I would change your binding to be:
<button type="button" value="click me" onclick="check_me" />
I would then change your check_me()
function declaration to be:
function check_me() {
//event.preventDefault();
var hello = document.myForm.username.value;
var err = '';
if(hello == '' || hello == null) {
err = 'User name required';
}
if(err != '') {
alert(err);
$('username').focus();
event.preventDefault();
} else {
return true; }
}