Recently, I received a great idea from Norma Luginbyhl at the Hutchinson County Crisis Center in Borger, TX.  She mentioned that it would be helpful if the Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) provided her program, as well as others like it with a sample press release template that they could use to promote our efforts for achieving full funding of family violence services in Texas.  In collaboration with our Communications Department at TCFV, we created a 2009 Legislative Session Opinion Editorial explaining our efforts and the need for full funding.  Please consider working with your local newspaper sources to publish this Op/Ed in your community.

I want to let you know that our  Purple Postcard campaign is progressing extremely well.  Tens of thousands of postcards have been printed and distributed to our partners across the state.  We retained a very small number of postcards here at TCFV for internal use  and to send out to programs that need more.  Because of this, we are almost out of the printed version and we would greatly appreciate it if you could direct all interested partners to go to our website and complete the on-line version of the Postcard.

Spike in violence might have its roots in souring economy

By ANTONIO PLANAS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

By Rebecca Kimbel

Every year in the United States, more women are killed from domestic violence than the number of service men and women killed in the war in Iraq.* To stop abuse, you must first recognize it. We cannot change what we refuse to acknowledge. Today, you can learn how to do both.

Understanding entitlement is basic to understanding abuse. When a person believes they are better, because they are male, because of the color of their skin, because they belong to a particular political group or the “right” church, because they have more money, a better education or any other reason they can use as an excuse, they are assuming a position of entitlement.

They assume they are better than you are. They elevate themselves higher, which automatically makes you lower. They believe that those who are lower should serve those who are higher and they, the higher ones, will direct, lead and do the thinking. They expect you to obey.

People who assume entitlement have two sets of standards, one for themselves and one for you. They expect you to make personal sacrifices for their benefit, sacrifices that they in turn would never make for you for anyone else. They feel it is their right to be irresponsible and self-indulgent in ways they would never allow you to be.

HumboltBeacon.com

By Evan Jensen

Last week, Clackamas County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a domestic violence call in Estacada just after 3 p.m. on Dec. 8 on S.E. Forest Glen Road. The incident took deputies more than two hours to resolve, and it’s not the first time deputies have responded to similar calls in Estacada.

In 2005, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office reported that 10 percent of Oregon women experienced domestic or sexual violence in the past five years. Each year, one out of eight Oregon women are likely to be physically or sexually assaulted, and nationwide, domestic and sexual violence costs exceed $5.8 billion annually, according to U.S. Census data.

“Domestic violence crosses all socioeconomic classes and cultures,” Clackamas Women’s Services Outreach Specialist Susan Cazier said. “What we know is that domestic violence statistics nationally indicate that every 15 seconds a woman is battered. And one in four women will experience some kind of domestic violence situation in their life.”

EstacadaNews.com

DURHAM, N.C. -

On Thursday, December 18, 2008, Durham residents will pause to remember the 94 victims of domestic violence who lost their lives in 2008 in North Carolina, and the four that were Durham residents.

The 8th Annual Memorial Tree Lighting Ceremony in Honor of Murdered Domestic Violence Victims Across North Carolina will take place in the Council Chambers of City Hall, located at 101 City Hall Plaza, beginning at 5 p.m. The theme for this year’s event is, “Light Up Across North Carolina Against Domestic Violence,” in recognition of other communities across the state who are attending Durham’s event or conducting memorial ceremonies of their own.

DurhamCounty.mync.com

By Marie Tessier

The story of one man’s escalating violence that ends with a quadruple murder in an Atlanta courthouse provides a cautionary tale to a public that still fails to understand the seriousness and persistence of violence against women.

A jury has convicted Atlanta courthouse killer Brian Gene Nichols, and Atlanta has heaved a sigh of relief. Nichols was sentenced Saturday to seven life sentences and four sentences of life without parole plus 485 years for the crimes he committed on March 11, 2005.

At that time Nichols captured national when he overpowered a sheriff’s deputy at an Atlanta courthouse, stole her gun, beat her to permanent brain damage, shot dead the judge and court reporter in his sexual assault trial, killed a sheriff’s deputy and later an off-duty federal officer.

Nichols, a computer systems administrator, then led local and state officials on a desperate 26-hour manhunt, some of it televised live on CNN.

Since the murders, few have noted that Nichols’ crimes began with a classic case of domestic violence sexual assault—a revenge rape of a former girlfriend who chose to see another man. Nichols was in the midst of a second trial on those charges when the killings occurred. The first trial ended in mistrial when jurors could not agree on a verdict.

The Nichols case illustrates an essential truth. Domestic violence and sexual violence are the DNA of violence throughout society. It’s where violence begins.

WomensMediaCenter.com

Study Cites Lack of Alternatives

CONCORD, N.H. – Women are being incarcerated in New Hampshire at a faster pace than men due largely to crimes involving drugs and alcohol and because of a lack of rehabilitative and treatment options, according to a study by The New Hampshire Women’s Policy Institute.

Poverty, mental illness, unemployment, and domestic violence are underlying factors, the study found.

“Women’s role as primary caregivers for children complicates both their incarceration as well as their path to rehabilitation,” the study’s authors wrote.

The study said the upward incarceration trend will have future costs on taxpayers and their children.

Boston.com