South Hadley,MA Phoebe Prince 15 kills self over bullying #2

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Sunday April 18 2010

THE Facebook photograph shows Sean Mulveyhill and Katie Broderick laughing with each other at the local school dance in South Hadley, Massachusetts, just two days after their Irish schoolmate, Phoebe Prince, 15, took her own life. Dressed in a tuxedo and ballgown, the handsome 17-year-old football player and his pretty young friend look as though the girl who didn't get to go to the dance is very far from their minds.

Their indifference was matched by that of many of their classmates. The day after Phoebe died, Mulveyhill's friend Ashley Longe, 16, referred to Phoebe in an especially callous message on her Facebook page: "She brought it on herself." On other websites, offensive messages posted about Phoebe were subsequently taken down.
A pre-trial conference in the cases of Mulveyhill, Narey and Austin Renaud, who is charged with statutory rape, is set for June 29, meaning the defendants will not appear in court until a September 15 pre-trial hearing unless special proceedings are scheduled in the interim. If convicted, Renaud and Mulveyhill could face up to life imprisonment.

A source at the Northwestern District Attorney's office in Massachusetts, which is prosecuting the case, told the Sunday Independent that her office was "extremely confident" of securing convictions in all cases.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/a...rs-tell-of-phoebes-dark-last-day-2142478.html
 
I'm reading twitters of some of these kids..using mom's credit card in english class to order stuff on amazon.
 
These kids in the town also believe it was because of the 6. I'm reading it now on their twitters.
 
I'm on twitter, same name as here, Paladine. And I have been involved in a few causes in my time...bleeding heart, and all. I was thinking last night, getting info out of South Hadley reminds me of the Iran election. Not in violence, the kids are no basiji...but suppression. It seems to me, almost everyone's afraid to talk. From the girl who was slammed into a locker for talking with reporters to the alleged former SHHS student on youtube who said he felt forced to take down his video. And all the other stories I've read about Smith and Sayer, there are many. Yet, few will say so in daylight. They do so anonymously, through posts, unnamed sources in articles...it seems stifling.

I hope someday ALL people in South Hadley will be able to express their views openly and without fear of retribution. I have the same hope for Iran.
 
It may take this hitting South Hadley in the pocketbook for attitudes to change. How much do they REALLY support Smith and the Teachers who look away? In dollars and cents, please...

"Schools work to reduce liabilities over bullying
More lawsuits expected as problem grows"
The widely publicized suicide of a Massachusetts teen and an $800,000 award to a Michigan teen, both of whom allegedly were bullied by classmates, are expected to generate more litigation against school districts, observers say.
In the Michigan case, a federal jury in Detroit last month awarded $800,000 to a student despite the fact that the school district had made some efforts to stop the bullying.
“I think school districts are extremely concerned about it and are paying a great deal of attention to it,” said Nancy Sylvester, managing director, public entity and scholastic division, for Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services Inc. in Baton Rouge, La. “The effort (to address the issue) is much more concentrated now than ever before.”

“It's a very, very big concern,” agreed Lee Gaby, executive director of the Athens, Ga.-based Public School Risk Institute Inc. The Massachusetts incident and the Michigan case, along with other bullying incidents, “all combined may have served to reawaken an interest in finding what's been referred to as a systemic solution” to the problem of bullying, he said.
The Michigan damage award “was really shocking,” said Christine Lueders, Chicago-based senior vp in the Willis Pooling Practice, a unit of Willis North America. “It really says to the schools that even though they have a policy” and take some actions against individuals when bullying occurs, the school district still may be held liable for failing to create a safe environment for the student.

School districts are charged with the responsibility “of taking action and making sure it's effective,” said Ms. Anderson. “They can't just do something and say, "Look, we did something.' They have to check and make sure it worked.”
http://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20100418/ISSUE01/304189972
 
Tell us more about what happened to Phoebe Prince



http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/dontquoteme/archive/2010/01/26/tell-us-more-about-what-happened-to-phoebe-prince.aspx

The lead story of the moment on FoxNews.com--"BULLIED EVEN IN DEATH?"--deals with nasty comments made the Facebook memorial set up for Phoebe Prince, the South Hadley girl who, apparently, killed herself due after some extremely ugly bullying.

But the Fox story doesn't tell us what those comments were. Similarly, Margery Eagan's column in today's Herald describes the relentless quality of 21st-century bullying, but omits actual comments from Prince's tormentors. The Globe has taken a similar tack, with the exception of Kevin Cullen, who related that Prince (who'd emigrated from Ireland) was called, amont other things, an "Irish *advertiser censored*."

