US Naval Academy alumni welcome newest midshipmen

Stephen Phillips

On June 1, the US Naval Academy Alumni Association, Hampton Roads Chapter, honored the area candidates who were awarded appointments to attend the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. A Plebe Recognition Dinner was held in honor of the appointees and their parents at the Naval Air Station Oceana Officers' Club.

Local appointees are Benjamin Fasseel, Kecoughtan High 2005 and the Naval Academy Preparatory School; Jeffrey Iiams, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy; and Stephen Phillips, Hargrave Military Academy. Area appointees are Andrew Adelson, Frank W. Cox High School; Caitlin Castello, Hickory High; Kelsey Cellon, Ocean Lakes High; Tara Chapmon, Cox High; Aaron Dixon, Tallwood High; William Garland, Kellam High; Nicholas Hanley, Landstown High; Joseph Lannetti, Matthew F. Maury High; Kenneth O'Loughlin, Maury High; and Jessica Parks, Deep Creek High.

Hampton Roads Daily Press

'68 Cadence for sale on eBay

Leon Rue (Class of '49) noted that there is a 1968 HMA Cadence class yearbook on sale on eBay for $49 if anybody needs one. Click on '68 Cadence for more info. Marc Axel (Class of '63) followed up and suggested that if anyone is searching for their graduating year yearbook for helping plan a class reunion and some other reason, they should check with Hargrave's Director of Alumni Relations, Clay Draud. Clay's e-mail address is draudc@hargrave.edu and his phone number is (434) 432-2688.

NCAA will take hard look at prep institutions

Jeff Allen

Julian Vaughn stands 6-foot-8, boasts a high GPA and is ready to enter one of America's most prestigious basketball factories -- Virginia's Oak Hill Academy.

Nobody, not even the NCAA, can convince Vaughn he's making a mistake.

Even after Oak Hill was placed last week on the list of 22 schools that will have its academic standards under review by the NCAA, Vaughn still intends to enroll there this fall.

"Even if it was on the list of offenders, I'd still want to go," he said. "I have a 3.7 GPA, so I'm really just going there to get my last few credits."

Of course, there's the added attraction of playing basketball for an institution that annually produces some of college basketball's premier prospects. Vaughn hopes to carry on Oak Hill's legacy.

The questions being asked now, though, are more about academics than talent.

Ever since The New York Times exposed University High in Miami, a correspondence school that offered diplomas to students despite having no classes nor instructors and operating almost without supervision, the NCAA has been scrutinizing the standards of nontraditional high schools to identify "diploma mills."

The NCAA has been looking for irregularities such as one-year students, dramatic academic improvements or uncharacteristic classwork patterns.

Jeff Allen, a former Oak Hill player who is transferring to Hargrave Military Academy this fall, appears to fit the model. In one year at Oak Hill, Allen said he made progress academically and fulfilled five core courses toward his college eligibility.

"It was an academic decision," he said, referring to his former school. "It took one year, and it was hard at first. But once I got used to it, it became easier."

There is a risk: Students attending listed schools could lose their freshman eligibility.

NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon said transcripts will continue to be evaluated individually and that students at the listed schools could retain their eligibility if their records show a pattern of academic achievement.

By publicizing the lists, NCAA officials hoped some athletes would reconsider their choices. The early returns are not encouraging.

On Wednesday, 16 schools were added to the list of offenders -- seven of them from Santa Ana, Calif. Twenty-two others, including Oak Hill, face more review over the next year.

And when Vaughn arrived at the Nike All-America Camp on Thursday, he wasn't even aware Oak Hill made the list.

"I didn't hear about it, no," he said. "People can say whatever they want to say, but I've not heard anything bad about their academics. I know a lot of people hate the fact they have a rich basketball tradition, so they'll say whatever they want."

Vaughn isn't the only one with concerns about the NCAA's crackdown.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, winner of the 2003 national championship and a prominent member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, is questioning the process.

He wondered why one school, which he declined to identify, made the list even though it has an enrollment of 300, a principal and a faculty. He also believes the NCAA's new mission poses a dangerous potential for expansion.

"The next thing they're going to do is look at inner-city schools, and we're not supposed to take those kids because it's a bad high school," he said. "Where are we going with this?"

Lennon insisted that would not happen.

Instead, he said the NCAA is looking more closely at schools that do not fall under state oversight, and that if investigators found irregularities at public institutions, the NCAA would notify that state's regulating body.

"Every student will have his records reviewed by the clearinghouse," Lennon said. "What we're trying to do is pick out kids who have miraculous recoveries in their last year. That's the kid that needs to be concerned."

