THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 142, Number 24
S E R V I N G
T H E
R U T G E R S
C O M M U N I T Y
S I N C E
TUESDAY OCTOBER 5, 2010
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Today: Rain/wind
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
High: 62 • Low: 51
True freshmen Chas Dodd and Jeremy Deering saw substantial playing time last weekend in the 17-14 loss to Tulane. The duo drew valuable lessons from the experience.
Competition honors county’s fallen students BY JAMIE BRADLEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Everyone in the stands watched as Highland Park High School and Middlesex High School played football Friday night surrounded by decorative red streamers and red heart balloons. As the audience cheered, it might have never crossed their minds that these high school players who appeared physically fit could have a devastating handicap. This was one of the reasons two high school athletes died while playing their sports in Middlesex County. Kittim Sherrod and Brandon James were high school athletes from Edison High School and South Brunswick High School, who died last year less than eight months apart from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or HCM. HCM is an excessive thickening of the heart muscle, which occurs without an obvious cause. It is the most common of all genetic heart conditions and affects an estimate of up to 600,000 Americans. Their conditions were discovered after Sherrod collapsed during a track and field practice and James died at a recreation league basketball game. To honor the memories of the two students, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System held the “Helmets for Hearts” in coordination with The Home News Tribune of East Brunswick and the Greater Middlesex Conference Football Coaches Association. “Helmets for Hearts” was a series of 12 games played Friday Oct. 1 and Saturday Oct. 2, between high school football teams in Middlesex County. During these games, players wore heartshaped emblems on their helmets, while the coaches and referees wore red baseball caps and red wristbands to show their support. Public ser vice announcements regarding HCM awareness and cardiovascular health were broadcasted before each kickoff during
SEE STUDENTS ON PAGE 5
INDEX
JENNIFER KONG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Gay author and activist Marc Adams discusses his experiences coming out last night at an event by the Humanist Chaplaincy and the Center for Social Justice Education and LGBT Communities in the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus.
Gay author, activist discusses challenges BY DENNIS COMELLA STAFF WRITER
It is harder to come out of the closet when condemnation lurks on the other side of the door — or at least that is what Marc Adams grew up believing. Adams, founder of the nonprofit organization HeartStrong, which helps lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in religious schools deal with the struggles they face in strict surroundings, spoke about the challenges of growing up as a gay man in a fundamentalist Baptist family last night in the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus.
His organization has helped more than 1,000 students since 1998 to come out to their families and accept themselves. “Coming out always star ts with accepting yourself,” Adams said. “I think you should do ever ything you can to love and accept yourself.” Adams was taught as a child that being gay would lead to a bleak future, according to the teachings of the church, which he accepted as truth. He faced challenges as a child when he began experiencing homosexual feelings, but he had nowhere to turn for help and was forced to suppress his feelings from his religious family.
A University professor collaborates on a study showing the increase in suicides among Baby Boomers.
BY RYAN FLOOD CONTRIBUTING WRITER
OPINIONS Media turned Tyler Clementi’s death into a national spectacle.
UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 METRO . . . . . . . . . . 8 OPINIONS . . . . . . . . 10 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 14
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Campaign works to reduce plastic bag usage
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When he left home at 16 to attend a religious college, Adams began to seek a remedy for his sexual orientation, hoping to be able to change his inner feelings in order to be accepted into heaven. “It was either end my life or change my life, and I just kept pushing to change my life,” he said. After more than two years of treatment, Adams realized his inner feelings had not changed, and only then did he begin to see hope. “I didn’t feel like I was changing how I felt on the inside,” he said. “Maybe I
JEFFREY LAZARO / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Pastor DeForest B. Soaries Jr. joins N.J. Attorney General Paula T. Dow, law enforcement and faith-based partners to announce Fugitive Safe Surrender, a public safety initiative that will take place Nov. 3 to 6 via a partnership of several counties.
MY ECO, a company specializing in environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastic grocery bags, teamed up with Kings Super Markets, more than 43 schools and 20,000 N.J. students in a campaign to clamp down on the use of plastic bags. The School Reuse Challenge, which began yesterday, gives students and their families who purchase the MY ECO Shopping Bag System and use it at Kings’ grocery stores a chance to receive rewards points for their schools. The system is made up of four bags, each with its own function, said Marc Ozburn, director of Development and Strategic Planning for the company. One bag is dedicated to glass products, another to chilled and frozen groceries and another to bulky items such as heavy coffee containers.
The fourth bag was designed for produce and has an all-natural anti-bacterial liner making it easy to clean, Ozburn said. All bags are made from recycled materials and are significantly sturdier than the standard plastic bags. For each system sold, Kings will donate $5 to the student’s school, and every time a bag is used the cashier will scan a barcode on the bag that will give their school points which can be redeemed for school supplies. Points are worth about 25 cents per purchase. The bar codes also allow students to see how many disposable bags they have diverted from landfills by using the ECO bags. “It’s hard to break habits, and MY ECO is trying to create consciousness and change through education and incentive,” Ozburn said. “The challenge allows students to put newfound lessons
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