HOW TO GO
WHAT: Fourth annual Domestic Violence Awareness Event
WHEN: 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17
WHERE: Middletown City Building, 1 Donham Plaza
Too many times, victims of domestic violence feel stuck in their situation and they don’t know there are resources available to get them out of that dangerous, sometimes deadly, relationship, said Desiree Skidmore, social worker at Trinity Manor in Middletown and domestic violence advocate.
“There are other options out here,” Skidmore said when asked about those in a violent relationship. “They just feel stuck in a situation. It’s a control issue.”
Skidmore said education is an important part of dealing with domestic violence cases. That’s one of the goals of the fourth annual Domestic Violence Awareness Event at 5 p.m. Monday at the Middletown City Building, 1 Donham Plaza.
The event is open to the public, and Skidmore said victims of abuse, their families, area residents and community leaders are encouraged to attend.
Lori King from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Office of Victim Services is the keynote speaker. The event will end with a balloon release in honor of domestic violence victims.
October is national Domestic Violence Awareness Month and it’s a “great opportunity” for the community to come together and raise awareness, Skidmore said.
“We have to bring it to the forefront,” said Skidmore, who’d like to obtain non-profit status and open a shelter in Middletown for domestic violence victims. “Domestic violence is happening.”
Domestic violence is defined as the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and emotional abuse.
In Ohio in 2014, there were 64,531 domestic violence calls to law enforcement agencies, and those led to the arrest of 34,969 people, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The Ohio Domestic Violence Network reviewed 79 of the homicides that were committed in the state between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016. Of those, 69, or 87 percent, were connected to domestic violence, the network said.
Those cases led to 101 fatalities, 90 adults and 11 children, according to the study. Forty-three times one person was killed, and 26 times at least two people died. Males were the perpetrator in 94 percent of the cases, the study showed.
Once thought to be “a private family matter,” the study found that domestic violence murders occurred in homes, workplaces, roadways and parking lots and commonly involved bystanders, acquaintances and first responders among the injured or dead. Children were reported to be present at the scene in one‐quarter of the fatal incidents.
Nancy Neylon, ODVN’s executive director, said her organization is working with legislators, domestic violence programs, public officials and others to design “more effective responses” that can prevent these tragedies.
“We ask the public to remember these losses, to strive to fully understand the issues, and to support advances toward long‐term solutions,” she said. “We must insist that Ohio deliver courageous and outstanding leadership on domestic violence.”
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