The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 1

A HARD-FOUGHT VICTORY FORVAS B8 MALOUF HOSTS CHILD-SAFETY LESSON Bl INCREASED EXPECTATIONS Rutgers' Frazier looks forward to Friday's baseball opener SPORTS CI A GANNETT NEWSPAPER IF JLV1 LEi JL JJ ij JL JLVl JJ UI 35 CENTS VIEW BREAKING NEWSTHNT.COM TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2007 "Knowing what must he done does away with fear. Rosa Parks RJ In Pete oil Pair hit by train in Spotswcod New Brunswick school is Metuchen Diocese's oldest The Diocese of Metuchen and St. Peter the Apostle Parish can no longer sustain the enormous expense it requires to keep the high school open." The Most Rev. Paul G. Bootkoski LETTER TO SCHOOL EMPLOYEES By GREG TUFARO and RICHARD KHAVKINE STAFF WRITERS NEW BRUNSWICK: St.

Peter the Apostle High School, renowned for graduating state and local leaders, will close in June after more than 150 years of service. The school is the Diocese of Metuchen's oldest institution and only inner-city secondary school. tire school community in the cafeteria on Thursday night. In a letter to St. Peter employees obtained by the Home News Tribune, the Most Rev.

Paul G. Bootkoski, the bishop of Metuchen, expressed regret over the diocese's inability to keep the school open. Bootkoski cited finances, declining enrollment and the city's changing demographics as reasons behind the deci St. Peter Principal Kathy Joyce assembled her staff for a meeting at the high school on Monday during which Diocesan Superintendent Ellen Ayoub and Diocesan Director of Human Relations Eric Dill told the faculty and administration the school was going to be shut down. The diocese plans on making a presentation regarding St.

Peter's closing to the en sion. "It deeply saddens me to tell you that the long history of St. Peter the Apostle High School is coming to an end," Bootkoski wrote. "The Diocese of Metuchen and St. Peter the Apostle Parish can no longer sustain the enormous expense it requires to keep the high school open." See Closing, Page A2 STAFF REPORT SP0TSW00D: A 37-year-old Parlin woman and 2-year-old girl were taken to the hospital after their vehicle was hit by a Conrail train at Snowhill Street Monday evening, police said.

Yolonda L. Bishop and the girl were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick although police said they had no visible injuries. "According to her, she did not see the railroad crossings lit up, and she didn't hear the blasts from the whistle of the train conductor," said patrolman Nicholas Mayo. Bishop's 2005 black BMW X3 was traveling east on Snowhill Street when her vehicle crossed the train tracks and was struck at 5:48 p.m., police said. The train struck the driver's side of the vehicle, which suffered severe damage.

See Train, Page A2 LINDEN SCHOOL SEES AFRICAN CULTURE y.f.y. C-JTTT Elderly sites also subject to smoke ban fy 4 MARK R. SULLIVANChlef photographer Smoke pours from a second-floor window at the Carlton Club Apartments in Piscataway yesterday. Two units were gutted; three others damaged. By GREGORY J.VOLPE GANNETT STATE BUREAU TRENTON Assisted-liv-ing centers, where about 17,000 elderly people in New Jersey spend their final years, have to comply with New Jersey's indoor smoking ban approved last year.

Though the state Department of Health and Senior Services says officials always intended the ban to apply to assisted-living centers, there was some confusion. One facility, the Sunrise Assisted Living at West Essex, sent a letter last month to its residents, their family and staff saying its indoor smoking area will close Thursday while it looks to set up at outdoor smoking area 20 feet from an entrance. The letter sparked concern from Penni Cochrane, of Wantage, whose 91-year-old mother, Bertha Schaeffer, is one of a handful of smokers at the facility. "My mother's rights are being taken away," Cochrane said. "The government is little by little taking over people's rights.

Government socialism is becoming more and more prominent, See Assisted, PageA9 Fire routs tenants in Piscataway Photos by JOE McLAUGHLINStaff photographer TIT 7lj li 1 'ri Pupils, staff share Black history lesson ''I -it i In photo above, Linden School 4 pupils respond Monday to a Black History Month presentation by The Sounds of Afrika, sponsored by the school's PTA. In photo at right, Vice Principal Keyronne Zahir, in African garb at left, joins pupils Rahshada Servil, seated at drums and in the fourth grade, and Kenneth Alexander, second grade. Bosses sleeping on idea of letting workers take naps By KEN SERRANO STAFF WRITER PISCATAWAY: Oris Coleman bravely confronted the wreckage of her home Monday with a chuckle and a quip about how anyone passing could see her more personal clothing. But when her thoughts turned to the only known photos of her mother who died when 37-year-old Coleman was 7, a tear trickled down her cheek in the brisk weather. "We have nothing left," she said, as a firefighter pitched the charred contents of her second-floor home at Carlton Club Apartments out into the parking lot.

A fire gutted her and her husband's apartment Monday afternoon, a blaze that spread to an adjacent apartment of a man who was in bed at the time. He was saved, and no one was injured. But the Colemans and other tenants were without homes Monday night. The shock of seeing their possessions in a blackened pile was just sinking in Monday afternoon. The diploma for a master's degree from Rutgers Coleman received in October was probably burned in the blaze, she said.

See Fire, Page A17 1 though, think a workplace nap is a good idea. Ed Mann of New Brunswick, who takes a short nap after work, said businesses should sign on to the idea of nap time. "It would be a good practice and would get more work out of an individual," said Mann, who works in a substance-abuse clinic. "It gives you 100-percent rejuvenation. It gives you a bigger spark." Most study participants were in their 50s, and the strongest evidence was in working men, according to the study, which appeared in Monday's issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

The researchers said naps might benefit the heart by reducing stress and jobs are a common source of stress. Georgeanna Montis, a Rutgers student who doesn't have time for naps, wholeheartedly supports investigating napping at work. See Naps, PageA17 STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Even though it might save your life, Central Jersey employers say don't expect a nap at work anytime soon. New research has found that a little midday snooze seems to reduce risks for fatal heart problems, especially among men. But employers contacted Monday by the Home News Tribune said they expect then-workers to put in a full shift without sleeping.

Plenty of area residents, S'' 2K MjLj Bobev "Why not if it adds to Mann "It would be a good Dentz "It like eating, your energy goes up." WEATHER ONLINE INDEX Movies 09 Obituaries B4 Opinion B8 Our BB-7 For daily updates and special features visit us: HIGH LOW 0 27 25 Light snow late People 01 Puzzles 07 Stocks B5 Television 08 Classified C7 Comics 07 Health 01 How snowy? Your complete Central Jersey weather forecast. How high? Your personal stock listings, with complete business, news and sports coverage. '4090ri1721' COMPLETE FORECAST, A2 Home News Tribune daily mm $5 FOR Fa! 1 MlTT' anyMONEYTRANSFER BENEFITS: RELIABLE AGENTS IN INDIA AUTHORIZED BY RESERVE BANKOF INDIA PERSONAL SERVICE AT ANY I NDUS AMERICAN BANKBRANCH Service available In India i Stl Lanka. Coming soon In Pakistan. Nepal 4 Bangladesh 'Checking account required.

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