Savannah

It keeps going and going. No, it's not the Energizer Bunny. It's a book. It's a phenomenon. It's the mother of all hardcover nonfiction best-sellers. It's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt's steamy tale of sex and murder - nonfiction that reads like a novel, a travel book, a personal memoir and a juicy murder mystery. Random House published it in the spring of 1994 with a first printing of a mere 25,000 copies. But within a few months, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil had become what one writer called a "cult book," the kind people tell their friends about, and they tell their friends, and so on. It has now chalked up the amazing running total of 95 printings, with more than 2.5 million copies sold.

SAVANNAH, Ga. - One of Savannah's top-ranking police officers said yesterday that the police chief threatened her with demotion because she contradicted him at a funeral on the protocol for officers wearing black mourning bands on their badges. Maj. Gerry Long, 53, said that she opted to retire after a 30-year career rather than face being demoted to captain by Savannah-Chatham County Police Chief Willie Lovett. At the Nov. 12 funeral for retired Chatham County Police Chief Thomas Sprague, according to interviews, the chief had told Long and other officers to remove their mourning bands because Sprague had not died in the line of duty.

About 70 gamblers from Savannah, Ga. - stranded in Atlantic City as Hurricane Hugo bore down on the South - returned home yesterday afternoon after staying in the gaming resort an extra day, compliments of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino. The Georgia residents, who arrived on a casino junket Wednesday, were scheduled to fly home Thursday night, but Hugo forced the closing of the airport in Savannah. After being notified late Thursday afternoon that the Savannah airport would be closed at least until today, the casino-hotel provided complimentary rooms, meals and drinks to the 68 visitors, said Gary Selesner, vice president of marketing at Trump Plaza.

Proud to be Polish, more than 20,000 marched to Independence Hall yesterday to celebrate their heritage as part of the 62nd Annual Pulaski Day Parade. They came from Bridesburg, Southwest Philadelphia, Manayunk and other neighborhoods where Polish-Americans give the city part of its ethnic flavor. The parade, by the way, honors Gen. Casimir Pulaski, a Revolutionary War hero who died in the Battle of Savannah in 1779.

A BAPTISM in the River Jordan is a special blessing for Christians, and Milton Hall Sr. and his wife participated in one during one of their many excursions around the world. Biblical tradition holds that Jesus was baptized in the river by John the Baptist, giving the waterway its sanctified significance. Milton and his wife, Helen, were dedicated travelers. They saw the U.S. from coast to coast, visited the Caribbean islands and dropped in on Paris and Jerusalem. Milton Hall, a son of Savannah, Ga., and a devoted family man, died Sept.

We'll help this one time and enlighten you about "Realove" at Savannah's on Thursday. But from here on out, you'll have to be "in the know" - or sign on to www.liddix.com. Unlike its predecessor, "Soulquarium" at Aqua Lounge, "Realove" will not recur on a specific day of the month. William Davis, a.k.a. DJ Soniq, has changed things a bit. "I wanted to go for more of an eclectic vibe," Soniq says about "Realove," which will not include an open mike as "Soulquarium" did in its last months.

ATLANTA - Georgia's board of pardons rejected a last-ditch clemency bid from convicted killer Troy Davis yesterday, one day before his scheduled execution, despite support from figures including a former FBI director for the claim that Davis had been wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989. Davis was scheduled to die today at 7 p.m. (EDT) for shooting off-duty Savannah officer Mark MacPhail, who was rushing to help a man being attacked. - Associated Press

Arnie Gooch was preparing for Monday night's minor-league baseball game against Savannah (Ga.) when Bill McGuire, manager of the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists, called the 1994 Neshaminy High graduate into his office. With the major-league trading deadline approaching and rumors circulating that the New York Mets were trying to deal pitcher Bret Saberhagen and his large salary, McGuire jokingly told Gooch that he had been traded for the two- time Cy Young Award winner. McGuire waited to see the surprised look on Gooch's face and then let the 18-year-old righthander in on the gag. "We both laughed, and then I left to get ready for the game," Gooch said.

By Terry McMillan Viking. 375 pp. $27.95 Reviewed by Karen E. Quiñones Miller Has it really only been 18 years since Terry McMillan wowed the publishing world with her book Waiting to Exhale ? It seems like forever! How I missed those four friends, Bernadine, Gloria, Robin, and Savannah (missed them in that order, by the way) and wanted to know how they were doing. Did Bernadine and her new man, James, have a happily forever after? My bet was they did. Bernadine deserved it after the way her ex-hubby did her. Hmph!

SPRINGFIELD, Ga. - South Georgia authorities say two men became so high on drugs they began hallucinating and called 9-1-1 when they thought intruders had broken into a home. Effingham County sheriff's spokesman David Ehsanipoor said the pair is suspected of using methamphetamine before they called 9-1-1 for help early yesterday. The pair told deputies responding about 4 a.m. to the home outside Savannah that there were people in a back bedroom who had broken into the home, but the deputies found no intruders.

