Owners of scathing web site identified; temporary resignation requested

Teen violence on the rise? Depends who you ask

One student feels it necessary to carry pepper spray and a personal alarm in her purse to school. Another, 15, has dropped out after being picked on. There are brawls in Lion’s Park; parents breaking up fights on the school grounds; and fights staged for taping, to be aired on the Internet.

But is the high school social environment any worse in this day and age? Depends on who you ask.

The student who feels it necessary to carry pepper spray is a 14-year-old student at Southern Okanagan Secondary School (SOSS). She says the high school, and the streets of Oliver, are not a safe place for many teenagers.

"It depends on who you are friends with. If you are not with the right people … it’s getting ridiculous," she said. "Violence in general seems to be a lot more accepted. It’s honestly scary."

The student doesn’t want her name used, because she is concerned that she will become more of a target – and she’s finally in a group of friends with whom she feels fairly safe - but she has been trying for almost a year to shed some light on a situation that she says is still relevant to many students.

"I was just hoping to maybe bring to the public’s attention how bad the bullying has really gotten," she wrote in an email to the Chronicle.

She says verbal and physical violence are about equal, and those who are picked on are sometimes done so on issues that have no basis.

"It’s hate by association," she said, throwing in the term "temporary social standing."

She means if one person says something against you, it spreads like wildfire. Groups of students band together and pick on someone – who might even have formerly been a friend who did something to offend another.

There’s the "Rez" group, the "Emo" group, the "Punks," and the "Goths."

"The Emos make fun of the Punks, the Punks make fun of the Emos … and the Goths. It’s like a war."

Another student, who is 15-years-old, calls it "regular high school stuff," but it forced her to drop out of SOSS.

"Extreme taunting. Non-stop bullying. It goes on all the time," said the 15-year-old. "People telling others to go slit their wrists and go die in the corner."

She refuses to go back to school, instead opting for completing her education at the learning centre.

She’s not alone in her concern. There seems to be some public perception that youth violence in the community is escalating – and not enough is being done.

Margie Mathieson was one of a group of mothers who experienced some of this violence first-hand, as she was driving past the high school shop one morning on her way to work.

"I saw what I thought was a couple of kids horsing around," Mathieson said. "Until I saw a third kid stomping on the underling’s head."

She stopped her vehicle in the middle of the road and ran into the group to pull the two off the third. Four other mothers jumped up to help.

The fight ended with one of the teens turning on Mathieson, saying, "You don’t want to f****** mess with me."

"The more threatening part was the look on his face," she said.

She went to the principal, and then to the RCMP.

"Apparently I am being sent an apology, but I haven’t seen it yet," she said.

Mathieson points out the lack of respect, and lack of caring from the other students as perhaps the most concerning.

"I was appalled by what I saw. The other 10 teenagers stood around as if it were another day."

The 14-year-old student also lists that as a major concern.

"People stand around watching it, doing nothing. It’s like a hockey game," she said, adding she would like to see people punished for doing nothing – particularly kids who stand in the inner ring around the fight, and push the others back into the fight when they try to walk away.

"I think that they should be held a little more accountable."

She said that some of the students are afraid to help.

"If you go tell the principal somebody is planning a fight and they find out? You’re pretty much doomed."

Technology also plays a role in today’s schoolyard atmosphere. For one thing, students – especially the girls – use email and text messaging to taunt, and spread insults. They also can call each other to advertise a fight, drumming up more spectators.

On Tuesday, April 4, Chronicle staff members observed a large group of more than 20 teenagers meet in Lion’s park. The groups that met seemed to be taking part in an organized, pre-planned event that included one student fighting at least four others, each in turn.

"It’s like it’s a form of entertainment, with people standing around cheering," she said. "For me, it’s like: ‘Wow, is that how far we’ve fallen?’"

Earlier in the year, some of the students were staging fights, and videotaping them in order to put them on the Internet, resulting in a series of assemblies with the students to discuss the appropriate use of technology, said principal Marty Lewis.

"We’re aware of one incident and that was dealt with," Lewis said. "None of the video tape ended up on the Internet."

The 14-year-old is blunt about the solution.

"I don’t think there is enough punishment," she said simply. She said the routine practice of suspending students who are repeat offenders just adds fuel to the fire, and gives the student more of an opportunity to fight off school grounds.

