Preventing domestic violence is everyone’s business BY GREG JOHNSON Frontiersman.com
If you’re a Frontiersman reader, some of these stories will be familiar: • In December 2007, a local man and his fiancée are attacked with a machete in their sleep by the man’s son, Christopher Erin Rogers Jr. The father is killed and woman, Elann “Lennie” Moren, is grievously injured. Rogers Jr. is convicted on multiple counts of first-degree murder after extending his killing spree into Anchorage. • In late 2012, a Valley couple stands trial, accused of abusing their 3-month-old daughter, leaving her with brain trauma and hemorrhaging in her eyes. • In February 2012, Andrew Thomas stood trial for stabbing a woman and beating her over the head with a sledgehammer. He was convicted of first-degree murder. • Last month, Alaska State Troopers responded to a report of an intoxicated and armed man who assaulted and tied up a woman during an argument. • Over the past several weeks, we’ve reported on multiple accounts of men accused of sexually abusing young girls. It’s a horrific list of abuse that only scratches the surface of what’s going on in those places in our community most of us don’t like to look. These are also glaring examples
of why Gov. Sean Parnell’s Choose Respect campaign is so important. In the Valley, Alaska Family Services is taking that effort to a more intimate level with Valley Men Choose Respect, an eight-week campaign that highlights the role men play in domestic violence and steps everyone can take to reduce the violence in the Valley. It’s no secret Alaska has the highest per-capita rate of domestic violence in the United States. From 2001 to 2011, troopers responded to nearly 41,000 domestic violence calls in the Last Frontier. It’s also no secret that a majority of those assaults are committed by men. Having spent a great deal of time sitting in courtrooms reporting on the results of those violent acts and perusing thousands of law enforcement reports, it’s easy to become desensitized to the problem. That reading or hearing about these crimes becomes “normal” in our lives is unacceptable. One thing that experience has shown, however, is that there is much we as a community can do to help curtail and end domestic violence in our Valley. A main theme in reading these reports of abuse is that the abuse was seldom a secret. In many cases, interviews with neighbors, coworkers, friends and extended family reveal they knew, or suspected abuse. The “it’s not my business” syndrome is a disease nearly as destructive as the abuse itself. Every person who hears
or witnesses abuse, but turns a blind eye because he or she has been taught it’s a “private family situation” or “not my business,” becomes a de-facto abuser. Acting on such suspicions isn’t pleasant, and it’s not comfortable. But how comfortable is it for the abused when he or she continues to suffer because you choose to ignore the abuse? How comfortable will it be to live with your own conscience when that trooper comes knocking on the door, informing you that your neighbor has just been seriously injured or killed, and asks if you ever heard anything? The truth is, domestic violence isn’t the deep, dark secret many make it out to be. If something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. If it would be dangerous to interject yourself into a situation, report it to law enforcement. If you see signs of abuse on your children’s playmates, ask the parents. If the explanation seems fishy, report it. If you are being abused, call the women’s shelter at 7468026. A perfect day at work for me would be going through our local law enforcement reports and seeing no domestic violence responses. Greg Johnson has been a journalist since 1992. He has been at the Frontiersman since June 2007.
‘Respect’ Continued from Page 14
ethic, which included respect for himself and others. “Respect can be hard to pinpoint,” Fish said. “It can be many things — respecting someone’s ability, their opinion or their space.” Like many of the men profiled here, Robbie Nash started coaching to spend more
time with his children. Nash, an engineering supervisor at MTA, coaches football and wrestling. “I realized that all kids involved need a positive role model to teach them valuable life lessons that can be learned through participation in sports,” he said. He said he models his own life after the values he tries to pass on to his players: self-
confidence, goal-setting, discipline, integrity, a strong work ethic and team work. “Praise in public, and if you have to provide constructive criticism, do that in private,” Nash said. When you treat others with respect and honesty, anything is possible, he said. As a community, we should all be invested in providing a safe environment for
Hello, future :-) Here’s to the next 60 years.
each other, free from domestic and sexual violence. With the help of men like Greg, Ed, Bert, Carl, Eric, Jody, Brian and Robbie — who have invested not only their time, but also serve as role models, mentoring the youth in our community through their coaching — we can strive toward a day when the menace of domestic violence is replaced with tolerance and respect.
OF
CONNECTING
mtasolutions.com TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2013
VALLEY MEN CHOOSE RESPECT
Page 15