MIDWEEK BRIEFS

10/22/09

Hundreds mourn Secaucus youth

Derek Lagos, 13, who passed away in Secaucus a week ago Monday, was mourned by hundreds of friends this past weekend. The teen played soccer and baseball and won soccer awards.
The cause of death has not yet been determined and the state Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the matter, but many said it was a suicide.
Lagos’ wake was held a week ago Thursday, and services were held Friday at 10 a.m. at Immaculate Conception at 1219 Patterson Plank Road, across the street from Mack Memorial Home.
Lagos was involved in a tutoring program and had planned to attend the prestigious St. Peter’s Preparatory High School in Jersey City next year.
Friends of his have created Youtube videos and a Facebook page in tribute. Five days after his death, 824 people had joined the Facebook group and more than 100 had left comments.
One young friend wrote, “The last week has been honestly the hardest days of my life. I’ve cried every day. Doesn’t matter how much I did cry, it might have been a thousand tears or just one. It just shows that I love Derek Lagos to death. It’s horrible he took his life at the young age of 13 but it was his time to go. He lived an awesome life. Everyone loved him. He thought no one did. A lot of girls thought he was good looking. He didn’t think they did. He thought he wasn’t good at sports. He was by far the best.”

Unions fight vs. JC layoffs, furloughs

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has proposed temporary layoffs, also known as furloughs, for city employees (except fire and police) for 12 days over a six-month period starting on Christmas Eve and ending in June in order to deal with a city budget gap of somewhere between $40 and $70 million. There are also plans for 200 employees to be permanently laid off, besides with the temporary layoffs.
However, city employee unions are fighting back, as indicated in letters sent recently to Healy, the City Council, and other city officials. The letters were sent by Jersey City Municipal Employees Local 245, Jersey City Public Employees Local 246, and the Jersey City Supervisor’s Association, which represent the majority of municipal workers.
The letter from the Local 246 President Chuck Carol said the city should withdraw the temporary layoff policy altogether or decrease the number of days as the employees he represents earn an average salary of $31,000.
Carol also said in the letter that the layoffs save very little money for the city and “drastically impact the delivery of essential city services.”
Local 245 said they are willing to accept one day a month temporary layoff while the Jersey City Supervisors Association said the temporary layoff proposal is “not acceptable in its present form.” – RK

Bicycle helmet promotion a success

Three months ago, the Hoboken Police Department and Jersey City Medical Center’s Trauma Division, in collaboration with the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey, kicked off “Think Positive: A Helmet Safety Reward Program,” a unique promotion in which children under 17 were handed “positive tickets” from the police when seen wearing a helmet while engaged in a wheeled sport activity. These tickets could then be redeemed for treats.
T his month, in wrapping up their effort to promote the use of helmets and encourage safe behavior, the sponsors found the results of the program to be impressive: helmet usage rate soared from 40.4 percent to 63.1 percent, an increase of 23 percent, they said.
“Using positive incentives and education as a means to reinforce the importance of helmet safety and brain injury prevention obviously had a huge impact,” said Marissa Fisher, RN, the Injury Prevention Coordinator for the Division of Trauma at Jersey City Medical Center. “The reward element made this program especially appealing to kids and encouraged them to get ‘caught’ wearing their helmet. We’re confident that this is a behavior that most children will continue to practice.”
Studies have shown that a properly worn helmet is the single most effective safety device available to reduce brain injury and death, by as much as 88 percent. New Jersey’s helmet law requires that children under the age of 17 wear a helmet while bicycling, skateboarding, and roller-skating.
The Hoboken Police Department gave out approximately 200 tickets during the three-month program. Also 150 bicycle helmets, provided through a grant from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, were distributed to children who did not have one.

Annual Hyacinth AIDS Foundation fundraiser

At the annual Hyacinth AIDS Foundation Gala and Silent Auction on Nov. 7, Senators Loretta Weinberg and Joseph Vitale will receive the first Riki Jacobs Social Justice Award. The even will take place at 7 p.m. at Dolce Basking Ridge.
The gala is the largest AIDS fundraiser held in New Jersey and helps provide funds for Hyacinth’s six offices, located in Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, Plainfield, New Brunswick and Trenton. The six offices treat over 15,000 people affected by HIV and AIDS every year.
Newly-crowned Miss New Jersey Ashley Shaffer will be present.
Tickets to the gala are $200 each, while a table that seats 10 guests is $2,000. Corporate sponsored tables are $2,500.
New Jersey has the fifth highest rate of HIV infections in the country, with more than 71,000 reported cases. Two thousand cases are reported yearly in New Jersey.
For more information regarding tables, tickets, and advertising contact Director of Fundraising Patrick Bocco at (732) 246-0204 at ext. 256 or pbocco@hyacinth.org.

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