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The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted today to accept a gift of 15.45 acres of the Wormsloe property to the University of Georgia.

The trustees of the Wormsloe Foundation are donating the property, 10 miles southeast of Savannah, for use by the UGA College of Environment and Design and other UGA colleges and units.

The property "will be used for interdisciplinary research by faculty and graduate students working in ecology, environmental history and archeology. UGA will operate the property as a historical and ecological nature preserve for scientific, historical, educational and aesthetic purposes in keeping with the natural and historic character of the property," a spokesman says.

The donation is pending approval of an access easement by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The property will be known as the University of Georgia Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe. The Wormsloe parcel contains both highland and marsh land and includes a historic former slave cabin constructed in the 1740s.

With the addition of the property, UGA plans to design and construct a $300,000 educational housing facility on the property for faculty and graduate students within the next 30 months.

“This wonderful gift will provide many tangible benefits for our college because the site is a living environmental laboratory and a storehouse of past and present designs on the land,” said Daniel Nadenicek, dean of the College of Environment and Design. “The inherent beauty of this small campus will inspire innovation and promote new research and teaching partnerships.”

Wormsloe Plantation dates back to the 1730s, and before then was used by Native Americans. It has served as a military stronghold, plantation, country residence, farm and tourist attraction. The historic site consists of just over 1,000 acres, much of which the Barrow family deeded to the state of Georgia in 1973 for preservation. Wormsloe Historic Site is operated as a state park with costumed tour guides, a nature trail, a theater, museum and a Colonial life area. The parcel deeded to UGA is adjacent to land remaining in the Barrow family.

• Wormsloe

UGA’s Cultural Landscape Laboratory in the College of Environment and Design began an in-depth study of the cultural landscape at Wormsloe Plantation in 2010. Currently, UGA-CED faculty and graduate students are conducting a comprehensive inventory of cultural landscape features at Wormsloe. Working with the UGA department of geography’s Center for Geospatial Research, researchers are building the inventory as a computer-based Geographic Information System. The lab’s Wormsloe project also includes collecting oral histories from members of the greater Wormsloe community. The lab is working with other UGA academic units, including the history department and the Odum School of Ecology.

“The Wormsloe Foundation has a long history of support for the University of Georgia,” said Sarah Ross, president of the Wormsloe Foundation and Wormsloe Institute for Environmental History. “We are pleased that this renowned property will advance the university’s long-term research and education goals by providing a historic landscape for faculty and graduate students to live and work.”

The Mounted Patrol Unit of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department "has almost doubled in horses," thanks to the discontinuation of a similar unit in Forsyth County, police say.

Four patrol horses — "three of them thoroughly trained for police work and the other a perfect candidate" — were donated to the SCMPD unit when the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office in Cumming, GA, discontinued its mounted patrol this year.

The mounts brought the number of horses in the SCMPD unit to nine and prompted the addition of one officer bringing that number to six.

Police Chief Willie Lovett said the additions will present opportunities to expand the use and presence of the mounted patrol.

“Mounted officers have a commanding presence in specific instances that are invaluable to police work and they have a calming effect in others,” Lovett said.

“We have grown to appreciate their abilities in huge crowds, such as the St. Patrick’s Day Festival. And their patrol in neighborhoods is never overlooked by the residents there. Everyone is fully aware their neighborhood is being patrolled when the officer is on horseback."

• S.Cpl Lonnie Tyler, Sgt. Gene Lawhorn and APO Michael Carr put Lee, Grant and Sherman through paces

Included in the addition is a 17.2 hand, 7-year-old Belgian/Thoroughbred Trakehner named Jackson; a 17.2 hand, 6-year-old Belgian Thoroughbred named Lee; a 16.5 hand, 5-year-old Percheron Shire named Grant; and an 8-year-old, 17 hand Belgian Thoroughbred named Sherman.

Local faves Kylesa "bring their larger-than-life sound to The Dollhouse stage for a super-rare and way overdue Savannah appearance," according to concert organizers.

Kylesa last performed their darkly robust brand of stoner/sludge metal locally over a year ago.

The Dollhouse is at 980 Industry Dr. The show is free and open to all ages, with doors opening at 8 p.m. Also on the bill are special guests Bearfight and Wet Socks.

Go to the Event Page here.

Police are investigating the shooting of a Waldburg Street resident in a reported robbery attempt.

Jeremy Lueken was transported to Memorial University Medical Center with a non-life threatening injury after the shooting on the 500 block of East Waldburg just after midnight.

Lueken and others "were on the back porch of the house when three black men in dark clothing with scarves covering their faces men approached," police say.

Two of them had guns and ordered the men on the porch to lay down. When Lueken did not, he was struck by a bullet. The robbers then fled.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crimestoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.

A confidential Tip Line also is open directly to investigators at (912) 525-3124.

Savannah-Chatham Police are investigating events leading up to the shooting of a 23-year-old man by a police officer this morning.

