Domestic Violence Awareness Community Stakeholders Meeting Held

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2015

The Quad Counties Council New Horizons Outreach Program held a community-wide stakeholder meeting on Domestic Violence Awareness in Eagle Pass and Maverick County on Wednesday, October 21, 2015, at 10 A.M. through 1 P.M. at the BBVA Compass Bank, located at 2320 East Main Street, in Eagle Pass, Texas, announced Executive Director Simon Sotelo.

Over 35 community leaders and stakeholders attended the important meeting to develop, design, and implement a community-wide strategy and plan of action to address the salient issue of domestic violence in Eagle Pass and Maverick County. The Maverick County Committee Against Family Violence was organized six months ago by Quad Counties Council New Horizons Project to unite all the community stakeholders who address or work with domestic violence victims and their children.

Committee member Pastor Paul Bailie announced that the Iglesia Luterana de San Lucas has agreed to provide facilities to implement the first Maverick County Shelter for Women, including eight bedrooms, kitchen and dining room areas, bathroom and showers, and a large gathering place for domestic violence victims and their children.

Sotelo presented the participants a “Social Ecological Model” which integrates all the community stakeholders into a broad-based coalition to tackle the critical domestic violence crisis within Maverick County. “This is about the community. Let’s not compete against one another, but rather let’s cooperate with one another to help and protect domestic violence victims and their children,” said Sotelo.

293rd Judicial District Attorney Roberto Serna, whom has served as DA for 25 years of Dimmit, Maverick, and Zavala Counties, presented the Committee his new “DA Initiative Plan to take the lead in trying to improve the domestic violence response in Maverick County, which includes the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department, Eagle Pass Police Department, and a Domestic Violence Response Team in his office to address the problem and guiding victims through the legal and judicial process in obtaining available legal relief and protection.” Serna presented the details to the Committee present at the meeting. Serna also noted that during the 25 years that he has been District Attorney, all the domestic violence defendants whom have gone to a jury trial have been convicted and are still in prison. He also added that during 2014 and 2015, Maverick County had not had any homicides arising from domestic violence. Earlier, Sotelo advised the Committee that there had been two homicides in 2013 in Maverick County arising from domestic violence incidents.

Eagle Pass attorney Ricardo E. Calderon addressed the Committee and advised them that domestic violence cases are about the safety and welfare of the victims and their children. Calderon stated that “one domestic violence victim is one too many.” Calderon postulated the need to have a community-wide strategy and plan to attack domestic violence in Maverick County and commended the Committee for its efforts. Calderon stated that there is a great demand and need to establish a Maverick County Family Justice Center patterned after the Bexar County Family Justice Center and seek grant funding for it from the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and other foundations.

During September 2014 through September 2015, the Eagle Pass Police Department reported a total of 460 domestic/family violence incidents its officers had to respond to and/or investigate.  Meanwhile, the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department reported 148 domestic violence incidents during January 2014 through September 2015.  Combined that is a total of 608 family/domestic violence incidents reported in the community of Maverick County, Texas.

A series of Eagle Pass Business Journal investigative articles concerning the serious problem Maverick County domestic violence victims and their family members face receiving legal and prosecutorial assistance, psychological counseling, temporary housing assistance, job placement, legal protective orders, healthcare assistance, and other assistance has raised the importance of Domestic Violence Awareness in the community as well as the deficiencies found in the community.

The Eagle Pass Business Journal’s investigation found that the most important deficiency in Maverick County for domestic violence victims and their family members is the lack of a County-wide coordinated and strategic effort and plan of action between all the legal, judicial, social, healthcare, psychological, educational, housing, and support agencies, organizations, and entities who address and protect Domestic Violence victims and their loved ones.  Its like the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

Consequently, many Domestic Violence batterers go unpunished, not prosecuted, and allowed to return to their homes only to commit the same offenses against their intimate partners again, sometimes resulting in murder, while the victims and their children do not receive the full support and assistance from the community’s organizations and entities established to deal with, rehabilitate, cope, handle, survive, and heal their permanent physical injuries, psychological injuries, healthcare injuries, loss of housing, loss of financial support, loss of employment, loss of educational opportunities, and distrust of the law enforcement, legal, and judicial systems which are supposed to serve and protect them.

The Eagle Pass Business Journal’s investigation also found that Maverick County’s attitude toward Domestic Violence is lackadaisical and inadequate.  It is not a community priority nor is there a commitment to establish and support a cultural and institutional change to develop and coordinate a total community-wide strategy and plan to assist victims of domestic violence and their children and to create a community awareness that domestic violence is wrong, against the law, and permanently scars the victims and their children.  A community-wide coordinated strategy and mechanism is needed to support domestic violence victims and their children and to implement all the legal and judicial laws and remedies available against those individuals who commit domestic violence regardless of their social standing.   If you do the crime, you will do the time.

There is not a more opportune time to meet, discuss, develop, coordinate, and implement a community-wide strategic plan and system to address domestic violence awareness than October 2015 which is designated as the Official National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Many Eagle Pass and Maverick County agencies, organizations, entities, and citizens who deal with domestic violence issues and/or victims and their families or who genuinely care about making a difference in the community concerning this serious problem attended the community domestic violence awareness stakeholders meeting on October 21st, said Perla Vela.

Any person needing domestic violence victim counseling may contact Isabel Fernandez at (830) 313-3558 and/or Perla Vela at the Quad Counties Council New Horizons Project at (830) 757-0600 or (830) 352-2537, or Carolina Gonzalez of the Winter Garden Women’s Shelter at (830) 757-4141.

Any person who is being threatened to be battered or actually abused by their intimate partner should immediately dial 911 and report any domestic violence against them to the police or sheriff’s department.