Recently, George O'Leary was forced to resign from his job as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame because he had lied on his resume. Liars often make headlines but usually lose respect in the process. Y-Press recently spoke with several members of a youth group at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in addition to youth volunteers at The Children's Museum about how lies affect their

Most everyone has played a round or two of the game "telephone." One person starts with a sentence and whispers it to the next person. The goal is to see how the final sentence differs from the original. In the game, everyone giggles and laughs at the outcome. But in real life, when gossip is the message being transmitted, the result can be hurtful. Y-Press recently talked with four middle schoole

Middle school is a time of learning, a time for fun -- and a time for getting bullied. People get teased over the stupidest stuff --the way they walk, the way they talk, the way they laugh. Everyone gets teased -- even the popular people. Two years ago, a group of sixth-graders at Craig Middle School in Lawrence Township decided they were sick of the bullying and teasing and took a petition to the

Have you ever seen parents beating each other with clubs, chains and brass knuckles at a youth sporting event? According to three Lawrence Township students, such actions aren't far from the truth. After all, a Massachusetts man was just convicted of beating to death another man after a youth hockey practice. Payton DeLong, 15; Nicole Sharp, 13; and Lauren Hobert, 12, all participate in athletics.

Most people know the early teenage years are a difficult period. One professor's research explored the role gossip plays in middle schools. In 1981, Donna Eder, now a professor of sociology at Indiana University, began a study to better understand the sociology of middle schools. She published her findings in the 1995 book "School Talk: Gender and Adolescent Culture." Eder and three other research