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A Sarnia man’s bullying assault of a victim whose cell phone had been stolen has been sentenced to 112 days in jail.

Richard William Hales, 21, was convicted of assault and probation order violations following a trial Monday and was sentenced Tuesday in Sarnia court.

The 19-year-old victim testified he’d asked for a cigarette from two people he knew last Nov. 25. He was invited to walk with them to get a cigarette from someone else.

One of the men asked to see the victim’s cell phone, which he was using to play music through a set of headphones.

After repeated requests, the victim handed over the phone and was told he wasn’t getting it back because he’d been “flushed,” meaning robbed.

The man who took the phone grabbed the victim’s headphones which broke in the process. At that point, Hales punched the victim in the face.

Hales was drunk and the punch had little impact, the victim testified.

“That didn’t bother me as much as getting my stuff taken,” the victim said.

Hales was arrested later that day, and a warrant remains outstanding for the phone thief.

The phone was returned undamaged to the victim weeks later through a third party.

Hales had been charged with robbery, but there was no evidence Hales’ punch was part of the theft because it happened after the other man took possession of the phone, said defence lawyer Ed Gresham.

The facts are not in dispute, but the issue is whether the punch aided the theft, making it robbery, said Justice Deborah Austin.

The phone was taken through the other man’s trickery, and not the punch by the drunken Hales, who was bullying the victim, said Austin.

The victim said he remains bothered by the incident and doesn’t feel safe.

Jail was needed to deter Hales, who had three prior convictions for assaultive behaviour and four convictions for violating court orders, said assistant Crown attorney Aniko Coughlan.

The sentenced included 67 days of pre-sentence custody and will be followed by eight months probation when Hales must stay away from the victim and take substance-abuse counselling.

“It isn’t worth it to behave in this way,” said Austin.

The Observer – Bullying assailant returned to jail

One of the public’s most common associations with hazing might be the classic scene from “Animal House.” But in real life, there’s nothing funny about hazing.

So says Sue Lipkins, a New York psychologist, hazing expert and author of the book, “Preventing Hazing: How Parents, Teachers and Coaches Can Stop the Violence, Harassment and Humiliation.”

Hazing has been around forever, Lipkins says, but it has become more violent and sexualized in the past 10 to 15 years because of what she calls the “vulture culture.”

“We have reality shows, a lot of competition, and a winner/loser mentality,” she says. “There’s shrinking resources for jobs, college, spots on teams, and the aggression has risen. That can come out in all ways – one is hazing.”

YouTube and other resources on the Internet also make it easy for minors to see images that sexualize and objectify people, she says.

Lipkins has been busy lately giving her insight into the recent hazing scandals across the country, including the Florida A&M University drum major killed in a hazing incident during a band trip, and the Utah high school senior who killed himself after allegedly enduring hazing for several years; his family is suing the school district.

Lipkins was not surprised to hear that a hazing case cropped up at an upper-middle class high school in Portland, since the behavior cuts across all color and socioeconomic lines.

“I guarantee this is not the first (local) hazing,” she says. “They’re not isolated incidents. They’re traditions; people plan them; the kids have a purpose.”

The Portland Police Bureau’s Sex Crimes Division is investigating the Jan. 17 incident at Grant High School, police reported Tuesday morning. According to detectives, the belief is that “the incidents alleged go beyond simple hazing.”

Rumors about the incident abound, but no details have been released because the students are minors and the investigation – which could take some time – is ongoing.

The “assault,” as Grant Principal Vivien Orlen has described it, happened in the boys’ locker room after a junior varsity basketball game, among male athletes. Four students associated with the hazing have been suspended; all but one returned to school this week.

According to police, “There is no reason to believe any children are at risk or are any staff/coaches the subject of the investigation. Grant High School staff is cooperating with investigators.”

(Police urge anyone with information about the incident to write to CrimeTips@PortlandOregon.gov.)

In a case involving juveniles in Oregon, the decision to press criminal charges is up to the Multnomah County district attorney, says Julie H. McFarlane, supervising attorney for Youth Rights and Justice Attorneys at Law.

If the victim doesn’t want to go forward with the case, the district attorney will look at those reasons, she says. The DA will also look at the evidence, and whether parents are acting in the child’s best interest.

“It’s a really interesting situation the DA is in, because there have been the passage of constitutional amendments about victims’ rights and lots of legislation over the last 10 years,” McFarlane says. “Those laws put the DA in a position of protecting victims’ interests in the case. They kind of have this conflict going on.”

