Suicide

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

FIRST, there's a thump. Then - lightning fast - a crunch. The inhuman sound erupted moments after Richard Dixon jerked the emergency brake on the train he was operating. Right away, he knew what it was - the sound of a body being crushed beneath his train. It was a 17-year-old boy. "It's really hard to describe," the engineer said, recalling the suicide that unfolded a decade ago as his Regional Rail train barreled north from Jenkintown toward Warminster. "You just know it - and you don't forget it. " For 15 people, trains speeding along the city's railroads have been a gruesome, but easily accessible, means of killing themselves over the past five years.

Mariette Hartley, co-host of CBS's "The Morning Program," says she has a fear of success as a result of her father's committing suicide. He shot himself in the head in 1963. In an interview in the current issue of TV Guide, Hartley said that during the final week of rehearsals for the morning show, "when everything was coming together here, I kept hearing a gunshot. I was ashamed that no matter how far past it I get, when I am on the verge of success, there it is again. The gunshot.

Although I agree with most of what Claude Lewis was trying to say in his March 17 column on suicide, I must take exception to his inclusion of the statements about Donald Manes' death. I don't think that the suicide of a political figure is less disturbing than that of a 10-year-old. If he would only read the last two paragraphs he wrote he'd see that any suicide is and should be disturbing, and that he was being more than a little judgmental. Maybe Mr. Manes, borough president of Queens, New York, did make more than his share of serious mistakes, but to label him as a failure as a human being and write his death off as unfortunate but understandable?

John (Jack) Slivinski Jr., the Philadelphia firefighter who got in hot water by posing shirtless for a charity calendar, was found dead at his Lawndale home Saturday. Police and colleagues said the cause was suicide. Slivinski, 31, a former Marine who followed his father into the department, was praised Sunday as a gutsy firefighter who won a spot on the department's elite rescue unit. "If you or your family members were in danger, this was the kid you'd want showing up at your house," said Mike Kane, an executive board member at Firefighers Union Local 22. "He gave you 110 percent, whether he was washing dishes or going down a smoky hallway," Kane said.

Into every teen-age mind, the notion of suicide probably has intruded at some point. "If you go into any school and hand out a questionnaire, 100 percent would say they've thought of suicide," said Dr. Jerry Kaplan, Hahnemann University professor of clinical pediatrics. "There's no one who hasn't read 'Hamlet' and had it cross their mind. "To think about suicide is not abnormal. But when it gets to be an obsessive thing, that's when you get worried. " To be or not to be - when that becomes more than an academic exercise, parents, teachers and counselors worry.

Citing a nationwide increase in the number of suicides among adolescents, the Colonial school board has voted unanimously to adopt a suicide-prevention policy that orders the creation of a program to handle the problem. The board, acting at a meeting Thursday night, voted, 7-0, in favor of the one-page policy. Board members Rachele Intrieri and Frances L. Wilson were absent. The policy, which was recommended by the administration, states that the district "must" make every effort to reduce the adolescent suicide rate.

Dan Estes knows how he is going to kill himself. So does Alan Ward. Both have the AIDS virus and neither is sure he will want to live after the disease debilitates him, sapping his strength. So they are preparing for suicide. Opting for suicide is not unusual for people who have AIDS, according to interviews with people with the virus, physicians and mental health professionals. A study published in 1988 found that AIDS patients were 36 times more likely to take their own lives than the entire population of men 20 to 59 years old, the usual AIDS years, according to the study's leader, Dr. Peter Marzuk of Cornell University Medical College.

Just when you thought there wasn't any more space in the self-help section of your local bookstore, along comes Derek Humphry's "Final Exit," the best- selling step-by-step guide to suicide. But before Humphry and the other members of the Hemlock Society celebrate their big sales numbers, there are a few things they ought to consider. Suicide is not an equal-opportunity way to die. It isn't like getting hit by lightning or run over by a bus; it chooses its targets carefully.

Ministry and Stereolab were influenced by it. Michael Stipe sang its praises to Charlie Rose. Ric Ocasek and Ben Vaughn produced its members. And Bruce Springsteen has admiringly called it the scariest band he ever heard. If they don't already know Suicide - poet-singer Alan Vega and minimalist keyboardist Martin Rev - after 30 years, electronic-music fans have an opportunity to investigate the duo's brutish synth-punk mayhem with a pair of new two-CD packages from Mute Records.

