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Most people probably would like to have money problems like Eric Johnson's.

At first glance, it might seem that the state senator could begin his race for lieutenant governor in 2010 with a big advantage.

The Savannah Republican announced recently that if - as is expected - Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle runs for governor, Johnson will run for Cagle's job.

To clear the decks, Johnson said, he'll step down at the end of the year as Senate president pro tem.

No one is running against him for re-election this year, and, as of June 30, he was sitting on $493,000 in electioneering funds.

One might imagine that he could redirect that cash - much more than other prospective wannabes have - toward his bid for Cagle's job.

Only problem is, he's not allowed to under state law. He can give the money to other candidates or give it back to the folks who gave it to him.

Exit the spinners; enter the lawyers.

Imperial Sugar Co. used the former in the first half year after the deadly explosions and fire at its Port Wentworth refinery.

CEO John Sheptor worked the news media and the community. Imperial hired a big Atlanta public relations firm. The company even tried - apparently unsuccessfully - to plant questions at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing.

Sheptor said Friday that Imperial has been trying to "rebuild confidence with our employees, our community and our customers."

But that might be about to take a back seat to a protracted and mostly behind-the-scenes legal battle on at least two fronts - and maybe three.

Imperial faces litigation over more than $8.8 million in proposed federal fines in addition to civil lawsuits and the possibility of criminal prosecution.

Parents in Chatham County have a new line of defense in protecting their children from online predators, and it doesn't cost a dime.

The software, called ComputerCOP, is being distributed for free by the Chatham County Sheriff's Department. It's designed to monitor youngsters' online activity by scanning photographs, e-mails and chatroom conversations.

The goal, officials say, is to ward off pedophiles who exploit the anonymity of Internet banter to prey on youngsters.

Children "are vulnerable - they don't realize some of the dangers of the Internet," said Lt. Tommy Tillman of the sheriff's office. "This shows how to spot a predator online, how to report suspected predators, what catchphrases to look for. A lot of the people I've talked to didn't even know technology like this was available."

Imperial Sugar Co.'s top official said Friday he never discouraged a subordinate from trying to make the company's Port Wentworth refinery safer.

It was the strongest statement CEO John Sheptor has made concerning the claims of Graham H. Graham, the company's vice president of operations.

Graham testified last month at a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on disasters like the one that killed 13 people at the refinery on Feb. 7.

He said the plant "was without a doubt the dirtiest and most dangerous manufacturing plant I had ever come to."

Maria Sayers and her husband based their decision to buy a home on Wilmington Island largely on the area's quality schools when they relocated from Athens in 2002.

But Sayers said the family did not begin to consider their childcare options until she became pregnant with their son, Osten, who's now 2.

She wound up placing him and her infant daughter, Marci, at The Sanctuary Child Learning and Development Center on Whitfield Avenue, even though it meant driving 30 miles across town to get to her downtown Savannah job.

"What we found is, yes, we were in a great school district, but the best choices for child care were not in our area," Sayers said. "The provider we found that had the best track record in the area of supervision was on the other side of town."

Area parents, day care providers and referral agents agree the options for finding affordable, quality child care in Chatham County are limited. They say the crunch gets tighter for those seeking top-notch infant and toddler care.

FORT STEWART - Streams of blue, pink and green silly string streaked through the air before landing on the intended victim.

To his credit, Army Sgt. Tierre Coley stood in the middle of Cottrell Field and took it like a man Saturday afternoon as the puffy string stuck to his Kevlar vest and plastered his protective helmet.

He laughed and smiled as his four children drained their cans of string.

With every last bit gone and the assault completed, the soldier swiped at a pesky glob of green string sticking to his chin. He then grabbed for the child closest to him - eldest daughter Naia - and enfolded the 9-year-old in his arms.

He then spread his hugs around to Tyreke, 12, Cesar, 11, and Maria, 8.

All around the Coleys, soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division's Sustainment Brigade also were reuniting with family and friends after a 15-month deployment to northern Iraq. While deployed, the unit provided logistical support for the Army's 25th Infantry and 1st Armor divisions.

State inspectors have issued more than 800 citations for violations at 85 licensed day care learning centers operating in Chatham County since June 2007, according to an analysis by the Savannah Morning News.

Seven other area centers avoided citations because they had no violations during the same period.

Violations dealing with child supervision, discipline, transportation and staffing are considered the most serious, said Kay Hellwig, director of childcare services for Bright from the Start, the state agency charged with regulating Georgia's day cares.

"Rule violations that are serious would be an indicator that the center is not maintaining quality care," Hellwig said. "We are looking at those rules every time we make a visit, which is something we used to not do."