In the end, McFarlane says, “it’s quite common that (the DA) will make a decision to charge even though the victim doesn’t want to do that.”

The typical sentence for a juvenile in a sex crime case, according to McFarlane, is three years of probation including treatment, and lifetime registration as a sex offender.

‘Hazing blueprint’

There’s no way to tell how frequently hazing occurs at local schools.

Portland Public Schools does not track discipline data related explicitly to hazing, as it does for bullying and harassment.

The district has an administrative directive (official policy) on student clubs: “No installation ceremonies may be conducted that are not approved by the school, and no installation ceremonies may be conducted unless they are open to the school staff and the parents of electees. There can be no screening or trials of prospective members. There shall be no so-called ‘hell night’ or ‘hell week’ or ‘hazing’ initiation activities or activities that are humiliating, demeaning or unlawful.”

Portland Tribune – Hazing tradition continues in silence

Starting today, February 1st, and running until in store supplies last, all 74 London Drugs locations in Western Canada will be selling our Pink Shirt Day shirts!

These are the same shirts we sell online but you can save the shipping / postage fees so you can proudly wear on Pink Shirt Day – Wednesday, February 29th.

London Drugs has been a great partner over the years and they continue to support Pink Shirt Day…and we cannot be happier to have them aboard!

The shirts come in a variety of children and adult sizes, sell for $9.80 and all proceeds go to support anti-bullying programmes through the CKNW Orphans’ Fund and Boys & Girls Clubs.

For a complete list of London Drugs locations CLICK HERE.

Vancouver, BC – Every seven seconds in Canada, a child is bullied. This alarming statistic fuels the passion behind CKNW’s 5th annual anti-bullying campaign Pink Shirt Day – Bullying Stops Here! On Wednesday, February 29th, 2012, CKNW are encouraging British Columbian’s to show their support by wearing pink to symbolize bullying will not be tolerated.

Simi Sara, popular radio host on CKNW AM 980 will champion this year’s campaign and will be joined by an all-star cast from the community including E-Talk Canada’s Elaine Lui “Lainey”, City of Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts, Vancouver Giants Captain Brendan Gallagher, Chris Gailus (Global TV), Fiona Forbes (Shaw TV), Gary Mason (Globe & Mail), Jody Vance (City TV), City of Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and Norma Reid (CTV) to help spread awareness and education to ensure that bullying stops here.

Official Pink Shirt Day T-Shirts, buttons, teaching resources, and posters are available at www.pinkshirtday.ca with T-Shirts also being sold at London Drugs locations beginning February 1st.

Over the month of February, Simi Sara and CKNW AM 980 will be dedicating extensive coverage to the anti-bullying campaign. On air guests will discuss the multiple forms bullying can take including in schools, workplaces and cyber-bulling. “There is not more of a critical time than now to educate and arm children and adults with tools they need to stop bullying”, stated Sara who referenced the increased cases of bullying we are seeing across the news, in particular in the gay and lesbian communities.

The goal for this years’ campaign is to sell 60,000 Pink Shirt Day T-Shirts, which net proceeds will benefit the CKNW Orphans’ Fund in support of Boys & Girls Clubs of BC Anti-Bullying programs. For updates on CKNW’s Pink Shirt Day please visit www.pinkshirtday.ca, on Twitter @pinkshirtday, and on Facebook.

The public service announcement for Pink Shirt Day 2012 can be viewed here.

The first jabs landed politely, like the boxing students were tapping the punching bags on the shoulders instead of pummeling them.

Then, the music started blasting – hard, driving beats, the kind that push everyone in the club onto the dance floor. Ronnell “Bigg Ron” Jones, an aptly named wall of a man, barked instructions over the music.

“Jab, right-handed! Jab, right-handed! Jab, right-handed! Who’s the champ?”

“I’m the champ,” a couple of kids called out meekly.

“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you,” Bigg Ron goaded. “WHO’S THE CHAMP?”

“I’M THE CHAMP!” 14 teenagers cried out in one voice.

As Annie Beurman punched at the bag in front of her, she couldn’t help but think: “Nobody better mess with me.”

The new Fight Club classes at Title Boxing Club in Prairie Village, Kan., are free to teens who are being bullied, teens wanting to stand up for friends being bullied and any teen needing to let off a little steam.

It’s not a self-defense class. Holly Reynolds, the woman who started the program, can’t call it that for legal reasons. It’s not about fighting, either, though Reynolds gave it the same name as the 1999 Brad Pitt movie about underground fight clubs.

