Opinions - Girl Threatened For Saying No To Drink

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Teen reports harassment after posting online message on drinking
October 8, 2007

BARRINGTON, R.I. --A 16-year-old who posted an Internet message urging her high school classmates to stop underage drinking says she has been harassed in school, branded a "narc" and had eggs and empty beer cans thrown at her house.

Bianca Jones-Pearson, a junior at Barrington High School, posted the message on Facebook, a social-networking site, in August after the death of a classmate that prosecutors believe was alcohol-related. Seventeen-year-old Patrick Murphy died in July when he fell into the Barrington River while kneeboarding.

Since the message appeared, she says, classmates have taunted her, with some joking about circulating a petition to have her kicked out of school. Jones-Pearson and her family say some classmates named a dead cat in biology class after her.

The family says people have driven past their house multiple times and shouted "Narc." Her mother also reported a smashed window at her pottery studio last month.

"I don't understand the mindset," Jones-Pearson told The Providence Journal in Monday's editions. "I don't know if they're bored or what."

No one has been charged in any of the alleged incidents. John R. Gray, the school's principal, said he has met with students about the reported harassment.

"I would hope this would stop," Police Chief John LaCross said. "It's not worth a kid having a record of stalking or disorderly conduct."

Jones-Pearson also has called the police several times to report what she believed was suspicious activity. In one case, however, she reported what she thought was a drug deal. Police later determined the boys were simply hanging out at a supermarket parking lot.