By Lalita Clozel   This week, former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi was sentenced to 30 days in jail for using a webcam to spy on an intimate encounter between his roommate, Tyler Clementi, and another man shortly before Clementi committed suicide. Prosecutors, gay-rights advocates, and others have argued that the sentence is lenient given the charges. In fact, it's fairly harsh.   The Clementi case appears to fit a victim-vs.-bully narrative: A young, gay introvert is rudely exposed by his roommate and then jumps off a bridge.

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. - A man who survived a plunge of at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls - only the third person known to have done so without a safety device - was in stable condition Tuesday, a day after his apparent suicide attempt that led to a dramatic and painstaking rescue. On a warm and sunny Victoria Day holiday morning in Canada, the man climbed over a railing 20 to 30 feet out over the Horseshoe Falls, the tallest of the three main falls, and "deliberately jumped" into the Niagara River, according to witness accounts given to Niagara Parks Police.

As an undergraduate at West Chester University in the 1980s, Kevin Guskiewicz spent summers working at Eagles training camp. He even remembers meeting safety Andre Waters a couple of times. Neither could have known how their paths would cross 20-some years later. Guskiewicz went on to work as an athletic trainer for the Pittsburgh Steelers and is now, as a professor at the University of North Carolina, one of the world's leading experts on concussions and the long-term damage they cause.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Twin suicide car bombs exploded outside a military intelligence building and killed 55 people Thursday, tossing mangled bodies in the street in the deadliest attack against a regime target since the Syrian uprising began 14 months ago. The bombings fueled fears of a rising Islamic extremist element among the forces seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad and dealt a further blow to international efforts to end the bloodshed....

KHAR, Pakistan - A teenager blew himself up near a Pakistani market close to the Afghan border Friday, killing 20 people, officials said. The suicide bombing came a day after the U.S. released letters seized from Osama bin Laden's compound that criticized Pakistani militants for killing too many civilians. Five of the dead in the blast in the northwestern Bajur tribal area were local members of the security forces, including one who had received an award for bravery in fighting Islamist militants, government administrator Abdul Haseeb said.

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Former NFL star Junior Seau was found shot to death at his home Wednesday morning in what police said appeared to be a suicide. He was 43. Police Chief Frank McCoy said Seau's girlfriend reported finding him unconscious with a gunshot wound to the chest and lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful. A gun was found near him, McCoy said. Police said no suicide note was found and they didn't immediately know who the gun was registered to. "We believe it was a suicide," said Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Mata.

JUNIOR SEAU'S death has been ruled a suicide by the San Diego County medical examiner's office. An autopsy Thursday confirmed that the former NFL linebacker died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the medical examiner's office said. The office said further details would be released in a final investigative report, which may take up to 90 days to complete. Officials said they were awaiting a decision by the family on whether to turn over Seau's brain to unidentified outside researchers for study.

Junior Seau's death has been ruled a suicide by the San Diego County medical examiner's office. Seau, 43, died Wednesday in his home in Oceanside, Calif. An autopsy Thursday confirmed that the former NFL linebacker died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the medical examiner's office said. The office said further details would be released in a final investigative report, which may take up to 90 days to complete. Police Chief Frank McCoy said Seau's girlfriend reported finding him unconscious with a gunshot wound to the chest; lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful.

Sadness and another round of concern over head injuries in football followed reports of Junior Seau's suicide Wednesday. "Tough to hear the news about Junior Seau. One of the best LBs to play the game," Eagles linebacker Casey Matthews wrote on Twitter. "Had his throwback USC #55 jersey. 1 of the reasons I was 55. " Matthews grew up near USC and wore 55 in college. "Saddened to hear the news about Seau. Thoughts and prayers are with his family," Eagles linebacker DeMeco Ryans posted on Twitter.

FORMER GIANTS linebacker Harry Carson says he's not surprised by Junior Seau's tragic death, which has been ruled a suicide. "When I heard it, I have to say in the past I would have been shocked," Carson told the New York Post. "But I'm not shocked anymore. " It's too early to tell if Seau's death is linked to postconcussion syndrome, but Carson would not be surprised if that's the case. "I knew years ago that there would come a point in time where, whether it was transitioning to the game, or there would be guys having these neurological issues, that players were going to be committing suicide," said Carson, who has spoken out about his own battle with postconcussion syndrome and admitted that he has considered suicide.