Lieutenant

HARRIETT WOODS, 79 Pioneering politician Harriett Woods, who championed other women politicians after becoming the first elected to statewide office as Missouri's lieutenant governor, died Thursday of leukemia in St. Louis. She was elected in 1984 and served one term.

Captain Ahab assembled the crew of the Pequod and told them that they could not afford to fail in the quest to kill the great white whale, and so he had come up with a plan. The Pequod lay becalmed on a glassy sea, the sails hung loose, the ship drifting with the current. The Captain had mulled over the recommendations of the Moby Dick Study Group and rejected them. "If we turn back to New Bedford now, as the Old Ones suggest, we risk the loss of the high seas." And so he had decided to put 10 oarsmen in a longboat and to row ahead, towing the ship, "surging" it forward.

FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- A military judge abruptly declared a mistrial yesterday in the court-martial of an Army lieutenant who refused orders to go to Iraq, handing a temporary reprieve to the elated officer and leaving military prosecutors visibly stunned and angry with the ruling. The decision by the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, turned on the contentious issue of whether factual stipulations agreed to earlier by the prosecutors and the defense team amounted to a confession of guilt by the lieutenant, 28-year-old Ehren Watada, on the Army's charges of failure to deploy.

On that barren, almost God-forsaken strip of land known as the western front of Korea, where the troops only talked in hushed whispers at night to avoid detection, the new second lieutenant introduced himself to "Item Company." He said his name was Ben Murray, that he was from Baltimore. For other pertinent background, he graduated from Gilman School and Princeton University.Pfc Bob Ehrlich was from the same hometown, caught up in a war he was ordered to fight, wondering how much longer he'd be able to survive or if his name would be on the next casualty list to appear in The Sun. "So you went to Gilman," Ehrlich said.

P. THOMAS SHANAHAN, the Anne Arundel County chief of police, should halt employment of his officers by one of his lieutenants, who is accused of hiring on-duty officers to provide security for private developers.The Sun's Devon Spurgeon reported that Police Lt. Donald J. Hauf Jr. has hired officers he supervises to guard residential developments in Anne Arundel. The accusations, if proved, would present a serious conflict of interest.Chief Shanahan was correct to launch an internal investigation while Lieutenant Hauf remains on the job. Either his private enterprise or his status as a police commander should cease while this matter is being resolved.

The Gamber and Community Fire Company installed officers for 1999 at its annual banquet Jan. 9.Administrative officers are Calvin Brothers, president; Robert Klinefelter, first vice president; Clayton Myers Jr., second vice president; Christine Green, recording secretary; Jeannie Green, corresponding secretary; Dennis Brothers, treasurer; Michael Sullivan, sergeant-at-arms.Members of the board of directors are Richard Green Sr., Edward Yingling, Clifford Yeager, John Warner, Robert Weishaar.

The Taneytown Volunteer Fire Company installed new officers for 2000 at its annual banquet Dec. 20.Administrative officers are: Michael Clapsaddle, president; Donald Shoemaker, 1st vice president; Doug Bare, 2nd vice president; Randy Tracey, recording secretary; Charles Parrish, financial secretary; James Parker, treasurer and Robert Trankley, assistant; Craig Austin, Wayne Staley, Moe Parrish, members-at-large; Wayne Staley, James Haines, county delegates.Line...

The Reese and Community Volunteer Fire Company recently installed officers for 1999.Administrative officers are: Jerry Dayton, president; Don Love, 1st vice president; Mark Winebrunner, 2nd vice president; David Davidson, treasurer; Linda Bowen, corresponding secretary; Ed Robinson, recording secretary; Randy Panos, sergeant at arms; Hilbert Bitzel, chaplain; Dave Barnes, historian.Trustees are: Charles Bush, Richard Stone, Frank Baker, Rick Schinzel, Dennis Dell.Fire/rescue officers are: Marion Davidson Jr., fire chief; Jerry Dayton, assistant chief; Don Love, suppression captain; David Davidson, rescue captain; Dennis Dell, 1st lieutenant; Mark Winebrunner, 2nd lieutenant.

A white Baltimore police lieutenant was suspended yesterday as the department investigated charges that he made comments troubling to black officers and repeatedly undermined the commissioner's strategies.Police commanders ordered a swift inquiry based on an anonymous letter sent to Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier on Monday. By Wednesday, 15 detectives had descended on the Southwestern District and interviewed dozens of officers.Lt. Ernie D. Meadows, a 27-year veteran, was ordered to a desk job Wednesday night.

