Silence!

The entire month of October has been designated "Domestic Violence Awareness Month." I am not certain tagging 31 days out of 365 days is enough.

Think about for a moment. Women are killed 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. A month seems insignificant for such an epidemic. At a time when funds are being erased from city, county and state budgets a greater task is at hand to teach those caught in the crossfires within their own homes to find a way out of the toxic environment with their lives in tact. This is becomming virtually impossible when the legal system is not equipped to handle the revolving pleas for services at courthouses across America. From seeking a court order of protection by a judge, police response and enforcement of current laws to divorce and custody matters. This dyfunctional legal system is, in the end as abusive as those allowed to get away with crimes in homes across the county.

I could give example's where death could have been prevented for Amy Lictenberg's boys Jack and Duncan, Renee Pernice, Kathy Savio, Theresa Parker, Lisa Stebic, Renee Pagel, Annette Suzan Sowders-Fuller, Linda Yancey, Mary Jane Zich, Kelly Currin Morris, KellySue Ackernecht, Sonia Garcia, Tara Chavez, Stacy Peterson and the thousands of others in this war as they paid the price of silence with their lives. Nothing any of us do will bring these people back. And ignoring that we have a major crisis in the war against violence is like spitting on the graves of those murdered. But, that is what we have done as a County. With a broom and dust pan society has neatly swept these crimes down to the darkside of the basement.

The issue of domestic violence has no national platform. We have no one in Washington to lead the charge for change. I am at the place where I began more than 20 years ago, still holding out my hand asking for help in this epidemic of silence.