A playoff game for the Western New York Cougars ended with a loss and a referee in the hospital.

The ref, Peter McCabe of Lakeville in Livingston County, is home but needs reconstructive surgery.

After a play-off football game Saturday night at EdgertonPark, McCabe's face was the target of a player's anger. A referee who saw the incident happen told News 10NBC McCabe was bashed in the face by a helmet and then the suspect walked away.

McCabe's nose was detached and nearly all the bones in his face were broken.

"He was always comfortable going down there," said Peter McCabe III of his father. He had told him Edgerdon Park wasn't in the best part of town but that never bothered him.

McCabe has a passion for sports. He's been a referee for more than 25 years. He told his son the game got rowdy that night. A fight broke out during the game and a few players were ejected. The Cougars ended up losing the game by two points.

After the end of the game, the Utica team lined up to shake hands. The Rochester team didn't.

"So my dad kind of knew at the time that it was looking a little shady at the time," said McCabe III.

Witnesses say the referees were leaving the field and that's when the suspect, a member of the Western New York Cougars, hit McCabe with his helmet.

A referee who saw it all happen says the player stood over McCabe and said, "Take that! Take that!" and then walked away.

McCabe thanks the other referees who were there and believes they helped save his life.

Peter McCabe III said, "If it wasn't for those guys, he probably would have been left there to die. It's just, it's not right. He's still out there and for something like this to happen it's just completely, completely out of line."

McCabe is home but will return to Strong Hospital on Friday for reconstructive surgery. Hesays after all this he'll never return to the football field as a referee.

News 10NBC spoke with the attorney for the Western New York Cougars. He says the team is cooperating with the police investigation and sends his thoughts and prayers to McCabe and his family. He had no comment beyond that.

News 10NBC knows the identity of the suspect, but we are not releasing it at the request of police. Investigators are searching for the suspect but at this point, no one is in custody.

Currently, there's a bill the state legislature to make it a serious crime to assault a sports official. (Click here to read that bill)

The Rochester Chapter of Certified Football Officials is horrified by what happened. They're now looking into whether they will continue to officiate these games.

Here's a statement from RCCFO:

"The Rochester Chapter of Certified Football Officials was horrified to learn of the unprovoked assault of one of our members, Peter McCabe, after a football game over the weekend. This was an outrageous, cowardly attack by a craven individual. As a group, the RCCFO is confident that the Rochester Police Department will apprehend this criminal, and that a court of law will ensure that he receives the maximum penalty allowable for his actions.

As this is an on-going investigation, the RCCFO will make no further comment with respect to any details of the incident.

Our sole concern at this moment is for our fellow official and his family. Our members stand ready to support them now, and will continue to support them through the end of the recovery process. Peter McCabe is an outstanding football official, as well as an outstanding individual. More importantly, he is our friend, and a member of our family.

It is important to understand that this incident occurred after a semi-pro football game. Only a limited number of our officials referee these games and the RCCFO Executive Council will be discussing whether or not to continue to officiate these games in the future. There has been little or no security provided at these contests and this also needs to be addressed.

Our group primarily officiates high school and youth football games in the Rochester area. We remain confident in the security that is provided for the safety of the players, coaches and officials at these contests."

Five out of these seven students raised their hand when asked if they know a friend or relative who has been shot.

Twenty-five (now thirty-five) Chicago Public School students have been murdered this year. As shocking as that number is, there is another figure that's very disturbing as well: the number of students who have been shot in a 16-month period is enough to fill an elementary school - 508 students, according to school officials. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine asks why, and what is being done to stop it.

Think about it. By this time tomorrow, odds are at least one Chicago Public School student will have been shot. By this time next week, there'll be seven. It's a staggering, frightening, shameful statistic that judging from the reaction we got, those who could do something aren't anxious to talk about.

"No one really wants to address this but we need to call for a state of emergency," said Pastor Roosevelt Watkins.

Chicago Public School students are relatively safe until they leave school, but after that, the closer to home, stats show, the more dangerous it is.

