Suspending (or Stopping) a Thread in Applet

[Bhoot]

I have written the following java applet code, mainly with the aim of suspending a thread instead of nullifying it and creating an another instance of it.
I want to know if the below written code is safe, or, in other way, good code to follow?

public class AppletThread extends Applet implements Runnable
{
	Thread t;
	volatile boolean suspendFlag;
	Integer s = 0;

	public void init()
	{
		t = new Thread (this, "AppletThread");	
		suspendFlag = false;
		t.start();
	}
	
	public synchronized void start()
	{
		suspendFlag = false;
		notifyAll();
	}
	
	public void run()
	{
		int i;
			
		for (i = 0; i < 15; ++i)
		{
			repaint();
			try {
				Thread.sleep(1000);
			} catch (InterruptedException e)
			{}

			++s;
			
			synchronized (this) 
			{
				System.out.println ("into synchronized(this)");
				while (suspendFlag)
					try {			
						wait();
					} catch (InterruptedException e) { }
			}
		}
	}
	
	public synchronized void stop()
	{
		suspendFlag = true;
		notifyAll();
	}
	
	public void destroy()
	{
		t = null;
	}
	
	public void paint (Graphics g)
	{
		g.drawString (s.toString(), 10, 10);
	}
}

An another alternative i saw of starting and suspending(stopping, rather) was something like this. :

public void start()
{
  stopFlag = false;
  t = new Thread (this);
}
public void run()
{
    while (true)
    {
        //code
        if (stopFlag)
            break;
    }
}

public void stop()
{
     stopFlag = true;
     t = null;
}

here wait() is not used. Rather, the run() is simply ended using break.
Is this a better way than what i wrote above? I dont think so because here one creates a new instance every time the applet is started and stopped. Thats not the way in the former code; the same thread instance is being used.

Or is there another better alternative to both of this?
I hope to get a reply soon.. :)