Given the loss Prince's family has suffered, this delicacy is understandable--but I wonder if it's the best approach. Here's the problem: unless the nastiness of the girls who made Prince's life hell is revealed in all its grim detail, a certain segment of the public will continue to miss the point.

Take, for example, the musings of assorted commenters who've weighed in on Eagan's piece. Yes, there's sympathy for Prince. But there's also crap like this:

I feel bad for the girl, but, other people are not responsible for her committing suicide. Its the same old victim game. She may have been egged on, but clearly the girl had problems to begin with and would have killed herself at some point. It's always someone elses fault....

Granted, a fuller look at Prince's suffering might not change that commenter's mind. But if it made even a handful of people more enlightened on the subject, wouldn't it be worth it?

Read more: http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/dontquo...-happened-to-phoebe-prince.aspx#ixzz0lTwbsu3c

This was really short so I just quoted the whole thing. It's old so sorry if it's been posted before but I totally agree with this. Unless and until everything comes out, people won't understand. Granted, the people in this forum and others interested more so in the case than the average person have read the indictments and know a bit more about the specifics, but until it's really put out there what this girl went through with the harassment it's gonna seem like "oh, well she was just called a *advertiser censored* and they followed her around a bit, so what". that's how I feel, anyway.
 
Sigh.....

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/a...rs-tell-of-phoebes-dark-last-day-2142478.html

Essays written by Phoebe and seen by the Sunday Independent also show that teachers could have had cause for concern. In one she quotes from a book called Cutting, by Dr Steven Levenkron, which deals with self-harm. In her review of the book, Phoebe writes: "From a personal point of view I can see that Levenkron does truly understand the concept of self- mutilation and how it's not about suicide, in most cases it's about trying to transfer the pain from emotional to physical pain which is a lot easier to deal with for most adolescents who most likely don't even understand how they're feeling."

Self-harm is a well known warning sign that someone may be at risk of taking their own life.

So she was sort of thinking about suicide, or depressed at the time one of her essays was written.
 
Tell us more about what happened to Phoebe Prince



http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/dontquoteme/archive/2010/01/26/tell-us-more-about-what-happened-to-phoebe-prince.aspx



This was really short so I just quoted the whole thing. It's old so sorry if it's been posted before but I totally agree with this. Unless and until everything comes out, people won't understand. Granted, the people in this forum and others interested more so in the case than the average person have read the indictments and know a bit more about the specifics, but until it's really put out there what this girl went through with the harassment it's gonna seem like "oh, well she was just called a *advertiser censored* and they followed her around a bit, so what". that's how I feel, anyway.
Thank you, bear, I hadn't seen that. :blowkiss:
It echos some thoughts I was having. This was a crime. What they did to Phoebe was a crime. Yet, I see this plea for understanding floating around the universe..'these poor kids', I hear...'let's not bash them'. 'Bash' seems to mean...say the details of what they did.

I say forget it. They did the deed. They said the ugly words. Make them own them. Yes, people will hate them. Yes, they will be vilified. But guess what? It's called 'consequences'.
 
Sigh.....

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/a...rs-tell-of-phoebes-dark-last-day-2142478.html

So she was sort of thinking about suicide, or depressed at the time one of her essays was written.
I wouldn't go that far. I write about crime but it doesn't mean I want to commit one. Phoebe wrote about self mutilation in a book report for a class, after reading a book about it...but we have no proof that she practiced it.

Or to then take another leap and say because she wrote about mutilation she was depressed? No. I don't buy that.
Some overseas papers are playing this news like it's an additional reason that someone should have paid heed. A cry for help. I dunno.

The date of that blog entry was before Dec, from my recollection. The day Phoebe died she was reported by friends to be happy and skipping in the morning. 6 hours at SHHS fixed that.

ETA: Hey astute :seeya:
 
Thanks to Paladine and everyone for keeping us updated:) Actually I have been at WS for a while now and you would think I would be able to figure out where they moved this thread.LOL No matter Im here now:crazy:
 
I wouldn't go that far. I write about crime but it doesn't mean I want to commit one. Phoebe wrote about self mutilation in a book report for a class, after reading a book about it...but we have no proof she practiced it.
Or to then take another leap and say because she wrote about mutilation she was depressed? No. I don't buy that.
Some overseas papers are playing this news like it's an additional reason that someone should have paid heed. A cry for help. I dunno.

