YWCA kicks off Week Without Violence

The Lorain YWCA kicked off its Week Without Violence 2016 with a presentation Oct. 17 on gender based violence at the Elyria Police Department auditorium, 18 West Ave.

This year’s theme is, “Ending Gender Based Violence.”

According to Jeanine Donaldson, executive director of the Lorain YWCA, previous Week Without Violence weeks were based on gun violence and terrorism.

As part of the kick-off, Lorain County Common Pleas Magistrate Charlita Anderson-White discussed the different kinds of abuse and the importance of the civil protection orders in keeping victims of gender based and domestic violence safe from their abusers.

“Do I have to go into what domestic violence means, or what intimate partner violence means?” Anderson-White asked. “It’s simple. It’s control. Not only is the physical, emotional, financial violence very credible as a threat, sexual violence is as threatening and as scary as anything else.

“The court system and the police departments

“The legislature has passed and the governor has signed a bill regarding firearms for perpetrators of domestic violence and civil protection orders.”

— Lorain County Common Pleas Magistrate Charlita Anderson-White

have been educated, laws have been passed, laws are changing. The legislature has passed and the governor has signed a bill regarding firearms for perpetrators of domestic violence and civil protection orders. And that’s a good thing, because physically, with a gun in the house is a recipe for disaster.”

Elyria Police Department Lt. Lee Frank attended the presentation and answered law enforcement questions from the audience.

Lee also spoke about the importance of civil protection orders.

“It’s much more powerful than a temporary protection order,” he said. “They go much longer, and the judge and the magistrate can put a lot of teeth into that, which gives us more leeway to arrest.

“What I tell my young officers is that we want to arrest these guys or gals, whoever is violating these orders.”

KEITH REYNOLDS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Lorain County Common Pleas Magistrate Charlita Anderson-White speaking at the kick-off of Week Without Violence 2016. This year’s theme is, “Ending Gender Based Violence.”