Pasco bullies will have to watch their step from now on.

In Pasco County there is now a way to report bullies anonymously on line as well as a toll free number 1-877-7BE-BRAVE.

I have witnessed the behavior of bullies first hand and have been a victim of bullies. When I was a middle school classroom teacher I intervened to stop a bully and was later bullied by his relatives. It was frightening event and there was no one to intervene for me. It was later twisted into events that were my fault for not accepting behavior that was considered by community standards as normal. As if a big kid jumping a smaller kid, knocking him to the ground and then getting on top of him while stuffing grass into his pants was normal. It was not normal by my standards. I almost kicked the big kid. But, the bell rang and that stopped it without me having to do anything. A few days latter I was attacked in the commons at Central Michigan University by one of the bully’s relatives.

Back then I could not defend myself. The rule was: It takes two to fight. It did not matter who started it. All involved were equally guilty.

The question was: What did you do to start that?

So, I responded by not talking about it. Hoping the event would be forgotten my others. However, I never forgot.