ATLANTA - The state's darkening financial situation has state agencies scrambling to come up with deep cuts to their budgets less than a month before they are supposed to send their spending plans to Gov. Sonny Perdue.

ATLANTA - Just as the price of gasoline and job layoffs have taken people's minds off of international terrorism, St. Martin's Press is publishing a novel about a band of murderous domestic terrorists on the eve of the presidential election.

Judge Michael Barker

Minority populations in Chatham County are rapidly catching up to the white majority, U.S. Census estimates issued this week show.

The county's 2007 population consisted of 138,280 whites and 114,486 minorities, according to the estimates. Chatham added 9,749 minorities between 2000 and 2007, compared with a white population growth of 7,749.

In Chatham County, whites remain the majority. The minority population includes blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, Asians and Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders.

At least one advocate for local Hispanics said census officials undercounted the group's 2007 population.

"You probably have that many in Wal-Mart in one weekend," said Mariela Orellana, who runs the Spanish-English translation company Community Navigators and Interpreters Inc.

Friends and family of a missing Hilton Head Island, S.C., couple are hoping a reward will have private investigators vying for thousands of dollars to provide information about their disappearance.

ATLANTA - The number of Amber Alerts issued in Georgia has dropped during the past three years, mirroring a nationwide trend.

RICHMOND HILL - Things ran rather smoothly for the more than 6,600 students who headed back to school in Bryan County on Friday.

Students began arriving by foot, bicycle, car and school bus at both ends of the county shortly after 7 a.m.

Debbie Laing, principal of Bryan County Elementary School in Pembroke, said staff and parents worked together to get the students where they were supposed to be.

Laing added that about 80 percent of parents and students attended the school's open house and read the handbook, which prepared them for opening day.

Deborah Hamm, principal of Bryan County Middle School, agreed that advance preparation made things easier Friday.

"I think we had a very smooth opening," Hamm said. "It is just 8 o'clock and everyone is in class. We had a fantastic open house with a great turn-out, and that makes the first day run very smoothly."

So what do we see when we imagine the downtown area, say, 50 years from now?

Q. My 21-year-old daughter, "Kelly," has worked in a small retail store for several months. She recently spotted a shoplifter trying to steal a pair of shoes by wearing them out of the store.

NEW YORK - Despite a tough U.S. economy, McDonald's Corp. posted an 8 percent gain in July same-store sales on Friday as hungry consumers worldwide lined up for breakfast items and the classic Big Mac sandwich.

They are only two flights - two of the nearly 45 taking wing out of the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport every day.

They only account for 234 of the nearly 3,800 seats available on a daily basis.

So, if those two flights were to disappear, it wouldn't cause much of a ripple, right?

Wrong.

The two flights in question are AirTran 551 and AirTran 31, both from Savannah to Atlanta. And, while travelers between the two cities might not give them a lot of thought - what with a total of 11 daily departures to Atlanta to choose from - they are likely to miss them sorely if they go.

Because if Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran, which has announced its intentions to "shrink" its Atlanta hub, leaves town, Savannah-to-Atlanta passengers will be left with nine other flights but only one option: Delta.

COMING MONDAY: Go on the job with a bartender who serves up sage advice along with tasty cocktails.

SEATTLE - Computers are far from being truly clean machines, but Dell Inc. and other PC makers are trying to make their own business operations greener.

Dell said Wednesday that its facilities worldwide are now carbon neutral, a goal the Round Rock, Texas-based company had set to achieve by the end of 2008.

Dane Parker, its director for environment, health and safety, said Dell buys renewable energy - including wind, solar and methane gas - directly from utilities to fulfill one-fifth of its energy needs.

There is not enough green energy available for all of Dell's requirements, so for the other 80 percent, Dell buys regular "brown" power, Parker said, plus enough renewable energy credits to offset that power's carbon emissions. Those credits subsidize purchases of renewable energy by other organizations, in places where more green power is available.

It's a thin line between skepticism and cynicism. It's also a constant challenge to remain open to all possibilities, which is why "trust, then verify" is still the best policy for just about everything.

NEW YORK - After watching more customers stream into drive-thrus for a quick morning meal, family-dining restaurants like Denny's and IHOP are telling their fast-food competitors to back off breakfast.

American Business Woman Association, Azalea Hostess Chapter

Surprisingly few nonprofits are taking advantage of their right to lobby. According to BoardSource (2008), less than 2 percent of charities report spending any money on lobbying.

This lack of participation is based largely on erroneous assumptions by nonprofits. That's unfortunate, because so many critical issues are facing nonprofits and their clients today.

Nonprofits' participation in the public policy debate about these issues can continue the historic social impact these organizations and their visionary leaders have made in the U.S.

