The line “bullying will not be tolerated” may bring to mind a junior high school hallway, but a series of seminars throughout May are meant to spread the same message in county senior centers.

Seniors Bullying Seniors is the title of the seminars, which were approved by the county commissioners last month and planned recently by the county Area Agency on Aging.

Beth Herold, the agency's administrator, said a public session for those who work with seniors, clergy, law enforcement or anyone interested in the subject will be held from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 3 at the Vagabond Center off Whitestown Road in Lyndora.

The seminar will be held in each of the eight senior centers in the county as well.

Senior bullying in the form of closed cliques, dirty looks, passive-aggressive interaction, bossing or demanding, gossiping, judgment, exclusion and other forms of unwelcoming behavior has been seen repeatedly in the county's senior centers and high-rise apartment buildings, Herold said.

Terry Mann, the executive director of Lutheran Services Society, which is a division of Lutheran Senior Life, said his personnel last week went to three different senior facilities in three area counties to deal with senior bullying.

“It is like the junior high on steroids,” Herold said of the behavior. “We can't discipline seniors because you don't want to degrade them, but some of this behavior is just not acceptable.”

Read the full story in Monday's Butler Eagle.