Midshipman

An Annapolis alderwoman and the Anne Arundel chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People stepped forward yesterday in support of Lamar Owens Jr., the Navy midshipman recommended for expulsion after being acquitted of rape charges but convicted of two lesser counts. Classie G. Hoyle introduced a non-binding resolution asking that the Naval Academy grant Owens his degree and commission. The alderwoman said she hopes that Navy Assistant Secretary William Navas will take it under consideration as he decides the fate of Owens, whose trial ended in July.

WASHINGTON -- A former Naval Academy midshipman who appears in sex DVDs allegedly recovered from a Navy physician's house asked his former girlfriend to make a pornographic movie with him when they were dating, the woman testified yesterday. The woman, a senior midshipman testifying in the court-martial of Navy Cmdr. Kevin Ronan, said her ex-boyfriend asked on several occasions to film them having sex and made her feel guilty when she declined. Defense attorneys for Ronan sought to use the woman's testimony to support their contention that the sex videos were made by one or more of the midshipmen who appear in them - not Ronan.

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 Annapolis city council narrowly approved last night a statement in support of a former Navy quarterback who was acquitted of rape and now faces expulsion from the Naval Academy. The resolution in support of Lamar S. Owens Jr., which passed, 5 to 4, recommends that the former midshipmen be allowed to graduate but not receive his officer's commission. Assistant Navy Secretary William Navas will decide Owens' fate. The resolution originally recommended that Owens be granted a degree and a commission, but Alderwoman Classie Gillis Hoyle, the measure's sponsor, said that a compromise was necessary and that Owens "will accomplish a lot in or out of the military."

The state's second-highest court set aside a jury award of $759,500 yesterday and ordered a new trial to resolve a dispute over a 1993 traffic accident in which a bicycle ridden by a Naval Academy midshipman preparing for a triathlon and a truck collided.The Court of Special Appeals found fault with several decisions by Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Lawrence H. Rushworth, who presided over the trial in which Midshipman First Class Frederick W. Piquette had sought damages.The appeals court said Rushworth incorrectly allowed the jury to consider Piquette's request to recover medical expenses since the federal government, which paid for his care, had settled with the insurer for driver Seth H. Stevens.

KINGS POINT, N.Y. -- The dining hall roof leaks. Decrepit plumbing makes the water undrinkable in some buildings. The temperature in the barracks fluctuates with the whims of clogged radiators."

A fourth-year midshipman is fighting expulsion from the Naval Academy on sex charges, claiming that though his encounter with a female midshipman in July was a drunken mistake, the recommended punishment is one-sided and racist.Michael Pilson Jr., a 21-year-old history major who dreamed of becoming a Navy fighter pilot, is awaiting word at his Houston home from Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, who has the final say on expulsions.A fellow fourth-year student told Naval Academy officials she was raped in the Bancroft Hall dormitory after drinking heavily with Pilson and friends in downtown Annapolis.

The pleasure of the text is keenly evoked in A&E's intelligent, dashing new adaptations of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower tales.It's wonderful to be all at sea again, the way I was when I read the novels as a kid and dreamed about what life would be like in the English navy, circa 1793. Forester wrote 11 Hornblower novels, yet all four movies spring from just one, 1950's "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower." Happily, then, there are more possibilities for films about the young man who rises from midshipman to the highest ranks of the service.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon inspector general has concluded that the former top lawyer at the Naval Academy interfered with two criminal investigations but said there was no evidence that the recently retired academy superintendent, Adm. Charles R. Larson, was at fault.The yearlong inquiry found that the former top lawyer, Capt. Joseph D. Scranton, interfered with investigations of illegal drug use and child molestation at the academy in 1995 and 1996, according to the inspector general's report released yesterday.

75 years agoUnder head coach Bob Folwell, the Midshipman squad resumed practice for the Tournament of Roses game against University of Washington in Pasadena on New Year's. -- The Sun, Dec. 8, 1923.Plans for a proposed extension of St. John's College, Annapolis, call for the old buildings to be retained and a quadrangle formed in the rear to be surrounded by six dormitories. -- The Sun, Dec. 15, 1923.The Bureau of the Census and the Department of Commerce made public figures showing that in 1922 the government of Maryland cost each Anne Arundel resident $12.06, compared to a cost of $7.93 in 1914.

Wednesday in Annapolis, the United States Naval Academy welcomed the most racially and ethnically diverse class in its history: 14 percent Hispanic, 10 percent African-American - and perhaps 2 percent to 3 percent homosexual. I added that last part. No one knows how many plebes are gay or lesbian, but studies have placed the percentage of homosexual men and women serving this nation's military in that range, with some 65,000 said to be on active duty. It's a fairly safe assumption that a small percentage of plebes will have to keep their sexuality a secret if they want to graduate from the academy and, after that, fulfill their obligations to the country.

