Thursday, February 19, 2009

Conway Selectmen against taxpayer support for victims of domestic violence





The online version of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper is behind a paywall. This means that unless you pay to subscribe, the bulk of the online paper is not available for viewing.

This also means that today you’re missing the front-page story entitled, “Selectmen Vote Against Town Funding for Domestic Violence Organization,” by Andrea Osmun. On Tuesday, in Conway, the town selectmen (yep – 5 men) voted 4-1 NOT to provide any town funds to Starting Point, a non-profit that provides shelter and support for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. One selectman, Mark Hounsell later explained his no vote as a mistake, and plans to clarify it at the deliberative portion of the town meeting.

The deliberate ignorance of many local men on the topic of rape and domestic violence are no longer a surprise to me. What did, however, come as something of a surprise, were the comments made by selectman Crow Dickinson. This is the kind of thing that most adult men know better than to say in public, no matter how much they loathe women:

"I don't think taxpayers should be responsible for funding a program that takes in abused women," Dickinson said. "The church should, the neighbors should, and anybody who's interested should. But not taxpayers. "
Dickinson said, "Clearly, there's a need" for such a program. But he also said Starting Point is a "new program" that "needs to demonstrate they can do whatever they're doing and be successful and show a big need. "
Starting Point has been in existence since 1981.
"There are a lot of women who use (domestic violence) as a gimmick in divorce proceedings," Dickinson said. "All they have to do is call the police and get the person thrown out. If I call the police and say you're abusing me, they'd have to believe me. I wish people would split up and be more polite about it. "
Although Dickinson said he had "absolutely no question" that there are legitimate cases of domestic violence, he added, "Just because you have a worthy cause doesn't mean we should put money in a tin cup. Some people are very convincing. It's not an easy thing to say no. "
Instead of taxpayers being asked to give the organization money, Dickinson said, "A lot of people could make contributions to this effort."

The church and the neighbors should fund this organization, but not the taxpayers. Apparently Mr. Dickinson needs to jar his memory some – seeing as how WOMEN are half of the taxpayers.

I don’t know Crow Dickinson all that well. Perhaps all of his relationships with women have been conducted strictly on a cash basis, which is why he assumes all women are gold diggers. I do have a news flash for him – the police do not automatically believe women who call and say they are being abused. Many times they don’t take it seriously at all. In the case of a stalking complaint, the police are even less likely to pay attention. A number of years ago I went to the police with a stalking complaint. The officer told me that since I had not been threatened or hurt, there wasn’t anything they could do for me, despite the fact that this man had at least 6 restraining orders taken out against him. Apparently they viewed all of us as hysterical women. We were probably having our periods at the same time. Fortunately this unbalanced individual didn’t kill anyone. He died before he could.

Battering is not used as a “gimmick” in divorce cases. There has to be proof. Clearly Mr. Dickinson is harkening back to the days of his dinosaur youth, when women knew their place. Back then, women knew that if a man hit them it was because the bitches were asking for it.

• Nearly one in every 4 NH women has been raped or sexually assaulted.
• Over half of the women in our state have experienced sexual or physical assault in their lifetime.

This is not the reality for most men. Because they don’t have to fear rape and assault, they pooh-pooh the notion that women do.

Women are raped, beaten, and killed by their husbands and boyfriends every single day. Our society does not take crimes against women seriously.

We taxpayers pay for police to protect us. It’s a public service. So is shelter for women who are being terrorized and beaten in their very own homes. If we cannot protect them from being beaten, we certainly owe it to them to provide a safe place while they heal and make plans to go on with their lives. This is what a community is supposed to do – provide safety and nurture. The idea that these men could be opposed to such a consideration is sick-making.

In times of financial crisis, domestic violence escalates. I would urge the myopic, misogynistic, selectmen of Conway to reconsider their recommendation. I encourage the voters of Conway to go against the recommendation of the selectmen, and vote for Starting Point. As you vote, pray that a woman that you love will never require their services, but know that you're making sure those services will be available if she does.

The tee shirt in the picture is the new uniform for the Conway Selectmen.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I read this in the Sun yesterday and today and I was shocked. As a police officer in the Conway area, I can not stress the need for Starting Point enough!

Cold North Wind said...

At least the dolt (Dick- - -) was stupid enough to state openly his beliefs about slavery (of women) -Gives TAXPAYERS a chance to decide if they wish to pay his salary or not.

What the heck is a selectman ? A select gang of woman haters ??????
(I'm in that country north of you - -
Cold North Wind

Anonymous said...

Isn't a non-profit an independent entity? How would the town oversee its activities, ensure proper use of town fees etc? Isn't protecting these woman a police function?? Don't we already pay for that?

I'm not sure I understand your invective. If this organization has surived without town funding since 1981, I can't imagine it's just going to disappear without it?

susanthe said...

