Family says 9-year-old boy 'bullied to death'

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Heartbreaking story here in WV today



SOPHIA (WVVA) A 9-year-old boy felt death was his only escape after months of relentless torment for being different, friends and family said Monday.

Jackson Grubb, a third grader at Sophia Soak Creek Elementary, was found dead at his home by his sister on Saturday.

"I was spending time with him, trying to get it out of him. But Jack's the type that holds things in and I couldn't get to him," said Grubb's grandmother and guardian, Betsy Baber.

Baber had noticed a change in her grandson a couple weeks ago. In the past, she said Jackson had fought back against schoolyard bullies with humor and even on occasion with his fists, but the fight in her grandson had disappeared in recent weeks.

http://www.wvva.com/story/33075605/2016/9/12/family-claims-9-year-old-boy-bullied-to-death?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_WVVA_News

As the family grieves, they work to come together to help others like Jackson. "It breaks my heart that he took his life on this day and it takes a life for people to come together," says Jackson's Uncle, Shane Baber.

Together their goal is to get the message bullying goes beyond just mean words. "I want to get a billboard with his face on it that says, 'stop bullying, it killed me,'" says Betsy.

As Jackson's warm memory lives on, he will always be missed. "A chink of our chain that held us together is now lost," says Shane.

The family is working to raise money for the billboard and to contribute you call Betsy directly at 304-207-1073. Money donated will also go toward Jackson's funeral to give him the service he deserves.

http://www.tristateupdate.com/story/33076843/family-mourns-after-bullying-takes-the-life-of-a-9-year-old

[TDale313]

1. ...

[RandySF]

2. Anti-bullying "initiatives" and restorative discipline are bullshit.

Kids who refuse to contribute to a peaceful productive atmosphere just need to be removed.

[pnwmom]

11. What is restorative discipline?

[dsc]

24. making the kids hash it out in talking

trying to get to the root of the behavior.

[TipTok]

14. Where to?

[HughBeaumont]

21. Somewhere where they aren't committing assault on other children.

Not something you alpha hardass military guys would ever understand . . . in the real world, assault, harassment, menacing and battery are crimes that involve police and jail time (you know, unless it's a woman or a child . . . then they just shrug and do nothing until death happens).

If it's something you would never put up with as an adult, it's positively barbaric to subject children to the same thing and regard it as a normal process of growing up. Abuse is abuse no matter who is doing it.

[TipTok]

23. Sheesh...

Wee bit sensitive there?

I merely asked where you would send these kids off to. Didn't get an answer on that btw...

Are you proposing a school/prison populated entirely with bullies? Hard to imagine that one not going all Hunger Games.

Just seems to have a Demolition Man / Giver feel to it. All non-conformists will be removed until everything is completly tranquil and peaceful... all the time... or else...

[ronnie624]

28. The underlying asumption in your post

implies that the only alternative to suicide from bullying, is a "prison populated entirely with bullies", when in fact, every school system in the entire country already has alternatives for troubled students. Your posts seem generally prone to logical fallacies and ridiculous assumptions.

Before anything can be done about bullying, the school system and people like you, have to recognize it as a serious problem.

[TipTok]

39. People like moi?

I certainly never said 'only'.

I was just curious where this place was where they were going to send the 'kids who refuse to contribute' and if they had a school or a confinement facility or something else in mind.

I'm sensing a lot of projection in this thread.

[LanternWaste]

30. We see precisely that which we wish to see.

"All non-conformists will be removed until everything is completly (sic) tranquil and peaceful... all the time... or else..."

We see precisely that which we wish to see, regardless of the movies we pretend are real.

[TipTok]

40. You seem to be on a 4 hour timer...

[HughBeaumont]

31. Alternatives for troubled students. For career assholes, Juvenille detention center.

You know, that whole "law and order" thing you guys like and expect of everyone else. That whole "crimes have consequences" thing that needs to be taught at an early age. Let it go Hunger Games. You want to act all hard and prey on the weak, best not to fuck around and see how badassed you are against badder asses.

Say you have a kid. Someone puts their hands on him/her against their will. IS THAT NOT A CRIME?

