Applet throws ThreadDeath when using a Socket connection

I have an applet below that a browser (Using Sun JDK1.4.1 plugin) uses to open a socket connection to a server.  It acts as a thread to ensure that it will connect to the server only once.  It behaves by waiting for the server to send it a message.  Once it receives the message, it displays the message on the browser using javascript by invoking a method of JSObject.  The Applet is used across multiple pages (e.g. Login and Home using the sequence: Login->Home).  

The Applet Code:

public class webClientAppletThread extends Applet implements Runnable {

  private static Socket socket;
  private static String serverIP = null;
  private static Thread connector = null;
  private static String location = null;

  /** String representing the default action to be taken upon signalling */
  private static String refreshAction = "JavaScript: document.location.reload()";

  /** server socket has to be static because the listener is a global thread */
  private static int port = 9090;

  /** A generic message for warning the browser user that it cannot accept messages */
  public static final String NOT_LISTENING_MSG =
    "JavaScript: alert('WARNING: A browser has already been opened for webClientFiles."
    + "\\nThis browser will not be able to receive update messages correctly."
    + "\\n\\nPlease close this browser.'); window.close()";

  /**
   * A generic message for warning the browser that
   * it will no longer receive messages
   */
  public static final String CONNECTION_LOST =
    "JavaScript: alert('WARNING: The connection to the server has been lost."
    + "\\n\\n\\nPlease close this browser.'); window.close()";

  private static Applet globalApplet;

  private static final String PORT_PARAM = "Port";
  private static final String REFRESH_PARAM = "Refresh";
  private static final String SERVER_IP = "ServerIP";

    public void init() {

    System.out.println("init()");
    System.out.println("Refresh: " + getParameter(REFRESH_PARAM));
    System.out.println("Port: " + getParameter(PORT_PARAM));
    System.out.println("ServerIP: " + getParameter(SERVER_IP));

    refreshAction = getParameter(REFRESH_PARAM);
    if ((refreshAction == null) || (refreshAction.equals(""))) {
      refreshAction = "JavaScript: document.location.reload()";
    }

    try {
      port = Integer.parseInt(getParameter(PORT_PARAM));
    } catch (NullPointerException e) {
    } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
    }

    System.out.println("default refresh action = \"" + refreshAction + "\""
      + "; port=" + port);

    globalApplet = this;
    serverIP = getParameter(SERVER_IP);
    try{
    if (connector==null) {
                  System.out.println("creating new connector thread");

                  connector = new Thread(new webClientAppletThread());
                  connector.setDaemon(false);
                  this.port = port;
                  connector.start();
            } else {
                  System.out.println("using old connector thread");
            }
    }catch(SecurityException e){
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
    // Initialize global listener will attempt listen:
    // start up single global port listener
  }

  public void start() {
    System.out.println("start()...");
  }

  public void stop() {
    System.out.println("stop()...");
  }

  /**
   * The run() method does the actual ServerSocket waiting
   * and wakes up all threads that need notification when
   * when a message is received from the middleware server.
   *
   * The run() method does the actual Socket connection
   * to the server.
   */
  public void run() {
  // start up the client socket!!!
    System.out.println("Inside Run.. "+connector.getThreadGroup().getName());