Anonymous2 -
I'm guessing you're from away and you haven't read the actual news stories, and you're unfamiliar with the way small town governance works in this state.

This would be the first year the selectmen did not recommend giving some funding to Starting Point. Since you are probably unfamiliar with the town meeting form of govt., ultimately the voters decide whether to appropriate some funds or not.

Do the police in your state provide shelter for battered women? I wasn't aware that there were police departments in the country that provided that kind of service. I'm interested to hear more.

Hannah said...

Anonymous 2:

Most towns supportive non for profit organizations that they see benefiting their towns. Its not an unusal practice. It saves the town money by not having to open up, and fully fund organizations like the one in the news story. It other words - it could get keep your taxes down! LOL Think about it!

This Selectman didn't do his homework, and I will say he is going to be beat up royally for the ignorant comments he made. You have people that don't have families to take them in - sometimes its due to them being afraid of the person killing them as well! Churches are really bad at handling this circumstances. They have yet to wake up to their poor statements on this issue. "Submit more and be a better wife" "Change yourself, and he will change as well" If the selectman did his homework he would know that. Instead your public official decided to rely on stereotypes that have been proven as myths. Kind of irresponsible wouldn't you say?

Frank said...

Susan, you say that women need proof to get an R.O.? Well maybe you need to hear this.

My ex went to court to obtain a R.O. against me. I never laid a hand on her, I never even yelled at her. She used me plain and simple and I wanted an end to the relationship. She was a liar and she used me to impregnate her. Her fostermother came to me and told me the truth about her. I was the second victim in her scam.

So she could get the upper hand she went to court to get the R.O.. She told the magistrate that I tried to attack her with a butcher knife. The magistrate called her a liar. This woman, whose husband filed for divorce against went and tried to press false charges of rape against him. The magistrate was not going for it. He was not going to give her the R.O. because he knew about her scam. She was with someone from the Domestic Violence Services of Medina Ohio who whispered something to her. She then stated that she was in fear of her life. There was absolutely no proof that this was the case. The Magistrate had no choice but to grant her the R.O. because that was all she had to say. My son, who was born on May 28, 2007, I have never seen, not even a photo of him, yet I pay child support for him.

So before you say such things you need to wake the heck up. As a member of various father's rights groups I have seen it time and time again where all a woman has to do is go into court, with absolutely no proof of abuse and get a R.O.. I have seen with my own eyes words written from divorce lawyers who advocate this tactic to get a leg up in divorce and custody proceedings.

So again, before you say stuff like this you need to come off your high horse and accept the fact that women use this tactic in alot of cases.

susanthe said...

Frank,

Go back and re-read. I was very specifically talking about restraining orders in a specific STALKING case.

Oh, and Frank - next time use a condom. You're responsible for your sperm. It can't be "used" if you don't let it.

susanthe said...

Frank - you can stop sending comments any time now. I'm not going to give you a forum for accusing ME of being hateful, while you spew all kinds of hate at me.

I'm not going to publish anonymous vaguely threatening commentary. If you want to provide your full name, address and phone number, I'll publish your comments. Until then - I suggest you get some help for your obvious anger management issues. If you think that blustering and blaming is the way to win women over to your point of view - you FAIL.

DissedBelief said...

I'd like to respond to Frank. I'll use myself as an example. I remained childless by choice for a number of reasons. One of them being I was in a nightmare marriage. Wouldn't have been smart bringing a kid into that environment, don't you think? Being a single parent is not ideal either, not so? When we choose our behaviors we choose the consequences. So Frank, you enjoyed your sexual interactions with this woman and paid no mind to birth control. You chose to take the chance of becoming a father. And I hope you are not "one of those men" who rely on woman to do all the work with birth control. If you did, you have yourself to blame. Why so many men choose to hate women is beyond me. You men have ruled this planet you turned into a toilet bowl for 2000 years and look where it got you? Perhaps if you lived an inclusive life with the opposite sex, treating us like the mindful, bright, caring and nurturing homo sapiens we are, your experiences might have been better? And just like the male species, there are nice women and not so nice women. What kind are you hanging out with? Are they reflective of yourself? Probably.

Frank said...

Ahhhh, the feminazi's are having a good laugh over this one.

Too bad I cannot post the whole sordid story. And yeah, Dissed I used birth control, it was called a condom.

Then again, it is good that us men be put into our places eh? It is alright for a woman to beat on her significant other, hell they have been beating on us and keeping us barefoot and pregnant as the chief cook and bottle washer all our lives. Time we give them back a little dose of their own medicine.

You are jokes. Eventually you feminazis are going to realize, the real problem is you, not men and the sooner you face that fact the better it will be for all humanity.

susanthe said...

Frank,

I understand why women keep dumping you.