The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 2

A2 PACE TWO THE HCME NEWS SUNDAY, JANUARY 5. 1086 What's in a nickname? Often, a school's history V- i i --i PETER GENOVESE Passing by 2ft' Mother Teresa's new cause: AIDS crisis NEW YORK (AP) The tirefejss nun who dispenses hope and talks of salvation in the slums of Calcutta, India, has turned her mercy toward AIDS sufferers half a world away, bringing joy and consternation to' her local church colleagues. Mother Teresa, while in New Pioneers, Patriots and Pirates; Vikings, Spartans and Indians; Red Devils and Red Raiders; the Green Wave and the Blue Tide; Lions, Tigers and Bears, oh, my! Where do all those high school nicknames come from? "Our school was built on a cemetery," said a staffer at Eastside High School in Paterson, explaining the school's nickname, the Ghosts. "We were called the Undertakers before that." "As far as I know, it's because Benedictine starts with a and because the school colors are green and white. as in the letter and bee as in buzzing bee," an official at Benedictine Academy in Elizabeth said about the school's nickname, the Green Bees.

Most schools are not very creative when it comes to choosing nicknames. They stick to the tried and true: Cougars, Eagles, Falcons, Mustangs and Vikings. The three most popular nicknames, according to the latest New Jersey State Interscho-lastic Athletic Association directory, are the Panthers (16 schools), the Rams (15) and the Bulldogs (14). Some schools try to be different, though. Take Verona High School, whose nickname is the Hillbillies.

"This was the sticks years ago," said Principal Joseph Pirrello. "That's where the Hillbillies came from." The school's embelm, according to Pirrello, is a "big hillbilly with a corncob pipe and a shaggy-looking beard sitting on a railing." When fans around Springfield and Roselle Park talk about the Fighting Farmers, they're referring to Union High School. 1 js vfeS 55X1 q5t I h- i I -g- t. for a cataract operation, has opened a residence for AIDS helped win medical furloughs or three inmates with AIDS and re-focused attention on the plight of the disease's victims. Exhibiting energy that belies her 75 years and wearing sunglasses to protect her eye, the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke with the governor, the mayor and reporters and put off her planned departure several times.

"Each day came and passed' in which she saw something else that needed to be done," said the Revi Peter Finn, spokesman for the of New York. "Mother Teresa has grabbed the bridle and she's pulling the cart." But one move engendered some criticism: her plea to Mayor Edward I. Koch last week for help in obtaining a farm where AIDS sufferers could live and work, much like pie leprosy colonies her order ministers to elsewhere. "Mother Teresa and her crazy farm are driving me crazy," Monsig-nor James Cassidy, director of. archdiocese AIDS programs, said Friday.

Unlike leprosy patients, many people with AIDS are too sick to work on a farm, he said. "She'd been talking about it and none of us wanted to take her on," Cassidy said. "She doesn't understand that the AIDS patients are sick people. She's not versed in this. 'She thinks she's in India." No treatment is known for ac "Union was originally a farming community," explained Principal Robert Petracco.

"In 1972, Joe Piz-zarro, the football coach, changed the name to the Fighting Farmers because of the championship team he had." Chatham Boro High School's nickname is the Eskies, named after an Eskimo dog. Before that, the school's nickname was the Friesmen, for coach John Fries. Many of the unique names tell something about the school's location, tradition or history: the State-liners (Phillisburg High School in Warren County, on the Pennsylvania border), the Garnet Gulls (Point Pleasant Beach High School), the Piners (Lakewood High School), the Aviators (Hasbrouck Heights High School, located near Teterboro Airport). Some tell you more than you would ever guess. About 700 years of history are summed up in the Hermits, the nickname of St.

Augustine Prep in Richland (Atlantic County). "In 1256, the Augustinians were different groups of hermits and were brought together as the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine," said Fr. Paul Galetto, who described himself as the school's "chaplain, church history teacher, janitor, cook and a few other things." A wishful bit of history prompted North Plainfield High School's nickname, the Canucks. Around the turn of the century, there was a move to merge Plainfield and North Plain-field.

"With North Plainfield just north across the Green Brook, as Canada was just north across the St. Lawrence River, it soon became popular to refer to North Plainfield as 'little according to the high school's student handbook, the Woodsman. Thus, Canucks. Some nicknames have simple explanations. The Campers of Frank Morrell High School in Irvington are so named because Irvington was once called Campton.

The Geraldine Dodge family contributed much to the borough of Madison, which is why Madison High School's nickname is the Dodgers. Teaneck High This 1924 picture shows why teams at New Brunswick High School were called the Zebras. former coach) was born." With all the nicknames around, there are bound to be a few even the principals haven't figured out "I've just gotten ahold of a senior faculty member who's been here 31 years and even he doesn't know," said Michael Levinson, assistant headmaster and upper school principal at Rutgers Prep in Franklin. The school's nickname is the Argonauts. "My assumption is that it had something to do with Jason and the Argonauts," Levinson said.

"But why wasn't it called the Socrates-nauts or the Plato-nauts or the Spinoza-nauts? I don't know, but we think it represents the search for the Golden Fleece and the good things in life." ketball jerseys had blue and white stripes; that's why we were called the Zebras," said Joe Marino, an instructor at the high school for 23 years, now retired. "The stripes went but the nickname stayed." Another nickname that will stay is The Original Celtics, used by St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth. "This was the first Catholic high school in the state," said school athletic director and soccer coach Bob "Red" Migliore. "It was founded by Irish immigrants, who built the school by hand.

