Free Republic

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- A teenager was convicted yesterday of criminal harassment in a landmark case filed after one of her girlfriends committed suicide -- the first time the province has filed charges in a case centered on student bullying. A second girl was acquitted of uttering threats after an emotional trial in youth court attended by the mothers of 14-year-old victim Dawn-Marie Wesley and the two defendants. The girls are not identified by name because they are minors. "It's unfortunate that my daughter has to be in the middle of all this. I wish that my family, my community, my...

Sept. 9— Who really failed Joseph Daniel Scruggs? Daniel was only 12 years old when he hanged himself in the closet of his bedroom on Jan. 2, 2002. By all accounts, he was troubled. Weighing only 63 pounds, he was bullied mercilessly at school. His small size, tendency to dress in shabby clothes, poor hygiene and strong body odor made him easy prey for ridicule by his classmates at Washington Middle School in Meriden, Conn. The bullying was so severe that Daniel feared going to school and was absent 44 days in the months before his death. And when he...