We wanted to talk with Brian Samuels, the school official analyzing the data. He wasn't available.

An alternative to drugs, guns and violence is an after-school program at the Bethlehem Star Missionary Baptist Church where virtually every one of the kids have been touched by that violence.

"This place is a safe haven for them, and that's why they attend here on a regular basis," Pastor Watkins said.

When asked how many of the students know a friend or relative who has been shot - slowly, the hands go up. When five of seven children raise their hands, you know there's a problem.

"My uncle got shot right in front of our building, while we were playing basketball. I was kind of scared 'cause he was a family member, and I didn't want him to die," said 14-year-old Davell Jackson. "I was kind of frightened that I could have got shot too."

"My cousin, he was driving, and somebody shot at his car, and he flew out the window and he was killed," said 13-year-old Alvin Howard.

Not far from the church, on Friday night, an 18-year-old CPS graduate was shot and killed. It was just weeks after his 17-year-old brother was among three young men murdered by an alleged gunman just recently acquitted of murder - within view of a police blue light camera, which anonymous officers on the Internet claim are all too often being used to replace a shrinking force of street cops.

"It's like rarely do you see a police officer drive by," said 12-year-old Beverly Lambert.

CBS 2 wanted to speak with Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis about the startling statistics, but we were told by an aide that after leaving federal court Monday morning, he was too busy.

But it's not only a police problem.

"There's a fear in the neighborhood because the people fear retaliation," Pastor Watkins said. "We need to go back to the old school way where we had neighbors knowing each other, building neighborhood block clubs."

There's plenty of blame to go around - from neighbors' blind eyes to broken families to schools without truant officers to police manpower. Until everyone starts working together, joining forces instead of pointing fingers, the shooting will undoubtedly continue.

A surprising number of teenagers -- nearly 15 percent -- think they're going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behavior, new research suggests.

The study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they're invulnerable to harm. Instead, a sizable number of teens might take chances "because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake," said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.

That behavior threatens to turn their fatalism into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over seven years, kids who thought they would die early were seven times more likely than optimistic kids to be subsequently diagnosed with AIDS. They also were more likely to attempt suicide and get in fights resulting in serious injuries.

Borowsky said the magnitude of kids with a negative outlook was eye-opening. Adolescence is "a time of great opportunity, and for such a large minority of youth to feel like they don't have a long life ahead of them was surprising," she said.

The study suggests a new way that doctors could detect kids likely to engage in unsafe behavior and potentially help prevent it, said Dr. Jonathan Klein, a University of Rochester expert in adolescent health who was not involved in the research. "Asking about this sense of fatalism is probably a pretty important component of one of the ways we can figure out who those kids at greater risk are," he said.

The study appears in the July issue of Pediatrics, released today.

Scientists once widely thought that teens take risks because they underestimate bad consequences and figure "it can't happen to me," the study authors say. The new research bolsters evidence rejecting that thinking.

Cornell University professor Valerie Reyna said the new study presents "an even stronger case against the invulnerability idea."

"It's extremely important to talk about how perception of risk influences risk-taking behavior," said Reyna, who has conducted similar research.

Fatalistic kids weren't more likely than others to die during the seven-year study. There were relatively few deaths: 94 in the group of more than 20,000 teens.

The researchers analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of kids in grades 7 to 12 who were interviewed three times between 1995 and 2002. Of 20,594 teens interviewed in the first round, 14.7 percent said they thought they had a good chance of dying before age 35. Subsequent interviews found that these fatalistic kids engaged in more risky behavior than more optimistic kids.

The study suggests that some kids overestimate their risks for harm; however, it also provides evidence that some kids might have good reason for being fatalistic.

Native Americans, blacks and low-income teens -- kids who are disproportionately exposed to violence and hardship -- were much more likely than whites to believe they would die young.

Horlick-Park Tickets Available Online

Tickets for Tuesday's Park-Horlick boys basketball game can be purchased online.

The game at Horlick is the first game in Racine to have tickets available on a new Web site, www.safesportzone.com. There are 50 tickets available for purchase via the Internet.

