By Lou Phelps, SBJ Staff

Feb 20, 2012 –The Telfair Museums has announced that well-known Sotheby's auctioneer C. Hugh Hildesley will serve as auctioneer for this year’s 2012 Telfair Ball this Friday, Feb. 25.

As Senior Auctioneer, Hildesley has conducted some of Sotheby's most prestigious sales, including the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Sale, the sale of the Property of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and The Barry Halper Sale of Baseball Memorabilia.

His participation has been made possible by Hildesley and Sotheby's donating his auctioneer time to the Telfair, and paying for his flight to Savannah. The Telfair has also announced that Philip A. White, president and Chief Operating Officer of Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC, is also planning to attend the Telfair Ball.

"I am thrilled someone of Mr. Hildesley's caliber is leading the auction at this year's Telfair Ball," said Helen Williams Johnson, chair of the Telfair Ball. "He has handled so many of the biggest auction events in the world." Arrangements to secure Hildesley as the auctioneer was accomplished by Celia Dunn of Celia Dunn Sotheby's International Realty, Johnson’s aunt.

The museum has two evenings of events planned this year. The Telfair Silent Art Auction will take place this Thurs., Feb. 23. The 32nd Annual Telfair Ball will then follow on Friday, Feb. 25, along with The Telfair Bash which take place later that night at 9:00 p.m. This year's theme “Illume” is an interpretation of a scene by Leo Villareal, an artist who uses encoded computer programming to make illuminated display installations.

The Telfair Silent Art Auction on Thursday will begin at 6 p.m. Tickets are $50 for members and $85 for non-members. Guests can wander the halls of the Jepson Center and bid on artwork from well-known local artists at the newly popular Silent Art Auction.

Featuring over 100 pieces of phenomenal artwork, the Art Auction has been on display and available for view online this week for silent auction bidding. Guests can bid until the night of the event when winners will take home their auction prizes at the end of the night.

The Telfair Bash will take place February 25 at 9 p.m. at Telfair Academy. Bash tickets are $100 for Telfair members and $135 for non-members. Back by popular demand, the Bash will treat guests to fine food, cocktails, and a live band as well as an opportunity to participate in the silent auction. Ball participants will join the Bash after dinner to conclude the evening with dancing and celebration.

A highlight of Savannah's social scene, The Telfair Ball benefits the museums' exceptional exhibitions, educational programs, and acquisitions. The Ball is open only to Directors Circle members of the Telfair; for information about joining the Directors Circle, call 912-790-8864. The Ball has a separate auction. Hildesley will be the auctioneer for The Telfair Ball auction.

Levy Jewelers has donated a diamond and sapphire bangle bracelet. Ray Ellis has donated an original work of art for the Ball auction for the 29th consecutive year, and world-famous portrait photographer Dan Winters has donated to the Ball auction a portrait setting and portrait. Another item is a trip that includes two nights at the George V in Paris and two nights at the Goring Hotel in London. One of the many other items is a dinner for 36 at Local 1110 with wine pairings and more on the Perch (rooftop deck).

Guests will enjoy some of the best food and entertainment the Hostess City has to offer. The silent auction and cocktail reception takes place in the Telfair Academy's Sculpture Gallery, and the fast-paced live auction will take place in the Rotunda. Dinner will be in the Jepson Center.

A number of unusual items will add to the prestige of the event. For example, Bastille Metal Works, a local architectural metal design company, will be providing a custom pewter table valued at $15,000 to benefit the Telfair Museum's Illume Silent Auction. The company will utilized their unique slip-casting technique to create a table inspired by the architectural moulding atop a column in the interior of the Telfair Museum. The pewter tabletop with a handmade zinc base reflects Savannah's rich history as a flourishing arts and cultural hub while maintaining the Bastille Metal Work's signature sleek and modern style, according to the company.

The auction will feature more than 100 pieces of handcrafted artwork. The proceeds of the Bastille Metal works piece will be dedicated to benefit children's art education and outreach in the Savannah community.

Bastille Metal Works is a manufacturer of custom cast zinc and pewter countertops, range hoods, and furnishings in North America, noted for undertaking complex designs and offering the largest selection of finishes and edge profiles.

About Hugh Hildesley

Hildesley joined Sotheby's in 1961 and played an integral role in Sotheby's formative years in New York, according to the company. He is currently Executive VP of Client Development, New York; Director, Sotheby's Canada Inc.; and Chairman, Sotheby's Canada Advisory Board, and has lectured widely on the art market. He is also the author of ‘The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling at Auction.’

Hildesley was the auctioneer responsible for the sale of the Guennol Lioness, of 3000 B.C., which sold for $57 million-a record for any sculpture sold at auction at the time. He was also the auctioneer for the sale of Paul Kane's Scene in the Northwest - Portrait, which sold for $5.2 million in 2002 and remains the record for any Canadian painting.

"An experienced auctioneer like Hildesley is critical to the success of a live auction," said Lisa Grove, the director and CEO of Telfair Museums. "Great auctioneers have the ability to engage and excite the audience and encourage them to raise their paddles to benefit the museum."

