THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9509020452
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C. LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
In the wake of Shannon Faulkner's abrupt departure from The Citadel, a teenager more familiar with the challenge of being a military cadet wants to take her place.
Nancy Mellette, a 17-year-old senior at a North Carolina military boarding school, wants to join The Citadel's all-male cadet corps in the fall of 1996. Her father is a graduate and her brother a senior cadet at the 152-year-old state-supported school.
``I want to go into the military so I figure it's the best setup for me,'' Mellette told WGHP-TV in High Point, N.C. She wants to study engineering and said The Citadel has a good program.
Mellette is asking to intervene in the Faulkner case, according to federal court papers filed Thursday by lawyers who also represented Faulkner.
Mellette is a second lieutenant in the Oak Ridge Military Academy corps of cadets and an honor student. She is on the cross-country, track, basketball and softball teams.
South Carolina Attorney General Charles Condon said he would fight her bid.
Col. Fred Kennedy, the president at Oak Ridge, said Mellette has ``the physical and mental stamina to do very well.''
Faulkner fought a 2 1/2-year court battle to become a cadet, then fell ill in sweltering heat during the first day of rigorous training known as ``hell week.''
She quit five days later, saying the stress of the court battle and her isolation at the college threatened her health.
Catherine Mellette said her twin sister has wanted to attend The Citadel since she was young, and that her family supports her choice.
``She used to talk about it a lot. It's pretty much been her decision,'' she said outside the family's house in suburban Columbia. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Nancy Mellette
by CNB