We put the first organized basketball team in the state out in 1907. We called ourselves the Celtics. When the (Boston) Celtics (professional basketball team) came along, we changed it to the Original Celtics. Our kids were wearing their jackets before Red Auerbach (the Boston Celtics' general manager and School is located along Route 4, which explains the school's nickname, the Highwaymen. There is a less simple explanation for Fairlawn High School's nickname, the Cutters.

"Twenty, thirty years ago, the football team cut out of school," said Principal Robert Rappaport. "I don't know if it 'was one shot or not, but other schools would say, 'Here come the Which doesn't explain why a cutter as in the ship appears on the school logo. And why the school's mascot is a parrot. "A ship is associated with pirates and pirates are associated with parrots," Rappaport said, laughing. There's no mystery behind New Brunswick High School's nickname, the Zebras.

"Years ago, our football and bas The three most often-used nicknames in the state are the Panthers, the Rams and the Bulldogs. quired immune deficiency syndrome, which breaks down the body's ability to fight diseases; half of the known victims have diedIt has been found primarily in male homosexuals, hemophiliacs who have gotten infected blood products and intravenous drug abusers who share needles. Peter Genovese's column appears on this page Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. iafMlII 7-r And the amazing thing about being Rutgers Healthy is that it's healthy on your pocketbook, too. By emphasizing a healthy lifestyle and early detection of illness, RCHP provides total health care often for less than the cost of insurance alone.

Your employer pays all or most of the premium, and you pay no more than $1 a visit to your health center. RCHP has comprehensive health centers throughout Central New Jersey. Ask your employer about RCHP or call (201)329-8883 or (609)452-8180. Soon you'll be Rutgers Healthy, too. Thousands of working people keep themselves and their families Rutgers Healthy receiving their total health care at RCHP, the Rutgers Community Health Plan.

Personal doctors providing total care The key to the coordinated health care of this HMO is your relationship with your per-; sonal RCHP doctor, the highly qualified doctor you've chosen tQ see at the RCHP Health Center most convenient to you. There, most routine services are available to you under one roof. Preventive medicine, doctor visits, diagnostic tests, treatment in the hospital all are provided and fully covered by RCHP with no claim jorms and nodeductibles. RC KptgeiSHealth Johnny Carson is planning to apologize to Nevadans, at the governor's request, for a joke about Nevada's legalized prostitution. Does NBC weatherman Willard Scott take the cake? He'll be expected to cut a colossal one at a Mardl Gras kickoff party tomorrow in Lake Charles, La.

-P Rutgers Community Health Plan WTO TTB a TTTT T3T! sirit r- -qyjj '-'''yyyy-y tfVy- tyf 4 "ff 4yry W4'iS, if Will author attend Color-f ul gala? Organizers are hoping ALICE WALKER will come home to Eatonton, for a special screening of "The Color Purple," the STEVEN SPIELBERG hit movie based on ber Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Proceeds from two screenings Jan. 18, and an accompanying reception, will go to the new "Color Purple Scholarship Fund" at Putnam County High School, said Ruth Walker Hood of Atlanta, the novelist's sister. Hood said she also wanted the novelist's hometown to see the movie, which stars WHOOPI GOLDBERG. "The Color Purple," winner of the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, tells the story of a black rural Georgia woman in the early part of the 20th Century.

Walker has said the book has its roots in the experiences of women in her Putnam County family. Singer having troubles with the law Country singer JOHNNY PAYCHECK will be arraigned this week on charges stemming from a bar shooting in Hillsboro, Ohio. If convicted, he could receive a three- to 15-year prison sentence. Paycheck, 47, best known for his songs, "Take This Job and Shove It," and "I'm the Only Hell (My Mama Ever Raised)," was indicted Friday on charges of felonious assault, use of a gun during commission of the crime, carrying a concealed weapon and tampering with evidence, because he allegedly disposed of the weapon. Paycheck, facing arraignment Thursday, was accused of shooting Larry Wise, 37.

of Greenfield, Ohio, in the head Dec. 19. Wise was treated for a scalp wound, police said. Tutu has full itinerary in Hartford South African Bishop DESMOND TUTU'S visit to Hartford, will mix business with pleasure. The Anglican bishop, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, will speak at two churches, receive an honorary degree, and attend a dinner commemorating the birthday of the Rev.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. And while in Hartford, he will raise money for The Bishop Desmond Tutu Southern African Refugee Scholarship Fund and The Bishop Desmond Tutu Refugee Fund. The bishop's daughter, Naomi Tutu-Seavers, lives in Hartford, and so it will be partly a family visit for him and his wife, Leah. Tutu is to preach at Horace Bushnell Congregational Church on Sunday. An Osmond Brother gets tough SALT LAKE CITY JAY OSMOND of the Osmond Brothers singing group is suing a financial adviser whose wife was one of two people killed in pipe bomb explosions.

Osmond seeks return of a $30,000 investment plus interest and $30,000 in punitive damages. He sued J. Gary Sheets, president of CFS Financial whose wife Kathy Webb Sheets, died in the Oct. 15 blasts. Among others named in the suit are Terri R.

Christensen, widow of Stephen Christensen, the other blast victim. Osmond claims Sheets improperly invested $30,000 he gave him on June 3. Sheets declined to comment. y1 -1 Mm feat" iw, tjffy:.