Academy

HOLLYWOOD -- Nigel Lythgoe couldn't resist an idle boast the other day, after he and a longtime colleague were tapped to rescue the TV industry's biggest night from a long slouch toward obsolescence. "It's the first time the Emmy producers have been on the front of the bloody Hollywood Reporter and Variety!" exclaimed Lythgoe, a British-born choreographer-turned-TV-impresario. Lythgoe and fellow Brit Ken Warwick oversee Fox's American Idol, currently in its sixth season and so unstoppable that competitors can only look upon its ratings and despair.

Of all the changes taking hold over the past few weeks at the Naval Academy, the least popular, at least among midshipmen, might come as a surprise. It wasn't the loss of weekends off-campus, cuts in extracurricular activities, or even the mandatory three meals a day on campus, where they've been served hamburger buns and gravy, frozen hoagies or one slice of pizza for dinner. According to several dozen midshipmen and parents, the most intolerable transition brought about by new leaders Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler and Capt.

WASHINGTON -- Two Marine Corps officers in the jury pool for the sexual misconduct military trial of a former Naval Academy football player said yesterday that they believe the school's superintendent wants a guilty verdict in the case. "I think he's already made up his mind," said one officer, who added that he suspected Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt had brought charges to make an example out of Kenny Ray Morrison, 24. After declaring that his perception would not influence him as a juror, the officer was added to the panel.

ISSUE: The Naval Academy acknowledged last week that up to 10 of its midshipmen had exhibited "misguided/immature" behavior while on a spring break trip to the Caribbean on a commercial cruise ship. Academy officials began investigating after a female passenger e-mailed them she had witnessed groping, excessive drinking and efforts to encourage underage passengers to drink alcohol. The behavior took place while the Mids were in uniform and in civilian clothing. The academy says a preliminary inquiry found no criminal activity.

In four years at the Naval Academy, Vanessa Solem has borne the brunt of more than few jokes about her favorite pastime: riding horses. After all, they don't have sea legs, and the Navy never had a cavalry. But Solem, 26, has had the last laugh as she's held together an unofficial equestrian team that has competed in numerous area equestrian events, even winning occasionally among colleges with more resources and organized teams. "Some people are a little sarcastic about it, and some people think it's ridiculous," said Solem.

After years of highly publicized incidents of midshipmen sexually abusing classmates, the Naval Academy appears to have turned a corner with a prevention and education program that has been held up as a model for other universities to emulate. Studies, including one released Friday by the Defense Department, show that misconduct incidents have dropped at the academy and an insidious macho culture is giving way to more tolerance and self-policing. But now the academy is reeling from a string of incidents that surfaced during the past year involving sexual misconduct by people in positions of authority - incidents that some fear could reverse the progress and leave midshipmen less willing to report abuse.

The Naval Academy has recently seen what a high-ranking midshipman called an "unacceptable" increase in alcohol rules infractions, despite the launch last fall of a strict policy that put the school at the forefront of efforts at colleges nationwide to curb binge drinking. In a memo sent yesterday to all 4,400 midshipmen and obtained by The Sun, senior Rachel Barton, the drug and alcohol education student officer, said that in the past six weeks, midshipmen had violated the new rules as much as they did in the previous six months.

The Navy has set a date in the fall for the court-martial of a former Naval Academy doctor accused of videotaping midshipmen having sex in his Annapolis-area home. Cmdr. Kevin Ronan, who worked at the academy until May 2006 as a brigade medical officer and physician for several varsity sports teams, will face the most serious form of military trial Oct. 29, a Navy spokesman said yesterday. He was arraigned Thursday at the Washington Navy Yard on seven counts of conduct unbecoming an officer, three counts of illegal wiretapping and one count of obstruction of justice.

A Naval Academy instructor worked as an "independent contractor" for a Washington-area escort service whose owner is accused in federal charges of running a prostitution ring, the escort service's former owner's lawyer said last night. Montgomery Blair Sibley, an attorney who represents Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called D.C. Madam, in a related civil case involving the government's seizure of her assets, confirmed a report yesterday on the Navy Times Web site that the female academy teacher was among 132 contractors who provided "legal sexual and erotic services" to clients in the greater Washington area.

Barry Subelsky never knew Maj. Douglas A. Zembiec. And until the Charleston, W.Va., police chief found out about Zembiec's combat death in May from e-mail messages circulated in the law enforcement community, he had never heard about the Marine who came to be known as the "Lion of Fallujah." But Subelsky was so moved by all he read about the unabashed warrior who celebrated the nobility of killing the enemy that he sent his officers inspirational principles found in a notebook that the Marine had with him when he died.

