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SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Local Boy Scout cleans up historic gravesite for Eagle

By Mary Brienza, Staff Writer
       A township Boy Scout cleaned up the historic gravesite of former slave Thomas Titus as part of his Eagle Scout project.Kendall Park resident Mike Hickey, 17, cleaned up the gravesite with volunteers during a period of 10 hours during the March 19 to March 20 weekend.
   ”(This project will) largely benefit the community as a whole,” Mike said. “It’s a great way for people to discover something new in our town.”
   Mike’s father, Tom Hickey, who works as a project manager of communications and marketing at Ernst & Young, said that 22 people helped his son with the project.
   Mike said his friends and members of his troop helped clean up the site by clearing it and putting in bushes and trees.
   Donations from friends, family, coworkers of Mr. Hickey’s as well as local businesses funded the project, Mike said.
   Mr. Hickey said Mike received additional help from Mayor Frank Gambatese, Deputy Mayor Chris Killmurray, and township spokesman Ron Schmalz.
   Mr. Hickey said that the two parts of the project are the clean up and rededicate the grave during a ceremony on May 7.
   The tombstone is going to be a temporary marker until it is replaced later, Mr. Hickey said.
   The original tombstone had fallen into disrepair and was vandalized at one point, Mr. Hickey said.
   ”(Mike’s) job is to be demonstrating leadership,” Mr. Hickey said.
   Mike said he had to make phone calls, solicit donations, and write up the plan for the project and the hardest part of the project was putting the proposal together, and that planning the project was harder than executing the plan.
   ”(This is) how I am going to work for the rest of my life,” Mike said. “I have a start in leading projects.”
   Mike said he wants to go into engineering and green technology, and may be attending the New York Institute of Technology or the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
   Mr. Hickey said scouting led to Mike’s interest in green technologies, and that he has been a scout since first grade.
   Mike said a neighbor who works for the township that told Mike about the gravesite and inspired the project.
   Mr. Hickey said that they got in touch with a descendent of Mr. Titus while working on the project and that the relative may attend the May 7 ceremony at the gravesite.
   Mike said he also worked with James Shackleford, who researches historical sites, on the research part of the project.
   Mr. Shackleford also helped Mike obtain a grant from the historical society for the project, Mike said.
   Mike is also a member of the Skateboarding club at the high school and works for the Board of Education by leading third and fourth graders in activities.
   Mike said his first engineering project was planning and constructing a skateboarding half pipe in his backyard with help from his family when he was 12 years old.
   Mr. Hickey said it was constructed before the town’s Skate Park was built, and that the half pipe was 30-feet long, eight-feet wide, and four-feet high.