On the cusp of Oklahoma anti-bullying legislation in Ty Field's name

The statistics are staggering.

During the 2009-10 public school year in Oklahoma, there were 15,967 incidents of bullying and 648 of those resulted in physical injury, according to school-reported incident data collected by the state Education Department.

But there's more to the story than numbers, Kirk Smalley, of Perkins, told a group meeting last week at the state Capitol to form tougher anti-bullying legislation.

Smalley is the dad of Ty Field, an 11-year-old boy who shot and killed himself on May 13 after reportedly being bullied at school earlier in the day.