PADV in the News "A call to action: Domestic violence victims tell their stories at event" Gwinnett Daily Post By Camie Young LAWRENCEVILLE - Dora Ward left her husband after the first time he beat her. After years of emotional abuse, she was able to leave because of the support of her family, co-workers and friends. The only people who didn't believe her were the detective who investigated her case and the judge who refused to issue a temporary protective order. That's why, Ward said, the work of the Partnership Against Domestic Violence is so important to raise awareness and give women support. The partnership, along with the Gwinnett Solicitor's Office and Family Violence Task Force, held a vigil Thursday, bringing attention to the 83 domestic violence related deaths in Georgia between August 2007 and August 2008 and giving a voice to survivors like Ward and Tranteegus Allen. During the speak-out, Allen described years of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband without the support of family and friends to turn to. Forced to marry her pastor's son at the age of 16 and drop out of high school, she was raped and beaten. The abuse once caused her to miscarry, but whenever she turned to the church or her mother, a church member, for help, she was called names and returned to her abuser. "One particular day, he beat me so bad, I took the skillet from the kitchen. I was going to smash his brains as many times as was needed, but a voice came and said, 'What if you miss?'" Allen said, describing her desperation. With her two children, Allen eventually was able to escape to a hotel, but without a job or money, she was crying in the hotel room when the maid came to the room, expecting her to have checked out. The woman gave her a card with the Partnership Against Domestic Violence phone number, becoming an angel in Allen's story of survival. "It is this program that gave me my hope," she said, wiping away tears, adding that the ability to forgive her abuser was "the key to my cage." After hearing Allen's story, the audience of about 100 people placed red carnations in a silver vase as 83 names of domestic violence victims were read. When the nine-minute ceremony ended, Cathy Willis Spraetz, the CEO of the partnership, said the 83 flowers should act as a "wake-up reminder" to law enforcement, advocates and men and women. "It's a call to action that we must work harder," Spraetz said. "Our sincere hope is that women everywhere will find and know peace."
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