Author: Kristy Johnson

You gotta hand it to Dr. Stephen Hsu. He got a leg up on cold and flu season. Last summer Hsu, a Georgia Regents University professor in the College of Dental Medicine, created a hand sanitizer and skin lotion using a compound derived from green tea. The compound offers protection from a range of viruses.

And even though cold and flu season is here, Hsu says his ProtecTeaV EGCG Hand Sanitizer and EGCG Skin Lotion, which are available in pharmacies and online, can do more than fight the common cold. He also clears up five common myths about hand sanitizer.

Myth #1: Hand sanitizers only prevent colds.

According to Hsu, studies in research journals show that the compound used in his hand sanitizer protects human cells from infection of HIV, herpes, norovirus, hepatitis B and C viruses, human papilloma virus and even Ebola.

“The significance of this technology is the potential to save thousands, if not tens of thousands, of lives from a variety of infections,” says Hsu, a recipient of the 2015 Georgia Bio Innovation Award.

Myth #2: Hand sanitizers replace hand washing.

“Soap and water are still the best way to clean the skin. When they’re not available, hand sanitizers are a great option,” Hsu says. “Sanitizers work best when your hands aren’t overly dirty or greasy, so if it’s possible, you always want to wash or wipe down your hands first to remove visible grime.” 

Myth #3: All hand sanitizers are created equally.

Most sanitizers kill bacteria and some viruses with alcohol, which evaporates in about 20 seconds. “This is fine for immediate cleansing if applied correctly, but it is temporary,” says Hsu. “The key is to provide a long-lasting barrier against viruses.” Hsu, who founded a start-up biotechnology and drug development company called Camellix LLC , says the combination of alcohol and the green tea compound in his sanitizer provides two-hour protection.

Myth #4: Sanitizers kill all bacteria and viruses.

Most bacteria can be killed by alcohol-based sanitizers, but the concentration of alcohol must be about 90 percent to effectively kill viruses. However, a concentration that high is also dangerously flammable, says Hsu, and the rabies and polio viruses are resistant to alcohol.

Myth #5: There is no wrong way to use hand sanitizer.

“The sanitizer can’t do its job if it isn’t applied properly,” Hsu says. To use hand sanitizer most effectively, he says, put a nickel-sized dollop of the product in the palm of one hand and rub hands together until the surface of the hands and fingers are coated. Continue rubbing them together until dry. For the best results, he recommends washing and drying your hands before using the sanitizer, then following with an application of lotion.

The newest color trend for 2016 just might surprise you.

White outs are definitely in this year – especially for the home. Just ask the experts that bring us the latest news on all things color. Sherwin-Williams has named Alabaster its 2016 Color of the Year, Glidden has chosen Cappuccino White and Benjamin Moore says it’s all about Simply White.

Yes, white.

Because white is a blending of all colors, according to colormatters.com, it is – in fact – a color. So there.

“Alabaster represent a straightforward and necessary shift to mindfulness. It provides an oasis of calmness, spirituality and ‘less is more’ visual relief,” says Jackie Jordan, Sherwin-Williams director of color marketing. “Alabaster is neither stark nor overly warm, but rather an understated and alluring white.”

Sherwin-Williams offers a number of ways to showcase Alabaster in the home. Use it to set the tone for healing, rest or meditation in a bedroom or nursery. Make a statement with it as a chic, stand-alone hue in an entryway or home office. Pair it with light blushes or grays to bridge transitional and traditional styles. Create a yin and yang harmony with contrasting dark colors in a spa-like bathroom.

White exemplifies style, the Benjamin Moore experts say, so it works for colonial, contemporary and every architectural type in between.

“The color white is transcendent, powerful and polarizing – it is either taken for granted or obsessed over,” says Ellen O’Neill, Benjamin Moore creative director. “White is not just a design trend, it is a design essential. The popularity of white, the necessity of white, the mystique of white is quantifiable in our industry. Of the top ten best-selling Benjamin Moore colors, variants of white occupy five spots. It was inevitable that we would ultimately recognize white as our Color of the Year.”