In times of widespread economic strife and uncertainty, professions such as law enforcement are viewed as more stable and seem to attract larger numbers than in times of prosperity. This year's class of recruits to the Howard County Police Department is a prime example. According to Lt. Bob Wagner, who has been commander of the department's education and training programs for the past 10 years, there were 1,800 applicants to this year's academy, a significant increase from the "400 to 500" applicants the county received two years ago when the economy was not in a recession.

Guitar master Les Paul's innovation and technical proficiency are well known, but the man who was dubbed "The Father of the Electric Guitar," "The Wizard of Waukesha," and "The Ancestor of Guitar Gods" was also a true gentleman. Volumes have been written about his numerous accomplishments since his death last week, but here's a story about one special day 13 years ago. On June 17, 1996, guitar legends Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Roger McGuinn and Scotty Moore, among others, arrived at the New York Jazz Club, Iridium.

Kathryn Boganowski and her daughter, Grace, made a pact six weeks ago when it was time to say goodbye: no tears. The truth was, both felt nervous and scared about Grace Boganowski's matriculation from Towson High School to plebe summer at the U.S. Naval Academy. But aside from some quivering of the lips, they refused to break down in front of one another that July morning. On Friday, Boganowski stood on her tip-toes, probing a long line of midshipmen - each ramrod straight and clad in pristine white - for any sign of her girl.

Three weeks before they will induct a fresh batch of plebes, officials at the U.S. Naval Academy expect their Class of 2013 to include far more minorities than any class in the institution's 164-year history. The class of about 1,200 will include 435 minorities, up 33 percent from the previous year's class, which had the most minorities until now, according to figures unveiled yesterday at the academy's Board of Visitors meeting. The academy received 57 percent more applications from minorities than in the previous year, part of a 41 percent increase in overall applications.

In a crowded classroom above the lawns of the U.S. Naval Academy, midshipmen are getting a dose of reality from a muscular Marine officer in desert fatigues. "You have to have the willpower to make a decision even when you don't have all the answers, even when your decision is going to get someone killed," growls Capt. Ted Greeley. "Everybody's going to be scared, physically exhausted, unwilling to go on ... but you have to." Greeley led a Marine rifle company through fierce fighting in Fallujah, Iraq.

Nine city charter schools getting $700,000 Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and schools chief Andres Alonso announced $700,000 in city grants yesterday for building improvements at nine charter schools. Charter schools are public schools that operate independently. Among the recipients is Rosemont Elementary, which will use the $78,019 it is getting to replace exterior doors and install a security system. The Independence School will spend its $64,950 for lighting fixtures, ceiling tiles and to upgrade plumbing.

Prosecutors say Johnnie Butler ran a violent and well-organized heroin operation on Baltimore's east side. Its members were able to sneak drugs into prison, get tipped off by courthouse staff when they were being sought on warrants, circumvent the application process to acquire guns, and get released from jail by posting a fraction of the bail imposed by judges. Last week, some of those who authorities said helped run the operation made their first appearances in court: a man enrolled at the city fire academy, a woman who worked for the state's attorney's office and attends the University of Baltimore, a Johns Hopkins Hospital nurse's assistant and a student on scholarship at St. Mary's College.

The young business associates were sitting around a conference table last week, telling me about the philosophy and strategy of someone they greatly admire in their field, an investor who doesn't gamble wildly and knows exactly what he's buying. "Warren Buffett takes a company that's doing well," Vir Mirchandani said, "and makes it stronger." "His principle is he invests in companies where he knows what they're doing," Nikhil Sinha added. Just then, Maddy Bencivenga popped into the room and announced: "Warren Buffett just bought Constellation Energy."

Fifty years ago, 899 young men gathered in the then-new Naval Academy field house to hear a graduation address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. After four grueling years of military and academic training, their numbers had dwindled by a quarter, but for those who had survived, promising futures stretched out ahead. This week, hundreds of those graduates are returning to Annapolis to relive their trials and achievements and laugh about shenanigans of yore. They will also swap stories about grandchildren and retirement.

The number of minority students enrolling at the Naval Academy has increased steadily in recent years, a trend that college officials attribute to renewed efforts to recruit in urban areas. But the numbers fall below diversity goals, particularly for African-Americans, who make up less than 7 percent of the incoming class. The Class of 2012 that enrolled at the Annapolis military college this month includes 351 minority students - 28 percent - making it the most diverse freshman class in more than a decade, academy officials reported yesterday.