This Fight Club is about getting fit, feeling strong and fighting the good fight, she said.

These teens don’t spar with each other. They spar with their feelings.

And a lot of anger gets left in those sweaty boxing gloves.

“People tried to get me to change the name to make it more accessible, but I was very determined,” Reynolds said. “That was the name that came to my head, because growing up is a fight. You’ve got to fight to be heard, you’ve got to fight to be understood. Some of these kids have to fight to get themselves out of bed in the morning and drag themselves to school. It’s a constant struggle.

“The metaphor went well with what’re doing. We’re not necessarily telling these kids go out and fight. We’re giving them the mind-body connection that comes from boxing and kickboxing.”

A boost of confidence is what Kelli Beurman, a grade school teacher from Olathe, Kan., wants for her daughter, Annie, who last week signed up for Fight Club. Fourteen-year-old Annie, now a freshman, has been bullied since fourth grade.

“I thought it would give her a sense of empowerment in case she would ever need to defend herself,” Beurman said. “Because part of dealing with someone who is bothering you is just knowing that you can.”

Reynolds knows the pain of being bullied. Growing up in Kansas City she was a target in high school, as was a friend who was harassed about his sexual orientation.

“I was a little chunky in high school, and I walked home every day through a neighborhood … this car full of kids would call me Jenny Craig drop-out. They’d honk their horn and yell out the window. I just got thick-skinned and let it harden me. That’s how I dealt with it,” said Reynolds, an aesthetician who runs a studio on State Line Road.

“So I know from experience that … there’s a better way to go rather than internalizing those emotions. It makes you mad at the world, really. And it doesn’t have to be that way. There are people who care.”

Those experiences kept her interested in bullying issues as an adult. She followed national cases and was especially moved by what happened to Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old in Buffalo, N.Y.

Jamey, who struggled with his sexuality, was bullied online for months. Last May he posted an anti-bullying message on YouTube. Then in September he posted final messages on his blog before killing himself.

About the same time, a friend of Reynolds’ told her of a girl she knew in town who also was being bullied in school. Wouldn’t that girl love to box to let out some of her emotions?

The thought wasn’t random. Two years ago Reynolds signed up for boxing classes at Title Boxing at a friend’s suggestion. “I’m an I-only-run-when-chased girl,” she said. “But I was having some postpartum depression, and it was the best thing I ever did for my confidence, for my power.”

So she asked Bigg Ron, her instructor and trainer at Title Boxing, to help her organize a program for teens with an anti-bullying message.

The owner of the Prairie Village location donated the space, while other members there volunteered to help. At the end of last year they handed out fliers at libraries, malls, coffee houses, places around town where kids hang out. Reynolds lined up speakers to offer encouraging words – the CEO of the YMCA of Greater Kansas City and women from the Kansas City Roller Warriors are coming.

Reaching for higher-power help, she also contacted famous anti-bullying crusader Lady Gaga; she hasn’t heard back yet.

Bullying is such a huge problem that “we’re not hoping to change the world,” Reynolds said. “Just at least create that spark.”

Bigg Ron pulls no punches. The workouts he leads are heart-pounding. One girl got sick during last week’s class.

DaRon Lash, a 15-year-old freshman at Shawnee Mission West, started out slowly, kicking at the punching bag as though he were kicking dirt in its face. Then a volunteer showed him how to power his kicks from the hip, and suddenly DaRon’s kicks started landing square and solid.

DaRon stuck it out through the sit-ups, the push-ups, the laps, the punching, kicking, punching, more laps. How he hated those laps.

He has had run-ins with school bullies – “I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there and took it. I was afraid I was going to get my face punched in” – so he’s determined to help other kids being targeted.

“He said, ‘Grandpa, I really don’t put up with that,’?” said his grandfather, Dan Lash of Overland Park. “That’s the reason he wanted to join.”

Fight Club wasn’t a hard sell for Grandpa, who competed in Golden Gloves when he was a teenager. “It got me into really good physical condition as well as taught me how to take care of myself,” Lash said. “They told us when we trained that our fists were considered weapons. We were told not to use them unless we were in the ring.”

He has counseled his grandson to do the same: When confronted by a bully, try to talk things out first. But if you must, protect yourself.

At the first class, Reynolds taped messages to the bags to give the teens something to aim at.

I struggle every day to fit in.

I worry each night before I go to sleep about what’s going to happen at school tomorrow.

I feel like I have no real friends.

