Academy In Annapolis

Federal Contracts Report is a weekly summary of selected contracts recently awarded by the federal government to companies and other vendors in the Baltimore area.* Paco Contractors of Baltimore won a $153,000 contract from the Army to build a two-story office structure inside a building at Aberdeen Proving Ground.* Bendix Field Engineering Corp. of Columbia won a $2,799,798 contract from the Navy for engineering and logistics.* United Book Press of Baltimore won a $347,438 contract from the United States Government Printing Office to print books.

IF THE U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis can play one of its biggest football games in Dublin -- as it did Saturday -- why not in nearby Baltimore?And since the Middies are already set to play Notre Dame at Jack Kent Cooke's new Landover stadium in two years, it makes sense to move the game to Baltimore's new stadium in 2000.Navy should alternate its big football contests -- especially Army and Notre Dame -- in the large stadiums being built at Landover and Baltimore. That way, the Navy team could develop strong local followings in both regions.

A small brush fire on the grounds of the Naval Academy dairy farm yesterday afternoon grew into a five-alarm blaze that damaged 40 to 60 acres of crops, the Anne Arundel County fire department reported.Firefighters responded at about 3: 10 p.m. to the 865-acre Gambrills dairy farm in the central part of the county, said Lt. Michael Smith of the fire department.The fire burned for more than two hours before it was contained at about 5: 30 p.m., he said.For decades, the dairy provided milk to midshipmen at the academy in Annapolis.

The Baltimore FBI office and the Maryland U.S. attorney's office have established a 24-hour hot line for citizens to report environmental crimes, especially those involving the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.Local, state and federal law enforcement officials also have formed the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Enforcement Coalition, which held its first meeting Wednesday at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.The coalition seeks to improve conservation efforts and environmental compliance in the bay area.

On Dec. 2, 1856, John D. Worthington was born on a Harford County farm near the Susquehanna. He spent his early years attending Darlington Academy. After further studies at St. John's Academy in Annapolis, Worthington became a schoolteacher and began a lifetime devoted to education. A contemporary biography states: "From youth he has been interested in the public-school system. The absolute necessity of universal education, wide in scope, complete in curriculum, practical in aim, has long been evident to him."

Navy Ensign Katie M. Jones, daughter of Larry D. and Patricia A. Jones of Westminster, recently graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis and was commissioned at her present rank.Ensign Jones completed four years of intensive academic, physical and professional training and received a bachelor of science degree in oceanography.Ensign Jones was one of 895 men and women who were commissioned as officers this year at the academy.She is a 1991 graduate of Westminster High chool. Her next duty station will be at the Naval Atlantic Meteorology and Oceanography Center in Norfolk, Va.POLICE* Westminster: A resident of Liberty Street reported that someone damaged his moped while it was parked at Thunderhead Bowling Lanes in the 140 Village Shopping Center July 20. He estimated damage at $100.

When it comes to photographing presidents, the Secret Service makes showing up very early a necessity. When President Bush recently visited the Naval Academy in Annapolis to deliver a speech on the war in Iraq, the media were instructed to arrive before dawn. The Sun used a photo of midshipmen listening attentively to Bush, but an image I captured of the Mids waiting for him to arrive offered an amusing, offbeat view. While I was waiting, I also saw Jennifer Ziehl, who runs the production company hired to erect the "Plan for Victory" stage set, vacuuming the stage where the president would speak.

75 Years Ago* The Annapolis Daughters of Isabella hosted the largest Halloween party in town last night with an estimate of 350 children present. -- Anne Arundel County Kuethe Library files, Nov. 1, 1919.* Anne Arundel County teachers are the third-best paid teachers Maryland, following Baltimore and Allegany. The average high school teacher salary is $1,093 with the average for white grammar or primary schools $686. The average salary of colored techers is $306. -- The Sun, Nov. 2, 1919.

THE QUESTION: Naval hero John Paul Jones died in 1792, but his casket did not arrive at the Naval Academy in Annapolis until 1913. Why? THE ANSWER: Jones' original burial place was a cemetery in Paris, which closed in January 1793 and was covered in new apartments by a developer. It was not until the late 1800s that Horace Porter, then the U.S. ambassador to France, decided to research the whereabouts of Jones' casket. Porter led an excavation of the old cemetery and, in 1903, discovered the remains of a man who was positively identified by a medical examiner as Jones.

Several hundred sweating Midshipmen claw their way upward yesterday during the annual Plebe Week ritual of climbing the Herndon Monument at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Hoisted by classmates, Philip "Flip" Johnson (right) of Rock Hill, S.C., finally places an upperclassman's cap on the summit of the 21-foot obelisk coated with lard, a rite of passage marking the end of freshman year. But their celebration was brief. Excited plebes forgot to complete the first step of the challenge: Remove the plebe cap that had been secured on the monument's tip by upperclassmen.