An Annapolis alderman and mayoral candidate charged with sexually assaulting a male midshipman was the subject of a 1986 restraining order after his wife accused him of beating her, court documents show. Alderman Samuel E. Shropshire, 61, denied the claims in an interview Tuesday. Jana Shropshire made the accusations in a Montgomery County divorce filing that also contained allegations that the alderman "has a problem with homosexuality" but had been "cured" before they were married. The divorce was never finalized.

The lawyer for an Annapolis alderman accused of inappropriately touching a midshipman said Tuesday that he thinks the Naval Criminal Investigative Service may have recorded a telephone conversation between his client and the accuser, who the lawyer said was "thoroughly inebriated" the night of the alleged incident. Samuel E. Shropshire, a Democrat who has declared his candidacy for mayor, has adamantly denied the allegations made by the 21-year-old male midshipman, who told authorities that the alderman groped his crotch late May 14 in Shropshire's car. Shropshire's lawyer, Gill Cochran, said the midshipman called Shropshire, who has been charged with second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense, sometime after May 14 and attempted to goad him into a confession.

A program that has fostered surrogate parent-style relationships for decades between midshipmen and Annapolis families suffered another black eye this week as a city alderman was charged with groping the young man he sponsored. The Naval Academy sponsorship program, founded in 1956, was designed to give out-of-town midshipmen a place to eat a home-cooked meal or watch a little TV away from the military setting. But this week's charges against Samuel E. Shropshire, 61, a Democratic mayoral candidate and sponsor, follow other troubling incidents: A Navy doctor who was a sponsor secretly recorded midshipmen having sex in his home; midshipmen have been accused of committing sex assaults at sponsors' homes; and two midshipmen died in alcohol-related accidents that involved sponsor families.

The Anne Arundel County state's attorney's office might ask an outside prosecutor to pursue the criminal charges against an Annapolis mayoral candidate accused of grabbing the crotch of a male Naval Academy midshipman during a late-night encounter in a car last week. Two employees of the county prosecutor's office are Annapolis aldermen who serve with Samuel E. Shropshire, 61, a Democrat accused on Tuesday of fondling a midshipman whom he has known since 2007. Shropshire was charged with second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense, both misdemeanors, in allegations referred to Annapolis police by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

A Naval Academy midshipman was sentenced to 15 months of confinement Tuesday for theft and conduct unbecoming an officer. Julia Kaelberer, 23, a fourth-year Mid from Rialto, Calif., admitted stealing a class ring sample from a display in October 2007. Her thefts culminated in what her lawyers described as a stealing spree Dec. 6, when most of her classmates were in Philadelphia for the Army-Navy football game. The stolen items included a BlackBerry, video game consoles, a class ring and a "Go Navy, Beat Army" quilt.

Midshipman William Selby surveyed the options for graduates of the Naval Academy and passed over ship officer, aircraft pilot and submariner for arguably the most dangerous selection of all: a career in the Marine Corps. "An easy choice," the Frederick native said. "I wanted to be where the action is." Selby, 21, is one of 273 first classmen, or "firsties," who will receive commissions in the Marine Corps this year. It is the highest number in recent Naval Academy history, accounting for more than 25 percent of the graduating class of just over 1,000.

WASHINGTON - A midshipman was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to storing child pornography on a computer in his Naval Academy dormitory. Michael S. Pollard, 23, also pleaded guilty to storing child porn on a laptop computer at his parents' home in Florida and making a false statement to authorities. The porn was found by a roommate who went to use Pollard's computer in early 2007. Pollard, wearing a Navy white uniform, told the presiding judge that he downloaded some of the porn, including hundreds of images and videos of prepubescent boys, while attending the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Rhode Island.

A 21-year-old Naval Academy senior from Georgia was killed early Monday when his car crashed in a wooded area in Virginia, authorities said yesterday. Midshipman 1st Class Aaron H. Reaves was heading north on U.S. 301 shortly after 3:30 p.m. when he lost control of his 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt and crashed into a tree near Fort A.P. Hill, an Army installation southeast of Fredericksburg, a Virginia State Police spokesman said. Midshipman Reaves, of Kennesaw, Ga., was pronounced dead at the scene.

After two hours watching her son vie with other Naval Academy plebes to scale a greased, 21-foot obelisk in yesterday's Herndon Monument Climb, Lindi Reichel figured she still had time to visit the gift shop. When she returned from her expedition with a new umbrella, the crowd of several hundred was clearing the area, and her husband delivered the news: Their son, Greg Reichel, had won the competition in her absence. "I could throw up," Reichel's mother said in frustration at missing her son's feat.