Sikeston Jaycees partner with House of Refuge
SIKESTON - In the United States, more than one in three women has been domestically assaulted, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In an effort to help combat these stats, the Sikeston Jaycees has partnered with the House of Refuge at this year's Sikeston Jaycees Bootheel Rodeo.
"The House of Refuge is real honored and thrilled that the Jaycees established a partnership with us...that a group of men from southeast Missouri wanted to make domestic violence their focus," said board chairperson of The House of Refuge Holly Hunter-Heckemeyer.
Lawyer Mary Griffith of the Mary Griffith Law Office, a board member for The House of Refuge, recalled one incident of domestic abuse where a woman's significant other held a gun to her head, told her to say goodbye to her children, then was taken outside to be shot. Although she wasn't actually shot, it was good that the kids didn't witness it, Griffith said.
In other instances, "clients have been raped with tools and instruments. One of the worst I heard of was one woman was raped, forced to walk barefoot for assistance and died from internal bleeding," she said.
Griffith has also seen cases where women were beaten so badly that they were ushered to the hospital. "Brain trauma is not uncommon with domestic violence," she said.
"For us at the shelter, we are working on education because change is started with education," said Hunter-Heckemeyer.
"The lady on the phone (Hunter-Heckemeyer) literally broke into tears when she found out we were a young, all-male organization that was taking a stand against domestic violence, doing it in such an up-front situation. Especially in the sport of rodeo, which is primarily male dominated," said rodeo chairman Zach Fayette. "This year we have made quite a few changes,. One of the big changes is that we have taken Saturday from pink to purple for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence."
Their tag line -- "Take a Stand Against Domestic Violence."
For the full story, see the Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016, edition of the Standard Democrat or view our e-edition.