Published: October 06, 2006 02:06 am      

SILENT WITNESS: Event kicks off Domestic Violence Awareness Month

The women were led into the Niagara County Legislature chambers by members of Boy Scout Troop No. 4 to deafening silence.

One by one, the honored women’s names were read off as they made their way to the front of the room and were set into place in front of more than 75 friends, family members and supporters.

But Lynn Foster, Tammy Beckwith, Sara Spina, Jean Schmitt, Bridget Jermain, Coleen Robinson, Michelle O’Connor, Tina Boyer and Lanerra Streeter were in the room merely represented as silhouettes.

These women were recognized Thursday night through the Silent Witness Project, a national effort that acknowledges the victims of domestic violence.

The project is meant to remind the community that domestic violence is still a problem people are dealing with in Niagara County and around the nation.

About 3,200 domestic incidents are reported each year in Niagara County. While most of them do not end in homicide, the violence still scars them.

Angie Gilbert was able to get out of a dangerous domestic situation and into a happier relationship, but she choked back tears when she recalled how she felt back then.

“I used to pray that someone would ask me if I’m OK,” Gilbert told the audience. “Nobody ever did.”

Gilbert tried to leave her husband twice. She said passersby and even a security guard ignored her ripped shirt, black eye and bleeding lip the first time.

“I’m the face of all of the statistics you read about,” Gilbert said. “We’re not just numbers. We are the people you see every day.”

After her life was in a better place, the survivor said she was outraged to learn that the law used to regard animal cruelty as more serious than domestic violence.

The Silent Witness Project is another step in bringing awareness to domestic violence in the hopes of stopping it, said District Attorney Matthew J. Murphy III. Although he helped to form the Domestic Violence Intervention Project 12 years ago, he said he believes the work to eradicate domestic violence is in no way over.

“Much remains to be done,” Murphy said. “Every one of these cases touches us personally and individually. It just absolutely tears my heart out to talk about the consequences of what happens in a homicide.”

This is the first time these nine Niagara County women have been represented in the project. Eagle Scout hopeful Jeffrey Wick, 14, created the wooden silhouettes after Susan LaRose, the county’s Domestic Violence Coordinator, approached his family with the idea.

A group of artists began the project in 1990 in Minnesota to recognize 26 women whose lives were lost that year. LaRose said there is now at least one Silent Witness project per state.

Thursday’s event was planned as a way to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The Silent Witness Project will be on display in the courthouse’s rotunda for the rest of the month. For more information about the project or domestic violence, call the Niagara County Domestic Violence Intervention Program at 438-3301.

Contact Tasha Kates at 439-9222, Ext. 6241.