Crisis Center to observe ‘Turn Our Town Purple’
The Family Crisis Center wants the community to join in to observe the sixth-annual “Turn Our Town Purple” event Oct. 25. It is part of the center’s marking October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, said Becky Davis, FCC domestic and sexual violence program director.
“Wear your favorite purple shirt, decorate your office in purple, or shine a purple light to show your commitment to be part of the equation,” she said. If one doesn’t have a purple shirt, the center will have appropriately colored ribbons available.
“Take a picture and post it to facebook.com/FamilyCrisisCenter,” she said. “Or email your pictures and we’ll post them.”
The email address is info@familycrisiscntr.org.
This is being held in conjunction with National Network to End Domestic Violence’s #PurpleThursday.
For more information call the center, 620-792-1885, or visit familycrisiscntr.org online.
Domestic violence is a widespread, preventable, public health problem impacting all demographics of Kansans, Kansas communities and residents of Barton County.Becky Davis, domestic and sexual violence program director for the Family Crisis Center
In light of the overwhelming problem of domestic violence, Barton County Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Schartz wondered if anything the commission did could help. The body approved a resolution Monday morning marking this as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
“I wish we could say that a resolution would make a difference,” she said. “Maybe awareness is the first step.”
Becky Davis, domestic and sexual violence program director for the Family Crisis Center, agreed. “Domestic violence is a widespread, preventable, public health problem impacting all demographics of Kansans, Kansas communities and residents of Barton County,” she said.
“Relationships are often counted as life’s greatest treasures, and tragically, many are tarnished by one person’s entitlement to power and control over the other, resulting in violence and fear,” Davis said. “DV abusers violate an individual’s privacy, dignity, security and humanity with their intentional, systematic use of financial, psychological, sexual, physical and coercive control and abuse.”
The proclamation reads: “Be it proclaimed by the Board of County Commissioners of Barton County, Kansas, that this violence is inconsistent with community values and cannot be tolerated.”
In reading the resolution, Davis cited the following statistics:
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about one in three (36.4 percent) American women and one in three (33.3 percent) American men experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.
This translates to a third, or one in three Kansans, amounting to over 1 million people and 35 percent of the Kansas population.
• But, only one in four (24 percent) American women and one in 10 (10.6 percent) American men experienced DV and also reported some form of related impact from inflictions; and
• The U.S. Department of Justice reports DV homicides comprise 14 percent of all homicides in the U.S. and that women are more than twice as likely as men to be killed by an intimate partner.
• The Kansas Bureau of Investigation reports DV homicides were 12.8 percent of all homicides in Kansas in 2016.
• In Kansas in 2016, one DV arrest was made by law enforcement every 46 minutes, one DV incident occurred every 23 minutes, and one DV murder occurred every 19 days.
The term “domestic violence” means intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence can take many forms and describes physical, sexual, financial, and emotional and psychological harm – in the dating process, which is called “dating violence,” and by a current or former partner or spouse. The violence can occur among heterosexual, same-sex, or any other type of intimate partner relationship and does not require sexual intimacy.
The center covers Barber, Barton, Comanche, Edwards, Kiowa, Ness, Pawnee, Pratt, Rush and Stafford counties. The Dell Hayden Memorial Child Advocacy Center housed in the Family Crisis Center covers Barton, Pawnee, Rush and Stafford counties.