The New Windsor Fire and Hose Company installed new officers at its recent annual banquet.Administrative officers are Drew Strine, president; Richard Hooper, vice president; Jack Coe, treasurer; Jay Gullo, assistant treasurer; Gail Hooper, corresponding secretary; Penny Strine, assistant corresponding secretary; Barbara Blacksten, financial secretary; Thomas Holland, assistant financial secretary; and Neal Roop, chaplain.Line officers are Ronnie Blacksten, fire chief; Rick Fritz, assistant fire chief; Byron Welker, captain; Jeff Blacksten, lieutenant; Jeff Lease, second lieutenant; Scott Lowman, ambulance captain; Thomas Coe, ambulance lieutenant; Felix Hill, second ambulance lieutenant.

A veteran Baltimore County police officer and the longtime commander of the department's tactical unit died Monday of a stroke he suffered a day earlier after leading the investigation into a murder-suicide in Randallstown. Lt. Michael Howe spent Sunday morning at the home of a man who called police to say he had killed his wife and was about to shoot himself. There, the 55-year-old commander ordered his officers to enter the house of an armed man, just as he had done hundreds of times before.

Robert P. "Bear" Schlenger Sr., a retired Baltimore attorney and lacrosse enthusiast, died Monday of Alzheimer's disease at Edenwald retirement community in Towson. He was 75. Born in Baltimore, Mr. Schlenger was raised on Liberty Heights Avenue. He was a 1949 graduate of the Severn School and played midfield and attack on the varsity lacrosse team at the University of Virginia. After earning his bachelor's degree in 1953, he served in the Navy aboard the destroyer USS Leary in the Atlantic.

In the months before graduating from the Johns Hopkins University, Colby J. Umbrell's athletic pursuits began to turn from football. Sometimes alone, sometimes with a family friend, he ran mile after mile through the city's streets, training for marathons, a career in the military -- and for the distinct possibility of going to Iraq. He ran three marathons, two before earning a Hopkins degree in political science in 2004. He became an Army officer. And he began his first tour to Iraq six months ago. On Thursday, the Army first lieutenant was killed by a roadside bomb in Musayyib, Iraq, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Two Maryland soldiers, including a Frostburg State University graduate who dreamed of being a doctor, died a day apart last week in the Middle East, the Department of Defense announced yesterday. Army 1st Lt. Gwilym J. Newman, 24, a former Waldorf resident, was killed Thursday in Tarmiyah, Iraq, by small arms fire while on dismounted patrol, a military statement said. According to his mother, Christine Newman, Lieutenant Newman served as a tank platoon commander and was based in Fort Hood, Texas.

HARRIETT WOODS, 79 Pioneering politician Harriett Woods, who championed other women politicians after becoming the first elected to statewide office as Missouri's lieutenant governor, died Thursday of leukemia in St. Louis. She was elected in 1984 and served one term.

FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- A military judge abruptly declared a mistrial yesterday in the court-martial of an Army lieutenant who refused orders to go to Iraq, handing a temporary reprieve to the elated officer and leaving military prosecutors visibly stunned and angry with the ruling. The decision by the judge, Lt. Col. John Head, turned on the contentious issue of whether factual stipulations agreed to earlier by the prosecutors and the defense team amounted to a confession of guilt by the lieutenant, 28-year-old Ehren Watada, on the Army's charges of failure to deploy.

Army officer defied both law and orders Paul Rockwell's column "Truth has consequences for soldier of conscience" (Opinion Commentary, Feb. 1) is misleading. Army 1st Lt. Ehren K. Watada is not facing charges for "telling the truth" or for making "public speeches on presidential decisions" or for exercising any of his other First Amendment rights. Lieutenant Watada volunteered to become a soldier. Along with becoming a soldier comes the duty to obey the law; in fact, Lieutenant Watada swore to obey and uphold that law when he received his commission.

It is a sad day in American jurisprudence when a soldier of conscience is court-martialed not for lying but for telling the truth, not for breaking a covenant with the military but for upholding the rule of law in wartime. The court-martial of Army 1st Lt. Ehren K. Watada is set for Monday at Fort Lewis near Seattle. The 28-year-old soldier from Hawaii is the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq. He is charged with "missing movement" and "conduct unbecoming of an officer," including "use of contemptuous words for the president."

Captain Ahab assembled the crew of the Pequod and told them that they could not afford to fail in the quest to kill the great white whale, and so he had come up with a plan. The Pequod lay becalmed on a glassy sea, the sails hung loose, the ship drifting with the current. The Captain had mulled over the recommendations of the Moby Dick Study Group and rejected them. "If we turn back to New Bedford now, as the Old Ones suggest, we risk the loss of the high seas." And so he had decided to put 10 oarsmen in a longboat and to row ahead, towing the ship, "surging" it forward.

A 24-year-old soldier from Ijamsville who married his West Point college sweetheart was killed in combat Wednesday in Iraq, according to his family. 1st Lt. John Ryan Dennison died after suffering two gunshot wounds during fighting east of Baghdad, his family said. The Department of Defense has not publicly announced his death. Lieutenant Dennison, the eldest son of Army parents, was a fiercely competitive athlete and a determined soldier who reveled in every challenge, said his mother, Shannon Dennison.