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The day after Martina Davis-Correia’s death last week, news headlines across the country announced “Troy Davis’ Sister Dies.”
The many articles that appeared from Savannah to San Francisco and even in Europe focused on her devotion to her brother Troy, but they only provided a partial picture of this multi-faceted, extraordinary woman.
Anyone who knew Martina can tell you she wasn’t simply the activist sister of someone notorious. She wore many hats including devoted mother, nurse and even Army veteran, but many of us will always remember Martina as a powerful voice for and friend...
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It hasn't been that long since it was considered both legal and acceptable to light up a cigarette in restaurants. Thanks to statewide clean air laws, society has come to accept that someone who wants to smoke in restaurants and other public places simply needs to step outside.
Unfortunately when the legislature passed the Georgia Smoke-free Air Act in 2005, special interest lobbyists attached themselves to lawmakers like remora on a big fish, and the final bill included loopholes big enough to drive a cigarette truck through.
Like many other Georgia communities, the City of Savannah is considering adopting a local ordinance...
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The hospital on 62nd Street bustles with activity.
Bubba Fletcher has been coughing. Using a camera with 3-dimensional imagery, doctors detect a mass of malignant cells then use radiation to shrink the tumor.
Down the hall, Suzie undergoes an EKG for congestive heart failure. Barry jogs on an underwater treadmill following a total hip replacement. Larry sits patiently through dialysis treatments for kidney failure.
Sounds perfectly normal, except that Bubba is a Bulldog, Suzie is a Schnauzer, Barry is a Beagle and Larry's a Labrador Retriever.
With 90 veterinarians, the Animal Medical Center in New York City sees over 50,000 "patients" a year using...
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"Code Blue...Code Blue...Code Blue...Code Blue..." said the tense voice over the hospital intercom.
"Someone is having a bad day," I naively thought as our family patiently sat in the surgery waiting room.
For those who don't speak hospital-talk, "Code Blue" announced hospital-wide is the equivalent of someone on a Navy vessel screaming "Battle Stations! All hands on deck!" People with stethoscopes come running from every direction for the purpose of preventing someone's metaphorical ship from sinking.
"Code Blue...Code Blue...Code Blue..." continued the voice.
Then it hit me: That "someone" having a bad day was our someone. My mother-in-law Nancy Hughes checked into Memorial Hospital...
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Pink. Pink. Pink.
Pink newspaper. Pink ribbons. Pink ink. Pink yogurt lids, cell phones, vacuum cleaners, even pink cat food. Everywhere you look this month, there's a plethora of pink.
This sea of pink represents a purposeful and blatant attempt to brainwash you. Eventually, the color pink will evoke a Pavlovian response in which your brain subconsciously associates pink with breast cancer.
The message is simple: Get an annual mammogram and do a monthly breast self-exam.
The reason is clear: Early detection saves lives. A woman diagnosed with early stage breast cancer has a 98 percent survival rate.
With the town awash in a Pepto-Bismalish...
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In 1776, three things were considered "extremely proper subjects" for taxation: Rum, sugar and tobacco. They were taxed, not because they were evil, sinful products, but because they weren't considered "necessities of life."
Last Wednesday, a state legislative subcommittee listened to three hours of testimony concerning the timeless topic of tobacco taxation. House Bill 39 by State Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, increases Georgia's 37 cent cigarette tax by $1 per pack and raises the 10 percent tax on smokeless tobacco to 25 percent.
In the recent Savannah...
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Near the Piggly Wiggly at Sandfly, it's no big deal to see a linebacker-sized man hitchhiking in a tuxedo jacket with tails, a Stetson hat with a turkey feather, chunky turquoise jewelry and Birkenstocks.
That's just Harold. He's lived here all his life.
Harold looks like a cross between an aging hippie, a Navajo chief and a philharmonic conductor. With his shoulder-length grey hair, chiseled jaw, and sharp nose, he remains strikingly handsome. Harold says he used to be addicted to alcohol and opiates,...
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One February night in 1987, a rare snowfall blanketed the University of Georgia transforming the hilly campus into a magical winter wonderland.
This was not the typical ice storm that occasionally paralyzed the South. Rather it was six inches of the honest-to-goodness, white fluffy stuff that was actually suitable for snowman-making.
It was 5 a.m. at the Delta Delta Delta sorority house and I had set my alarm to wake...
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Ten years ago today, Georgia hit the jackpot.
On Nov. 21, 1998, the attorneys general from 46 states announced a $246 billion settlement with the four Big Tobacco companies. In the largest civil settlement in U. S. history, the tobacco companies agreed to compensate the states for the cost of providing health care to persons with smoking-related illnesses and to curtail advertising and marketing to teens.
Each state's share of the windfall depended on their number of Medicaid recipients, cost of medical services, and Medicaid...
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This Halloween, there's a haunted house at the end our street. Its occupants, a young couple with a new baby and their three dogs, mysteriously vanished. It took awhile for the neighbors to realize that they weren't coming back. Vandals actually spotted it first and broke into the abandoned home to smoke pot.
Rumor has it the young family drowned. They were in over their heads in tough financial waters and were unable to climb to safety. No one knows...
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Editor's note: On Sunday's Commentary page, Savannah attorney and working mom Caroline Keller, 41, writes about surviving one of the worst types of breast cancer.
Twenty-five years ago, the words from your doctor, "You have breast cancer," were considered by many to be a death sentence.
Saying or even printing "breast cancer" was considered inappropriate in many venues. Frequently, women would die from breast cancer, and it was simply said that "Grandma or Auntie 'passed'" with no further explanation.
And people knew not to ask.
To quote a great slogan for a politically incorrect product, "We've come a long way baby!"
Today, a woman...
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Editor's note: The writer lived in Georgia as part of an exchange program.
Far away, nestled snugly between the Black Sea and Caucasus mountain range, lies a small but sincere country named Georgia.
The Georgians are a handsome people with their characteristic dark hair and dark eyes. They have practiced Christianity since 300 A.D....
