Domestic Violence in Maine the Pond to Collect Samples for Angela Gospodarek’S Seventh Grade Life Science Class at Gorham Middle School
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NONPROFIT OWN OF U.S. POSTAGE PAID T GORHAM, ME PERMIT NO. 10 VOLUME 17 NUMBER 22 Gorham, Maine NOVEMBER 10, 2011 —FOUNDED 1736— CELEBRATING 16 YEARS—A FREE, VOLUNTEER-RUN, BIWEEKLY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER Photo credit Angela Gospodarek Wading with a Purpose Ariana Smith, Angelina Meserve, Sarah Dickney and Mad- die Joyal-Myers gave a “thumbs up” after wading through Domestic Violence in Maine the pond to collect samples for Angela Gospodarek’s seventh grade Life Science class at Gorham Middle School. Gorham Uses EPIC advocate Sheri Faber More on page 7. ccording to the National Coalition Against and confidential. There is one shelter in the Greater Domestic Violence, one in every four women Portland area that can house 14 women and children; Awill experience domestic violence in her the shelter is usually full. While it is designed for short lifetime. Boys who witness domestic violence are stays, the lack of permanent affordable housing made Election Results twice as likely to abuse their own families as adults. the stays longer, with some women staying up to 90 Domestic violence is a crime that can affect anyone days or even longer. Town Council: (Top two were elected) and is a crime with a high recidivism rate. 13% of “To leave is a process,” says Annis. About 50% of R Michael Phinney 2180 the civil docket in Maine represents requests for the annual homicides in Maine are domestic violence R Suzanne Phillips 1899 Protection from Abuse orders. related and most of those occurred while the victim Noah Miner 1811 In Maine, the policy is for the police department to was trying to leave the relationship. For Annis the ini- Dan LeVasseur 1222 follow up with the victim within 48, or preferably 24 tial focus is on “what people want to do to be safe.” hours of the original call to discuss what options are She can connect them to other resources including School Committee: (Top two were elected) available. Currently the Gorham Police Department is legal assistance, as well as counseling for themselves R Sara Nelson 2455 working with Jennifer Annis of Family Crisis Services and their children. If the victim does not want to go R Dennis Libby 2433 who is an EPIC (Enhanced Police Intervention and to the police, Annis can provide them with informa- Ann Lawrence 1769 Collaboration) Advocate. Annis covers Gorham, Cape tion about other possible options. Timothy Burns 1510 Elizabeth, Scarborough, Standish and Naples, meeting Domestic violence cases are of great concern to each week with the various police departments to the police because of the potential for escalating vio- Question 1: People’s Veto review cases from the previous week. Family Crisis lence. Lt. Sanborn sees Annis as a valuable asset, who Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Services has a one-year grant that started in July 2011 is able to provide more extensive information about Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register for this project. Lt. Sanborn of the Gorham Police available services and who can follow up with the to vote at least two business days prior to an election? Department estimates Gorham has four to five domes- victims. Often, the victim wants the abuse to stop but R YES 2519 tic cases a week, some of which involve verbal dis- does not want the abuser arrested. Having an advo- No 1883 putes while others escalate to physical violence. cate for the victim means that even if they don’t want Family Crisis Services has a 24-hour hotline, sup- to pursue criminal charges, they can still connect Question 2: Citizen Initiative port groups and outreach programs to assist with with Annis to consider their next step. Do you want to allow a slot machine facility at a har- obtaining orders of protection. All services are free ness racing track in Biddeford or another community within 25 miles of Scarborough Downs, subject to local approval, and at a harness racing track in Washington County, with part of the profits from these facilities going to support specific state and local programs? Police Conduct Shooting Training R NO 2215 Yes 2182 Program at School Question 3: Citizen Initiative Do you want to allow a casino with table games and slot Sheri Faber machines in Lewiston, with part of the profits going to support specific state and local programs? n the wake of school shootings across the coun- R NO 2828 try and the world, local police departments have Yes 1569 Iplanned their response to such a possibility in our communities. In the past, the police would have Question 4: Constitutional Amendment gathered a team and