She thinks one solution might be to have more in-school suspensions – and to have them increased to longer than a week. During an in-school suspension, the student stays in the school, but is isolated from the others and has separate lunch breaks.

Diane Goltz, from the SOSS parent advisory committee, said she doesn’t think verbal or physical aggression in the school has escalated.

She said she doesn’t agree with those who claim school is not a safe environment.

"I think it’s a fairly narrow opinion. Sure, there are some things that happen that leak out, that people construe to be out of control."

She said she has seen satisfactory conclusions to incidents in school, including proper execution of punishments.

"Oliver is still a safe place to raise your children."

But she has noticed a difference in how students handle their issues.

"They are a lot smarter than we were," she said. They will go off school grounds where the administration cannot punish them. They are also more likely to fight verbally, tossing insults around, than get physical, because they know they can get charged with assault.

Also, any sort of violence is taken much more seriously, these days.

"I would say there is more focus on it, to take it more seriously.

Lewis agrees, and points out two major differences from past school days.

"One, we’re much more vigilant about verbal harassment and bullying than we were in the past," Lewis said. Secondly, there’s more time spent on prevention.

"We spend a lot of time talking to students about it," he said. They have regular assemblies, and the students know the expectations. School counsellors, both peer and teachers, are trained in dealing with the harassment, he said.

In every school, he said, fighting tends to come in waves.

"It seems to be contagious."

School District No. 53 has a policy outlining punishment for aggressive offenses. It is a progressive response, becoming more serious as the offense does. For example, a first offense of harassment – or derogatory comments to another – starts out with a one to three day suspension, either in school or out. The second offense results in three to five days out, and RCMP notification. A third offense would result in possible long-term suspension or expulsion.

And Lewis said though it might seem so to some young people and their parents, there is no more fighting going on this year. The number of suspensions due to fights is lower than last year – and it is not excessive.

"So far this year there have been 20 suspensions for fighting or assaults. The yearly average for the past four years is 28 suspensions," Lewis reports.

He said they are still seeing mostly fair fights, with one-on-one, not groups fighting each other or ganging up.

"I don’t think (it’s) any different than when I went to school," he said. He also said it’s no worse than any schools in other towns or districts, and he would like to clear up the perception that SOSS is an unsafe place.

"If any parent is out there thinking they don’t want to send their son or daughter to this school because of the violence, they need to come and see me."

Door-to-door vacuum salesman prohibited to sell in British Columbia

Courage needed

We have ignored the anonymous Oliver News Weekly web site until now. Not very funny, rude, too often vulgar and occasionally on the wrong side of the line that divides fair comment from libel, we hesitated to bring further attention to a form of political comment we find offensive.

It isn’t the rudeness, vulgarity or slander that most offends us. It is the anonymity. They are taking their ugly shots at town, community and media people without ever revealing their identity or identities.

It takes courage to stand up and publicly express your opinion because by doing so you have to accept whatever comes back your way. The Chronicle prominently publishes its phone numbers and mailing address so readers feeling wronged know where to send responses or have their lawyer address the legal notice of libel.

On the other hand, we have always had a pretty good idea who was behind the web site because of its content. It had to have come from people in the circle around former regional director Joe Cardoso, although he was never one of our suspects. The issues of the recreation commission and the alleged financial irregularities of the town staff played prominently in the site’s content.

It came as no surprise when the surname Hoover surfaced as the owner of the web site. Monica Hoover, a member of Cardoso’s circle and the recreation commission wrote several letters-to-the-editor hinting darkly about evil things being done by the town’s accounting department until we called on her to produce real evidence. The web site is registered to Michael Hoover and responses to the Chronicle’s enquiries have come, unsigned, from the Park Rill Inn email address.

A literary analysis – if such a term is suitable for this form of writing – suggests that a number of different hands have had a part in writing the site over time. Some of the most recent postings and emails have used a level of raw sexual vulgarity that we can not imagine coming from Monica Hoover. She may be passionate and righteous about her politics but we’ve never known her to be potty-mouthed.

But that is the problem with hiding behind anonymity. No one at Park Rill Inn or the Hoover home will acknowledge who is responsible so the cloud has to float over all of them.

Putting your name to your opinions does take courage. It is a pity that it is lacking in this matter.