Some nonprofits think they simply don't have the time to lobby.

While this stance is understandable, the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest asserts that even smaller nonprofit organizations can make an impact by having one staff person or volunteer engage in just three hours per week of lobbying activity.

A handful of well-designed courses, typically sunny weather and a peaceful atmosphere are all reasons Andrew Aidman is willing to make the drive from his hometown of Jacksonville, Fla., to Savannah to spend a weekend playing golf.

NEW YORK - Oil prices dove to $115 a barrel Friday, driven lower by a huge jump in the U.S. dollar, signs of moderating demand around the world and the burgeoning belief that commodities may have peaked.

Shrugging off concerns about a sabotaged oil pipeline in Turkey, investors pulled their money out of commodities and put it back into stocks - giving crude oil a weekly loss of nearly $10 a barrel and driving the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 300 points.

Lower gas prices

With energy losing its luster in the marketplace, the cost of roadside gasoline has been crawling lower. The average retail price for a gallon of gasoline slipped to $3.836 Friday. That's down about a penny from Thursday and down nearly 28 cents from the record high of $4.114 reached July 17.

NEW YORK - The commodities boom that just weeks ago looked unstoppable may have finally burned itself out.

Sudden plunges in the price of everything from crude to copper and cotton suggest commodities soared too high, too fast - and analysts expect even steeper declines in the months ahead as the U.S. economic slowdown spreads overseas and saps demand for energy, construction supplies and consumer goods.

Although commodities could swing higher again if the U.S. economy bounces back or world oil supplies suddenly become scarce, experts say neither scenario appears likely for several months or longer.

"The downward pace still has a way to go," said Edward Meir, senior commodities analyst at MF Global in New York. "People are now coming around to the fact that growth is slowing, both in the U.S. and overseas, so demand for commodities will decline."

WASHINGTON - Pilots are complaining that their airline bosses, desperate to cut costs, are forcing them to fly uncomfortably low on fuel.

Don't call Cheryl Haworth a trailblazer.

She will laugh at you. Then she will give you the same look she does the barbell before whipping it furiously over her head. Let's clean and jerk this jerk, her eyes read.

To hear Haworth tell it, timing made her the biggest name in the brief history of American women's weightlifting.

Right place. Right time. Right story.

Nothing more.

"It just worked out for me that I competed and medaled in the first Olympics with women's weightlifting," she said. "It was still a novelty back then."

She's right about that but wrong about her influence.

Cheryl Haworth's retirement plans sound like those of her fellow twentysomethings. She's vague on the details and in no hurry to firm them up. "There are a lot of different directions I can go," she said with a shrug. "I'm looking forward to finding my niche and banging it out."

That search could start in weeks, not decades. Haworth is 25 going on 55 in retirement parlance. As most people her age toil in entry-level jobs, she works at her vocation's pinnacle. She's spent half her life there already.

And Haworth is ready to retire from Olympic weightlifting following next Saturday's competition in Beijing, China ... maybe.

"Yeah, I'm feeling tired. Yeah, my back hurts. Yeah, I'm going to retire," Haworth said. "It's easy for me to speculate about the day I say that. But I won't know when it is for sure until the time comes."

HAWORTH MEMORIES

The sounds of sawing, hammering and drilling echoed throughout Savannah State's campus Saturday morning.

It started at T.A. Wright Stadium, which is being renovated, and drifted to the practice field near Tiger Arena, where SSU's football team did some building of its own.

The offense worked on mastering the Tigers' new spread offense during the first scrimmage of fall practice. SSU's six quarterbacks took turns operating the no-huddle attack, which involves spreading the field vertically and horizontally to open up gaps for the running and passing games to exploit.

First-year head coach Robby Wells and offensive coordinator Alan Hall frequently had the Tigers use four wide receivers - three to one side of the field - and one running back. The quarterbacks often worked from the shotgun formation.

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - All it took was one record-tying round and several claps of thunder for Oakland Hills to finally look vulnerable Saturday in the PGA Championship.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - It rained Friday afternoon at Watkins Glen International and Carl Edwards didn't care. He even stood under a tarp signing autographs, taking time to take pictures and talk with fans.

STATESBORO - Georgia Southern plans to shuffle its defensive numbers this season in hopes of cutting down opposing numbers on the scoreboard.

Aug. 10, 2008

This column comes with a warning: Be careful of those who witness history in the making and attempt to draw conclusions about such events too soon ... particularly those of us who call Statesboro, Ga., home.

