Bumb with model; Elyse Alligood with model
Featured designers Victoria Wanjuhi, Susan Mucino-Gomez, Ingrie Ramirez
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Kendall Lock, Jeni Carmichael, Emilie Sobel, Lori Sobel
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JOHN A LE X A N DER A N D K IM TOPLEY
MARTINIS AT THE MANSION ✱ JUNE 19, 2013 Savannahians took to Casmir ’s Lounge at the Mansion on F orsyth to sip and ne twork for a cause during June’s Martinis at the Mansion. South magazine was a proud sponsor of the ev ent, where the title drink sold for $5 each with proceeds benefitting the Second Harv est Food Bank. Guests also enjoyed a silent auction to benefit the organization. Join us the third W ednesday of every month!
Chelsea Bremer, Joel Cabrera, Samantha Marti, Scott West
Carrie Smith and Jessica Hurt
Drew Hunt, Jessica Lyons, Courtney Hester
Nikki Haygood, Emily Turknett, Katie Rudder
Morgan Corbett, Carolyn Brown, Alex Pendrick, Jamie Kroll
Kacey Kennickell, Mary Cathryne White, Carrie Egerton, Kelley Sullivan, Laura White
BUY LOCAL SAVANNAH ✱ JUNE 27, 2013
Susan and John Klein, Chuck and Ann Koepke
Judy Ouzts, Cathy Colasanto
Business leaders from all over Savannah attended Buy Local’s June event at The Pirates’ House. Benjamin Karpf, attorney at Bouhan F alligant LLP, spoke on legal issues surrounding the use of social media in business. Content of the presentation, entitled “ Social Media: Red Flags and Remedies,” was designed to engage social media users and non-users in learning about intellectual property issues and defamation.
Maria Burns, Tonya Reed
Frank Baylor, Michael Plummer, James Polole
Ken Gaylord, Caroline Koncul, Monty Lee, Jane Coslich
Adam Fins, Ben Karpf
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Dan Pavli, Kyle Nikola, Michelle Thompson
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through the lens of dan winters
UNTITLED
“I love this image and it’s never been published. The exterior wall of an old juke joint in Tuskegee, AL.” Dan Winters, a resident of Austin, TX, and Tybee Island, graced the cover of South for the 2012 October/November issue. His awardwinning photography has appeared in WIRED, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and many other national publications.
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coming next issue...
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➼ photogr aphy by china fagan, jabberpics, scad and angela hopper
OUR OCTOBER/ NOVEMBER ISSUE IS IN THE WORKS. HERE’S WHAT WE’VE GOT IN STORE.
The Food Show
DineSouth
The Food, Film & Famous Folks Issue! EAT, DRINK AND GO TO THE MOVIES For foodies and film buffs, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. This fall, South is ready to eat, drink and g o to the movies. South’s October/November issue is chock-full of good eats and great scenes . From the winners of our Greates t Chef contest (have you voted at southmagazine.com yet?) to South’s third annual Food Show and the ev ent of the season: DineSouth. Plus , we’re digging in to Sa vannah’s film scene with the Savannah Film Festival, a look at the mo vie biz along the Creativ e Coast and our place in H ollywood history. Look for us on newsstands October 1st. Savannah Film Festival and Savannah’s movie scene
South’s Greatest Chef Contest
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mouth of the south
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margaret harney & elizabeth sheffield | photogr aphy by hadley henry
The People Side of Business BY THE NUMBERS
HR specialist Suzanne Kirk of Employment Development Strategies, Inc.
With a master’s degree in Human Resources Manag ement and Development and experience working for major national companies, Suzanne Kirk knows HR. The president and executive consultant of Employee Development Strategies, Inc. helps her clients— such as Memorial Hospital and Digitas—develop collective business goals through a plan specifically suited to each client’s needs. “Any HR intervention should represent the company’s brand and emplo yment philosophy. There’s not a one size fits all,” she says. “This is what mak es my approach different. I focus on what the businesses needs when it comes to creating a great emplo yment experience for their people and ensuring they are best prepared to help achiev e business objectives.” visit kirkhr.com to learn more about kirk and employee development strategies, inc.
