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Purple, the color of a bruise, is also the color for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
This month, Rowan County leaders have been working together to promote awareness about domestic violence.
On Monday night, a candlelight vigil drew a large crowd in front of the Rowan County Courthouse.
In the crowd, women who have suffered from violence — their faces as anonymous as their names — held candles as survivors of the sometimes fatal crime.
One speaker at the event, also nameless, talked about enduring five years of domestic abuse.
“I thought he was my knight in shining armor,” she said. At 17, she was married and pregnant.
“He threw me up against the wall and smacked me around for a while.
“Over the next six months, he threw me down the stairs, tried to run me over and punched me in the face so many times my eye was swollen shut.”
As her story progressed a few years, so did the abuse. Her abuser punched her in the stomach, beat her with a baseball bat, choked her and put her head through a wall.
And she stayed.
She stayed until the night he pointed a shotgun at her.
“…He had a shotgun in his hand and he was saying to himself ‘I’m going to kill her.’ … I felt the bullet breeze through my hair. I thought I was dead. That was the only bullet in the house, or I would be dead.
“I was a scared 22-year-old with three kids, but I almost waited too long.”
It took this victim a year to finally achieve what she’s “always wanted.”
“I am here today, not as a victim, but as a survivor of domestic violence.”
Lydia Walker, a pillar in the domestic violence movement since 1981, also addressed the crowd.
“We have to send the message that as a community, we will not stand for domestic violence. And our first allies were law enforcement,” Walker said.
“Our goal in ending domestic violence is no less than changing the world.”
Walker appreciated the large turnout of young people.
“You will be the next generation of people who are pushing forward to bring an end to domestic violence,” she said.
Today, Walker is leading a seminar at Hefner VA Medical Center to promote awareness about domestic violence.
The Family Crisis Council, which helps women and their children escape abusive relationships already works closely with the Sheriff’s Department, the Salisbury Police Department and Rowan Regional MedicalCenter.
Studies have estimated that domestic abuse costs $3 million to $5 million annually in workplace absenteeism alone.
Crisis Council Executive Director Elizabeth Patton said businesses are recognizing the need to address domestic violence to protect their employees.
Authorities tracking 1998-1999 911 calls in Rowan County determined that 4,727 calls related to domestic violence.
Of that number, 754 occurred in Salisbury.
But so far this year, from Jan. 1 to Sept. 5, Salisbury already has accounted for 653 calls.
And the numbers always escalate around the holidays.
Salisbury Police Detective Shelia Lingle said the statistics should increase before they go back down.
“Women are feeling safer about calling,” she said.
Rowan Regional Medical Center also has taken great strides to assist in prevention and education about domestic violence.
The hospital has four emergency room nurses trained to recognize the signs of domestic violence and child abuse.
Studies show that 40 to 60 percent of men who abuse women also abuse children.
The hospital is conducting a media campaign, using flyers, posters and commercials, in English and Spanish, to inform residents of their options and rights.
Hospital Community Relations Director Phil Whitesell said the hospital has made it new policy to automatically call the Sheriff’s Department, instead of just the Department of Social Services, to report child and domestic abuse.
Rowan County Detective Linda Porter and Salisbury Detective Lingle say officers need training to recognize the signs and to arrest the right person.
“Before, it used to be ‘You stay over here, and you stay over here to cool off over night.’ But that just solves the problem temporarily,” Lingle said.
The Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department are working together to collect old cell phones.
The phones are reprogrammed to dial only 911 and they are then distributed to domestic violence victims.
“She feels so secure,” Diana Castro, of the Family Crisis Council, said about the first domestic violence victim who received a phone. “She went over to the police chief and thanked him.”
When the victim uses the phone, it automatically alerts 911 telecommunicators that it is a domestic violence call.
“We did emphasize that she needed to give her location (to 911),” Castro said.
Abuse victims have other resources to call on.
The State Automated Victim Assistance and Notification (SAVAN) hotline was established as a result of a domestic violence-related murder.
By calling 1-877-627-2826, someone can check the status of an offender who was arrested in Rowan County.
As soon as an offender is booked at the Rowan County Detention Center, his name is entered into the SAVANsystem.
A victim can call the line and register so that she is notified as soon as the offender is released.
Once the offender is released, the automated line calls the victim for a period of 24 hours — or until the victim enters a security code which confirms that the victim received notification.
Most of North Carolina is linked to the SAVAN system now.
A safety plan can be helpful to someone in an abusive relationship.
The Rowan County Family Crisis Council recommends keeping the following items in a hidden place where the abuser will not find them;
- $50 or more in cash.
- A small bag with extra clothing for the victim and children.
- Important numbers such as bank account numbers, checkbook, an abuser’s Social Security number, birth date and work place; insurance policies; marriage license; birth certificates for the victim and children and a list of friends and family phone numbers.
- Sentimental valuables and photos.
- Any special medication needed for victim or children.
- Extra keys to the house and car.
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The victim must keep hidden the place where the victim will seek refuge.
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Certain phone numbers can be called from anywhere in Rowan County free of charge, including:
- Family Crisis Council, 24 hours, 636-4718.
- Rowan Helping Ministries, 637-6838.
- Salvation Army, 636-6491.
- Department of Social Services, 633-4921.
- Rowan Regional Medical Center, 638-1000.
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