South Magazine - April-May 2016

Brothers Major Daniel and Captain Tyler Merritt, the president and CEO, respectively, spoke to us with passion and excitement for, Nine Line, their company and foundation. Now about three years old and with current monthly production numbers that out-perform companies double their size, Nine Line Apparel has already started making waves in the clothing sector.

To get the real story of how the beloved chicken finger was invented, you have to go back farther than 40 years to when Alben Yarborough, Ansley Williams, and Dusty Yarborough were kids growing up in the tiny town of Thomaston, Ga.

The South is full of mystique and wonder. Behind every moss-draped oak or down every dirt road is another adventure just waiting to be told. This is where memories are made. This is where stories are told. This is where life happens.

The very word barbecue drips with images of the American South. We set out on a hunt for BBQ off the beaten path and found out some interesting places that had their own take on what true Southern barbecue really is.

Homelessness and the growth of tent cities, now confirmed in all 50 states, is a national crisis. Savannah’s homeless population has hovered for decades at approximately 4,000, which includes nearly 300 veterans and 1,000 chronically homeless individuals. Roughly 160 people live outdoors year-round. Another 500-600 shuffle between shelters and the wild.

Savannah, Statesboro and the surrounding area are prime assist players in the continuing development of a feeder system that keeps Americans formidable in international competition and perhaps one day bring the ultimate prize of a World Cup men's title. Further representative of the soccer boom in the area is the arrival of Tormenta FC, a player development league professional team in Statesboro.

If you’ve lived in Savannah for a certain period of time, it doesn’t matter if you believe in ghosts or not, the paranormal tends to consume part of your life. Our hubris in describing this little Victorian city by the sea, drips like Spanish moss out of our mouths with stories of all the characters we’ve encountered.

When you’ve seen the Earth from some of the highest mountain heights and lowest ocean depths like Tom Mullikin has, you think differently about its beauty and its people, its resilience and its fragility. And you want others to think differently too.

Storm Soldiers II, set to be released in late 2016, walks us through not only a day in lives of the linemen, but also the lives of their families. “Most of the time when a lineman leaves his home, his family has no idea when he’ll be back or if he’ll even be back at all,” says Stone.