Nationwide campaign seeks to end use of the ‘r-word’

By Joann Groff

Simi Valley students have pledged to discontinue the use of a derogatory word.March 3 marked the Ventura County Special Olympics’ second annual “Spread the Word to End the Word” day of awareness, a campaign to encourage everyone to stop using the word “retard(ed).”

Two Key clubs, at Royal and Simi Valley high schools, have committed to the cause and sold Tshirts and wristbands to raise money for the Special Olympics while talking to their peers about the hurtful effects of using the word.

Simi Valley High’s Key Club has more than 170 members. They were out in full force last week selling “End the R-word” gear.

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(NBC) – A breast cancer awareness bracelet has landed a student at New York’s South Glens Falls High School in hot water.

“It wasn’t really a distraction,” Nicholas Morgan insisted.

Nick’s mom says he’s not a troublemaker, but this week trouble found him, thanks to the bracelet on his right wrist.

It says “I love boobies.”

The sale of the rubber bands benefits a not-for-profit that raises breast cancer awareness among teens. Nick’s mom, Barbara Gifford, bought it at a store in the mall after he asked for it for his birthday.

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ONE hundred wristbands bearing messages of support for troops in Afghanistan were distributed within hours of arriving at The Northern Echo offices yesterday.

There has been an overwhelming demand for the wristbands since the launch of The Northern Echo campaign to support 3 Rifles’ Swift and Bold Wristband appeal, which raises money for the battalion’s injured soldiers and the families of soldiers killed in action.

The newspaper’s offices in Darlington and Bishop Auckland sold out of wristbands within hours of the launch, and dozens more people have reserved wristbands from future deliveries.

Fifty more wristbands were delivered to each office yesterday. Anyone who was not notified of their arrival, will be contacted as soon as another batch arrives.

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WATERLOO – Ensuring impoverished African villagers have easy access to clean water may seem like an impossible task for a group of Iowa high school kids.But Columbus High School students are walking Saturday to raise funds and help make that possible for three communities in north central Kenya. The Walk for Water will be held at Hawkeye Community College beginning at 9:30 a.m. The public is invited to donate to the cause or collect pledges and join students in the five-kilometer (or 3.1 mile) walk around the college’s interior courtyard.

Columbus’ service club organized the event after the school was among 30 chosen for the fund-raising effort benefiting Kenyan and Ugandan water projects by Canadian nonprofit Impossible 2 Possible. Senior Grace Moore, the club’s president, said they decided on the event because “the women and children would have to walk to get their water.” Campus minister Mary Pedersen added, “The average is at least three miles to get their water.”

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LAUDERDALE BY THE SEA–Olga Giner wears her dead son’s initials on a silver ring. A marine blue rubber bracelet promotes the foundation she created in his memory to warn whomever she meets about the dangers of rip currents.Giner’s son Giankarlo Squicimari died in 2007 trying to save two young girls from drowning in the sea off Palm Beach. He was posthumously awarded the Carnegie Medal for his heroic efforts.

Thursday afternoon, Giner visited Lauderdale-by-the-Sea’s unguarded beach where four people drowned in 2008 and two others almost died.

Giner stood next to a round sign bolted to a steel pole with plastic flowers attached. It resembled markers along roadways that memorialize crash victims. The sign warns, “Don’t get ripped” and encourages bathers to swim near lifeguards.

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