LINCOLNVILLE — Two eighth-grade boys received harassment notices from the town's police chief last month, resulting from an episode on a school bus during which one girl was at the brunt end of cruel behavior. At the same time, the chief commended another eighth-grade girl for taking a stance and telling the boys to stop intimidating the victim on that bus.

"She told them, 'why don't you just cut it out,'" said Chief Ron Young. "It made the boys back off. If somebody could do that at any time, it makes a difference."

He praised Clara McGurren, of Lincolnville, April 25, at Lincolnville Central School with a certificate of recognition for stopping a bullying incident.

Without going into too many details — suffice to say, he described it as fairly lewd — Young said a group of eighth-grade girls and boys were on the back of the bus going home from school one day last winter when three or four boys began sexually harassing one of the girls. The target, he said, attempted in vain to tell the boys to stop.

McGurren was sitting a few rows ahead, he said. After listening to what was happening, she turned around and told the boys to stop it. The bus driver was unaware of what was happening, Young said.

There are approximately 20 to 25 students in Lincolnville's eighth-grade class. They received harassment and bullying education in sixth-grade, said Young. He said he told them then the potential repercussions from intimidating behavior, including the possibility of legal charges. The harassment notices extend for the school year and if the students are cited again for harassment, legal charges will be levied against them, said Young.

"She's not friends with any of those who were involved," said Young. "She was just a person who stood up."

The boys had apparently been harassing the girl off and on for some time, "but nothing that rose to this level," he said, saying the verbal assault got even more inappropriate with lewd behavior.

Young commended McGurren during the school's April 25 lunch when classes were gathered in the Walsh Common. He told students that bullying: "is wrong and it needs to stop. If you see something not right, stop it and say it's not right. We can't have this in school and we can't tolerate it. You can make it stop."

Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 706-6657.