Upset over bullying column
Dear Editor,
I have always looked forward to reading Sue Seibert’s articles and columns in the Index’s publications. But that changed when I read her column in last Sunday’s Index (‘Reflections on bullying,’ Lifestyles, Aug. 26). I switched from being depressed to being mad as hell that she would write such a column.
I cannot believe a mature, well-educated adult would be so irresponsible as to write a column that says bullying is no big deal. Yes I know she said that as an afterthought in her last sentence that bullying is horrible but that is not what Ms. Seibert said all through her column.
ABC News reported that nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying.
According to bullyingstatistics.org in recent years, a series of bullying-related suicides have drawn attention to the connection between bullying and suicide. Unfortunately too many adults, and based on your statement “we can teach our children to take it on the chin” you agree, still see bullying as “just part of being a kid.”
Bullying is a serious problem that leads to many negative effects for victims, including suicide. According to the CDC suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year.
A study by Yale University shows that bullying victims are between two to nine times more likely to consider suicide than non victims.
Ms. Seibert, bullying was a problem when you and I went to school, even though the school swept it under the rug, and because of the Internet and other social media it an even bigger problem now.
In reference to your statement that we do not need a new law to solve the bullying problem, just settle it at home before it happens; if that was going to work we would not have the bullying problems that we have.
As reported in the Aug. 8 Mineral Wells Index, the Mineral Wells ISD has developed student policies to help solve the bullying problem. Additional information on bullying can we found at http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/.
Charles Thompson, Mineral Wells
Thanks for hearing one man’s voice
Dear Editor,
I want to thank the Palo Pinto County Commissioner’s Court and other county employees in attendance on Monday for hearing me out. I also want to thank Ms. Cluett and the Index for including one man’s opinion.
One item I must have omitted, because of the accurate reporting, is in response to the statement regarding the court’s absence of authority over the appraisal district. While the commissioner’s court has no authority over what the appraisal district sets as property values, it has absolute authority over the tax rate and that, in the end, is what determines the amount paid by the taxpayer.
Semper Fi,
Gary Mike McConnell, Lt. Col. USMC (Ret.)
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