Churches in downtown Augusta will open their doors for visitors to take a walk through their sanctuaries and through the past on Sunday, October 25. All of the participating churches are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and their histories represent many firsts for the community and for their denominations. However, the goal of the tour is to highlight the influence that these institutions have had on Augusta for more than 200 years.

The tour is an encore event following the success of last year’s historic church tour.

“It’s not an annual event, but last year we had such a great response. And a lot of people didn’t get to all of the churches,” says Rachel Gregory, the Sacred Heart Cultural Center rental director.

She says about 100 people came to Sacred Heart during last year’s tour, and other participating churches reported similar numbers.

“The churches want someone who hasn’t walked into a church to feel welcome,” Gregory says. “And a lot of the people who came on the tour have a history with a particular church. Maybe their parents got married there.”

Visitors can see historic places such as the oldest surviving Catholic church building in Georgia, and a church that was used as a hospital during the Civil War. They can visit the site where Civil Rights activist Dr. W.E.B. Dubois spoke in 1898 and the meeting place of Augusta’s first English-speaking Lutheran congregation. They can see the nation’s oldest independent African-American Church in continuous existence and likely the oldest religious building of Greek Orthodox design in the Southeast.

Participating churches are:

• Catholic Church of the Most Holy Trinity
• First Presbyterian
• Thankful Baptist
• St. James United Methodist
• Metropolitan Community Church of Our Redeemer
• First Christian
• St. John United Methodist
• Southern Bible Institute and Seminary (The building, an example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style, will not be open for the tour.)
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Resurrection
• Union Baptist
• Sacred Heart Cultural Center
• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox
• Springfield Baptist
• St. Paul’s

Docents and written information will be on hand at the churches. Maps for the self-guided tour are available at any of the participating churches or online at historicaugusta.org.

 If You Go:

 What: Historic Downtown Augusta Church Tour

 When: Sunday, October 25; times vary, but most of the churches will be open 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Where: Telfair, Greene, Walker, Reynolds and 12th streets

How Much: Free

More Info: historicaugusta.org

 

Bring your appetites — starting this month, concertgoers can reserve a pre-show dinner at the Augusta Amusements concert series.

Local audiences can enjoy two evenings of musical entertainment when Augusta Amusements presents the Broadway Boys and Billy Joel Tribute, The Stranger featuring Mike Santoro, this month. New this year, Augusta Amusements also is offering a limited quantity of pre-show dinners at Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center, where the concerts are held.

The Broadway Boys will appear Thursday, October 15. Reserved seat tickets are $43. The Broadway Boys completely reinvent classic songs by adding elements of pop, funk, gospel, jazz and folk to show tunes and classic pop songs. Performing in groups of six, the Boys explore harmonies rarely presented by Broadway singers.

The group was created in June of 2005 to play a single night at a New York City club. The overwhelming response and a packed bar brought the Boys back again for another sold-out evening.

Performances by the Broadway Boys, a collection of the hottest male voices currently working on the New York stage, have two main objectives. The singers strive to introduce audiences outside the theater community to different music genres by fusing Broadway tunes and pop styles. The group also tries to present the Broadway community and its audiences with new arrangements of familiar songs.

Billy Joel Tribute, The Stranger featuring Mike Santoro, is scheduled for Saturday, October 24. Reserved seat tickets are $35. The six-piece band offers an authentic replication of Joel’s music, which has entertained fans for decades.

Like Joel, founder and front man Santoro, the lead vocalist who also plays piano, was born and raised in Levittown, New York. The performance will feature everything from Joel’s radio hits to his classic B-sides. The singers also will perform songs by other artists such as Elton John and Paul McCartney.

The dinner includes grilled Alaskan salmon with dill sauce, rice and grain medley, kale salad and brownie cake. (Beef carving steak can be substituted for the salmon.) The dinner costs $25, which includes tax and gratuity. A glass of wine can be added for $5. Meals must be reserved at least 48 hours in advance of the show, and dinner guests must arrive between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available online at

www.augustaamusements.com or by calling the box office at (706) 726-0366. Dinners can be reserved by calling the box office.

