Virginia Military Institute

WASHINGTON -- Nearly a century and a half after the women's rights movement began, and just over 75 years after women gained a place in the U.S. Constitution with the right to vote, the Supreme Court is about to take up a plea to start a new legal revolution among the sexes.In a case that began in 1989 when an anonymous young woman failed to get into the male-only cadet ranks at Virginia Military Institute, the justices confront this week the most energetic effort in years to gain full constitutional protection for women.

Monsignor Joseph L. Luca, pastor of St. Louis Church, sought to ease the grief of family, friends, and classmates from Mount St. Joseph High School and Virginia Military Institute - 1,200 in all - who gathered Saturday at the Clarksville Roman Catholic church to mourn the death of John Alexander Evans. Evans, a 19-year-old VMI cadet from Highland who had graduated earlier this year from Mount St. Joe, died last Saturday in a Lexington, Va., hospital after collapsing in his barracks room upon completion of a 10-mile training march.

In the spring of 1862 General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson wrote, "If this Valley falls, Virginia falls." The valley he wrote of was the Shenandoah Valley, a lush stretch of farmland and small towns, landscaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains, which served as the battleground for hundreds of armed clashes during the Civil War. The Confederate army relied on the valley -the "breadbasket of the Confederacy" - for food and used it as a transportation corridor...

The Mount St. Joseph High School community was in shock Monday after learning that a 2009 graduate of the Irvington campus died Saturday following a 10-mile road march at the Virginia Military Institute. John Alexander Evans, 19, a freshman at the Lexington, Va., college, collapsed in his barracks room after the march, in which more than 400 members of the freshman class participated, and died at a local hospital. The fourth-class cadet was a resident of Highland in Howard County. "Without a doubt, everyone is in shock," said Doug Lambdin, a Mount St. Joseph English teacher who taught Evans during his freshman year.

Navy coach Richie Meade was plenty pleased the No. 10 Midshipmen defeated Virginia Military Institute, 13-5, on Saturday. But he took umbrage with a line of thought that Navy should have won by a greater margin and the score should not have been tied 5-5 at halftime. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/lacrosseblog)

William Hayes Old, a retired purchasing director for a New York boiler manufacturer, died Tuesday of cancer at Fairhaven, the Sykesville retirement community where he had lived for eight years. He was 83.Services for Mr. Old were being held today at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Sykesville.He had moved to Fairhaven from Charlottesville, Va., where he had lived since his retirement in 1971.Born in Norfolk, Va., he was a 1928 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and attended the Harvard University School of Business.

Today in history: Aug. 18 In 1997, Beth Ann Hogan became the first coed in the Virginia Military Institute's 158-year history. Five years ago: Shannon Faulkner, who'd won a 2 1/2 -year legal battle to become the first female cadet at The Citadel, quit the military college. One year ago: A day after a deadly earthquake struck western Turkey, survivors denounced the rescue effort as sluggish and disorganized.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has put in writing its request that the Naval Academy reconsider its ritual of leading students in lunchtime prayer. The group sent a letter Wednesday to the Annapolis superintendent, Vice Adm. Richard J. Naughton, saying that the practice was unlikely to pass "constitutional muster" in the wake of an appellate court ruling Monday striking down supper prayers at the state-run Virginia Military Institute. The Naval Academy declined to comment yesterday.

Services for William E. Wilkins II, a retired Baltimore lumber company executive, will be at 11 a.m. today at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd on Boyce Avenue in Ruxton.Mr. Wilkins, who was 73, died of cancer Friday at his Towson home.He worked for F. Bowie Smith & Sons Lumber Co. for 27 years and was vice president of sales before retiring 11 years ago. He remained active with the Maryland Lumbermen's Association and served as a consultant and adviser after his retirement.Born in Cape Charles, Va., he attended public schools there.

RICHMOND, Va. -- The trustees of the all-male Virginia Military Institute voted yesterday afternoon to underwrite a military program at Mary Baldwin College, a neighboring women's college, in an effort to comply with a federal court order.A private Virginia Military Institute alumni foundation willcontribute $6.9 million to the program, to be called the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership, which would include joint exercises with VMI's cadets, use of its obstacle course and rigorous physical training.

Navy coach Richie Meade was plenty pleased the No. 10 Midshipmen defeated Virginia Military Institute, 13-5, on Saturday. But he took umbrage with a line of thought that Navy should have won by a greater margin and the score should not have been tied 5-5 at halftime. ( For more, go to baltimoresun.com/lacrosseblog)

In the spring of 1862 General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson wrote, "If this Valley falls, Virginia falls." The valley he wrote of was the Shenandoah Valley, a lush stretch of farmland and small towns, landscaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains, which served as the battleground for hundreds of armed clashes during the Civil War. The Confederate army relied on the valley -the "breadbasket of the Confederacy" - for food and used it as a transportation corridor...

The legal spat over mealtime prayer at military colleges has swept into Congress, where a group of conservative Republicans is rallying support for a bill to safeguard the right of U.S. military academies to offer grace at their mess halls. The effort is the first legislative response to federal court rulings striking down suppertime prayer at the Virginia Military Institute as a violation of church-state separation, and to stern warnings from a civil-liberties group that the Naval Academy's lunchtime grace is on shaky constitutional ground.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has put in writing its request that the Naval Academy reconsider its ritual of leading students in lunchtime prayer. The group sent a letter Wednesday to the Annapolis superintendent, Vice Adm. Richard J. Naughton, saying that the practice was unlikely to pass "constitutional muster" in the wake of an appellate court ruling Monday striking down supper prayers at the state-run Virginia Military Institute. The Naval Academy declined to comment yesterday.

Today in history: Aug. 18 In 1997, Beth Ann Hogan became the first coed in the Virginia Military Institute's 158-year history. Five years ago: Shannon Faulkner, who'd won a 2 1/2 -year legal battle to become the first female cadet at The Citadel, quit the military college. One year ago: A day after a deadly earthquake struck western Turkey, survivors denounced the rescue effort as sluggish and disorganized.

Here is a chronology of events in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign leading up to the Battle of Cedar Creek:May 14: Union Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel, commander of the Department of West Virginia, moved south in the Shenandoah Valley with 6,500 men, facing cavalry opposition by Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden. Maj. Gen. John C. Breckenridge brought in about 5,000 Confederate troops to support Imboden, and a skirmish at Rude's Hill signaled Confederate resolve to defend the valley.Battle of New MarketMay 15: Battle of New Market, Va. Breckenridge gathered the Confederate forces, including 247 cadets from Virginia Military Institute, and met Sigel at New Market.

The Mount St. Joseph High School community was in shock Monday after learning that a 2009 graduate of the Irvington campus died Saturday following a 10-mile road march at the Virginia Military Institute. John Alexander Evans, 19, a freshman at the Lexington, Va., college, collapsed in his barracks room after the march, in which more than 400 members of the freshman class participated, and died at a local hospital. The fourth-class cadet was a resident of Highland in Howard County.