attempted to assess the situa- Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to tion before taking action. Following the Virginia Tech Photos courtesy of the Gorham Police Department change the years of redistricting the Maine Legislature, shooting in 2007 in which 32 people were killed and With their guns drawn, police search for a congressional districts and county commissioner dis- 25 wounded, police learned to take immediate action. potential shooter in a training program conducted tricts after 2013 from 2023 and every 10th year thereaf- At Virginia Tech, three people were killed and four ter to 2021 and every 10th year thereafter? were wounded every minute of the 11-minute attack. at Gorham Middle School. R YES 2222 Police also determined that because schools are gun- No 1888 free zones, the perpetrator knows he will not have by Sgt. Danny Young, Gorham Police Department. any resistance until the police arrive on the scene. Approximately 50 law enforcement and fire and Cumberland County Ballot, County Commissioner Statistics also show that a person involved in a mass rescue personnel from Buxton, USM, Windham as R Neil D. Jamieson Jr., Scarborough 1708 shooting will usually commit suicide when confront- well as Gorham participated in the program, as did Annalee Rosenblatt, Scarborough 1252 ed by the police. some school administrators. Every school in Maine is Lisa R. Villa, Harrison 574 On October 29, Gorham held at Active Shooting required to have a crisis response plan in place. These Training Program at Gorham Middle School run other participating communities are trained to be part County Bond Issue Shall the Board of County Commissioners of Cumberland CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 County, Maine (the “Board”) be authorized to issue general obligation bonds of the County, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $33,000,000, to fund the Soccer costs of improvements to the Cumberland County Civic insidetheTimes Center, which bonds shall have such dates, maturities, Heartbreak 14 Blotter 5 Living Page 10 denominations, interest rate(s) an d other details (includ- 15 Calendar 4 Municipal ing provisions that the bonds may be subject to call for 15 Classified 6 School redemption with or without premium) as determined by the Board? 12 Community 10 Sports R YES 2126 No 2068 www.gorhamtimes.com Meet the letters to theEditor Times Letters must be less than 300 words, signed with a first and last name, typed or e-mailed BRINGING THE NEWS TO ALL OF GORHAM Gorham and include a phone number. Letters are solely the opinion of the writer and not that of the PO Box 401, 77 South Street Gorham, Maine 04038 Gorham Times. They are published at the discretion of the Gorham Times and are subject Phone and Fax: 839-8390 Times’ Staff to editing. [email protected] • www.gorhamtimes.com The Gorham Times is a free volunteer-run Bill Goff, Distribution and Dear Gorham Times, Buster was a loving dog. His life community newspaper distributed every other Marketing Assistant On October 12 we spent 20 gruel- was tragically cut short and ripped Thursday to more than 100 pick-up sites ing hours searching in the pouring from our arms but he will always be throughout Gorham. ill, and his rain for Buster, our dog. We were in our hearts. Buster was four years —— News [email protected] wife Anne, assured by the police if someone old and was the alpha over his broth- Sports [email protected] moved reported seeing or hitting him we ers, Max and Oliver. He was afraid of B Features [email protected] back to Gorham would be notified. every possible noise but he made sure Of Interest [email protected] two years ago. Buster had been struck by a car; the squirrels and chipmunks were not Calendar item [email protected] They previ- the driver who hit him never both- in his yard. He made sure everyone Advertising [email protected] ously lived in ered to call the police or to notify any was happy. He was the first to greet or 839-8390 Gorham for neighbors. We understand accidents us when we came home from work School News [email protected] seventeen years happen and this is a horrible tragedy. and he was the first to sneak into bed —— Had the person provided common at night. UBSCRIPTIONS prior to residing Photo credit Anne Goff S in Bartlett, NH courtesy and not treated our loved We want everyone to understand $15/year in Gorham; $20/year elsewhere and Naples, ME. Bill has over forty years one as a piece of trash on the side of if you hit someone’s pet it is just like $10/year for college subscription of experience in the building materials the road, we could have spared our- hitting a person. Please, if you ever trade with several companies. He held selves the pain of not knowing. Buster strike an animal, alert the authorities.