Guest post by Leo

As a Veteran of WWII, I served in combat, starting at age seventeen, and returned with three bronze stars. I did this because I believed in and fought for my Country’s freedoms. I have seen and believed in much in my eighty-seven years, but Bullying and Mobbing in my housing development has changed my mind about the right to freedom in my own home and my right to speak. I fought for our collective freedoms, and I am angry that I now have to fight for my right to live without fear in my home. I risked my life for people who now Bully me in my old age.

Today, the Office of the President released the National Climate Assessment, a report that details the dangerous impact of climate change on regions of the country. But the kids in Peabody are already at work on the problem, thanks to some dedicated teachers and the volunteers of Green Peabody.

Crafting a law to stop bullying

Rep. Paul Heroux and Rep. Jay Livingstone invited Michael Kane, Executive Director of Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants and me to meet with them and other legislators yesterday (13 March) at the State House to help craft a bill to stop bullying of elders and disabled in housing programs. They invited Senator Joan Lovely, my own senator who has supported our efforts from the beginning. The new bill is intended to complement, build on, and improve the original effort, S604. UPDATES & NEWSLETTER AT StopBullyingCoalition.org

The Stop Bullying Coalition (SBC) announces a hearing on S604, An Act to protect residents of subsidized housing developments from bullying, including both elderly and those living with disability. The hearing will be held by the Joint Committee on Housing in Boston, MA. at the State House, Room B2 from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm on Tuesday, January 28, 2014.

Bullying is harmful. We seek to enlist partners to work together to advocate for remedies, including but not limited to legislation. We have done our best to identify the issues, ideas for intervention, and have proposed the goals and vision outlined in this document. We now reach out to all individuals and organizations who have a stake in these matters, and we seek your collaboration and input. Our primary concern is for people living with age and/or disability in subsidized housing. But we recognize common challenges, concerns, and solutions that may affect other populations and we stand together with all who oppose bullying.

Frontline has charged that the NFL has been deliberately blind to the crippling effects of concussion, and both The Blaze and The New York times report that the NFL and Miami Dolphins have accepted bullying as a common, spirit-building activity of the locker room culture. The human brain can be damaged by two kinds of trauma—a blow that causes concussion, or by bullying that causes psychological trauma, sometimes as severe as PTSD.

New signs of a growing environmental awareness in Peabody include an arts festival, a new school, and net metering.

A Program to Stop Bullying is a new publication that serves as a resource for legislation, advocacy, and intervention against bullying, social bullying, and mobbing.

Several advocacy groups will join under the umbrella of the Stop Bullying Coalition. Our plan is to craft a commonly agreed set of goals, and then to write a bill to replace S604, for consideration by the legislature.

The Attleboro (MA) Human Rights Council is to be congratulated for their efforts to remedy the injustice affecting targets of bullying. The Attleboro City Council, if it passes an ordinance on bullying, would make history in the fight against bullying.