One boy asked if he could bring a photo of a kid who was tormenting him and tape it to the bag.

“I said, ‘Man, I see where you’re coming from, I do. I totally understand that,’” Reynolds said. “‘But in a few weeks you’re going to see that it’s not him you want to hit. It’s those emotions that you want to hit.’”

Bellingham Herald – Boxing classes help bullied teens build self-esteem

We are so grateful to our amazing partners like M2O Digital Media who have again helped produce and air our 2012 Pink Shirt Day Public Service Announcement (PSA).

Starting soon and continuing until Pink Shirt Day on February 29th, this 30 second television spot will run on Global TV and Shaw Television in Canada for FREE.

If you are a broadcaster and would like a high resolution broadcast quality version of the video for your station please write to info@pinkshirtday.ca.

The influential, often in-your-face pop megastar and her mother, plus several Harvard-based charities, are teaming up on a broad effort to make the world more … sensitive.

Lady Gaga’s going to Harvard … for a collaboration on her new Born This Way Foundation.

On Feb. 29, Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, will launch the anti-bullying advocacy group in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the California Endowment, and the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation has offered generous funding to online nonprofit digital media efforts in the past.

According to press materials, the Born This Way Foundation will be dedicated to “digital mobilization to create positive change.” The Born This Way Foundation will mainly center on web anti-bullying campaigns; as the MacArthur Foundation’s Connie Yowell puts it, “This is a time of potential transformation in how young people learn, socialize, and engage in civic life because of digital media […] with new tools come new responsibility and sometimes painful unintended consequences such as bullying and challenges to safety. Lady Gaga is at the forefront of harnessing the power of digital media for her fans and encouraging them to be healthy and safe and to make meaningful change in this world.”

In reality, the Born This Way Foundation will likely launch web efforts similar to Dan Savage’s famous It Gets Better project. Details on the charitable foundation’s initial campaigns are still unknown (although sample pages are easily accessible via Facebook and Google); Gaga will be holding a press conference on Feb. 29 at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre. Since the campaign’s soft launch in November, the Born This Way Foundation has accumulated an impressive 38,000 Facebook fans.

Fast Company – Lady Gaga And Harvard Launch Anti-Bullying Born This Way Foundation

Help spread the news that BULLYING STOPS HERE with these 8.5? x 11? and 11? x 17? PDF version posters.

Hang it up in your classroom, workplace, in the window of your business or wherever you think people will see the sign and know that on February 29th to wear pink.

Click HERE to download the letter size (8.5″ x 11″) poster and click HERE to download the ledger size (11″ x 17″) poster.

If your image of a mean girl is a toothpick thin high schooler, it’s time to think again.

A new study from Queen’s University has found obese teenage girls are three times more likely to be bullies than the slimmer girls in their class — a finding that highlights the very cyclical nature of bullying.

The study asked 1,738 students in 16 Ontario schools to share their height and weight information and answer questions about their experiences with bullying.

The researchers found that boys were twice as likely to be victims of physical bullying than their slimmer peers — a surprise to study co-author Atif Kukaswadia because they had hypothesized that physical size could help boys defend themselves.

“Boys [tend to] have physical dominance over each other – being bigger or stronger than the other person is a good trait,” said the doctoral student. “And so we figured that for obese kids, their size isn’t necessarily a negative thing.”

Obese girls were 1.32 times more likely to be physically victimized than normal weight females and 1.52 times more likely to be the physical bully. Boys were 1.71 times more likely to be the physical perpetrators.

When it came to “relational bullying,” — things like teasing, taunting, spreading rumours and shunning — obese boys were 2.11 times more likely to be on the receiving end of that behaviour than their slimmer peers, though they were not more likely to partake in it.

Obese girls, on the other hand, were 1.76 times more likely to be relationally bullied and three times more likely to be that kind of bully — the most significant of the findings, Mr. Kukaswadia said.

“We suspect that it might have something to do with them being treated that way by other people,” he said. “They internalize that and project it back outwards. But we don’t really know, we would have to do a lot more research to figure out what exactly is going on.”

Co-author Wendy Craig, a professor of psychology at Queen’s University who specializes in bullying, said the study shows that becoming a bully is often a reaction to being bullied and there can be consequences if the cycle continues.

“The involvement in both the perpetration and the victimization of it suggests that they are at risk for the most negative outcomes because those who are involved in both perpetrating and are victimized by it tend to have the most negative outcomes [in the long run],” Dr. Craig said in an email. “Likely it is a cycle where they take out on others their anger and hostility at being victimized themselves.”