Before she even put down her bag or said hello, Libbie Summers was compelled to comment on the bright, minimal vibe at the La Colombe near City Hall. It's just her way: For the cookbook author, culinary producer, blogger, and food stylist, aesthetics are tied into everything she does. "On the train I was writing notes about radishes and white lace and spring onions," she says. "I can't help it, my head goes crazy!" The Savannah, Ga., resident was in town for a few days this month, promoting the recent release of The Whole Hog Cookbook , her first solo title.

SAVANNAH, Ga. - One of Savannah's top-ranking police officers said yesterday that the police chief threatened her with demotion because she contradicted him at a funeral on the protocol for officers wearing black mourning bands on their badges. Maj. Gerry Long, 53, said that she opted to retire after a 30-year career rather than face being demoted to captain by Savannah-Chatham County Police Chief Willie Lovett. At the Nov. 12 funeral for retired Chatham County Police Chief Thomas Sprague, according to interviews, the chief had told Long and other officers to remove their mourning bands because Sprague had not died in the line of duty.

A BAPTISM in the River Jordan is a special blessing for Christians, and Milton Hall Sr. and his wife participated in one during one of their many excursions around the world. Biblical tradition holds that Jesus was baptized in the river by John the Baptist, giving the waterway its sanctified significance. Milton and his wife, Helen, were dedicated travelers. They saw the U.S. from coast to coast, visited the Caribbean islands and dropped in on Paris and Jerusalem. Milton Hall, a son of Savannah, Ga., and a devoted family man, died Sept.

ATLANTA - Georgia's board of pardons rejected a last-ditch clemency bid from convicted killer Troy Davis yesterday, one day before his scheduled execution, despite support from figures including a former FBI director for the claim that Davis had been wrongly convicted of killing a police officer in 1989. Davis was scheduled to die today at 7 p.m. (EDT) for shooting off-duty Savannah officer Mark MacPhail, who was rushing to help a man being attacked. - Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ga. - South Georgia authorities say two men became so high on drugs they began hallucinating and called 9-1-1 when they thought intruders had broken into a home. Effingham County sheriff's spokesman David Ehsanipoor said the pair is suspected of using methamphetamine before they called 9-1-1 for help early yesterday. The pair told deputies responding about 4 a.m. to the home outside Savannah that there were people in a back bedroom who had broken into the home, but the deputies found no intruders.

By Terry McMillan Viking. 375 pp. $27.95 Reviewed by Karen E. Quiñones Miller Has it really only been 18 years since Terry McMillan wowed the publishing world with her book Waiting to Exhale ? It seems like forever! How I missed those four friends, Bernadine, Gloria, Robin, and Savannah (missed them in that order, by the way) and wanted to know how they were doing. Did Bernadine and her new man, James, have a happily forever after? My bet was they did. Bernadine deserved it after the way her ex-hubby did her. Hmph!

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (3 p.m., NBC) - Jane Lynch; filmmakers Nev Schulman, Ariel Schulman, and Henry Joost ( Catfish ); Daughtry. The Oprah Winfrey Show (4 p.m., 6ABC) - Oprah returns to the site of a Nov. 16, 1987, town hall episode on AIDS. America's Got Talent (8 p.m., NBC10) - Special guest stars from Las Vegas and Hollywood perform throughout the two-hour season finale before host Nick Cannon reveals whom America has chosen as the winner of the $1 million prize and a headlining Vegas show.

It's your first big job, as writer-producer of a TV series, and a much bigger job than almost anybody under 25 ever gets in the business, thank you very much. But then you've got your mom sitting next to you the whole time, nagging about your health - not to mention telling you how to do your work. And your father's right there, too. Is he getting enough lines? And how will the chief cinematographer - your uncle - respond to creative suggestions when he's remembering how darling you were in your Care Bear Huggies?

We'll help this one time and enlighten you about "Realove" at Savannah's on Thursday. But from here on out, you'll have to be "in the know" - or sign on to www.liddix.com. Unlike its predecessor, "Soulquarium" at Aqua Lounge, "Realove" will not recur on a specific day of the month. William Davis, a.k.a. DJ Soniq, has changed things a bit. "I wanted to go for more of an eclectic vibe," Soniq says about "Realove," which will not include an open mike as "Soulquarium" did in its last months.

Edward Lee Teale Jr., 89, president of the New York Shipbuilding Corp. in Camden from 1955 to 1965, died Wednesday at the Sabal Palms Health Care Center in Largo, Fla., after suffering a stroke and a heart attack. His death was followed by the death of his wife of 63 years, Marian Roembke Teale, on Saturday in the Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla. Her cancer had been diagnosed less than three weeks earlier. The couple had lived in Clearwater since 1969. They previously lived in Moorestown.