The third teen suicide in the area in two months occurred Wednesday when a 16-year old took her life in Ruidoso Downs.
The Ruidoso High School student was, according to Mescalero Police Chief William Mitchell, friends with the 14- and 16- year olds who committed suicide on the Mescalero Apache Reservation recently.
"She was not a native, but she hung around with the native girls," Mitchell said of the latest victim.
Ruidoso Downs Police Chief Alfred Ortiz de-scribed the girl as being caucasian Hispanic.
Ruidoso Schools issued a statement to parents and grandparents to assure them that the school is providing counseling by trained mental health providers for any students and staff in need. All students wishing counseling were directed to the library or counseling office.
The deaths of the three teens has affected not only Ruidoso Schools, but also Mescalero Schools where the first in this string of teen suicides occurred in September.
"Teens need to know that there is help available where they hang out with their friends, on MySpace," Mescalero Schools Youth Suicide Prevention Pro-gram coordinator Jeremiah Simmons said. "Suicide.com has a MySpace as do other suicide prevention programs."
Simmons said it is important to break the "code-of-silence" among students.
"Their friends tell them things and swear them to secrecy," Simmons said. "We are trying to get the message to them that it is okay to break that promise if their friend is going to do something to hurt themselves. "I would rather have to live an enemy than a dead friend," he said.
Officials are dispelling the rumor that there is a suicide compact list. This may have resulted from a listing of at-risk students.
Officials are also denying the rumor of a second suicide this week. A distraught female did call Ruidoso Police dispatch Wednesday before the 16-year old's death was discovered. She threatened, but did not commit suicide.
Dr. Chuck Harrison, superintendent of the Mescalero Apache School System, took time out from a meeting with a team from the University of New Mexico's Department of Psychiatry to comment on the most recent death.
"We're devastated and we're trying to figure out what we can do," he said. "I'm meeting with (the UNM team) right now. They sent a different team from Optimum Health, which provides suicide specialists in post prevention."
The meeting focused on how to provide support to the community, to families and to students, he said. The district already sent representatives into the reservation to talk to families, assemblies were conducted, tribal elders were consulted and ministers are involved in counseling individuals and groups, Harrison said.
"Our young people need to talk about what's going on, about making good and bad decisions," the superintendent said.
"We're working with the tribal council to improve the crisis team. We don't need 50 people on a team. We will have a point person to communicate with the media."
Ruidoso School officials and School Board members will address the media at Ruidoso High School at 10 a.m., Friday.
What is reported and how it is presented in the media could either benefit or harm efforts to halt future suicide attempts, he said.
Somehow, suicide may have been glamorized as a way to attract attention, he said. That notion must be dispelled, which can be difficult in dealing with those in their teens.
"They don't understand that death is permanent," Harrison said.
"Plenty of counseling is available and notices to parents have been sent home with students," he said. "They can call the office here if a parent needs to talk or they suspect their child does. We'll energize teams that will meet them at their homes or meet the student as they get off the bus."
The teams will counsel parents or students from either local school district, Mescalero or Ruidoso.
"We need to be talking about making good choices," Harrison said.
Ruidoso News reporter Dianne Stallings contributed to this story.
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