-
Feb 4, 2008 11:17 pm US/Eastern
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Service Held To Honor Domestic Violence Victims
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) ―
A call for action in Annapolis for the women whose lives were taken too soon due to domestic violence.
Kathryn Brown spent the evening in the state capitol and has more on the push for added protection.
One by one, the names of each of the 52 Marylanders who died at the hands of domestic violence last year were called. Each was represented by a heart. Among them were men, women and children, old and heartbreakingly young.
In the crowd was a survivor. L.Y. Marlow was just 16 when she got her first black eye. She's since learned her family holds four generations of abuse, adding up to more than 60 years of silence.
"And so I found myself living in that same fear I later learned my grandmother and mother lived in."
Marlow is here to break that silence and push lawmakers to strengthen domestic violence laws.
Montgomery County Delegate Kathleen Dumais says lawmakers must require firearms to be taken away whenever a protective order is issued and must take some of the burden off victims.
"We want law enforcement to be able to get an interim order which only lasts about two days but will give the victim time to get himself or herself acclimated," she said.
Among the victims weighing heavily on the hearts of those in this room were Gail Pumphrey and her three children killed Thanksgiving day by their father, five children inside a Frederick home killed by their father and two young children hanged in the woods by their father.
"We're going to fight back against that, mindful of the Talmud, which teaches us that if you save just one life, it is as if you have saved the entire world," said Governor Martin O'Malley.
So far this year, state lawmakers have proposed nine bills relating to domestic violence and expect more to come.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)