There have been more and more episodes of violence at high schools around the nation in recent months and ordering tickets via the Internet is a way to protect the gate and make it a safer event," Horlick activities director Jay Hammes said.

"Tickets cost $4 and there is a 75-cent service charge per ticket. Profits from ticket sales and service charges go toward upkeep of Racine high school athletic facilities," Hammes said.

To order, go to the Web site, click on Wisconsin on the national map, then scroll down to Horlick High School of Racine, click on that and then click on boys basketball tickets. You may purchase up to four tickets using a credit card.

The Park-Horlick game is Alumni Night at Horlick and all Rebels alumni can attend the game for free.

All spectators attending the game must be prepared to show a picture ID and may be searched prior to entering the John R. Belden Fieldhouse. Large bags and backpacks are not allowed, no hats may be worn in the fieldhouse and ticket sales will end 45 minutes after the start of the game.

Park spectators will exit through the south fieldhouse doors and Horlick spectators will exit through the west doors facing the tennis courts.

Announcers Brave Elements to Attend NASPAA Clinic

The frozen tundra more than lived up to its name on Saturday, December 6, 2008, as about 20 brave souls eschewed the elements to attend the NASPAA Basketball P.A. Announcers clinic held that snowy, windy morning at Hamilton High School in Sussex, Wisconsin, which is located in Waukesha County, west of Milwaukee.

With a full agenda on the schedule that would indubitably edify the crowd in the scant three hours allotted, everyone did what all good announcers do by showing up early to breeze past the preliminary check-in period and find seats in the world-class auditorium.

Mike Gosz, Athletic Director for Sussex Hamilton High School, opened the NASPAA clinic.

Providing a warm welcome to this outstanding NASPAA event was Mike Gosz, Athletic Director for Hamilton High School. Gosz delved into his presentation, Expectations for Announcers, from the school administrator's point of view. He also provided outstanding, logical insights into several important aspects of P.A. announcing for all sports and events in general, especially as applied to high school basketball announcing.

The A.D., particularly on the high school level, is often the person in charge of the P.A. announcer as well as various other activities, including opening and closing the facility, lighting, event security, sweeping the floor, and many other details.

The P.A. announcer can assist the process by arriving early and checking with the A.D. regarding any late-breaking news or changes, discussing event details including crowd behavior and sportsmanship expectations, security issues, and so on.

Mike Jakubowski, Marquette University Basketball P.A. Announcer and clinician, let attendees know what they need to do to become better basketball P.A. announcers.

Gosz, a polished presenter, segued into his introduction of clinician Mike Jakubowski, P.A. announcer for the Marquette University Golden Eagles men's basketball program, and a host of other events including internationally televised bowling championships and more.

After thanking Gosz and the Hamilton staff for hosting the event, Jakubowski took time to state his appreciation to the attendees for coming out on a blustery day. He made a few brief comments to reiterate the purpose of the clinic and to review the agenda.

Gary Vaillancourt, P.A. announcer for William Horlick High School, addressed sportsmanship and proper conduct.

Jakubowski then introduced Gary Vaillancourt, P.A. announcer, for William Horlick High School, Racine, Wisconsin. Vaillancourt covered a topic of growing importance to P.A. announcers and to society in general; Sportsmanship and Conduct.

His presentation centered on several keys to how announcers do their jobs, positive ways that announcers can enhance sportsmanship, foster appropriate crowd conduct, and more.

Jay Hammes, Athletic Director for William Horlick High School, covered matters concerning event security and societal changes.

Next up was Jay Hammes, A.D. at William Horlick High School. He is also the founder and president of Safe Sport Zone. His years of experience in athletic administration and managing athletic events at one of the largest high schools in Wisconsin, along with his work with a distinguished national leadership training program, provide Hammes with the background to serve as a vital resource on event security.

Throughout the country, he shares "best practices" with schools to help better manage event security operations and is deservedly considered one of the leading event security experts worldwide. Plus, he's also an elected official in Wind Point, Wisconsin-in charge of police, fire, and safety-as a Board Trustee.

