 Mayor and council I appreciate the opportunity to make this presentation as you know the last time I wore one of these pink shirts turned out to be an interesting day for me and it started off this past year pretty amazing experience. I talked very personally a year ago about my own experience with bullying growing up in Crowley and shared that with those here in this audience and with those who might be watching on municipal access cable. I had very little idea that it would go as far and as broad as it has but I think it's not so much about the comments that I made but that we have a country in a world that is has a lot of kids and a lot of young people who are in a lot of pain and I have had countless of them contact me and talk about where they were in the stages of taking their own lives of being so fed up with the bullying in their schools and in their lives that they couldn't see a light at the end of the tunnel. It is indicative that I think that these young people want someone to give them some hope. It is not the responsibility of these kids to end bullying in their schools that is the responsibility of the adults and in the course of the last year we started quite a conversation and I want to acknowledge the leadership of Fort Worth in leading that worldwide conversation. Following my comments at City Council and the support that I got from the council and from the community this conversation has has grown. The President of the United States and the First Lady created the first ever anti-bullying summit and I had the privilege of being invited and the opportunity to participate in that. The Department of Education has sent out new regulations to school districts all over the country, the state of Texas with the leadership of a number of folks in our legislature has passed House Bill 1942 which gives school districts real tools to to give to their teachers and administrators so that they're not out there on the on a limb and they don't know what the right response is to bullying. They can actually address some of these things in our schools. I am honored to be part of that conversation and I'll go ahead and read our proclamation. We have an offer a proclamation from the office of the mayor and city council whereas bullying the abuse of treatment use of force or coercion to affect others fosters a climate of fear and disrespect that seriously impairs the physical the psychological health of its victims creating conditions that negatively affect learning thereby undermining the ability of youth to achieve their full potential and whereas bullying comes in various forms and the statistics show that the United States has a growing problem among teens with most incidences taking place inside the school while a smaller number of them occur outside of on the school grounds on the school bus or on the way to and from school and whereas the reasons for bullying include but are not limited limited to race gender physical or mental disability religious affiliation sexual orientation with a growing number of these targeted opting to commit suicide rather than to continue to suffer or seek outside assistance and whereas the city of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Independent School District encourage all citizens to do their part in ensuring that all children have a safe caring and respect respectful place to feel safe learn and socialize and whereas by empowering our youth to stand up and acknowledge the effects that bullying has on those being targeted we can make a difference and improve the world for future generations that now therefore we the Fort Worth City Council do hereby proclaim October 12th 2011 as bullying awareness day in the city of Fort Worth I will just close by adding it is crucial that we keep this conversation going lives are at stake every single day just a few days ago a young man who is 14 years old named Jamie Rotemire had been taunted harassed at school and he went home and he shot himself he is one of many many kids out there who don't see that light at the end of the tunnel and I would ask the people in this room if you have thought of someone a kid a young person that you wanted to reach out to and you hesitated to do so pick up the phone and make that call reach out to that kid because that could be the step that could save them from going and getting their mom's pill bottle going and getting the rope that they're going to use to throw over the branch of the tree in their backyard or save them from going and getting the gun that they use to shoot themselves to death there are a lot of kids and a lot of hurt out there I do believe that things are getting better but we have to continue that conversation and all of us in the city of Fort Worth have a role in that and I want to thank all of you for the support over the last year in doing so