An Island of Security for G-8 Talks

"Nobody would accost him or ask for his autograph," she said.

It was this kind of respect for privacy that seems to have attracted prominent guests to Sea Island, where the secrecy-obsessed staff has been known to wait for years before revealing that some celebrity -- John Travolta or Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance -- had visited. The famous and the semi-famous and the just plain rich stroll along the white sand beaches or splash in the pool without worrying about being bothered by the other guests and residents, who were mostly corporate titans, well-heeled businessmen or heiresses.

The summit will be held in the same relaxed atmosphere. This is not a place of crystal chandeliers -- the massive chandeliers in the Beach Club are wrought iron -- or of gilded opulence. It is a place of beachy teak furniture and rough-hewn vaulted ceilings, of Spanish barrel-tile roofs and painted brick.

Perhaps it should be no surprise that President Bush selected the island for the first G-8 he has hosted. The place, after all, was pre-screened by his parents. Former president Bush and his wife, Barbara, honeymooned here in 1945 and came back to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

The honeymoon story has made the rounds in diplomatic circles. One diplomat asked Bennett, "So, was your president manufactured here?"

A few years back, Jones invited the elder Bush to play the new golf course before it officially opened. Along the way, Bush excused himself from the fivesome, which included pro golf star Davis Love III and Bell, and disappeared into a restroom that was missing a few final touches. When Bush emerged, Jones and the others were in hysterics.

"Mr. President," Jones recalls saying, "you're the first person to use the women's bathroom."

Not long afterward, Jones, known as "B3" because he is the third Bill Jones to run Sea Island, received a package from Bush. Inside was a brass plaque commemorating the former president's mistaken pit stop.

The current president and the other world leaders will be confined to the island during the three-day summit. Each leader will be limited to 25 staffers. But they will tool around in hipster style: They will be issued electric cars that top out at 35 mph and have been shrink-wrapped with each nation's flag.

"Think Austin Powers," Bennett said.

But, for all the nifty horsepower available to him, European Commission President Romano Prodi of Italy has requested a bicycle to travel to meetings.

Prodi won't be bothered by annoying hordes of reporters while pedaling. With the exception of 100 pool reporters, the almost 3,000 journalists credentialed to cover the event will have to content themselves with the mobile Krispy Kreme doughnut shop and other enticements at the media center, about a 1 1/2-hour drive to the north in Savannah.

Protesters have also been shunted over to the mainland in Brunswick. Three years ago the G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy, was rattled when hundreds were injured in violent clashes between police and protesters. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) did not wait for trouble, declaring a preemptive state of emergency weeks before the Sea Island summit.

The declaration figured into a pre-summit controversy that dogged Perdue as he visited the summit site. Days after his declaration, the Brunswick City Council passed an ordinance that allows its police department to halt protests during states of emergency. Perdue brushed aside suggestions that he coordinated with local officials to infringe on free speech, saying a similar preemptive state of emergency was declared before the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

"This is the Olympics of the economic world," he said.

But it won't be an Olympics with a shooting event. Sea Island's skeet-shooting school will be shuttered for the summit, even during the regular "Annie Oakley shooting hour for ladies."

With no skeet to shoot and the island in virtual lockdown mode, the few residents who plan to stay on the island will have to entertain themselves with celebrity-gazing from afar. Putsie Worthy, who with her husband is among the 100 year-round residents of the island, has been told that the south end of the island, where the meeting will be held, is off limits.

Too bad -- she could probably have helped Bennett, down from Washington for the summit, explain a bit about the South to their guests.

Just the other day, Bennett found himself stammering in front of a quizzical diplomat who had to know: "What is this 'Piggly Wiggly'?"