The schools that have been identified span the continent, from North Atlantic Regional in Lewiston, Maine, to Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma, Calif.

Some administrators were surprised to learn of their inclusion. Lt. Gen. John E. Jackson Jr., president of Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, said NCAA officials have neither visited the campus nor expressed specific concerns about the curriculum.

But one common factor is the number of prep schools and Christian schools listed.

"One of the reasons for that is that they are not regulated by state agencies," Lennon said. "You don't see any public schools on the list because they are regulated, so when you have Christian schools or prep schools that aren't regulated, they're more likely to make the list."

Regardless, the risk of losing a year of eligibility does not appear to be changing minds yet.

"I heard a rumor that a lot of kids go down there to qualify, but I don't really know how the academics are there," Vaughn said. "I know the teachers live on campus, like in a dorm, and they give you extra help. I think if a teacher is right there, it would help you a lot."

By Michael Marot
The Associated Press

Afghanistan: Pfc Justin Davis

photo courtesy of Marketa Ebert

As an honor guard performed the burial of Army Pfc. Justin Davis, his mother Paula could not help but think that this is what her son would have wanted.

"He always wanted to be a hero," said Paula Davis. Friends and family say Justin was certainly that as he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in front of more than 100 friends and family Monday.

Justin, a 2005 graduate of Magruder High School, died June 25 while on patrol with the 10th Mountain Division in the Korengal Outpost in the eastern Kunar province in Afghanistan, where he had been since March. He was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in battle and a Bronze Star, both of which were given to his family Monday.

Before the burial at Arlington, close to 600 people attended Justin's funeral service at the Interdenominational Church of God in Gaithersburg Saturday. Almost every speaker called Justin a hero.

"Justin did something most people won't do," said Pastor Randy Dennis of Lakewood Church of God in Germantown. "He went off to fight and die for our country."

As Joseph "Jo-Jo" Holland started to speak, he took a step back to collect himself and was immediately consoled by several members of the crowd. Holland talked about plans he and Davis had made to go to Los Angeles after graduation to pursue acting careers.

"I'm out there now, doing it for him," Holland said. "He's a cool dude, and I love him."

Pastor Leon Grant of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Rockville, where Justin was an active member, said, "Justin was a hero to us all, and his was not in vain."

Barry Moultrie, a family friend who said that Justin was "like a surrogate son," said that while Justin did not die in vain, his should give policymakers in Washington pause to consider bringing the rest our kids home to prevent further needless loss of life.

Justin's is under investigation by the military as a possible friendly fire incident. Army Spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks said Davis was killed by "indirect fire," which is a term often used for mortar attacks, but no other information has been released. So far 17 soldiers have died in Afghanistan and Iraq due to friendly fire.

Paula said that no matter how her son died, the circumstances of Justin's are not important to her. What matters, she said, is that Justin was destined to be a soldier, and he was able to fulfill that destiny.

"You could see it when he was a little boy," said Paula. "He was always intrigued with action figures, GI Joes, that kind of thing."

Justin's interest in the military peaked when he attended Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., during his junior year of high school, where many of his teachers were retired officers. When Justin came back to Magruder for his senior year, it was clear to everyone that he had made up his mind to join the military.

"He was always adamant about joining the armed forces and serving his country, but when he came back from Hargrave, you could see the difference in him," said Ed Ashwell, Justin's football coach at Magruder. "He went from being a boy to being a man, saying 'Yes sir, yes ma'am,' those kinds of things. It fit him to a T."

Paula said she tried to convince her son not to join the military because of the conflict in the Middle East, but she said Justin would not be dissuaded.

"He was my only son," she said, " and I reminded him of that. You know what he told me? 'Mom, you should have had more kids.'"

Paula was adamant about Justin going to college and said she always made sure Justin knew he had options.

"He knew that if I had to work three jobs I would have done it, and that he didn't have to go into the military," she said. "But he told me, 'Mom, I still want to go to college, I just have to do this first.'"

She remembers one night in particular when Justin made her sit down with him and watch a show on television about the Army Rangers.

"I went out and bought him an Army Rangers shirt the next day, and he was wearing that to school, around the neighborhood, and even when he was working out trying to get his weight down for basic training," Paula said. "I knew I had to let him go and give him my blessing. I could have begged him to stay, and he probably would have."

"I asked him once, 'Why don't you just wait a little bit?' He said, 'Wait for what, mom, I have to get on with my life,'" she said.

