By. Fiona Morgan, News Editor
Purple balloons sprinkled the crowd as survivors of domestic violence shared their stories. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office hosted its second annual Domestic Violence Candlelight Vigil in front of the Lexington courthouse on Thursday, Oct. 25. The Asbury group RISE: Faith and Feminism arranged for 11 students to be able to go.
Sheriff Kathy Witt introduced several survivors of domestic violence who spoke about their stories. The two hour event also featured two local singers, a saxophone soloist and words from a local pastor and from Police Chief Lawrence Weathers. Help centers set up booths in a semicircle around the perimeter, and police officers parked their cars around the plaza. After everyone spoke, Witt invited anyone in the audience to share their own stories during an open mic time. The event closed with a song, and everyone lit their candles.
The Amanda Center was among the numerous help organizations with booths around the event. The center is a branch of the sheriff’s office that provides shelter for victims of domestic violence and protection in their home lives by changing locks or giving rides to court.
Junior Hannah Furman is doing a social work practicum at the Amanda Center and invited RISE: Faith and Feminism to partner with them for the event. Lauren Hemenover, the Asbury Student Congress representative for RISE, believed it was an important event to sponsor. “Because domestic violence has a widespread impact that affects women, men and children alike, we thought it was important to show our support and bring light to an issue that is often suppressed and that even our own peers at Asbury have experienced,” Hemenover said.
During the event, domestic violence survivor Paulette Jones, shared the story of her long journey seeking justice. After 15 years of being away from her son’s father, she moved back to Lexington and decided to marry him so he could help raise their son. Two days after they got married, he tried to kill her. The two then separated.
In seeking full custody of their son, she found out that her ex-husband had two other ex-wives with active protective orders against him. Those two women filed child custody cases against him around the same time Jones did. They reached out to her, but Jones was reluctant to work with them because of her ex-husband’s threats. “At the time I was very reluctant because he was stalking me. He had left a broken skull at my front door because he found out I was talking to them,” Jones explained.
Despite these threats, Jones and the two women came together in court to testify against him. He saw them, and when it was his turn to testify, he ran out of the courtroom. “It was the best day of our lives because up until then, he had never been held accountable for anything he did to anyone,” Jones said.
Tragically in the middle of the case, the ex-husband got married again and began abusing his current wife. However, up to that point, the three women did not have strong enough evidence against him, so this fourth testimony convinced the judge to grant them full custody of their children.
Witt is a proponent for domestic violence prevention and started this event last year to increase advocacy. She said, “As I look back over the last 35 years I’ve been on this journey, I do see where we’ve made some progress. Laws have been strengthened, partnerships have been formed, offenders have been held accountable and victims’ lives have been transformed into lives free from violence. And although I’m grateful for that success, I’m still troubled by how far we have to go.”
Hemenover hopes to have Witt come to Asbury to a Rise event and speak about her story and the effects of domestic violence on a local and national level.
Behind the main stage hung an array of t-shirts that people from domestic violence shelters had made that show what domestic violence means to them. At the end of the event, Witt revealed a t-shirt made by a local art student. It featured a drawing of a woman and a statement: “Don’t be silenced, say no to domestic violence.”
