EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – Students, faculty, school staff and alumni will participate in Egg Harbor Township High School’s annual Nerf Ball Tournament on Friday, Feb. 6.

The tournament, which is sponsored by the Future Business Leaders of America, raises money for the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers and the March of Dimes.

Last year approximately $5,000 was raised when 62 teams of eight members each participated. The winning team was the Elite 8.

The HERO Campaign was established by the parents of Navy Ensign John Elliott, an Egg Harboro Township High School graduate who lost his life to a drunken driver in July 2000. John had graduated two months earlier from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where he was named the outstanding Human Education Resource Officer (HERO) of his class.

Statistics for New Jersey released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 2013 (latest figures available) show 146 traffic fatalities in which the driver had a blood-alcohol content of .08 percent or above; the number represents 27 percent of all New Jersey crash deaths for the year. In 2012, alcohol-impaired traffic fatalities for New Jersey were 164.

Nationwide for 2013, there were 32,719 traffic deaths, with 10,076 – or 31 percent – in which the driver had a blood-alcohol content of .08 or above.