Justin was assigned to Fort Drum, N.Y., after graduation, where he was a member of the Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. When his unit was assigned to Afghanistan, Justin was excited to go.

"He felt like this was his calling, that he could do some good," said Paula. "This encompassed everything that he was, from his young days playing with GI Joes up through Hargrave and his last year at Magruder. It was who he was."

"He died doing what he wanted to do," said Ashwell. "How many of us are going to be able to say that?"

By Josh Bowman
Montgomery County Sentinel

Free speech is strangled

Nearby Hargrave Military Academy and a pair of disgruntled parents settled a lawsuit this week, but nothing was settled about the court’s “right” to interfere with free speech.

Jerry and Melissa Guyles had started a Web site complaining about the academy’s decision to expel their son after the Honor Council found him guilty of stealing.

Hargrave President Wheeler M. Baker affirmed the decision.

The couple claimed that Hargrave “suffers from poor leadership due to their President, Wheeler Baker.” They also posted a letter they sent to other Hargrave parents saying Mr. Baker lacked professionalism and integrity.

Details of this week’s court settlement are secret, but the Web site was not back up and working.

Hargrave and Mr. Baker sued the Guyleses, claiming, among other things, that they launched their allegations with “reckless disregard for the truth.”

The resulting civil trial would have proved whether Hargrave and its president were right, or whether the Guyleses were justified in their criticism.

It should have been a straightforward case of cause and effect. The law requires each of us to take responsibility for what we say or write, post or broadcast.

If the Guyleses made a mistake, they would have to bear the consequences. That should have been decided at civil trial.

The problem is that a judge took the Web site offline before hearing all evidence. That’s called “prior restraint,” and it violates fundamental and long-established precedents in First Amendment cases.

Two issues are at stake: that the judge exercised prior restraint, before hearing all the evidence, and that he imposed an overly harsh penalty.

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, based in Charlottesville, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia joined to argue against the censorship. They said the judge’s restraining order violated free speech when it was issued in May because it came before the parents had a chance to argue their side of the case.

“The court’s order is extraordinary, a bad sign of our times,” said Kent Willis, executive director of the Virginia ACLU. “Our freedom depends first and foremost on free speech. Judges are allowed to curb speech only as a last resort and then under the most carefully and narrowly controlled circumstances.

“Wiping out an entire Web site because one party doesn’t like what it says simply does not comport with our understanding of free expression in this country.”

“Wiping out an entire Web site” is the other half of the problem. Not only did the judge impose prior restraint, but he employed a draconian method of overkill.

After all, it wasn’t the Web site itself that was the alleged problem, it was the disputed words on the Web site.

If this sounds like nitpicking, consider long-time precedent. Even if a publisher or broadcaster is found liable for reckless disregard in one of its stories, the newspaper, magazine, radio or TV station is not ordered to shut down. There are responsibilities, there are consequences, there are penalties to face, but the publisher or broadcaster may continue to operate.

This precedent is such a well-established feature of First Amendment law that its violation is especially shocking. It is indeed a bad sign for our times.

There’s a reason our Founding Fathers put free speech (and freedom of religion) first in their list of protections. Democracy can’t exist without freedom of speech. We must be able to criticize those in authority. The Founders knew that even if the criticism was wrong, even if it were reckless, the risk was worth the benefits.

The Charlottesville Daily Progress

The first 50 years

Camden Hall in the 1940s

Dr. T. Ryland Sanford (my grandfather) had the idea for a private school in Chatham, VA. As the pastor of the Chatham Baptist Church, he had little money, but an active idea. Mr. J. Hunt Hargrave, was a well-to-do local tobacco farmer, who lived in a large house near the church, on the northeast side of the road to "Whittletown." Mr. Hargrave was agreeable to investing some money in the idea, and thus Chatham Training School (CTS) was born in 1909.

My grandfather was president from the founding until Aubrey H. Camden became the second president in about 1920 (I am not positive of the year). Col. Camden held the job until 1950. When I came back to Hargrave to discuss my becoming a cadet, it was with Col. Camden in the spring of 1949. Col. Cosby took over in the fall of 1950, and was responsible for guiding the school through the process of rebuilding after the fire of 1950.

During the period that Dr. Sanford was president, a large "President's House" was built from a Sears & Roebuck kit on a site at approximately where the Cheatham Chapel now stands. Dr. Sanford's daughter, Eleanor (my aunt) was the first woman to attend Hargrave, as a day student living in the President's House. The Sears Kit house was used as the President's House until well into the 50's (or later).