The Telfair Ball is the biggest fundraiser for the Telfair Museums and helps make its exhibits and educational programs possible, Johnson explained.

"I'm always amazed to see what they're doing in educational programs," Johnson said, adding that she's hoping to be able to buy some computers for the educational areas since they currently only have four old computers. The Telfair Museums offers extensive educational programs, some free of charge, for adults and children.

"The Telfair's exhibits are amazing," Johnson said. "The Telfair brings major exhibits that Savannahians otherwise couldn't see without traveling extensively." In December, the Telfair Museums' Jepson Center for the Arts will be one of only four museums in the U.S. that will host an exhibition of Italian masterworks by artists such as Botticelli and Titian from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. One of the world's greatest art museums, the Uffizi Gallery dates to 1560 and began its storied history as the repository of the priceless collection of Florence's famous Medici family.

"I don't think Savannah would be the same without the Telfair," Johnson said. "It's such an important part of the community and its culture. It embodies the old with the new."

Feb 20, 2012 - The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) updated its business plan last week for returning to profitability and long-term financial stability. While essentially consistent with announcements last fall, last week’s details incorporate important refinements of financial projections and recommended legislative reforms needed to be passed by Congress.

And, the announcement appears to mean that the USPS will not be bailed out by Congress subsidizing current service standards. So, significant changes will, in fact, take place.

In the Savannah area, the USPS has proposed closing their SCF processing center in West Chatham County, slowing down mail delivery in the area.

“The plan we have developed requires a combination of aggressive cost reduction, rethinking the way we manage our healthcare costs, and comprehensive legislation to reform the business model of the Postal Service,” said Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe. “If provided the flexibility to quickly implement this plan, we can return to profitability and better serve the American public. If not, we risk becoming a significant burden to the American taxpayer.”

At its core, the plan requires the reduction of annual costs by at least $20 billion by 2015, rising to more than $22 billion by 2016. This cost reduction is necessary given projected declines in First-Class Mail volume, which has already has dropped by 25 percent since 2006. However, the Postal Service can achieve only a portion of these reductions under current business model constraints; legislative changes are needed to achieve the full $20 billion in cost reductions.

The plan includes reduced overnight delivery of First-Class Mail; delivery outside the local area up to 200 miles will be delivered within 2 days; and delivery to destinations over 200 miles will be delivered within 3 days. Mail, even with a county, will be slowed down.

The USPS projects that they will lose business because of slower service, but the loss is
“dwarfed by projected network cost savings,” they state. And, they acknowledge that “much of the customer base is unaware of the current standards, notably overnight delivery,” within a wide area which will end.

Georgia has 11 SCF centers that process mail. Savannah’s center processes all mail with the first three digits of 313 and 314 and South Carolina mail for zip codes beginning with 299. The USPS has announced that they may process Savannah’s mail through Jacksonville or Charleston, affecting the jobs of 200 employees at the Savannah center. Additionally, the USPS outsources mail processing to several local mailing companies during peak periods.

If the legislation desired is not passed the USPS could incur annual losses as great as $18.2 billion by 2015, and accumulate a total debt of $92 billion by 2016. The Postal Service is a self-financing federal entity that generates its revenue from the sale of postal products and services.

The five-year plan provides an achievable roadmap to long-term financial stability and independence from taxpayer support, and provides for full repayment of $12.9 billion in debt currently owed to the U.S. Treasury. A central tenet of the plan is that success is not dependent upon achieving a mix or subset of reforms: the scale of the financial challenge requires that all of the major elements be pursued concurrently and fully executed within a short window of opportunity.

Among the major legislative reforms recommended, the most significant include enabling the Postal Service to provide employee health benefits independent of federal programs ($7.1 billion annual cost reduction), and transitioning to a national five-day delivery schedule ($2.7 billion annual cost reduction).

The Postal Service also is aggressively pursuing the realignment of its mail processing, retail and delivery operations, which is expected to yield more than $8.1 billion in annual cost reduction. Additionally, the Postal Service is seeking other significant cost reductions and is continuing efforts to grow or retain revenues within its current business model.

The plan has been subjected to independent review and analysis by Evercore Partners, one of the nation’s leading independent investment banks and a prominent financial advisor on major corporate restructurings. Evercore Partners played an important role in analyzing Postal Service models and assumptions, and validating the approach taken by management to develop the plan. The plan also reflects prior business model analysis from McKinsey & Company and revenue projections from the Boston Consulting Group.

"We have set out a roadmap to put our current financial crisis behind us and we are highly confident that it is achievable,” said Donahoe. “However, our success depends on whether we can quickly implement our proposed changes, and that depends on whether we can gain the necessary legislative reforms we need to move ahead.”

The Postal Service is a vital part of the nation’s economic infrastructure, providing a reliable, secure, and affordable delivery platform that sustains a $900 billion mailing industry that employs 8 million people.

Currently, there are 32,000 retail locations, and annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500.

SBJ Staff Report

Feb 13, 2012 - The Tybee Island Tourism Council has launched a Tybee Island app for iPhone, iPad and Android users. The app was designed by DeVivo Marketing, and is the first full-scale app developed to showcase the best of Tybee Island.

