from the Savannah Morning News
February 5, 1997

Pageant to Nancy Hillis: You're no Miss Tennessee
Savannahian who is in 'The Book' says references to her as the state title winner are 'typos'

by Gene Downs
Savannah Morning News

The Miss Tennessee Scholarship Pageant has threatened legal action against Savannah entertainer Nancy Hillis for allegedly promoting herself as a former winner of the pageant.

"We find no evidence that you ever participated in the Miss Tennessee Pageant. The title 'Miss Tennessee' is protected under trademark laws and any farther use of this title by you will result in legal action," pageant chairman Tom Hensley wrote in a Jan. 22 letter to Hillis.

Hensley wrote to Hillis after learning she was referred to as a former Miss Tennessee in numerous magazine and newspaper articles, in a court deposition in 1992 and in a city map that bears her name.

Hensley was not available for comment. But his secretary, Joy Exum, confirmed that he had written the letter and said that Hillis "has promised not to use (the title) anymore."

Exum said the matter will not he pursued if Hillis removes the claim from written materials.

But Hillis—depicted as Mandy in the best-selling book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt—said she has never made the claim.

"I'm not a former Miss Tennessee, and I have said that over and over and over again," Hillis said last week,

"I have claimed to be in a preliminary pageant for Miss Tennessee (the Miss Chattanooga Pageant), and I can show you my trophy for winning Miss Congeniality in that contest, she said.

Hillis dismissed the various references to her as a former Miss Tennessee as typographical errors.

Among the documents in which Hillis is quoted as making the claim is a deposition of her taken in U.S. District Court in Brunswick in February 1992.

According to the transcript, Hillis told attorney Walter Hartridge, "I was a petite model when I was in college and so on and so forth. I was Miss Tennessee. I was all that kind of stuff."

"You were Miss Tennessee?"

Speaking under oath, Hillis answered, "Yes, sir."

When asked about the document, Hillis called the reference "a typo."

However, a videotaped copy of the deposition viewed last week by Savannah Morning News attorney David Hudson of Augusta found the transcription to be accurate.

"I watched the actual video of the testimony of Ms. Hillis. The transcript of the testimony concerning 'Miss Tennessee' is exactly what the videotape shows," Hudson said in written remarks to the Morning News.

Hillis' claim to be a pageant winner was printed, also, In the "Savannah Map of Good & Evil, According to 'Mandy.'" In biographical information about her, Hillis is referred to as "a former Miss Tennessee."

Hillis called that reference, too, a typographical error.

But Frank Mullis, who published the map for the Savannah printing firm Backyard Publishing Co., said Hillis provided the information. He showed the Morning News a handwritten document that he said is the original copy of the biographical in information Hillis gave him.

"This former Miss Tennessee met Joe Odom at the Cloister in Sea Island where they both were singing," the document says.

"What is printed is what was given to me by her," Mullis said.

In a recent article in the national magazine "The Weekly Standard," Hillis criticized "Midnight" author John Berendt for taking liberties with her character in his nonfiction book.

In a note at the end of the hook, Berendt admits to having altered names and descriptions of characters and the timing of events.