Illinois: Ten-year-old was bullied before she killed herself, family says

Ashlynn Conner's mother said she had come home from school crying
BY NINA MANDELL
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, November 14 2011, 4:01 PM



/CBS
Ashlynn Conner committed suicide after allegedly being bullied at school and in her neighborhood.
A 10-year-old Illinois girl who hanged herself in her closet last week had suffered repeated taunts from bullies mocking her for being overweight, her family said.

Ashlynn Conner’s heartbroken mother, Stacy, told local TV station WCIA-TV that Ashlynn had come home crying from school about two weeks ago, complaining that she was being bullied in her neighborhood as well as at school.

Then, last Thursday, the taunts got so bad that Ashlynn asked her mother to be home-schooled.

Her mother said no to the request. The next day, Ashlynn’s sister found her hanging in the closet from a scarf fashioned into a noose, the TV station reported.

“I thought my kids are strong kids, and that my words for them for guidance and advice [were\] going to have more weight than what these kids could be saying,” Stacy Conner told WCIA-TV on Sunday.

The young girl’s ordeal became a tragedy despite the existence of an anti-bullying law in Illinois. The state first passed an anti-bullying law in 2001 and has continuously strengthened it over the past decade.

But the law was not able to protect Ashlynn from the pain that led her to take her life.

“I don't know what it's going to take to stop it, but no child should ever have to feel like they have to kill themselves to stop that kind of pain,” her mother said.

nmandell@nydailynews.com

Photographer Refuses to Take Portraits of Facebook Bullies

By CLARA KIM | Time.com – Mon, Aug 22, 2011

A Pennsylvania photographer canceled senior photo sessions with four high school girls after spotting nasty comments they made on Facebook.
Jennifer McKendrick says she came across a 'burn book' Facebook page, created by teens for writing negative comments about their classmates. You might think it's a phase every gossipy high schooler goes through, but this one went a little too far, at least for McKendrick. Appalled by the cruel comments, the photographer also realized that the names on the screen matched the names of the clients who made an appointment with her for their senior photos.
(MORE: How to Bully-Proof Young Girls)
McKendrick decided to cancel the sessions and posted on her blog that she doesn't want to photograph "ugly people."
"Realistically I know by canceling their shoots it's not going to make them 'nicer people,'" she wrote. "But I refuse to let people like that represent my business."
Then, she emailed the four girls and their parents. She sent them explanations of why she was canceling the appointment along with screen shots of the mean Facebook comments as a proof. Later, she reported on her blog that two parents replied with apologies and saying that they were shocked by their daughters' actions.
(VIDEO: Chris Colfer Talks, Glee, Bullying and Being Yourself)
In an interview with WTAE-TV, McKendrick said that the students' comments crossed the line.
"It was beyond 'your clothes are ugly' or 'you don't have any brand clothes' or 'you are ugly, your hair is not right,'" she told WTAE-TV. "It was vicious. It was talking about sexuality."
So far, McKendrick's received floods of support on Facebook and her blog, but she said she is ready for criticisms.