The free mobile app offers convenient GPS navigation as well as detailed information about various dining, activities and lodging options on Tybee Island. Visitors can easily find the perfect restaurant for lunch or the ideal accommodations for the weekend, according to Amy Gaster, president of the Tybee Island Tourism Council.

Google Maps provides convenient turn-by-turn directions to a wide range of destinations and attractions on the island. Highlights include photos, reviews and links to additional information.

“We realize that today’s travelers want easy access to information to help plan their visit through their Smartphones,” said Gaster. “This new app makes visiting Tybee easier than ever. It serves as an ideal complement to our informative www.tybeevisit.com website and gives visitors all the information they need to maximize any visit to Tybee Island.”

The app includes RSS feed links as well as easy access to Tybee Island’s social media feeds, allowing users to access immediate updates about local news -- from beach updates to weather reports -- through Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.

“This app serves as an ideal navigation tool for visitors,” said Charissa Murray of DeVivo Marketing. “We’re delighted to create a user-friendly app that shares the very best of Tybee Island with a national and international audience.”            

The Tybee Island, Georgia app is currently available for free download from the iTunes App Store or from the Android Market.            

The app will continue to be refined and developed as the spring season approaches, with new information about parking and lifeguard stations being added in the coming months, Gaster added.

By Lou Phelps, SBJ Staff

Feb 6, 2012 – It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years…that four years ago tomorrow, at about 7:25 p.m., local media began to get alerts that there had been an explosion at the Imperial Sugar plant. 

It was the first time in recent memory that local emergency groups were called into action for a major disaster in Chatham County, and it was hours before the horrible loss of life and extent of injuries became known.   

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 will mark the fourth anniversary of the massive sugar dust explosion that killed 14 workers and injured 38 others at the Imperial Sugar Refinery in Port Wentworth. The loss of life continues to be mourned in the community by family members and co-workers.

Seven months after the explosion, the federal Chemical Safety Board (CSB) board members came to Savannah in September 2009 to discuss the disaster, sharing what they had learned at that point, and providing insight into both what happened that night, and need for changes to OSHA and Federal and State regulations and management of manufacturing plants.  

The CSB concluded that Imperial Sugar had inadequately designed and maintained dust collection and sugar handling equipment, and that inadequate housekeeping practices allowed highly combustible sugar dust and granulated sugar to accumulate to explosive concentrations throughout the refinery’s packing buildings.

Today, the Chairman of the CSB, Rafael Moure-Eraso, issued a public statement on the four-year anniversary, saying that the investigation staff keeps “the memory of this tragedy close to us as we continue to advocate for changes in national workplace rules aimed at preventing such accidents in the future. We believe the safety recommendations that followed from our investigation of this accident will go far in saving lives. I am pleased to report that on this accident anniversary all but one of our recommendations have been successfully adopted by their recipients,” he said today.

Specifically, the CSB called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, to “proceed expeditiously” on its 2006 recommendation that OSHA promulgate a new combustible dust standard for general industry.  “We believe such a standard is necessary to reduce or eliminate hazards from fires and explosions from a wide variety of combustible powders and dust,” he explained. “I am disappointed that OSHA has not moved forward on this recommendation. Completing a comprehensive OSHA dust standard is the major piece of unfinished business from the Imperial Sugar tragedy.”

“It is gratifying to be able to report that during 2011 the CSB designated Imperial Sugar’s responses to all five of our safety recommendations to the company as ‘Closed-Acceptable Action.’  Specifically, the CSB recommended that Imperial Sugar develop a corporate-wide comprehensive program to control combustible dust accumulation, develop training materials that address combustible dust hazards and train all employees and contractors, and improve its evacuation procedures.  We recommended Imperial Sugar comply with National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) recommended practices for preventing dust fires and explosions, and urged the company to conduct a comprehensive review of all of its manufacturing facilities’ adherence to NFPA standards,” he adds.   

“We recently received notice from Imperial Sugar’s property insurer, Zurich Services Corporation, that it is providing its risk engineers ongoing training in the hazards of combustible dusts, which we recommended. This will help ensure that hazards are identified during insurance inspections so that the companies can eliminate or reduce the hazard before a catastrophic accident occurs. Additionally a series of safety recommendations to AIB International and the American Bakers Association -- to develop combustible dust training and auditing materials -- also have all been given a status of “Closed-Acceptable Action.”

The CSB recently reissued its call for a dust standard from its investigation into three flash fires that occurred in a series of accidents at the Hoeganaes Corporation iron powder processing plant in Gallatin, Tennessee, taking five lives.  But OSHA lowered the CSB recommendation’s priority on its regulatory agenda in recent weeks.

“I continue to advocate for a comprehensive combustible dust standard, and encourage industry’s support.  Preventing dust explosions is a necessary investment: prevention saves lives and massive property losses.   It is my view that a comprehensive standard will save lives and prevent future combustible dust fatalities.

The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating serious chemical accidents. The agency's board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems.