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Savannah. GA
Permit No. 923
“GEORGIA’S BEST WEEKLY”
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December 29,2010-January 4,2011* Vol. 38 No. 44 • www.savannahtribune.com • 912-233-6128 • Fax: 912-233-6140
New Officers Elected to Step Up
Savannah’s Board of Directors
Robert E. James
S tep Up Savannah’s new slate of offi
cers will begin their terms on
January 1, 2011. Robert E. James,
president of Carver State Bank, is chair
man of the Step Up Board of Directors;
Michael Traynor, publisher of the
Savannah Morning News is vice-chair
man; and John Wills, Executive Director
of Consumer Credit Counseling Service,
Inc. is Treasurer/Secretary. Sr. Pat Baber
steps into her role as immediate past chair
man after a year of serving as the board’s
leader, and a founding member of the
organization’s board of directors.
Officers serve one-year terms while
board members serve three-year terms,
according to the organization’s by-laws.
Step Up’s board represents the range of its
Michael Traynor
collaborative partners: Business and gov
ernment policy makers, social service
providers, and neighborhood residents
representing the high-poverty census
tracts. Members meet bi-monthly at the
Department of Family and Children
Services’ office on Wheaton Street. The
board’s first meeting in 2011 will be held
on January 25. Officers will serve January
1 - December 31, 2011.
Other Step Up board members are:
Bemetta Anderson, Maria Elena Bowden,
Virginia Brown, Leon Burton, Earline
Wesley Davis, Helen Downing, Micheal
Elliott, Bishop Willie Ferrell, Deborah
Goldwire, Stephanie Gray, Cathy Hill,
Bill Hubbard, Mayor Otis Johnson,
County Chairman Pete Liakakis, Thomas
John Wills
Lockamy, Kathy Love, The Rev. James
Nelson, Pamela Oglesby, Michael Polak,
Alethea Frazier Raynor, Millie Rivers,
Gregg Schroeder, Rochelle Small-Toney,
Jim Stevenson, Tyrone Ware, Diane
Weems, M.D., Charles Wilhite, and Rick
Winger.
Step Up Savannah, Inc. incorporated
as a non-profit in 2009 and continues its
work through action teams focused on
workforce development and adult educa
tion, wealth building and work supports. It
also oversees Chatham County’s
Construction Apprentice Program, and
partners with the City to run the “Bank On
Savannah” campaign. For more informa
tion, visit Step Up’s Web site:
<http://www.stepupsavannah.org/>
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Savannah goes smokefree in all workplaces at
noon on January 1, 2011. In August of 2010, the
Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah voted
to pass the ordinance that will become effective at
noon on January 1. The new law expands the
Georgia Smokefree Air Act to prohibit smoking all
public places and workplaces in the City of
Savannah.
City officials hope that this law will elimin-
mate secondhand smoke exposure for employees
and patrons, particularly children, and significantly
improve the overall health of all citizens.
Many of Savannah’s businesses have already
gone smokefree due to the 2005 passage of the
Georgia Smokefree Air Act by the legislature. The
Savannah ordinance closes most of the loopholes in
the state law and enacts a comprehensive smokefree
ordinance governing all businesses and public
places in the city.
A person who smoke in an area where smoking
is prohibited can be fined up to $100. Businesses
that permit smoking can be fined up to $100 for a
first-time violation, $200 for a second violation
within one year, and $500 for each additional viola
tion within one year. City officials may also choose
to suspend or revoke permits or licenses issued to
businesses that ar habitual violators of the ordi
nance.
Some restaurants and bars meeting specific
square footage requirements may allow smoking in
no more than 20 percent of their outdoor areas
For more information about the City of
Savannah Smokefree Air Ordinance, please call
912-651-6420 and ask for the City of Savannah
Citizen’s Liaison Office or visit www.healthysavan-
nah.org/smokefree.
Hospice Savannah Art Gallery Presents
“Low Country Perspectives”
A Fireall The Red Dress
The Hospice Savannah Art Gallery is
proud to display “Low Country
Perspectives,” works by four local artists
during January and February, 2011. Work
will hang January 4 through February 28
with an artists’ reception on the evening of
January 13.
Richard Law and Allen Fireall are
both self-taught artists who were raised in
Savannah and inspired by black culture
and the landscapes of the low country of
Georgia and South Carolina. Law, who is
not only an artist, but also a barber and an
accomplished musician who has mastered
the flute and saxophone, says his work is a
blend of folk art, jazz and contemporary
influences.
Fireall, raised in part by grandparents
Pearl and Nathan Bentley in an area just
outside of Hardeeville, South Carolina,
became very familiar with the community
of African Americans know as Gullah,
descendants of former slaves who during
and after the Civil War occupied the
islands just off our coast. His grandparents
spoke the Gullah language and this famil
iarity endows Fireall’s work with a rich
perspective. His more urban-inspired can
vases depict such scenes as men in blues
The Chicken Lady
clubs, children accompanying parents on
their way to church, and the storefronts and
neighborhoods of Savannah.
See Hospice Art, page 6
Savannah Fire
Receives Port
Security Grants
SAVANNAH, GA - Savannah Fire & Emergency
Services has been able to tap into federal funding to
enhance the department’s Hazmat capabilities.
SFES is the recipient of two grants totaling
$273,000. The money comes from the Department
of Homeland Security and is issued through the Port
Security Grant Program. The funding will enable
the department to purchase state-of-the-art air mon
itoring equipment and specialized fire suppression
equipment.
SFES Special Operations Division Chief James
Vickers says the first grant ($95,000) will be used to
purchase Hazardous Gas and Vapor Identifier
(HGVI) meters which will be used to monitor
atmospheric conditions to identify hazardous gasses
and/or vapors at an incident. These funds also cover
the training for the HGVI monitors across all three
shifts.
Vickers reports the second grant ($178,000) is
for a Foam/Agent Trailer and a Prime Hauler. The
trailer will utilize fire suppression foam, which has
already been purchased utilizing department Hazmat
funds, to battle blazes originating from fuel sources.
See Savannah Fire, page 2