GEM OF THE DIAMOND STATE
REHOBOTH BEACH
ST. PATRICK’S DAY
Check out
these pipes
DELAWARE
A meal for
celebrating
FIRST WEATHER
Irish Society readies
ham, cabbage – and
lots more.
World’s 4th-largest
theater organ is in
Dickinson High.
Today Thu.
Fri.
61/47 61/45 65/52
FOOD&DRINK, B5
DID YOU KNOW? A8-9
Partly
sunny
Sunny
Storms
possible
Details, A4
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012
• • • KENT & SUSSEX EDITION
tn
Serving Delaware daily since 1871
NEWS WATCH
NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
DELAWARE VS. ARKANSAS–LITTLE ROCK, 5:20 PM. SUNDAY
When Hens need ignition, Miller a spark
Hard-charging point guard a vital part of 30-1 season
By KEVIN TRESOLINI
» News Journal UALR grad offers helpful tips. C1
» Delaware men visit Butler tonight. C1
The News Journal
NEWARK — The basketball went bouncing
across the floor at UNC Wilmington last month
and Kayla Miller didn’t hesitate.
She made a beeline, diving onto the court, ignoring the fact that a Seahawks player was
doing the same thing. Miller skidded face first
along the hardwood, but Delaware was nursing
a six-point lead with less than two minutes left
and there was no other recourse.
Miller broke her nose and regained possession for Delaware, which, boosted by Akeema
Richards’ layup 13 seconds later, survived the
Conservative
South boosts
Santorum
Rick Santorum wins Tuesday’s
Alabama primary and was leading Newt Gingrich and Mitt
Romney in a close race in Mississippi, deeply conservative
Southern crossroads in the
struggle for the Republican
presidential nomination. A2
TOP STORY
» WORLD
Afghans want U.S. troops
tried in Afghan courts
Some Afghans are demanding U.S. soldiers accused of crimes in Afghanistan
to be tried by Afghan courts as the
U.S. military says it finds probable
cause against a soldier accused of
killing 16 civilians. A3
upset bid 62-53. She then played 14 minutes the
next game, wearing a protective mask at the
outset.
That type of energetic contribution has been
a spark for Delaware in a beyond-its-wildestdreams 30-1 season that continues Sunday in the
NCAA Tournament. The No. 3-seeded Blue
Hens, ranked seventh in the nation, play
Arkansas-Little Rock (20-12) at 5:20 p.m. on the
Trojans’ home court.
See UD, Page A12
EDUCATION
Test gives schools
midyear direction
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is
suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in an effort to extend the exclusivity of Seroquel, the company’s
second best-selling product, which is
just two weeks away from losing its
patent protection. A10
» DELAWARE
Bunting announces he
will not run for re-election
After almost 30 years in the General
Assembly, Sen. George Bunting, a
Bethany Beach Democrat, says he will
not seek re-election this fall. He says it
was a family decision. B1
Get breaking news
on your cell phone
Text DELNEWS to 44636 to get
breaking local news as it happens.
At Sussex Central High School, ninth-graders get help on writing from Meghan Fulmer.
Instructional coaches are funded by the Race to the Top initiative. THE NEWS JOURNAL/BOB HERBERT
Winter exam results show movement
from fall and work needed by spring
By WADE MALCOLM
The News Journal
At Sussex Central High School near
Georgetown, two instructional coaches meet
with teachers every week.
Reading specialist John D. Orlando and
math specialist Jane Mahoney go over curriculum and suggest changes. They review
data to try and figure out which concepts student have grasped and which might require
more explanation.
The use of instructional coaches – funded
by the state’s Race to the Top initiative – is
part of the reason Indian River School District
has so far exceeded the state average in reading and math for every grade level tested.
REBELLION IN SYRIA
INDEX
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B2
Comics
B4
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B7
Crossword
B6
Scoreboard
C6
Dear Abby
B6
Sports
C1
Editorial
A14
Stocks
A11
Letters
A14
TV listings
B6
$1.00 retail
See DCAS, Page A13
Reporting from Syria involves
darkness, stealth and death
EDITOR’S NOTE: Award-winning journalists
Rodrigo Abd and Ahmed Bahaddou sneaked
into Syria and spent nearly three weeks
reporting from opposition-held territory. Abd,
an Associated Press photographer, is based in
Guatemala. Bahaddou is a video journalist on
assignment for the AP, based in Turkey.