It’s easy to enjoy a day along the Savannah River. But why not enjoy an evening of fun and entertainment along the river as well? Central Savannah River Land Trust will hold its annual Bash on the Banks on Thursday, October 29 at the River Island Clubhouse.

The Bash will showcase more than 100 acres of riverbank that have been protected by the Land Trust. However, the natural setting is not the event’s only attraction. The Unmentionables will provide live music, and Bird Dog Grille and T’s Restaurant will cater the meal so that people can enjoy an oyster roast and shrimp and grits. A cash bar will be available as well.

“The Bash is a celebration of our conservation successes,” says Alison Nelson, the CSRLT communications director. “We want people to partner with us and join with us in our mission to continue our efforts of conservation of special areas in the CSRA. Not only is it a time for celebrating our conservation success and joining with our members and supporters that help us to continue our mission. It’s also just an old-fashioned good time.”

A group of Phinizy Swamp Nature Park board members and volunteers founded the Land Trust in 2001, and Deke Copenhaver became its first director. The nationally accredited nonprofit organization is funded entirely by charitable donations and grants, and it has protected more than 6,000 acres of land throughout the Central Savannah River Area. Currently, the Land Trust is working on a number of projects that will preserve thousands of additional acres in the area in the next three to five years. These projects include a piece of property in Harlem, which the Land Trust owns and is working on restoring for public use.

“Since the beginning the Land Trust’s focus has been on the wild, natural, unique and irreplaceable natural areas found throughout our community,” says Hazel Cook, executive director. “Our mission is to preserve these areas that are integral to our community’s character and quality of life – forever.”

The Land Trust started its work in Columbia, Richmond and McDuffie counties. Through the years, however, it has expanded its conservation efforts into Aiken, Edgefield and Barnwell counties in South Carolina and as far upstream as Hart County and as far south as Statesboro in Georgia.

The organization has worked with local governments as well as individual neighborhoods and communities to preserve areas for public recreation and for residents’ recreation in neighborhoods such as River Island. In addition, the Land Trust has joined forces with private landowners, farmers and ranchers to preserve natural resources in the area.

“Folks drive by many of these properties every day without even knowing it,” says Cook. “But I guarantee they’d miss the trees and the fields if they were to disappear.”

The Land Trust focuses its efforts on protecting large areas of natural habitat, the major sources of our drinking water, larger forests that purify the air and grand vistas that offer scenic views.

“Public recreation is just a small part of what we do,” Cook says. “The beautiful headgates and park area near the Savannah Rapids Pavilion is a great example of a property preserved by the Land Trust, which is open to the public for recreation. 

Although the Savannah River runs through a metropolitan area of more than 500,000 people, much of the river remains untouched by development.

“It is the source of our drinking water, the powerhouse behind many local industries, the place where we spend a lazy Saturday with our kids swimming in the lake or fishing or kayaking. The list goes on,” Cook says. “Seriously where else can you find a major metropolis with such a rare and precious – and relatively unspoiled – resource at its doorstep?”

While the region has modernized in many ways, she continues, the local forests, fields, wetlands and greenspaces enhance our quality of life. In addition, because the CSRA is located on the fall line where the Lowcountry’s coastal plains meet the Upstate’s mountainous Piedmont region, the area has a diverse ecology that includes many rare or endangered plants and animals.

“While progress is certainly wonderful, if it comes at the expense of our local environment, we will all be at a loss,” says Cook. “The Land Trust is so important because we are preserving that, for everyone, in all parts of our community. And we are guaranteeing that we will be the guardians of these special places forever.”

If You Go:

What: Bash on the Banks, benefiting Central Savannah River Land Trust

When: 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. Thursday, October 2 

Where: River Island Clubhouse, Evans

How Much: $50 per individual; $90 per couple. Tickets to the event and drink tickets are available online at csrlt.org/events/ or at the door. Tickets also can be purchased by mailing a check to Central Savannah River Land Trust, Attention Bash Tickets, P.O. Box 148, Augusta, GA 30903.

More Info: csrlt.org

Kicking off the 2015-16 season with a performance by legendary trumpeter Doc Severinsen, Augusta Amusements brings 12 talented acts to Columbia County

Augusta Amusements has a knack for bringing talented entertainers to the area, and this season its lineup of 12 performances will offer showmanship at its finest. While some acts such as the Annie Moses Band and the Glenn Miller Orchestra will make encore performances, others will bring local concertgoers exciting new entertainment.