Event Security and Crowd Management was the topic for Hammes, and he handled it with excellence and obvious expertise. Some very practical themes arose during the presentation, vital for public address announcers, athletic directors, and everyone to consider. Does each organization that you work with have an event security plan, an exit plan in case of emergency, and are these and similar plans documented - and practiced? What can you, as the P.A. announcer, do to help? Hammes gave attendees some things to think about.

Next, Jakubowski deftly explained the responsibilities of each member of the table crew in relation to the game of basketball. He brought his perspective on the overall matrix of activities surrounding event production, also drawing from his 10 years' experience running the scoreboard for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball club. With his eyes on the clock like Brett Favre managing the two-minute drill, Jakubowski kept the clinic on time and came up with a unique and appropriate idea to take advantage of the clock and the wireless microphone by having everyone give their name, sports announced, years of experience and any unique or "signature" announcements. Jakubowski's impromptu thought to pass the microphone around was an excellent idea and the crowd greatly enjoyed learning about each other and having the opportunity to be heard on the public address system.

Before being dismissed for a brief break, clinic participants learned that there were more than public address announcers, or those interested in becoming announcers, in attendance at the clinic. Attendees included people from throughout Wisconsin and from northern Illinois, men and women, athletic directors, television and radio broadcasters, people with various high school and college P.A. backgrounds and others were there for this inaugural Wisconsin event.

Among them was the Director of Game Operations for the Milwaukee Bucks, Mike Schnieders, who shared how he had to fly an announcer to Milwaukee from Houston last year because he knew no local public address announcers who could cover a game for him. During the break there was a brief opportunity for everyone to personally introduce themselves to each other, then return to the auditorium for the Announcing keynote address delivered by Jakubowski.

Starting with an efficacious smile, he engaged the group by starting, suitably enough, at the beginning of his preparations for announcing a basketball game. He brought a prop for this, his announcer's bag, which is of the kind suitable for carrying a laptop computer and often confused as a computer case, but it's simply a soft leather briefcase with numerous pouches. Jakubowski listed the items that he feels are essential to doing his job. These included:

• Fine-tipped black marking pen
• Digital camera
• Cough drops
• A fresh bottle of water
• Three-ring binder containing a pad of paper
• The script for the game (more on this shortly)

He recommends that the P.A. announcer arrive early at the event to go over the rosters, the names, and their correct pronunciation. Jakubowski talked about conducting a vocal warm up, then a check of the microphone and sound system.

Important to announcing success is what he termed "proper microphone technique," involving breathing, breaks or pauses, posture, and even liquid intake. Doing a lot of speaking will tend to make the mouth, throat, and vocal chords a bit raspy and dry, although he stressed the need to modulate liquid intake with the ability and time to obtain a timely restroom break

Secure Entry

A spate of violent fan behavior at prep basketball games led to gymnasium-admission restrictions in at least three major cities last year.

Officials at Milwaukee Public Schools limited ticket sales for all games to one per student and allowed only students from the two competing schools to attend games after eight students from Bay View High School and host Bradley Tech were arrested during a January 2007 post-game brawl that injured four police officers. Three other individuals arrested were not enrolled at any MPS school. In a controversial decision, students from Bayview and Bradley Tech also were banned from attending their teams' subsequent games.

Tulsa (Okla.) Public Schools administrators decided not to go that far after fights among fans disrupted or cancelled two games during the 2006-07 season. But select future games were sold only with advanced-purchase tickets, moved to neutral sites and scheduled for afternoon tip-offs. "Selling tickets in advance helps us have fans there who really want to watch the basketball game and keeps away the troublemakers," TPS athletic director Stephanie Spring told the Tulsa World at the time.

And Mel Collins, principal of Lincoln High School in San Diego, eliminated all walk-up ticket sales after multiple fights in the stands abruptly ended a game between Lincoln and Mount Miguel High School at halftime.