Associated Press
For home delivery pricing, see Page A2.
“We see where the growth is, which student showed improvement and which students might need a little push,” Orlando said.
“We’ll use that data to drive instruction.”
In a report released Tuesday, the state Department of Education has analyzed for the
first time those midyear results for achievement tests, showing how far Delaware districts have progressed and how much they will
need to improve to meet Race to the Top goals.
The Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System will provide teachers with detailed information about where students are
struggling and how many will need to improve to hit Race to the Top targets.
One master sergeant in
Wilmington’s police department has racked up close to
$37,000 in overtime pay this fiscal year.
The identity of that officer
remains a mystery to the public
– and even to city Councilwoman Loretta Walsh, who
chairs the Public Safety Committee.
Walsh asked six weeks ago
for a list of the police department’s top 20 overtime and
comp-time recipients for the
past two years. Walsh received
partial information last week,
but the lists did not include
names.
“We want to resolve whether
there’s a privacy issue first,”
John Sheridan, city solicitor,
said this week.
The city’s reluctance flouts
long-standing precedent in
Delaware that salaries for public employees are public record.
More than three decades
ago, the state Attorney General’s Office found the Freedom
of Information Act’s personnel
files exemption did not cover
salaries of state employees. Six
years later, the Delaware Superior Court agreed, ruling that
public employees “have no
right of privacy” when it comes
to their salaries.
Elected officials who set policy for Wilmington should have
“reasonable access to all government records,” said David
L. Finger, an attorney who practices in media and First Amendment law. Taxpayers also
See POLICE, Page A2
» Syria has response to peace proposals. A7
By RODRIGO ABD
tn
City not
releasing
police
pay data
The News Journal
» BUSINESS
AstraZeneca files suit
to try to protect Seroquel
©2012, 133rd year, No. 267
WILMINGTON
By ANDREW STAUB
A team of government surveyors is trying to
determine if the
555-foot-tall
Washington
Monument sank
or tilted – as well
as cracked and
crumbled –
when a 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the
region last year.
The findings
could affect plans for repairing the
monument, which is expected to be
closed to visitors until next year. A3
A10
NEWS JOURNAL FILE/GINGER WALL
Call for OT, names
hits ‘rights’ snag
» NATION
Did the Washington
Monument tilt or sink?
Business
UD’s Kayla Miller dives for a loose
ball in the second half of a Feb. 7
game against George Mason.
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Explosions
illuminated the night as we ran,
hoping to escape Syria after nearly
three weeks of covering a conflict
that the government seems determined to keep the world from seeing. Tank shells slammed into the
city streets behind us, snipers’ bullets whizzed by our heads and the
rebels escorting us were nearly out
of ammunition.
It seemed like a good time to get
out of Syria.
With regime forces closing in on
the rebel-held northern city of Idlib,
Associated Press cameraman
Ahmed Bahaddou and I set out Sunday for neighboring Turkey on a
journey that would take us through
a pitch-black passage and miles of
muddy olive groves in the freezing
cold.
See SYRIA, Page A7
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A12
THE NEWS JOURNAL
•••
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012
COVER STORY
delawareonline.com
“She’s such a tough kid. Kayla was like ‘Hey, whatever I can do physically, that’s what I’m going to do.’”
UD WOMEN’S COACH TINA MARTIN
UD: Injuries, move to bench haven’t changed Miller
Continued from Page A1
“Kayla comes out every
day, every game, every
practice, just gives us her
all,” teammate Jocelyn Bailey said.
It’s also helped make the
blond-haired Miller a favorite among fans. Many
also have gotten to know
her personally in her summer job selling Blue Rocks
merchandise from the
stands at Frawley Stadium
with her signature “Oh
Yeah!” shout. It earned
Miller TV time last year on
a Fox 29 feature still available on YouTube.
This time of year, her job
is boosting the Blue Hens in
whatever manner is necessary.
“That’s never going to
change,” Miller said of her
determined approach and
infectious spirit. “That’s
why I play.”
The 5-foot-8 Miller was
hit in a game at George
Mason, tumbling hard to
the floor. She went home on
crutches but played the
next game. In last weekend’s CAA Tournament, another determined pursuit of
a loose ball led to a nasty
midcourt collision with an
opposing player.
