Texas Teen's Suicide Blamed on 'Wolf Pack' Bullies

Despite celebrity-laden campaigns against bullying, the practice seems to go on unabated. Last week, a Texas high school freshman committed suicide after enduring years of bullying from a group of classmates dubbed the "wolf pack," NBC reports.
Ted "Teddy" Molina was a 16-year-old Flour Bluff High School student in Corpus Christi, Texas. He killed himself with a hunting rifle. Teddy, who is part Korean and part Hispanic, was taunted and received death threats due to his mixed race, his family says.
Representatives from the Flour Bluff School District have denied being aware of a bullying problem in their schools, but some parents seem to disagree.
A mother removed her two children from a junior high school in the district due to bullying last February, KRIS-TV reports. Other parents have come forward with similar stories.
Teddy's mother withdrew her son from school on March 5 at the height of the teen's bullying, said Teddy's sister Misa Molina. Teddy's parents also claimed to have filed over a dozen complaints regarding their son's harassment.
The Molina family's lawyer, Bob Hilliard, stated that he is looking into taking possible legal action against the school district for its inaction.
This wouldn't be the first time a lawsuit based on bullying has been filed. School bullying has been in the news a lot lately. And many states have enacted laws to stop the practice.
Under the Texas Education Code, student bullying and harassment is prohibited. School administrators must also take steps to prevent and deal with physical and emotional school bullying.
The identities of the students in the alleged "wolf pack" responsible for Teddy's bullying have not been released. But the Molina family's attorney has stated that the group was formed by athletes at the school.
It's a tragedy to see such a young life ended so soon by suicide. Hopefully Teddy Molina's family will finally find peace from the "wolf pack" bullies.

THE BULLYING CONTINUES

A gay Iowa teen has taken his own life after friends and family say that classmates sent him death threats on his cell phone and made him the subject of a Facebook hate group.
As KTIV is reporting, 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. began to be teased and bullied by classmates at South O'Brien High School after he came out earlier this year. "People that were originally his friends, they kind of turned on him," sister Kayla Weishuhn, a sophomore, is quoted as saying. "A lot of people, they either joined in or they were too scared to say anything."
The anti-gay teasing reportedly also continued online, where classmates created a hate group against gays and added Kenneth's friends as members, and got even worse when the freshman started receiving death threats from students on his phone.
Weishuhn’s mother Jeannie Chambers said her son told her, "Mom, you don’t know how it feels to be hated."
Details on Weishuhn's death are otherwise scarce, but a Facebook group has already been started in the teen's memory. "Unfortunately, the culture most of us have been raised in has been the mindset that you get 'picked on' in school and that's just part of growing up," one user writes. "Bullying is like most other crimes, the only way it's going to stop is if the offenders get caught and are prosecuted."
Adds another: "I hate to think of what he must have gone through to decide suicide was his only option. I hope and pray all of these bullies feel responsible for what happened."

Is this what we have become as a society: intolerant and ignorant? Where kids harass and bully other weaker kids just because they are different?
Where do these kids get the sense that it is acceptable to bully others, and that it is acceptable to be prejudiced and discriminating? The answer is simple; they learn it from their parents or at school.

Bullying teenagers, especially gay teenagers or the ones that are still questioning their identity, is becoming an epidemic. Gay teenagers are called names regularly, and the worst part is that the teachers and the school don’t address these issues, or don’t know how to address these issues; sweeping them under the carpet will not make them disappear.

The poor teenagers are tormented, feel isolated, unloved, hated, not accepted, ridiculed and mostly shamed for who they are. They have no idea where to turn, how to look for help. Most school administrations don’t have any designed system in place to address the gay issue in schools, and teachers don’t know how, are scared to face these issues, or they feel documenting the bullying or harassing situations to the office is enough.

Some schools have anti-bullying programs mentioned on their curriculum, but it is just to be politically correct, and they don’t intervene to stop the bullying, where they were made aware of the torment they are going through.

This is also a wake-up for parents. Parents should realize that they are the first gate of knowledge for their kids, who absorb totally how they act, including their prejudice. In fact, children learn to discriminate in the same way they absorb a new language, learn to dress in a certain way, or to use a toy. Early child and family experiences shape children’s attitudes and behaviors. Bullying is a product of the home.

Parents of gay teens: accept your children, love and support them, embrace them for who they are. You are their first line of defense and you might make all the difference in saving their lives. The solution is within us; we can prevent the unnecessary loss of young teens. We need to make these teens know that there is hope, that there is help. Teens should know that there is nothing wrong with being gay, that being gay is not a choice, it is who they are; and they are loved for who they are, regardless of who they choose to be with.

Legislation should be scripted to protect these teenagers; school administrators should impose very strict rules and regulations for zero tolerance for bullying and harassment, and schools should offer counseling to these teens, in a safe environment with total privacy. Teachers should get thorough training on sexual orientation and harassment.