"All schools are concerned about security," says Jay Hammes, athletic and activities director at Horlick High School in Racine, Wis. "A lot of the problems today with fights and weapons involve young participants who don't attend any school. Unless a name is on the ticket and you have an ID system in place at the gate, there's not an effective way to curb unwanted people from coming in."

That is why Hammes spent the past six years studying security issues while developing an online ticketing and fan identification program designed to make high school athletic events around the country safer by monitoring and controlling who attends them. Expected to debut in time for this year's winter sports season, the program will allow schools to sell tickets via the Safe Sport Zone web site www.safesportzone.com. A surcharge of 75 cents - so the program can remain free to schools - will be assessed to every fan purchasing an online ticket. Each ticket will be printed with the ticket-holder's name on it, and an identification card for students or a driver's license for adults will be required at the gate or gymnasium doors to gain entry to the game. There's even a feature of the program that can flag specific individuals and bar them from purchasing tickets.

"There' s no assurance of 100 percent safety, but this is one tool to make an event safer," Hammes says. "Should something drastic happen, the school would have the names of all those present. We believe that those who might create a problem would hesitate buying a ticket because they would not be anonymous."

While initially conceived as a security tool, Hammes' online ticketing program may also prove beneficial for schools whose administrators are looking for more convenience and accountability in their ticket-selling procedures. In smaller schools, where the threat of violence might be lower, online ticketing would still help eliminate the exchange of cash, which could potentially get lost or stolen.

Hammes says he has commitments from high schools in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin to give the online ticketing system a try, and he has been in contact with school districts in New Mexico, New York and Ohio. All told, approximately 300 schools have expressed an interest in the program, he says, adding that he plans to spend much of the next year traveling the country to promote the concept.

"If I'm an athletics administrator, I like the idea of having people show up at the door already having their tickets - especially if I have a strong community that follows the high school teams and I sell tickets in large numbers," says Mike Blackburn, associate executive director of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, which along with the National Federation of State High School Associations has endorsed the program.

Dave Wagner, coordinator of investigations for the bureau of safety and security at Chicago Public Schools, isn't sure how many of that city's approximately 72 high schools with sports teams will have a need for an online ticketing service, despite reports of fan violence. "We have such a disparity in attendance at games," he says. "Some schools will have 5,000 people at a basketball game, and they would benefit from a service like this. But if you have 20 people show up, why do you need it?"

Hammes suggests that schools may want to provide a combination of online and traditional ticket sales, or offer online ticketing only for certain sports - such as basketball and football, which are the ones that typically attract the largest and most vocal crowds. "If you sell 30 tickets to a game that way, that's okay," he says. "If schools just get people accustomed to the idea, they can really tighten up that gate if some security issue occurs down the road and they need to go to online-only sales."

The challenge for schools that sign up to use online ticketing will be getting people (older parents and grandparents, most likely) to buy into the program. Habits are hard to break, and more than 25 percent of the U.S. population still doesn't use the Internet, according to The Nielsen Company.

To accommodate fans without Internet access - as well as students without credit or debit cards - schools with online-only ticketing programs may choose to sell tickets in the administration or athletic office during school hours, inviting them to stop by and pay for a ticket, which will be purchased and printed using a school computer.

Hammes and Blackburn both say that online ticketing for high school events is inevitable. Other companies are experimenting with the idea, which is already common in professional and college sports, and purchasing advance tickets on the Internet has become part of today's concert- and movie-going experiences. "The younger generation thinks nothing of purchasing almost everything online," Blackburn says. "I don't know if this program is instantly going to be the answer to convenience and safety issues, but I see great promise for it."

2% of Today's Youth

The other day I received a phone call from an athletic director of a neighboring state asking me to do a security presentation at his state conference. I had to explain the reason why my voice was so hoarse. Our school had just completed our all-school annual "Welcome Back" assembly, so many of you who are responsible for this type of event can understand why losing your voice is fairly easy to do!