➔ THE 10 KEYS TO A GREAT CULTURE
➊ BRING YOUR BRAND INSIDE THE ORGANIZATION. Are you a family biz? A cutting edge firm? Your processes and employment experience should match and support your brand. ➋ EMBRACE YOUR EMPLOYMENT PHILOSOPHY. How do you define the employer-employee relationship? What's your leadership style? Make a conscious decision regarding how you will uphold your philosophy. ➌ LINK TO THE BIGGER PICTURE. All employees have to know how they personally contribute to achieving business goals. Help them see their connection to the customer and to the bottom line. ➍ SET MUTUAL EXPECTATIONS FROM THE VERY START. Begin during the interview process. Identify what you need and expect from the employee to meet your business objectives and clarify what he or she can expect from you. ➎ BE CONSISTENT. Document your mutual expectations in an employee handbook with policies and job descriptions, ensuring that the level of detail, tone and even the look and feel are representative of your brand. ➏ KEEP PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT HOLISTIC. There are many factors that impact the performance of your people, and all of them are interconnected. If something is not working, get to the root cause of the issue and consider all aspects. (For example, throwing more salary dollars at your employees won’t “fix” their performance if they have not been adequately trained.) ➐ COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE. Get key messages to your people in as many channels as possible. Set standing update meetings with set objectives and outcomes to make the time productive. ➑ DEVELOP YOUR PEOPLE. How will you effectively on-board your employees to train them for job success? What ongoing learning opportunities can you provide? ➒ LOOK IN THE MIRROR. Sometimes the root cause issue can be found when leaders look in the mirror. Self-assess and take a look at your style, communication, and work habits. ➓ HAVE FUN. Collaboratively determine how you and your employees want to celebrate accomplishments and bring fun into the workplace.
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south's picks for the best places to eat, play stay and shop in downtown savannah!
EAT 1 a.l ure res taur ant 2 goose fe athers 3 the pir ate's house 4 17hundred90 5 b&d burgers 6 belf ord ’s seaf ood & s teaks 7 brasserie 529 8 cil antro ’s grill and c antina 9 cupc ake emporium 10 moon river bre wing c ompany 11 wright squ are c afe 12 moe's southwes t grille 13 dub’s, a public house 14 le oci’ s tr at toria 15 wet willie’ s 16 700 drayton savannah river bo at cruises
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PLAY 1 live o ak public libr aries 2 jepson center 3 telf air a cademy 4 owens-thomas house 5 savannah civic center 6 galler y le snoo t 7 georgia s tate r ailro ad museum 8 l uc as the ater ✖ old s avannah t ours savannah river bo at cruises
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1 andaz savannah 2 rob s at dr ayton t ower 3 mansion on f ors yth park 4 bohemian hotel s avannah riverfront 5 the westin s avannah 6 hyat t re genc y
SHOP 1 savannah c andy kit chen 2 the sal t t able 3 fab’rik 4 perry rubber bike shop 5 sug ar w ork s bath & bod y 6 gl obe shoe c ompany 7 savannah harle y-davidson 8 fl ops & sock s 9 le vy je welers 10 red cl over 11 the men's store by joseph 12 river s treet s weets
for more information, visit savannahriverboat.com
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- D OW N T OW N M A P -
GREATEST PLACES to
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DINING ENTERTAINMENT E X P E R I E N C E S EN JOY AN EV EN IN G DI NN ER , LIV E CU OF LT UR AL EN TE RTAI NM EN T AN D AN UN FO RG ET TA BL E TO UR OF SAVA NN AH ! SAVA NN AH RI VE RB OA T.COM
SAVANNAH RIVERBOAT CRUISES FOR RESERVATIONS & TICKETS VISIT SAVANNAHRIVERBOAT.COM or CALL 912.232.6404 or 800.786.6404
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