The study was published in the December issue of Obesity Facts, a publication of The European Journal of Obesity.

National Post – Obese teen girls three times more likely to be bullies than their slimmer peers

I asked Rocky if she would stay for a moment after school. She’s a wonderful student. Originally from Senegal, she is in her second year in this country, and she has grown by leaps and bounds, bypassing most of her peers in all subjects. She’s motivated and determined, and she pours herself into learning, going above and beyond at every opportunity.

Recently, she has begun to get a reputation around school for giving attitude to teachers and her peers. Some have suggested that she seems a little bit arrogant, and acts superior to those around her. What I have noticed is that she has begun to respond defensively, with anger, to any comment that she could possibly perceive as a slight.

“How long did it take to have your hair braided?” I ask her one day when she appears with a new hairdo.

“Oh!” squeals another student nearby, overhearing my question, “It takes five hours for me!”

“That’s not how long it took,” snarls Rocky, as though deeply offended by her classmates’ contribution. (Her name has been changed, to protect her privacy.)

The scenario repeats itself over the next two weeks. Time and again she responds with anger and defensiveness to seemingly innocuous comments from her classmates.

I teach her English, math and social studies, and it’s easy to see patterns forming. One day other kids in the class reported with excitement that this straight-A student had punched a boy during science class when he tried to take candy from her.

After school, I asked her if she had noticed any changes in her behavior. I told her that we had seen and heard about some changes that were not positive, and I wondered if she was feeling differently, or if anything had recently happened that was making her feel so angry.

Her eyes filled with tears, which spilled down her cheeks. Her glasses magnified the sadness in her eyes, even as she blinked furiously to erase it.

“They’re always calling me African. No matter what I do, everyone always is calling me African, telling me to go back to Africa. I feel like I am being harassed every day.”

Her voice doesn’t shake — she’s a strong little girl — but it’s obvious that this has been building for some time.

The middle school in the Bronx where I teach is diverse, but the majority of students are African-American or Hispanic. Racial jokes are common, but when you are one of a hundred Mexican or Dominican kids, it doesn’t feel so personal.

Rocky is a minority, from a country that is not well understood. She is the only student from Africa in my class. The stereotypes that kids jump to when they talk about Africa tend to involve hunting lions and tigers, wearing leaves for clothes, and riding around on elephants.

Some kids are equipped to take these jokes, laughing them off, or quickly deflecting them. Some can respond back quickly with a witty comeback. But some kids can’t.

How we as adults, and they as kids, should respond is always difficult. The bullying that you can give a name to, or can describe in words that are easy to understand, is the bullying that can be addressed. Loud comments or notes calling classmates names — those can be addressed. A lot of it cannot.

Often it is a mean look, an obnoxious sigh, an eye-roll that only the victim could see. Sometimes it is a quiet exclusion from a group, or a secret not shared.

Nowadays it is common for a child to come to class and put his or her head on the desk, apparently upset over a slight that took place online the night before.

Sometimes it takes the form of blatant cruelty and name calling. Often it’s something like un-friending someone on Facebook, or showing allegiance to one of your enemies by writing on that student’s wall.

There is often a feeling of shame associated with being hurt. Boys don’t talk about being bullied, for fear of looking “soft.” Girls know that the most popular, most successful peers are the ones who can confidently deflect any slights aimed at them.

I spoke at length with Rocky, and we created a plan of how to address the people who had been harassing her. We strategized ways that she could respond to them that could make it less painful for her in the moment. Most of all, we talked about making sure that she didn’t allow their cruelty to change her into someone who acted cruelly.

Bullying is a problem in all schools. Our school is no different. Boys and girls alike are both the perpetrators and the victims. Those who are accused of bullying aren’t necessarily bad kids, or even truly mean a lot of the time. But an environment where bullying or harassment is happening is an environment that can transform anyone into a bully.

The true danger of bullying is the way that it changes kids. After weeks of feeling defensive and guarded, Rocky began to hide her sweet softness. Enough of this transformation in children, and the environment of a school is changed.

My conversation with Rocky was about the aggression that I had seen from her. I hadn’t witnessed the harassment, but I did see that it made her something she is not.

Laura Klein teaches 8th grade at I.S. 217, Rafael Hernandez School of Performing Arts in the Bronx. More of her writing can be found on her blog, www.prelifenyc.blogspot.com.

New York Times – Bullying Changes a School, One Child at a Time