All non-conformists will be removed until everything is completly tranquil and peaceful... all the time... or else...

Oh for fuck's sake, these aren't quirky misunderstood eccentrics, they're assaulting assholes making life suck one assault, one shit comment, one unwarranted harassment at a time.

And the fact that you think a tranquil and peaceful environment is a bad thing . . . says more about you than it does me . . .

[TipTok]

41. Again with the sensitivity...

'Refusal to contribute' just sounds very broad to me.

Something you want to talk about? What makes you think I'm preying on the weak?

Rainbows and sunshine and kumbaya all the time does sound incredibly dull though. Everyone needs a little conflict in their life. That doesn't translate to beating the shit out of people or whatever horrendous thing you are going to bring up.

[HughBeaumont]

43. It's a fuckload better than living in a world where you're hunted almost daily.

As this kid probably was. As a lot of us were.

Oh, I'm sensing some projection as well. Why do you imply what I'm talking about is rehearsed and that I should stop being a "whiny little faggot bitch" or some such shit? Yeah, I didn't enjoy getting targeted for six years. They ran in packs and they were kids of teachers. If I'd have fucked them up as I should have, their problems would have been over and mine would just begin and last throughout life. Adults were the failures in this as well. Adults fail kids daily and don't ever want to admit they do.

Sorry that life isn't like a 1980s teen movie fantasy where the prey wins. It doesn't work that way.

[TipTok]

44. Wow...

That stuff really seems to have stuck with you.

Sensing a lot of repressed emotion that comes out in big blobs like that. Ever think about talking about it with a professional and working on letting it go?

[HughBeaumont]

46. No.

Those years taught me everything I need to know about how authoritarians and alphas really are.

What, is talking to a "professional" going to change anything? Is it going to change what happened? Is it going to change my opinion of Republicans, authoritarians, gung-ho militaristic types, predators, abusers, MRAs or alphas who don't want to hear that they're not THE alpha? Is it going to get me a "sorry"?

NOPE.

"You shall know them by their works".

Enough great people have come forth in my life to give me all the confidence that I need that humans are good after all.

That doesn't mean I put up with any bullshit from the types I listed.

Everyone else can sweep bad things that happened to them under the rug. That's not how I work.

[TipTok]

48. Well it certainly seems to affect how you interact with others...

[ronnie624]

25. +1 n/t

[MicaelS]

52. An alternative school.

For those specifically who are bullies.

[Person 2713]

3. RIP Jackson

[SunSeeker]

4. ...

[awoke_in_2003]

5. Bullies are terrible

and it is sad that teachers cannot spot it better. Of course, they are already overworked as it is. I dealt with bullies well up until I was 13 years old. My mother died and I moved to another school. With my mental state, I just gave up the will to fight. It was bad for a while, but I got lucky. I helped a football player understand a few things that were giving him problems. We became friends, and I never had much more trouble. He was a big, but gentle, guy, but he brooked no shit. This extended to some of the other "nerds" that were in my normal group.

[spiderpig]

6. Bullying stays with you for life.

A neighborhood punk threatened kids all the time nearly 60 years ago, and he scared me to death. He got a bow and arrow as a present and threatened to kill all of us kids on the block. (Baby boomers, and there were a lot of us.) We said we'd tell our parents, and he said "I'll kill them too." I'd run and hide whenever I saw him outside.

I wonder what penal institution he's occupying now. The thought of him still makes me cringe.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. He's the CEO of Goldman Sachs

[spiderpig]

13. You're probably right!

Little punk.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. I have a second grader and a fifth grader

I have not witnessed nor heard of a single incident of bullying in all their time in school.

I'm mystified by this, honestly.

Third graders? Nine year olds?

[Javaman]

18. from personal experience of being bullied every single day from 1st through 12th grade...

kids don't tell their parents everything.

[alcibiades_mystery]

19. I suppose

In my personal experience, I never saw much bullying of any kind going on. Some kids got picked on occasionally, I guess, but these descriptions of constant, relentless, violent and abusive bullying don't match either my experience of childhood or my observation of my childrens' schools. I'm going to chalk that up to luck.

