Girl's suicide after alleged attack troubles town kitsap sun Saratoga, calif. (Ap)One evening last labor day weekend, 15yearold audrie pott walked up the driveway of a classmate's home alongside other teenagers.She'd told her parents she was spending the night with a friend.The friend claimed she was sleeping at audrie's.Instead, the girls were having Dresses for Weddings 2014 a party.A classic teenage ploy. By all accounts, audrie was a gorgeous girl.Her lush brown hair framed a heartshaped face.Light makeup outlined her sharp brown eyes, but round cheeks gave her a childlike charm.She was a soccer player, a painter, a girl who at age 4 had the gumption to stand in front of 1, 000 people in church and belt out a solo. On that sunday night, she was just another kid pushing the limits as she celebrated the last days of summer, getting drunk with her friends on vodka and gatorade. Police and a civil lawsuit outline allegations of what happened next:Three boys came into a room where audrie had passed out.When she awoke the next morning, her shorts were off.Pictures were doodled on her body with a sharpie.On one leg was the name of a boy, followed by the words"Was here. " "My life is ruined,"Audrie would tell a friend in a facebook message over the coming days. "I can't do anything to fix it. " Soon audrie learned about a photograph apparently making the rounds of an intimate part of her body, taken, a family lawyer says, while she Evening Dresseswww.8eze.com was passed out. "I have a reputation for a night i don't even remember,"She wrote in another facebook message,"And the whole school knows. " Eight days after the endofsummer party, the sophomore who dreamed of traveling the world took her own life, hanging herself in a bathroom at home.Now the three boys, only 16 themselves, stand charged with sexual battery. If the story of audrie pott rings familiar, it's because, tragically, it is.The federal government last year released data showing a rise in cyberbullying and youth suicide, including cases such as the 2010 death of phoebe prince, a 15yearold irish immigrant who hanged herself after bullying by classmates in south hadley, mass.Five students later accepted plea Cheap Evening Dresses deals. In ohio, the rape of a 16yearold girl last year was recorded on cellphones and gossiped about online.Two high school football players were convicted in the incident.And last month police in canada reopened the case of rehtaeh parsons, a halifax, nova scotia, teen whose family said she was photographed while being sexually assaulted in 2011 and bullied after the photo circulated online.Parsons died in april after hanging herself. "How can our society provide a safe haven for young girls?Why do young men feel that young girls are but objects for their sexual fantasies and pleasure?Why do teenagers avoid seeking help when they are depressed and suicidal? "Asked the pastor who delivered the eulogy for 17yearold rehtaeh. Such questions come easily in the wake of these cases.Answers?Less so. Now another community is left grappling with the loss of another girl, and saratoga is asking its own questions.About blame and morality but also what, if any, lessons can be learned from losing audrie. Saratoga is a bastion of calm tucked on the western edge of the silicon valley against the redwoodstudded santa cruz mountains.Baskets of geraniums dangle from streetlamps in the historic town of 30, 000.Electric carcharging stations are installed in front of 130yearold limestone buildings. It's a community with some of the highest housing costs and incomes in the country, and it's known for its parks, its wineries and its highly rated public schools.It's not a community that typically grapples with crime, let alone teen suicide. "So many of us have lived here for years, and nothing like this has ever happened here before,"Said mayor jill hunter, whose four sons graduated from the same school audrie and the three suspects attended, saratoga high. "We're terribly sad.We're having to bide our time to find out what the courts say, what justice says. " Today sorrow flows in a quiet undercurrent through town.Friendly conversations and noisy cafes grow silent at the mention of audrie's name.But at the high school and online, teenagers are speaking out calling for more dialogue about what's right and wrong, and for more kindness among peers. "Things have got to change,"Junior class president anup kar said in a story published by the saratoga high student newspaper. "Students need to start helping other students.Someone needs to step up, and it can't just be the same people.It has to be every single student on our campus, making an effort to make our campus a better safer place. " Like so many schools in a cybersaturated age, saratoga high was trying to tackle these difficult topics. Six months before audrie committed suicide, a psychologist spoke about cyberbullying at the saratoga high library.Earlier this year, the school held a"Just be kind"Week to encourage respect among classmates.And in march, art teacher leah aguayo gathered 85 girls for an empowerment workshop, at which tealcolored balloons audrie's favorite color were released in her memory. School superintendent bob mistele said student assemblies and parentstaff meetings are held regularly to address bullying, and that his staff receives training about mandated reporting requirements when a student brings a complaint. "Keeping our schools safe and free from bullying is a high priority for all of us,"Mistele said in a statement last month in response to audrie's case. "We share a common responsibility to stand up to and speak out about inappropriate, harassing behavior whenever we see it, hear about it, or view it on the internet. " Mistele's office Australia declined further interview requests, citing privacy and legal concerns. Nationally, antibullying statutes and programs have proliferated since georgia became the first state to pass a measure in 1999.Fortynine states now have bullying laws on the books, while documentaries about tragic cases and national campaigns such as stop bullying now!Have brought increased attention to the problem. In audrie's case, like the incidents in ohio and canada, a sexual assault is also alleged, however something experts said mothers and fathers must talk to their children about, just as they might discuss drug and alcohol use.Wiseman suggested that parents reinforce the idea that it's ok for children to go to them when they think something inappropriate has occurred. "I would like for parents to include when they talk to their kids, 'if something bad happens to you or one of your friends, please know that is more important to me than if you got drunk or did something else you shouldn't have, '"She said. Cyberbullying expert nancy willard said adults need to focus on positive norms,"Recognizing that the vast majority of teens.Have an extremely low regard for anyone who distributes a nude image of a peer,"She said. Teens also need to know that if they are involved in a bullying situation or something worse it's safe to tell an adult, willard said. "Even if an image has been distributed, this is something that they can recover from,"She said. "So let an adult they trust know what is happening.If a friend is being exploited in this way, they should reach out to let their friend know they are there for support and advise their friend to tell a trusted adult. "
