Native American youth suicide crisis baffles

Native American youth suicide crisis baffles

Associated Press | Posted: Monday, March 21, 2011
POPLAR, Mont. -- Chelle Rose Follette fashioned a noose with her pajamas, tying one end to a closet rod and the other around her neck. When her mother entered the bedroom to put away laundry, she found the 13-year-old hanging.
Ida Follette screamed for her husband, Darrell.
He lifted his child's body, rushed her to the bed and tried to bring her back.
"She was so light, she was so light. And I put her down. I said, 'No, Chelle!'"
But the time had passed for CPR, he said, his voice fading with still raw grief. His wife sat next to him on the couch, sobbing at the retelling.
Here on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, a spasm of youth suicides had caused alarm and confusion even before Chelle's death.The Follettes had talked with her about other local children who had killed themselves. She had assured her parents that they need not worry about her.
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Native American youth suicide crisis baffles

Students Expelled Following Teen's Suicide

Students Expelled Following Teen's Suicide
Anti-Bullying Task Force Draws Hundreds
POSTED: 12:24 am EST February 24, 2010

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Hundreds of parents met in South Hadley on Tuesday night as an anti-bullying task force mobilized weeks after a case of bullying so extreme it drove a 15-year-old girl to end her life.

Phoebe Prince, a freshman at South Hadley High School, died Jan. 14., and two students accused of bullying the 15-year-old have been expelled. A police investigation could also lead to criminal charges.

"These students' lives have also been dramatically altered, and they won't be graduating from South Hadley High School," Smith said of the students who were expelled.

Prince is thought to have committed suicide after allegedly enduring abuse online and in school from female classmates who were upset that Prince, 15, a sophomore who had recently moved to the U.S. from Ireland, was dating a senior football player.
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Students Expelled Following Teen Suicide
linked from CNN

No warnings before teen's suicide, his parents say

No warnings before teen's suicide, his parents say


By Andrew Meacham, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Wednesday, December 9, 2009
TAMPA — In his short life, Lawrence Guilford won hearts with his smile and positive outlook. As a child, he welcomed conversation with adults. As he grew into a handsome, pleasant young man, those same adults plugged him into their matchmaking speculations, trying to decide which young lady would best suit him.

He grew up in Tampa, the only child of a businessman and a dance teacher. Some other things we know about Mr. Guilford:
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No warnings before teens suicide, his parents say

Palo Alto campus searches for healing after suicides

Palo Alto campus searches for healing after suicides
Since May, four students at Henry Gunn High School have taken their own lives at a nearby railroad crossing. Classmates have started using notes of affirmation and blog posts to try to restore hope.
Reporting from Palo Alto, Calif. - The small squares of colored paper began cropping up on the doors and walls of Henry M. Gunn High School last week, two days after William Dickens, 16, killed himself on the nearby train tracks.

"Just keep swimming," one Post-it note said. "There is always someone who will listen," was written on another. And, "There's no meaning to happiness w/o sadness. Take it easy."

Dickens was the fourth Gunn student in less than six months to commit suicide near where East Meadow Drive crosses the Caltrain tracks here in the affluent, high-achieving heart of the Silicon Valley. A fifth student tried to kill himself but was thwarted by his mother, who suspected his intentions, followed him to the crossing and saved him with the help of a passer-by.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-student-suicides30-2009oct30,0,6600846.story