Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Gloucester tragically lost another one of its youth to suicide last week. At the memorial service, a disturbing statistic was declared that Gloucester County endures more suicides than Virginia Beach.

Bullying is believed to have played a large part of this tortured child’s death. Loud cries of holding the schools and the local elected officials accountable to ‘do something’ were put forth.

It is understandable to want to place blame and disperse anger, but consideration should be given to what the role of government actually is. Our schools’ purpose is to teach; law enforcement to enforce laws.

It is commendable that our schools and sheriff’s office have focused resources to counsel and protect our youth, but anti-bullying campaigns need to begin at home with the child’s first and primary teachers, their parents. It doesn’t always work this way, but it is the parents’ responsibility to model and teach k...