Several of my uncles attended Hargrave (or CTS) and upon my father's graduation from the University of Richmond in 1929, he became the Athletic Director at Hargrave and Head Coach for everything for the next 13 years. I was born in Danville, and grew up on the campus of Hargrave until 1942, when my father became Athletic Director at Randolph-Macon in Ashland, VA. We lived in apartments in the Junior Department and the third floor of Sanford Hall, a big house which still sits on Main Street, and a school-owned house down in the "bottom" adjacent to the house built by Mr. Bell - the Head of Maintenance. My mother taught Math and English in the Junior School for several years.

It was while I was a cadet in 1950, that we had the big fire (it began during study hall, in a second floor area immediately below my room over what is now the Main Entrance - as it was then). That cold February 20th night, most of us lost everything we owned - most evacuated in our shirts, without the thought of grabbing a coat. Initially, everyone just thought is was "drill," but the size and speed of the fire made it impossible to go back and get much, if anything.
The Chatham townspeople really did themselves proud in the way they collected displaced cadets and took them to their homes to a nice bed, and gave them some warm clothes and a good breakfast the next morning. Almost everyone in Chatham mobilized to help. Many of us stayed with townspeople for several days until the school was officially closed for a period, and we were sent home. I don't remember exactly how long it was before we returned to occupy doubled up dormitories and the use of every available space to house cadets. Nonetheless, we finished the school year, had graduation in the auditorium in Sanford Hall, and during the summer, much work was done to rebuild the campus.

In fighting the fire, the Chatham water supply was pretty much exhausted, and the firefighters parked one or more pumper trucks down beside the swimming pool in the bottom, inside the circular drive, and pretty much pumped it dry, it being the only available water supply. Hargrave could very easily have died that night. Col. Cosby became the next president, and refused to let Hargrave die. He did wonders at raising money and getting assistance. I was in college at Wake Forest and not involved directly, but remained very aware of what was happening.

Taylor H. Sanford, Jr.
thsjr@juno.com
Class of '50

Hargrave, parents settle dispute

A settlement has ended a battle between the Hargrave Military Academy and an expelled student's parents who created a Web site to lambaste the Chatham prep school.

School officials and the parents' attorney refused to disclose terms of the settlement.

But both sides acknowledged the accord brings to an end a dispute that centered on a Web site, HargraveHasProblems.com, that Jerry and Melissa Guyles created after the school gave their son the boot.

The Web site, which a federal judge had temporarily shut down, was not up yesterday, and neither school officials nor attorneys for the Guyleses would say if it would appear online again.

"We can't talk about it," Hargrave President Wheeler Baker said. "I can't tell you anything."

The Guyleses started the Web site after the school expelled their son weeks before his scheduled graduation and refused to refund tuition payments. An Honor Council had found the son guilty of stealing.

After the Web site accused Baker of poor leadership, Hargrave and Baker sued the Holly Springs, N.C., couple for libel, and U.S. District Judge James C. Turk temporarily shut down the Web site.

That prompted the American Civil Liberties Union and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression to weigh in on behalf of the couple, arguing that Turk's action violated the Guyleses' First Amendment right to free speech.

The two sides were to appear in U.S. District Court in Roanoke this week but reached a settlement after a closed-door mediation at the federal courthouse Friday, said Jane Glenn, attorney for the Guyleses.

She said both sides have agreed not to discuss terms of the settlement.

Rex Bowman
rbowman@timesdispatch.com
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The VD Hat

I watched the movie Annapolis last night and it brought back memories of my Midshipman days. I won an NROTC scholarship as did several other '49ers. I chose to go to the University of Southern California.

While on a summer training period at Corpus Christy, Texas, There was a drill competition between schools (the Junior class of all 52 schools in the NROTC program). Drill at USC, and I assume at the other schools, was plain vanilla. I told the other USC guys that I had attended Hargrave and knew some fancy drill steps.

We had about an hour to practice. I had been in the Best Drilled Platoon in 1946 and remembered how to do Double to the Rear, Oblique and To The Winds steps. These USC guys picked it all up in that hour of practice and we wowed them at the competition.

As I was the one barking out the commands, I was rewarded with being made Battalion Commander for the next phase of training. When you watch Annapolis, notice the rank stripes. The senior co-star company commander had two. I had SIX. Notice the blue rims on the sailor hats the midshipmen wear.

When on a summer cruise to Europe, we noticed that the local girls would not have anything to do with us. We found out later that the sailors told the girls that the blue rim on the hat meant that we had venereal disease.

Leon Rue
leonrue@adelphia.net
Band Company '49