We have a traditional school spirit challenge during the assembly, where the school's 2200 students compete to be the loudest class and raise the roof. Over the years, the competition has been fun and exciting, but this last spirit challenge has created a concern. Some of the students were not mature enough to behave in a civilized manner. After the event was over, they ended up on the field house floor where they began pushing each other. I had to ask myself what prompted their behavior. As I thought about it, I recalled a statistic that I had read where 2% of our children today have been brought up without reliable parental guidance or an understanding of proper social manners. Unfortunately, the actions of a few ruin events for the majority. As a result, activities such as this that have been enjoyed for years by schools across the country could be at risk.

As you can probably tell, I'm all for students being allowed to show their school spirit when done responsibly, because it can help promote a positive environment, and as someone who manages athletic events and has a vested interested in secure events, I feel strongly about a positive environment. This leads me to another area of school spirit that has an influence on our students' behavior and this is music. Should the violent songs that are played today in our students' personal environment be allowed at our athletic events?

Let's break it down. The entertainment industry has had a major impact on our society by producing what it calls "music," which is degrading to women, and laced with profanity and violence. Many youth are addicted to this type of music. I don't want to sound like some naive parent from the past like when Elvis entered the scene back in the early sixties. However, there is a time and place for this music, and it should not be heard at our athletic events.

Do you really know what the students are listening to? It was not until I attended a gang conference that I got a real education about music. One of the presenters played the songs with the lyrics appearing on an overhead at the same time. I could not believe what I hearing and reading.That type of music has the same kind of effect on some students that I witnessed following our "Welcome Back" assembly. It changes behaviors causing many to lose control of better judgment and act inappropriately. From an event and security management perspective, this is a concern.

As high school athletic directors, game announcers, and event managers, this should be the last thing with which we should have to worry about. The question is what music would be most appropriate? As you make that decision, ask yourself what the message is that you would like your school to send. Make sure that the music that is to be played during pregame warm-ups, during the halftime, when the cheerleader perform, etc., is screened by someone in authority before it is played. Personally, the R-rated music does not belong at our high school events. Our conference has established music guidelines. Some college conferences also have policies concerning music. If you don't have a policy you should seriously consider it.

Proper behavior is paramount to a safe and secure event. In some cases you or the school can do something about it, like taking steps to play more appropriate music. Yet, they may be occasions where the behavior of only a few will ruin the experience for the majority. Being aware of some of the reasons that may cause students to misbehave hopefully will help you better deal with those situations. If you have concerns, be sure to talk with your athletic director of event manager.

Ticket Plan Plays It Safe

Jay Hammes is a busy guy.

In addition to his primary job as Racine Horlick athletic director, Hammes is bringing to market an innovative way to improve the safety of high school sporting events.

"Most schools have a comprehensive security plan during the day," Hammes said. "I feel it's important to have one after school in case something should happen during a game."

About a year ago, Hammes published a well-received article on safety at athletic events. This led to Hammes going forward with Safe Sport Zone, an on-line ticketing program for high school athletic events.

For selected athletic events, fans would buy their tickets on the Internet. They would print out the ticket and bring it with their ID to the gate.

"It would be similar to an airline voucher," Hammes said. "It's a way to keep it a safer event."

Many schools have sold tickets in advance, but with Safe Sport Zone a name is on each ticket. As a result, the ticket takers can match the photo ID with the name on the ticket. If someone has caused trouble at previous events, that person can be denied admission.

Sussex Hamilton athletic director Mike Gosz points out that many of the disruptions at games come from kids not attending either school. "With Jay's program of background and security checks, it alleviates a lot of headaches for athletic directors," he said. "It's like going to the airport where you feel relatively safe after going through the last security check."

Safe Sport Zone will begin to be rolled out this winter in Racine. Schools in Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit also have expressed interest. Safe Sport Zone is endorsed by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the National Federation of State High School Associations.

"We certainly think there's a market for it in areas where there are security concerns," said Bob Gardner, the NFHS chief operating officer. "The identification system helps provide a safer and more secure area for athletic contests. That's why we think it's a good idea."

Hammes is targeting Safe Sport Zone toward major metropolitan areas where problems have occurred. It would most likely be used only for sports that have the potential to attract big crowds, most notably basketball and football.