Timothy Maurice Williams has been hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries after the 3 a.m. shooting at West 44th and Barnard streets.

Officers "were saturating the area in response to a report of multiple gunshots when three males were seen running on West 44th Street and climbing a fence into a yard of a house," a report indicates. At the same time the resident of the house was calling 911 and flagging down an officer to report someone was breaking into her house.

The officer found the men in the yard and ordered them to stop. While two of the men climbed over a fence in an attempt to escape, the third, Williams, "began charging at the officer, prompting him to fire," police say.

Williams was transported to Memorial University Medical Center and has been admitted. The two other men were questioned. SCMPD continues to investigate the original gunshots, the pursuit through the fenced yard and the shooting.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward. A confidential Tip Line also is open directly to investigators at (912) 525-3124.

The Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home, at 207 E. Charlton Street on Lafayette Square, is seeking additional volunteers and volunteer docents. Meetings for potential volunteers and volunteer docents will be held at the Home on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13 at 11 a.m.

Volunteers are needed to help out at the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home on Friday and Saturday afternoons between 1 and 4 p.m., when visitor traffic at the house is heaviest. These volunteers will greet visitors, handle admissions, conduct merchandise sales and help with tours.

Additional volunteer docents are also required to keep the Home open for extended hours. The Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home provides docent training and offers written narratives for reference during tours.

For more information, call 912.233.6014 or email [email protected]

Three people escaped serious injuries this morning in a two-vehicle crash that closed Ogeechee Road for several hours.

Sharon Dallas, 52, Bryant Dallas, 18, and Josie Richardson, 48, all of Savannah, were transported to hospitals for treatment after the 7:37 a.m. crash at Stiles Avenue and Ogeechee Road.

Sharon Dallas was driving a white 2004 Chevrolet Venture minivan on Stiles Avenue and entered Ogeechee Road in the path of a 2005 Hyundai Tucson driven by Richardson. Bryant Dallas was a passenger in the minivan.

Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) continues to investigate the collision.

Savannah City Council today voted unanimously to appoint Stephanie Cutter as the seventh City Manager in Savannah’s history.

“Ms. Cutter is a visionary. She has brought togetherness back among the staff, the leadership and the City of Savannah,” Mayor Edna Jackson said before the vote.

“I am honored and humbled by this selection. We can do great things working together,” Cutter said after accepting the appointment.

• Staff applauds Cutter's appointment

Cutter has been Acting City Manager in October 2012. She previously served as Assistant City Manager of Administrative and Community Services since December 2011, and as Acting Assistant City Manager since May 2010.

The Savannah native is a Windsor Forest graduate who joined the City of Savannah in 1989 as a budget analyst. Over the next decade, she was promoted to Senior Budget Analyst, Management Services Coordinator for the Assistant City Manager, and Director of the Residential Refuse Department. In 2002, Cutter was appointed Acting Chief of the Sanitation Bureau, which became a permanent appointment the following year.

She earned both her Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and Masters of Public Administration from Savannah State.

The Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team (CNT) announced the seizure of a large amount of cocaine, guns, money and the arrest of several people.

In February, CNT began investigating a drug complaint forwarded by CrimeStoppers in reference to1315 Golden St. "The complaint advised of suspected drug activity occurring at the residence throughout the day and night," a spokesman says. CNT Agents, working in an undercover capacity, successfully made purchases of cocaine from persons associated with the residence.

As the investigation continued, CNT identified a second residence at 2106 Mell St. connected to 1315 Golden St. Agents furthered the investigation and began purchasing cocaine from both residences. Shortly after identifying the Mell Street address, CNT subsequently received a new drug complaint from CrimeStoppers listing 2106 Mell Street as a residence where drugs sales were taking place.

Shortly after 7 pm on March 28, CNT, with support from Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department and the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, executed simultaneous search warrants at 1315 Golden Street and 2106 Mell Street.

The search warrants resulted in six arrests and the seizure of:
More than 720 grams of cocaine or 26 Ounces
Various Prescription Pills
Multiple Ounces of Marijuana
Small Amount of MDMA (Ecstasy)
Five Firearms (Two Rifles, One Shotgun, Two Handguns)
U.S. Currency totaling $30,580.00
One vehicle

Most of the seized cocaine was crack, with an estimated street value of up to $80,000. Of the recovered firearms, two of the firearms were reported stolen and at least one rifle was found to be of a high caliber, capable of piercing body armor.

Months after acquiring locally-owned Primary Arts Supply and moving a few blocks east on Broughton Street in what seems so far to be a very mutually beneficial transaction, Blick Art Materials has bought out its remaining downtown corporate competitor.

Blick Art Materials has purchased the stock of Utrecht Art Supplies, which owns a store on MLK Jr. Boulevard on the west side of downtown. Blick CEO Robert Buchsbaum says “The acquisition of Utrecht gives us a tremendous, well-established brand and greater geographic reach for our brick and mortar channel.”