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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1981)
Agency served 440 last year WomenSpace offers abuse victims shelter By SHARON KETNER Of ItM Emerald Government statistics and sociological studies estimate that once every 12 seconds a woman is battered in the United States At least one out of every 10 married women is subjected to severe and repeated beatings in her own home Abused women often have no access to funds or transportation, no place to go where they can find safety and emotional support Logo courtany Women Space WomenSpace, a community agency dedicated to helping battered women was formed in 1977 by a group of women who had been battered themselves It provides a 24-hour crisis line and a temporary shutter house, which served 440 women and children in 1980 The shelter is equipped to provide food, clothing and even toothbrushes for families who must leave everything behind to escape an abuser The location of the shelter is strictly con fidential Other services of WomenSpace include 24-hour emergency transportation (with police back-up if necessary), and counseling and advocacy to help women explore housing, financial and legal options Support groups are conducted weekly in the shelter Karen Frazier, a Women Space volunteer, outlines the agency's philosophy "As participants in WomenSpace, we believe that every person has the right to live a life free from violence and the fear of abuse "Domestic violence is a result of a culture which condones violence as a means of conflict resolution, especially among men "The overall goal of WomenSpace is the empower ment of women through main taining a shelter house and support services, and advoca ting a woman's right to live a life free from abuse.” WomenSpace defines abuse in three ways • Physical abuse any act or behavior that inflicts or is in tended to inflict bodily harm • Emotional abuse including ridicule or demeaning remarks and sarcasm • Threatened violence verbal expressions of intent to inflict bodily harm, whether or not they are carried out There are several myths sur rounding domestic violence, which Women Space tries to debunk, Frazier says It is com monly believed that the abuser is goaded into violence by the woman, she says "There is no justification for violence Whenever people are living intimately, there are bound to be disagreements, Frazier says "Certainly people provoke each other, but that’s no excuse for a beating There are other ways to resolve conflicts We feel that violent behavior is always the responsibility of the violent person " Many people think the abused woman remains in the home because she likes it MILLER NIGHT Thur. Nov. 19 8 pm to Closing 12 oz Cups of Miller 40c door prizf:s and drawings Remember, Dimers every Monday night S*-10:30 pm located 1-5 and 30th Ave. Across from lane C.C. “None of the women who call us on the telephone or stay in the shelter like being beaten They stay for a variety of rea sons that are complex. “Breaking up a family is a heavy thing Sometimes they might stay because the children aren’t abused Sometimes they stay because they’re eco nomically dependent,” Frazier says "They’ve often been pri soners in their own homes, have no friends and no self-esteem, and they think they can’t make it on their own.” Continued on Page 8 checks and balances rights for Nazis, too? By RON HUNT Of ttw Emerald Everybody loves to see justice done — on somebody else "Justice,'' By Bruce Cockburn The television movie "Skokie” dramatizes the tension between free speech for views we cherish and for those we despise Skokie is a suburb of Chicago, predominantly Jewish, and includes many survivors of Nazi concentration camps During 1977 and 1978, suburb residents fought to prevent an American Nazi group from marching through its streets "Skokie,” a dramatization shown Tuesday night on CBS, posed basic questions on the free speech vital to an increasingly pluralistic campus and society At a protest meeting, an Anti-Defamation League representative tells the Jews to "quarantine”: the worst thing to do is give the Nazis a platform Turn your back Refuse to give them the confrontation they want. A concentration camp survivor in "Sko kie"' named Max Feldman says he's heard that line before. In Germany! They came from the Big City, very fine professional gentlemen from national Jewish organizations They said. “Storm troopers? Just hoodlums in the street. Don't pay any attention " Feldman shouts "not this time” and shows his arm, revealing his tattooed number from a death camp If you don't want violence, don't let the Nazis march! Later, the village of Skokie used this argument in the Cook County Circuit Court, And the judge agreed: "I believe he (Nazi leader Frank Collin) intends trouble, to incite to riot," The American Civil Liberties Union attor ney, himself a Jew, protested that Skokie's request for prior restraint was based on the "heckler's veto” argument — prohibiting someone from speaking because his oppo nents threaten violence. The ACLU, defending Collin, said its client was merely planning a 20-minute peaceful march. From the teleplay it appears Skokie Jews were ditching their responsibility Why is reac tionary violence the initiator’s fault? The trauma and agony heaped upon Jews from the Holocaust cannot be belittled, but is violent reaction by a survivor anyone’s fault but his? At the show's end, the second attorney quotes Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Not free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought we hate ” If groups — Nazis, Jews, Communists, Christians, John Birchers, Muslims, ad infini tum — are, at various times and places, un popular and therefore silenced, would the "popular" view automatically be right? To shut up violent groups would merely be a Band-Aid The cancer would remain in society Venom comes from the gut, not the vocal chords Everybody loves to hear silence — from somebody else Take a train home You can ride the Willamette Valley Ex press home for less than half the cost of driving a car. And you get com plete food and beverage service! Save 35% & Just buy a roundtrip ticket, and Amtrak will give you a 35% fare discount Eugene — Portland, $20.50 roundtrip Eugene — Seattle, $49.00 roundtrip Easy come, easy go. NORTHBOUND LV Eugene AR Portland AR Seattle WVE #796 CS #14 6 25a 10 35a 9 20a 1 50p 1 20p 6 05p WVE #752 4 10p 7 05p WVE - Willamette valley f «press SOUTHBOUND LV Seattle IV Portland AREugene WVE #755 CS # 11 11 25a 8 30a 3 40p 1125a 610p WVE #753 8 OOp 11 OOp CS = Coast Starlight Use Amtrak’s conve nient new computer reservation service: 1-800-421-8320 Reservations are required on the Coast Starlight For the Willamette Valley Ex press, just buy your ticket at the depot a tew minutes betore departure the NNIMMETTE Ifl&EY EXPRESS A mtrak^BSfi^S ta,es not 9ooct on coast Starlight these dates 11/26 & 29. 12/23 24 27 & 31 1/3