The date of that blog entry was before Dec, from my recollection. The day Phoebe died she was reported by friends to be happy and skipping in the morning. 6 hours at SHHS fixed that.

Yeah you are right, I just read the full essay and seems to me she only wrote about it for a book report. But the real question is why did she choose the book?
 
Thanks to Paladine and everyone for keeping us updated:) Actually I have been at WS for a while now and you would think I would be able to figure out where they moved this thread.LOL No matter Im here now:crazy:

Lol! Happy you found us, cuppy! You, too, huh? I couldn't find it myself one day! I had to come in the back door...story of my life. ;)
 
Lol! Happy you found us, cuppy! You, too, huh? I couldn't find it myself one day! I had to come in the back door...story of my life. ;)

LOL :) Sadly I only feel comfortable posting in a few area's now and this is one of them. I use to be very active and post any where but stopped and now mostly lurk in the shadow so to speak:)
 
Yeah you are right, I just read the full essay and seems to me she only wrote about it for a book report. But the real question is why did she choose the book?
Yes. Good question. She seemed to me like a thoughtful child, very deep and intelligent. Hard to say.

In grade 9, my Son had a essay due for moral education. Luckily, I checked in. He was to do something on how to help the homeless. He came up with a demented idea. He was suggesting we should have mobile crematoriums so the homeless would be able to offer themselves up for assisted suicide with NIKE donating shoe boxes for remains. :eek: I'm a Christian...this did not, at all, in any way, come from me. We had a loooong talk. ;) Believe it or not...today he is a compassionate, successful human being.

Anyways, my point is, it's really hard to draw conclusions from an essay...or book report, imo.
 
Yeah you are right, I just read the full essay and seems to me she only wrote about it for a book report. But the real question is why did she choose the book?

Well the last sentence of Phoebe's paragraph there that the article conveniently left out was this: "This book I really connected with as I found there was truth in every word that Levenkron wrote and it helped me comprehend what people close to me have gone through."

So, it's possible some of Phoebe's friends practiced self-mutilation, or she knew of people who did. It is possible maybe she did as well, but self-mutilation most definitely isn't necessarily a sign wanting to die at all, it's usually the opposite. It's a way to transfer emotional pain into physical pain. As the Goo Goo Dolls song goes "you bleed just to know you're alive". Also, I've read a lot more about Phoebe from her friends from joining various groups on facebook and everything I read just talks about how happy and optimistic she was. Granted, it's very easy for some people to put on that happy persona so we'll likely never really know what was going on in her head.

It's definitely a more common thing among young adults, I'd say particularly girls, then one would think so to be honest I don't find it strange or telling at all that she would choose this.
 
Thank you, bear, I hadn't seen that. :blowkiss:
It echos some thoughts I was having. This was a crime. What they did to Phoebe was a crime. Yet, I see this plea for understanding floating around the universe..'these poor kids', I hear...'let's not bash them'. 'Bash' seems to mean...say the details of what they did.

I say forget it. They did the deed. They said the ugly words. Make them own them. Yes, people will hate them. Yes, they will be vilified. But guess what? It's called 'consequences'.


no problem :D glad you agreed with it. I don't agree with the death threats or overzealous physical type threats just because it doesn't do anything for our cause of getting justice and peace for Phoebe.

I'm honestly such an empathetic person, I can have empathy for just about anyone - I can understand where they're coming from, even if they did something terrible. I can generally ALWAYS see two sides to every issue, to every argument, to every situation. I may strongly agree with one side and strongly disagree with the other, but I can still say "I understand where you're coming from...BUT..." However, in this case, I can find no empathy for what these kids did to Phoebe. None at all. I cannot see their side, I cannot understand it at all. Nada.
 
LOL :) Sadly I only feel comfortable posting in a few area's now and this is one of them. I use to be very active and post any where but stopped and now mostly lurk in the shadow so to speak:)
Well, we are a pretty cool group here, imo...there's no real sniping and infighting on the Phoebe forum, imo...we smother them with LOVE, cuppy.:dance: So, jump right in, friend...:)
 
Well, we are a pretty cool group here, imo...there's no real sniping and infighting on the Phoebe forum, imo...we smother them with LOVE, cuppy.:dance: So, jump right in, friend...:)

yes I tend to think we all get along rather well :D Then again hopefully the case we're talking about helps us remember that kindness matters :\
 
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