I do stand for freedom of choice and the right of everyone to live their lives the way they want to. Who are we to judge anyone or judge that being gay is wrong or shameful? Hatred never brings any positive changes; it just generates more hatred. Just think if it was your child that lost their life: How would you feel? But most will just ignore this write up and say to themselves, "my kid would never bully someone" because that's what parents do, protect their own and they don't even know that their kid "did" bully someone and their kid "was" responsible for another teen ending their life!!! How much more and how much longer must this go on?  PLEASE open your eyes!!!!

My eyes tear badly as I finish this blog because I care and because I have a heart and I feel for others. Is that a bad thing I ask?  And let me add this bit of personal information, my brother that I loved so much and always will, was also a victim of this "what I call" serious hate crime that we discuss each day and most do nothing about.

Please advocate for zero tolerance for prejudice and discrimination. Let this be a wake-up call; let these tragedies be a candle that illuminates our path to recovery and healing. Let us stand up and speak up. It starts with each one of us saying "no more bullying and no more discrimination." We need to make our voices heard. We've lost enough of promising young lives!

THE STORY OF THE OUTREACH

During my set at Tadd's on Saturday Sept 24th 2011 one of the VIP's imed me and requested a song,he then shared with me a link and a event that happened in his town.After my set I checked out the link and read about the death of Jamey Rodemyer.I could not believe what I read and saw on the video.How could this happen.Why did this happen.

After doing a search I read other stories about how teens were being bullied and taunted leading to suicide

I posted the link on my Facebook and made the comment how I wanted to do a event in Second Life to raise awareness about Bullying and Taunting leading to Teen Suicide in the LGBT Teen Community.The comments and support I received was overwhelming.

On October 22nd and October 23rd Be A Warrior-Warriors For Jamey took place at Tadd's.The Event was geared toward Raising Awareness and Creating a Outreach in Second Life for at risk teens.The support for the event was amazing,so many people turned out for this 2 day event.

A few weeks after the event,I felt really down I felt I had failed in my mission.Yes we raised awareness but where was the Outreach.As the months went by I felt that I needed to do more,the suicides and bullying were still happening.

On New Years Day of 2012 I logged into SL and started putting together a notecard.What did I want the Outreach to do.For the next couple of days I kept adding to the notecard.I had a rough idea of what I wanted so I passed the notecard to a couple of friends I asked them to read it and give me their feedback.

At the end of January I met my beautiful husband Justin,we started dating and as the relationship delveloped we found ourselfs spending most of our time at my sim.Justin also had a sim,he decided to give it up,so I asked him to please talk with me before he did.I passed him the notecard and The Outreach was born.Justin believes in the mission of the Outreach just as I do and is 100 percent behind this project.

The Goal of The Outreach is to create a safe haven  within Second Life for the LGBT Teens in SL.With the migration of the Teen Grid into the Main Grid it is important to ensure that they have such a place.

The Outreach provides them with Vendor boards where they touch and receive information regarding issues  that arise in a  teen's life.The biggest issue  for a gay teen today seems to be bullying and taunting leading to suicide.

The Outreach also provides them with information about  Crisis Counselors in their area's in  that they can discuss ongoing issues in their lives and seek help within their communities

There is a Reflection Garden, as you enter the garden you will see the eternal flame at the front of the flame it says"Their Legacey is For Others to Fight and Win The Battle to Live Life" .The Garden is Dedicated To All The Teens Who Suffered and Ended Their Lives From Being Bullied.This Must Stop Please Help Us. The Memorial has over 200 names of Teens who lost the battle.As we find more names they will be added.

There is a beach club for teen parties.I hope that some of the teens would like to pick up the skills of DJing.In my mind if we create a safe and happy,fun life here in SL that it will bleed over to their real lives.

The following is Our Staff

Jared Palianta - Chairman and CEO
Justin Resident Palianta- Co-Chair and Director Of The Outreach
Tadd Rives-Director of Events
Eddi Haskell-Director of Publicity

As the Outreach grows the plan is to put together a Teen Peer Group who will meet with us each month to discuss ongoing issues and also the work of the Outreach.

There are plans for a event to take place on May 12th and 13th a fundraiser and the opening of The Outreach.More Details to follow

Stats

Every 45 minutes a teen ends their life by suicide

65 percent of teen suicides happen at age 14 a shocking number.What is even more shocking 99 percent of the age 14 group are LGBT Teens.

ANOTHER TEEN SUICIDE

I am sad to announce the death of Lennon Baldwin age 15 another victim of teen suicide.Lennon was a Freshman at Morristown High School in Morristown ,NJ.Lennon was being bullied by 3 older boys ,they also robbed him and attacked him.His friends say that Lennon was a quite shy boy,but yet he was also funny and made all of his friends smile.As the word spread about his death the school board told students to not talk about his death.It makes me wonder what the school board is trying to hide.

This has to stop teen suicides are so out of control.It is time that our lawmakers do something about this.Most states do not classify bullying and taunting a hate crime it is time that our lawmakers make it happen. Bullying and Taunting leading to the end result of a teen ending their lives is a hate crime.