Gordon Clay here. This is No Name-Calling Week which aims to end gossip and name-calling of all kinds.

School yard bullying is far more serious than just name-calling and teasing. It can escalate into harassment, beatings and even death threats.

In a two-thousand five survey of more than 3,400 teenagers and more than 1,000 teachers, 65% of middle school and junior high students said they had been assaulted or harassed in the previous year.

Bullying shouldn't be dismissed as a harmless school yard rite of passage, according to a report that found bullies and their victims often develop behavioral and emotional problems later in life.

So, what's a bully? Someone who, either alone or with the help of others, uses actions or words to hurt another person.

Simply put, bullies and gossips are obnoxious, even if they are: cool, humorous, well-dressed, attractive, or athletic.

Bullying prevention can work and have lasting results by addressing the cause of bullying, insure that new bullies are not created out of a need for self-defense. Can you say Columbine? And before that happens, help bullies become good citizens.

So, what can I do, you ask, to stop the bullying?

Don't laugh at jokes that make fun of other people.

Go out of your way to be nice to the person being ostracized

Let someone in authority know what happened and to whom.

And, declare every bully a persona non grata. If people knew that teasing or ostracizing someone will cause their own popularity to plunge, who'll be willing to pay that price?

It all starts with you.

And, don't forget a week from Saturday, February 2nd, at the Chetco Library in Brookings, it's the 2nd Annual Men's Mini Health Fair from 1:30-4:30pm. Stop by and let's get acquainted.