Donations up for De Queen center after tragedy

By The Associated Press

Attitudes about domestic violence changed last May when a 46-year-old man fatally shot his wife three times with a 16-gauge shotgun in front of their teenage sons near De Queen, Ark.

After the heinous crime, financial support increased for the Southwest Arkansas Domestic Violence Prevention Center.

“It made people stop and think and open their billfolds,” said Sandra Renfrow, director of the center. “People realized it can happen here. They knew it happened, but didn’t pay much attention.”

The center will receive additional financial support with a $298,477 grant “to enhance its domestic violence services.” The funds are allocated through the “Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Assistance Program,” which is authorized through the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women.

The grant was announced by U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., and U.S. Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark.

Renfrow said the funds will be used for training and developing sexual assault response teams.

“Our hope is to improve and increase services to victims,” said Renfrow.

The task force groups will include law enforcement personnel, prosecution teams, court officials, medical people, child service workers and other social providers.

“We’ve had excellent support and training from our sheriff’s department and the police department,” Renfrow said.

The federal grant will be used for outreach programs in rural areas that make victims aware of help and transportation to help them get to shelters.

“And, it will provide legal support so they don’t have to continue to live in an abusive situation. The federal grant will also help provide a bilingual victim’s advocate we need so desperately,” Renfrow said. “None of the money will go to the staff or clients. We will continue to depend on local contributions from cities and counties to operate our shelters.”

Local contributions go directly to the clients’ needs.

The sexual assault response teams will be trained to help victims to get to safety and then provide support through the recovery process, from injuries to appearances in the court system.

“We’re going to coordinate our efforts with the task force to help identify victims and equip more people to competently assist victims,” said Renfrow.

“We will raise the public awareness and help victims to overcome the obstacles victims face. We will foster coordinated response to seek solutions for the victims to truly make a difference in their lives.”

Ross said domestic violence affects too many families across this country today. “Our local support centers and shelters are key to providing those families affected by domestic violence with the resources and support they need to heal and rebuild,” he said.

The program supports efforts in rural areas to enhance the safety of child, youth and adult victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.

The program will also be a “bilingual advocate” to help Hispanic victims with language and cultural barriers to report domestic violence.

“Hispanic ladies are hard to understand because of language barriers. Some may be here illegally and can’t get a job. They have no skills. They think they have to stay with their man,” Renfrow said.

The center has also started a support group “with the Catholic sisters.”

“It’s been very well-attended. It’s getting better once they find out how confidential it is,” Renfrow said.

In the seven years the program has existed, the shelter has helped 477 victims, which includes women and children. This includes 97 rapes or sexual assaults. The center serves six counties in Southwest Arkansas: Sevier, Howard, Pike, Polk, Little River and Montgomery.

To date, the center has assisted victims with more than 800 orders of protection.

Renfrow said 72 percent of abuse victims do not return to the abuser.

The center helps the victims during each stage of recovery, she said.

“We do paper work and go to court to support them. We also help with telephone counseling,” Renfrow said. “The victims sometimes go home and start thinking about things and what may happen in court or what the judge is going to say. They worry and call us and talk about the problems. They start worrying about confronting the abuser again and need someone to talk to.”

Renfrow describes the men who abuse women as perpetrators and defines them as dangerous and clever, she said.

“We tell the women to shut off their cell phones because the cell phones can be so easily monitored,” Renfrow said. “The men will tell the woman, ’Honey, I got you a new cell phone.’ But he may have put a GPS chip (global positioning satellite) in the cell phone so he knows where you are or where you are not. We don’t let them use cell phones in the shelters. It just has a potential for problems.

“We tell them to cut off the cell phones a good distance from the shelter house so they can’t track them to the shelter,” Renfrow said.

The shelter also provides a safety plan printed on the paper smaller than a business card, said Renfrow.

“We’re small and give individual care. We try to get more help to the clients. We’re not trying to get numbers or be a bed filler,” Renfrow said.

The programs are designed to educate women about rape investigation and testifying in court.

Renfrow referred to a rape in De Queen where an 18-year-old woman had the courage to survive.

“I’m proud of the young woman. She had courage to testify and the men are now in prison,” Renfrow said.

She gathered some of her clothes thrown on the ground and was partially dressed when she walked to the sheriff’s department to report the rape.

Renfrow said the woman had to walk by the domestic violence shelter to get to the sheriff’s department.

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Read our Terms of Use policy.

towerdog says...

Heavens - What a "too little too late" approach to the problem. Why not educate young girls about control and abuse? Why not teach them early about the signs and teach them to leave the relationship before things escalate? Why not teach them to break free from the old mantra that "a bad relationship is better then no relationship"?

Would not better teaching by mothers and other adults preclude the need for such shelters? As a society, should we not demand this type of instruction in our schools? Am I missing something here?

November 1, 2009 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Login to comment

If you are already registered, click here to LOGIN.
You can register for FREE to post comments and receive alerts.