She missed all of last
season after needing surgery for herniated disks in
her back. Miller missed the
game at Georgia State this
year because of a sudden
onset of back pain and stiffness, disappointed she
couldn’t appear in the box
score for coach Tina Martin’s 300th career win.
Given the opportunity to
be disappointed, Miller
wouldn’t even do that. She
came into the 2011-12 season knowing she likely
wouldn’t regain the starting
point guard job she held in
2009-10, her first season at
Delaware after transferring
from George Washington.
GAME TICKETS
Tickets for Delaware’s NCAA Women’s Basketball
Tournament game(s) at Arkansas-Little Rock’s Jack
Stephens Center are available by calling the UALR ticket
office at (501) 565-8257 or on UALRTrojans.com.
Tickets are $50 (chairbacks) or $40 (end zone). The price
includes both first-round games Sunday – Delaware vs.
Arkansas-Little Rock at 5:20 and Nebraska vs. Kansas at
7:40 – and Tuesday’s matchup between Sunday’s winners,
tip-off time to be announced.
Delaware had a limited number of tickets on sale
Tuesday at a price of $50. Contact the UD athletic ticket
office at (302) 831-2257 or visit www.bluehens.com/
madness for information.
Miller’s approach? Just
do the most with the minutes that come.
“A lot of people are like
‘Don’t you miss starting?’”
said Miller, an All-Stater at
Wilmington’s Ursuline
Academy, where she
teamed with UD teammate
Elena Delle Donne.
“To be honest, I understand my role and I think I
am that spark off the bench.
We really need that some-
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times when the game’s
going and we’re off to a
shaky start, from somebody
like me or Jocelyn. I like to
be able to provide that.”
Florida transfer Trumae
Lucas, a junior, stepped into
the starting point guard job
this year. Miller knew, from
watching Lucas last year in
practice during Lucas’ redshirt year, she’d be difficult
to beat out for the starting
job. But Miller also relished
what that meant for the
team.
“Kayla came up to me,
maybe a month into [last]
year, and said. “Wow, Trumae is really good. I really
like the way she plays.’”
Delaware coach Tina Martin recalled. “Her first
question to me wasn’t even
about starting. It was ‘You
think at any point we could
be on the floor together?’ I
said, ‘Oh yeah, you’ll definitely be on the floor together.’ She goes ‘OK, because I do understand.’
“That was her way of
saying Trumae [would
likely play ahead of Miller],
because of the physical nature of her game – she’s big,
she’s strong, she’s fast – and
Kayla was coming off the
back injury. She didn’t
know what she’d be limited
to. Some of the doctors said
she’d only play five or 10
minutes a game.”
Miller has averaged 16.6
minutes per game both
backing up and joining
Lucas. She doesn’t score
much – just 26 points in 30
games – but is third on the
team in assists behind
Lucas and Delle Donne.
Delaware guard Kayla Miller (left) tries to squeeze past
the tight defense of Hofstra’s Andreana Thomas in the
second half of a Jan. 26 victory. Miller has provided a consistent boost of energy off the bench for the Hens this
season. NEWS JOURNAL FILE/WILLIAM BRETZGER
“She’s such a tough kid,”
said Martin, who relishes
that trait. “Kayla was like
‘Hey, whatever I can do
physically, that’s what I’m
going to do.’
“She knew she wouldn’t
be the same player,” added
Martin, referring to the
back injury, “but she has
the same heart, the same
smartness, the same basketball IQ. She saw right
away that Tru was a good
player and would really
help us and she was very
excited about playing with
her. If the role was she had
to back her up, then so be
it.”
Miller feels better physically now than she has all
year, thanks in part to a prescription steroid treatment.
She raves about the care
she’s gotten from UD’s
medical staff, led by athletic trainer Rachel Schlachet, former trainer for the
WNBA’s Los Angeles
Sparks.
“To be honest, this season, I’ve always had pain,”
Watch video highlights, view
photos, and follow Tweets
about the Hens' dream season.
Miller admitted.
But the team’s success is
a wonderful antidote.
“With this team, everybody understands their role
and that’s what’s come together so nicely,” Miller
said. “It really showed
going 21-0 in conference
[games]. Even off the court,
we have not had any differences among the team. I’ve
never been on a team where
the camaraderie is this
amazing.
“Everybody knows the
game plan and we have one
goal.”
That is to keep winning,
a challenge to which Miller
relishes contributing.
Contact Kevin Tresolini at
ktresolini@delawareonline.com.
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