[SomethingNew]

29. Same here.

I grew up in a western town of ~15k people. There was very little, if any, bullying. I have since talked to people from other places and their experiences sounded much worse. Makes me glad I grew up where I did.

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. I went to New York City public schools

K-12.

[get the red out]

36. I grew up in a small town, in a small school

And it was a living HELL! When a person was perceived as different at all, they were tormented every day. I was physically assaulted by a boy (I am female) every day just before English class in the 7th grade, he would grab my arms and threaten to break them because I would get mad that he pushed my books off my desk into the floor. God only knows what the teacher was doing, kids that were bullied didn't expect any help from the school. That place was hell. I hate small towns, you are either in or out. Mayberry never existed.

[Javaman]

47. +1. don't even get me started.

some kids are truly evil.

[AngryAmish]

50. That was luck. While I not picked on much, I attribute that to having many friends.

And learning how to box in the fourth grade. Violence is the only language children know.

Ok, that is really over the top.

[philosslayer]

33. Every SINGLE day?

For 12 years? Must have been horrible.

[HughBeaumont]

42. Mine was nearly every school day for 8 years.

Part and parcel of growing up in rural Ohio. I was targeted by a few for 4-6 years - one of them so badly that if I ever saw him in person to this day, all bets would be off.

It's not uncommon. Assholes probably taught their kids that school was like prison with a pecking order - make someone, anyone your prey; "because if you're not better than someone else, who are you better than?"

[Missn-Hitch]

9. I have no words.

[Mosby]

10. it's odd that the narrative skips the cause of death

How did he die?

I'm guessing mom and dad's gun.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. He hanged himself.

But that boy who was full of energy was often bullied, leaving him to take his own life. His grandmother who had full custody of him will never forget hearing the heartbreaking news. "They come out and told me that he hung himself and just staying here has become unbearable because everything he has is here," says Betsy.

source

[sarisataka]

16. Does how he did it really matter?

He's dead.

[Mosby]

32. I just think reporters need to cover the basic details of a story. nt

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

15. RIP...

[sarisataka]

17. So sad

Unfortunately most schools would rather ignore bullying. To deal with the problem would admit to having a problem; that might make the administrators look bad.

The victims suffer and pay, sometimes with their lives.

RIP little one

[Calculating]

20. Sadly

America seems to love bullies and doesn't want to do anything about the problem. There's a perverse attitude here that bullying and getting bullied is just a natural part of growing up, and a 'rite of passage' so to speak. Schools do nothing about bullies and often punish the victim for fighting back.

Also, it's usually not physical bullying which is the issue. It's long term psychological torment and social exclusion which eventually drives these poor kids to take their lives.

[get the red out]

37. Always has loved bullies

I certainly saw that growing up. Bullies tended to be well-liked by teachers.

[BainsBane]

22. Schools can stop bullying

by creating a climate where it is completely unacceptable. My niece and nephew attend schools like that, so it is possible. School administrators have a responsibility to take action so that things like this stop.

[vlyons]

26. The school and the parents of the bullies

are responsible for this negligent homicide.

[get the red out]

38. Absolutely

Both should be held accountable.

[jonno99]

27. How very sad.

[justhanginon]

34. One of the things among many tjhat I most dislike about trump

and many of his supporters is they are bullies. both in words and actions.

I still have the memory from whenI was young (a really long time ago), I think I was probably in Cub Scouts when one of the kids in my school committed suicide by hanging himself. It is really so sad at any time but expecially when they are so young. Tragedy that stays with you a long time. I still remember his name and that was a good 70 years ago.

So sorry for this young man and his loved ones.

[Behind the Aegis]

45. Mine started in 4th grade when a classmate threatened to shoot me because I was a Jew.

He called me a "Christ killer." Of course, I didn't even understand the slur, just the threat. My parents had to explain it to me. The "fag" jokes started around that time too. This followed me all through high school (and I went to 5 different elementary schools, and three different high schools...dad was military).

[smirkymonkey]

49. How heartbreaking!

Poor little kid! I hope those little shits get what's coming to them.

[boston bean]

51. This kills my heart.