    try {

    // give microsoft some slack!!!
      try {
        if (Class.forName("java.security.AccessController") != null) {
          //PolicyEngine.assertPermission(PermissionID.SYSTEM);
          java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(new
              SocketPermission(serverIP,"connect, accept"));
          //java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(new
              //java.lang.RuntimePermission("stopThread"));
          java.security.AccessController.checkPermission(new
              java.security.AllPermission());
          //System.out.println("GL: Asserted Permissions...");
        } else {
          System.out.println("GL: AccessController class not found.");
        }
      } catch (AccessControlException ace){
        System.out.println("GL: Access Control Exception: " + ace.getMessage());
      } catch (SecurityException se) {
        System.out.println("GL: Throwed Security Exception: " + se.getMessage());
      } catch (Throwable e){
        System.out.println("GL: Throwed After Permission: " + e.getMessage());
      }
      System.out.println("Before synch..");
      //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
      // Listen on port for client connections if no thread
      // is currently listening...
      //
      // In a way, this makes sure that the eMediclApplet class
      // thread is a singleton...
     synchronized (webClientAppletThread.class) {
        if (socket != null) {
          // quit!  if clientSocket has already been initialized...
           return;
        }
        System.out.println("GL: Connect attempt on port: " + port);
        try{
          socket = new Socket(serverIP,port);
          socket.setSoTimeout(0);
          //socket.setKeepAlive(true);
          BufferedOutputStream bos = new BufferedOutputStream(socket.getOutputStream());
        bos.write(InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostAddress().toString().getBytes());
        bos.flush();
        }catch(UnknownHostException uhex){
          System.out.println("EA: " + uhex.getMessage());
        }catch (SecurityException se) {
          System.out.println("GL: Sync Throwed Security Exception: " + se.getMessage());
        }catch(IOException ioe){
          System.out.println("GL: Sync Throwed IO Exception: " + ioe.getMessage());
        }
      }
      System.out.println("After synch..");
      //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
      // loop for server connections
      Thread thisThread = Thread.currentThread();
      while (socket.isConnected() && connector == thisThread) {

      //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
      // try to read data from the socket...
      String mes = null;
        try {
          System.out.println("Before getInputStream.."+socket.isBound()+":"+socket.isClosed()
              +":"+socket.isConnected()+":"+socket.isInputShutdown()+":"+socket.isOutputShutdown());
          ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(socket.getInputStream());

          System.out.println("After getInputStream.."+Thread.activeCount());
          mes = (String)ois.readObject();
          System.out.println("After readUTF.."+ mes);
        } catch (IOException e) {
        // end of client stream ?
        // just ignore the so far received message ;)
          System.out.println("IOException: " + e.getMessage());
          mes = null;
        } catch (SecurityException se) {
          System.out.println("GL: While Throwed Security Exception: " + se.getMessage());
        }

      System.out.println("GL: TCP/IP message received: \"" + mes + "\"");
      String appletMessage = mes;

      // close client socket...

      //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
      // Invoke javascript...
      jsInvoke((appletMessage.equals("")?refreshAction:appletMessage));
      }

    }catch (Throwable t1) {
      t1.printStackTrace();
      System.out.println("GL: Throwable" + t1+" : "+ connector.isAlive() + Thread.activeCount());
      System.out.println("GL: Throwable :" + socket.isConnected()+":" + this.isActive());
      System.out.println("Socket State"+socket.isBound()+":"+socket.isClosed()
          +":"+socket.isConnected()+":"+socket.isInputShutdown()+":"+socket.isOutputShutdown());

      // failure of any kind...
      jsInvoke(CONNECTION_LOST);

      // try to close socket...
      // notify all instances that our socket is no longer valid
      // by setting global server socket variable to null...
      // set server socket to null so that a browser refresh could recover....
      try { socket.close(); } catch (Throwable t2) {}
         socket = null;
      }

  }

  private static void jsInvoke(String message) {
    try {
      System.out.println(">>>>>>> Invoking: " + message);
      JSObject.getWindow(globalApplet).eval(message);
    } catch (Throwable t) {
      // ignore :(
    }
  }
}



The problem is that we are getting the following error when the applet receives a message on the succeeding page (e.g. Error occurs at Home in the sequence: Login > Home) :

java.lang.ThreadDeath
      at java.lang.Thread.stop(Thread.java:635)
      at java.lang.ThreadGroup.stopOrSuspend(ThreadGroup.java:633)
      at java.lang.ThreadGroup.stop(ThreadGroup.java:547)
      at sun.awt.AppContext.dispose(AppContext.java:382)
      at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.release(AppletClassLoader.java:662)
      at sun.plugin.security.PluginClassLoader.release(PluginClassLoader.java:415)
      at sun.applet.AppletPanel.release(AppletPanel.java:163)
      at sun.applet.AppletPanel.sendEvent(AppletPanel.java:260)
      at sun.plugin.AppletViewer.onPrivateClose(AppletViewer.java:764)
      at sun.plugin.AppletViewer$1.run(AppletViewer.java:726)
      at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:536)

The error above is thrown when the following line of code comes out of a block state "ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(socket.getInputStream());"


I also tried separating the Socket code and Thread into a singleton class to ensure that the Thread and socket persists across different pages but it did not solve the error above.