Doc Severinsen and His Big Band will kick off the 2015-16 season on Saturday, September 12. Tickets are $67.

The Grammy-winning bandleader on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” was as well known for his flamboyant fashion and his quick wit as he was for his trumpet. And he has been sharing his talents with appreciative audiences ever since. Within a week of the late-night show’s final telecast in May of 1992, Severinsen was on the road with his big band.

In addition to touring regularly with his band during his 60-year career, Severinsen performs with symphony orchestras all across the country. He has made more than 30 albums in genres ranging from big band to jazz-fusion to classical. The Very Best of Doc Severinsen reprises 15 of his signature pieces. He received a Grammy for “Best Jazz Instrumental Performance – Big Band” for his recording of Doc Severinsen and The Tonight Show Band-Volume I.

Other performances this season include The Broadway Boys, The Stranger – Billy Joel Tribute Experience, Collin Raye, Live from Nashville, Johnny Peers & Muttville Comix, Band on the Run – The McCartney Years, Evening in the Round, Henry Gross and futurist Adam Trent.

All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Jabez S. Hardin Performing Arts Center in Evans. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit augustaamusements.com or call (706) 726-0366. Season tickets are available as well.

State and regional brew masters will showcase their talents at the second annual Augusta Beerfest

Break out your beer steins because it’s time once again to celebrate Augusta’s growing beer craft culture. The second annual Augusta Beerfest will be held at the Bell Auditorium Saturday, August 15. More than 100 beers, crafted by brew masters and brewers from all across the state and region, will be available for tasting. Tickets include a souvenir tasting cup and all the beer you can sample.

The event is open to people age 21 and older. If you get hungry, local food trucks will provide food for purchase. If you’re a connoisseur or even just a lover of the lager, VIP tickets also are being offered. This package includes exclusive beers, paired hors d’oeuvres, a VIP area on the Bell Auditorium stage, a T-shirt and one-hour early access to whichever session you choose.

Participating breweries include Sam Adams, Jekyll, Eagle Creek, Three Taverns, 21st Amendment, Highland Brewing, Anderson Valley, Founders Brewing, Victory, Great Divide, Bells and Dogfish Head.

– Caitlin Conger

 

A former Evans High School baseball star is selected by the San Diego Padres in the 29th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Evans native Tyler Moore burned up the base paths during his three-year baseball career at the University of South Carolina-Aiken. Now he is on a path to pursue his lifelong dream of playing in the major leagues. The San Diego Padres drafted him in the 29th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in June.

“Once I got drafted, everything started going really fast,” says Moore, who was the 867th overall pick.

Two days after he was drafted, he flew to Arizona to play Rookie League baseball through September 1. He says he didn’t care which team drafted him, but the Padres showed the most interest in him. “They called me a lot, and I had two workouts with them,” he says.

The 5-foot-8-inch Moore, who calls his arm and his speed his greatest strengths, played in the outfield for the Pacers. However, he says the Padres want to put him at second base.

“I’ll try my best to play second base. I played that position on a few travel teams when I was growing up, and I played shortstop in high school,” he says.

Moore played baseball and basketball at Evans High School. In his senior year, he was the baseball team MVP and won the basketball team’s award for the best defensive player. His classmates also selected him as Most Athletic and Homecoming King.

At USC-Aiken, Moore started 41 games as a junior and had a .362 batting average. He had 16 stolen bases, the second-highest number on the team, and four outfield assists. He also drove in 32 runs, scored 48 times and tallied 10 extra-base hits. In his sophomore season, he hit a school-record 10 triples while batting .377. He led the team with 24 steals and posted 84 hits in 52 games. As a freshman, he batted .384, had nine multi-hit games and stole 13 bases.

Moore was the second Pacer picked in the draft this season after four were selected a year ago. He is grateful for the chance to play on the next level.

“It means a lot to be able to pursue my dream and play professional ball. Some people don’t get the opportunity to play after college,” he says.