European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The Legal system in the United states All too often alls the desperate women who turn to it Tor Refuge according to authorities and advocacy groups. When the system fails to help by Karen Tumulty and Stephanie Chavez los Angeles times Massachusetts woman asked a judge Lor Protection irom the abusive husband who bragged even to Polico of his plans to kill her. This court has a lot More serious mailers to contend with she was told. In the District of Columbia a Man broke into an apartment and hold the Mother of his two children Al gunpoint Lor hours. Prosecutors wrote he Case Oil As a routine child custody Opal and did not press charges a woman in Colorado terrorized for years by a former Boyfriend pleaded that he be held in jail but she had Only a scratch to show item his latest attack and he got out with a $100 Fine these three women Are now dead Pamela Nigro Dunn. Leedonyell Williams and Sharie Burge were murdered by the enraged obsessed men who had been their husbands or lovers such killings occur somewhere in the United Stales every six hours and account Lor almost one third of women murdered. Rarely do they happen without warning. Almost always. The women leave their stories in a police file somewhere one that chronicles an All Loo familiar pattern of escalating violence one that spells out every Opportunity the Legal system had to step Between the abuser and his victim. The system s last Chance to save Maria Navarro came when she telephoned the los Angeles county sheriff s 911 emergency number and told a dispatcher that her estranged husband was on his Way Over to kill her. The dispatcher refused to Send a patrol unit to her apart men and a Hall hour later a gunman killed Navarro her two aunts and a family Friend. Authorities later arrested Navarro s husband. Questions immediately arose As to whether the department properly handled the Call. But the real Issue according to authorities and advocacy groups is that Iho system All too Ollen fails the desperate women who turn to it for Refuge. Maria Navarro did everything right everything the system told her to do she had left the husband she had a restraining order that had expire she called  said Sheila Jamos Kuehl managing attorney for the Southern California women s Lav Center. What we must learn from this is that even the threat of Domestic violence is a very serious state added Cheryl Ward the senior assistant City attorney who chairs the los Angeles county Domestic violence Council. When there is an Opportunity Lor authorities to intervene they must take that Opportunity Ward added unfortunately when there is violence Short of death threats pushing shoving it seems to get  one reason for this apparent disregard May be that frequency has inured society to family violence. A University of now Hampshire study estimated that at least two thirds of the 56 million married and co Habi Tating couples in this country have experienced at least one violent incident. California Law enforcement agencies received 182,540 Domestic violence Calls last year women Are usually at the receiving end in the worst cases the victims in 90 percent of the assaults and two thirds of the Domestic murders recorded by the us. Department of Justice. The surgeon general in 1984 identified battering As this nation s single largest cause of injury to women. Nol until the situation becomes almost unbearable will most women turn to the police said Murray Straus a sociology professor who directs the University of new Hampshire s family research Laboratory. It takes an incredible amount of abuse for a woman to take Legal  authorities say one of their biggest problems is that victims themselves often Are unwilling to cooperate in prosecuting those who Batter them. For example. New York police say thai in fully half of their Suffolk county Domestic violence Calls the victim does not want her attacker arrested. In Misdemeanour cases this Means police must let him go. Of those victims who do allow arrest another half change their minds by Tho time the Case gels to court. Reason often it s the unhealthy dependence that Many victims their self esteem and Confidence battered out of them have on their abusers. Because of these Strong attachments Many women become caught up in cycles of escalating violence. The pattern begins with what Counselor Call the battering incident which is followed by a honeymoon  a time of reconciliation when the victim denies her troubles and Hopes for bettor times. Tensions then Rise again until another beating takes place. The Cycle can continue for years to the Point where victims Are being stalked said Barbara Kendall director of the victim witness unit of the Boulder county District attorney s office in Colorado. They also grow disillusioned with the disjointed and intimidating Justice system others say. Some argue that it is important to take batterers into custody even without the consent of their victims because this will impress upon them that their actions Are a crime oven if they Are never put in jail. A Good arrest does not have to Lead to a conviction. A Good arrest leads to a change in behaviour said Edmund stubbing an sex new York City police officer who now works for the nonprofit victim services Agency there. Erma  of Little people Are Hilling the streets this  they move Wilh the clumsiness of Newborn Field Rico As they climb onto buses wearing new underwear clutching lunches they Are Loo excited to eat. And clinging desperately to the hands of strangers As they go to Iho bathroom Dehms i Host children entering school for the very Lisl Lime Are mothers who View it As the end of an Era they Rohert on what they have taught and what their kids  i remember what do kids retain from the vast experience of their childhood7 do they remember the wonderfulness of a Mother who gave them thick soft towels caressed in water softener do they remember she provided toothpaste laced with fluoride do they cherish the memories of clean ovens and Well balanced meals or Are those the things that mothers think they will remember from time to tune. I have been enlightened on what children Are thinking by a wonderful newsletter written by Tom Bernagozzi s third Grade class Al Gardiner Manor school in Bay Shore . Those Are some of the special moments in their lives they have carried with them irom childhood into the third Grade when i was a baby i used to love my pampers boxes. As soon As they were empty i would get in them and ride them All Over there was a time Al age 31 had mom s Nightgown on and it was too Long for me i tripped and hit my head and it Hurt a  mom and i were playing hide and seek and i could t find her. I Felt so alone and scared " inca remembers when she throw up on the baby Sitter Eliza recalls How her father told her when she was born she looked like a red pm urn Tomato and John savors the memory of the time he throw a toy at his Mother and she predicted you were born to Pilch Many of them Clung to memories of pets they had owned a Rabbit or a fish that had died a Snake that got lost or a Parrot that had escaped. When i was a baby i drank Windsong perfume and my Mother called a doctor. He told her to give me a lot of  i used to feed the dog and once i remember dumping a whole Box of cheerios Over his head. He was really a bad dog. If you told him to sit he would pee. In fact if you told him to do anything he would  it s hard to know How children select what part of their childhood they choose to hang on to. All i can do is assure you that not one child remembered a Mother who was fussy Over what Brand of Peanut butter she fed him. How Sho set a table with glassware that sparkled and was spot free or which effective germ lighter she used in the toilet bowl. C i9s9 Erma Dombeck Page 16 the stars and stripes monday september 11,1989