Abuse vigil gives thanks for funds

BANGOR – After getting some help adjusting the microphone from U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, the pretty woman with the long, dark hair addressed the 50 or so people standing before her holding candles.

Her message reverberated from the buildings lining Bangor’s West Market Square as she spoke to abused women who were questioning whether their relationships and marriages were normal.

Powerful in its simplicity, the woman said, “It’s not supposed to be scary.”

Having left behind a 12-year abusive marriage just one year ago, the woman named Jacki and her four sons now “dance in the kitchen and no one is afraid. It’s a wonderful thing.”

The press conference and candlelight vigil were held Monday evening on the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and to show thanks for the nearly $5 million that the Legislature approved last session to bolster programs that fight domestic violence and sexual assault in Maine.

It’s the biggest infusion of state funds that the organizations have received from the state in 16 years, according to Kathy Walker, executive director of Rape Response Services, which operates in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

It was about half of what supporters were hoping for when they first submitted the $10 million legislation, but in the tempestuous and turbid final days of the legislative session, when a $300 million shortfall saw dozens of spending programs tossed aside, supporters were happy with what they got.

For Rape Response Services, it means an actual office in Piscataquis County and maybe a small raise and some benefits for workers who have had neither.

For Spruce Run in Bangor it means more outreach programs and education programs in the schools. There also may be more shelter beds and phone lines for the sometimes busy domestic abuse hot line.

On Monday, House Majority Leader Patrick Colwell, who sponsored the legislation, praised Bangor area legislators and program administrators for their tenacity in defending the domestic violence bill.

“Today is the day that the Legislature puts its money where its mouth is,” Colwell said.

Noting that domestic violence was the No. 1 crime problem in Maine, Colwell said that its end “starts here today.”

The legislator from Gardiner said the Bangor community had been relentless in its lobbying effort and said it was nice to be lobbied by “women in peasant dresses, bluejeans and loafers instead of Gucci suits and fancy shoes.”

“We heard them,” he said. “And I’m here to tell you that help is here today.”

Walker has been around for awhile and she’s heard a lot of promises and a lot of speeches from politicians vowing to end domestic violence in Maine.

Colwell, she said, is different.

“To have a House majority leader get it …,” she paused, “well, I think that’s a very big deal. Of course he didn’t get it right away, but he does now.”

Domestic violence and sexual assault prevention programs across the state will split $1.5 million this year and then receive just over $3 million the next year, Colwell said. That’s in addition to the approximate $2.2 million that the state dedicates to such programs now.

On Monday, Baldacci reminded those at Monday’s vigil that last year 64 percent of Maine’s homicides were due to domestic violence and that each year hot lines across the state receive 60,000 calls for help.

A brief moment of silence was observed in memory of Andrea Lockhart who was killed and whose body was encased in a fiberglass-covered box in 1998 in Southwest Harbor.

Her estranged husband, Stephen Lockhart, is charged with her murder. His trial started Monday in Augusta. The couple had three sons.

But those who were present Monday also wanted to talk of hope and that came from the woman at the microphone, who met her husband at Bible camp and had four sons with him. She spoke of help she received from Spruce Run, such as learning how to get food stamps and how to get enrolled in heating-assistance programs and the stigma attached to those programs.

“I couldn’t have gotten out without them,” she said. “No one is supposed to stand alone.”