I returned to my hotel room from the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games here in Beijing just a few minutes ago. One thing is certain: The Chinese have discovered how to celebrate, and this extravaganza in the land of the Ming Dynasty and Chairman Mao was a masterpiece. While I claim no expertise in choreography, I do know a thing or two about international relations, and the professor in me couldn't stop drawing impressions from a whole set of observations that tonight's performance produced.

In 1896, when Pierre de Coubertin brought the Modern Olympics, back to Greece, the world was comprised of less that 30 nation-states and far fewer participated in those Games. Tonight, 204 nations proudly displayed their flags, several for the first time. For nearly two hours they marched in, with Greece at the beginning and China at the end, and Guyana and Gabon in between. Other than the Chinese team, the loudest ovations were clearly reserved for those nations in the most fragile of situations. Iraq and Afghanistan were cheered wildly. Women marched as part of the Olympians from Bahrain. The war-torn bitterly antagonistic nations of Israel and Palestine were both warmly greeted. The Koreas marched in under one flag, with athletes from the North and the South holding the staff together. The more famous - Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant and Rafael Nadal - were eagerly applauded just as much as the less famous - the nation of Nauru, whose delegation had but a single member.

PHOENIX - Brian McCann hit his team-leading 21st home run and drove in four runs, two in Atlanta's decisive seven-run sixth inning, and the Braves beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-4 on Saturday night.

ATHENS - As Florida State's recruiting coordinator, John Lilly could attract elite talent by talking up the Seminoles' championship tradition and its history of sending players to the professional ranks.

COMMENTARY

For Capt. Brian Woelber, a Savannah charter fishing guide, it has been a painful two years. What started as a swollen stiff hand has resulted in a total of seven operations, including muscle grafts.

Bubba Strickland, manager of Hogans' Marina on Wilmington Island, totes the scars of surgery to his wrist for what initially was thought to be strained muscles and tendons.

Both have been diagnosed with a relatively rare bacterial infection contacted from saltwater - mycobacterium marinum.

What prompts me to write about this is that there are others in this area who are either undergoing treatment for this infection or have completed treatment. And there may be more who have it and don't know it.

Local angler

A local female angler, who wishes to remain anonymous, recently became infected with the bacteria after pricking her finger on a fish hook. Diagnosed in its early stages, her daily treatment consists of antibiotics. Even though her condition was recognized in its early stages, her treatment time will be lengthy - probably four months or more.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Boris Said drove a hard bargain when he was asked to drive for Petty Enterprises in today's Centurion Boats at the Glen - a signed cowboy hat from Richard Petty.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Jacksonville Jaguars found a win in a pile of fumbles.

SATURDAY'S SCORE: Columbus Catfish 7, Savannah Sand Gnats 5

"I bike on Wilmington Island and there is only a very short path for us. Somebody needs to get their facts straight."

"I want four more years of Bush so I'm going to vote for McCain."

"Thanks to East Broad Street Elementary and its 21st Century program for giving my child his best years of elementary school."

"The creepy king on the Burger King ads has got to go."

"Regarding the handicapped ramp at Memorial University Hospital's Physicians center on Bull Street, it is temporary due to construction going on in the building."

"If you really must know who controls the barrels on Middleground Road, just start moving them out of the way. When the police show up you can ask them who's in charge. Also ask who authorized the blocking of a roadway."

"I bet she's one of those moms who doesn't believe in spanking."

That's the disapproving phrase I imagine coming from the mothers of the kids my son just pushed or hit. I pluck him up. Verbally scold him. And we take yet another walk of shame out of the playground.

My son's recently changed from habitual hugger to occasional hitter. I pray it's a short-lived stage.

Some parents might blame his behavior on permissive parenting and say that all he needs are a few whacks on the wrist.

But teaching not to hit by hitting him makes no sense to me. I prefer to use the mind, not the hand. Might doesn't make right.

Yet, I'm no Sally Lieber, the California assemblywoman who proposed a ban on spanking last year. Some parents may find corporal punishment works on children who don't respond to timeouts or taking away privileges.

Rachel M. Raab got her first camera at age 14 and began snapping photos at summer camp.

"I'm going to write about the dark times," Adam Nimoy explained to his mother when he began working on "My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life," which he calls "an anti-memoir."

It doesn't take a blockbuster summer movie to spark the imagination about a magical wedding in a mythical Greek setting. The release of the movie "Mamma Mia!," however, has probably created a lengthier queue of brides- and grooms-to-be.

BADALING, China - At Badaling, the Great Wall rides the ridgelines like a dragon, its gray brick scales glinting and its crenelated spine writhing. Built at a strategic pass in the mountains north of Beijing, it crosses stout gates, plunges into narrow defiles, climbs back up to the heights and seems to go on forever.

NEW ORLEANS - This is one concert where it's OK to shout out "Free Bird!"