May 19, 2013
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin says West Virginia students who think their school is immune from teenage suicide are wrong, and they need to watch out for each other.
Tomblin signed a suicide prevention bill into law Tuesday at Morgantown High School as the father of a Tennessee victim looked on.
The Jason Flatt Act of 2012 requires principals, teachers and other educators be trained in how to recognize warning signs and reach out to students in crisis.
Tomblin says West Virginia is now the seventh state to pass such a law.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. for people between 10 and 24.
Clark Flatt of Hendersonville, Tenn., says his son was 16 when he killed himself in July 1997.
