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Victim Issues in the News Local
and State
Human trafficking is
one of the fastest growing criminal industries, and it happens right
here in South Carolina. Children, adults, U.S. citizens and foreign
nationals can be victims of human trafficking who experience horrible
physical and psychological abuse, as well as a complete loss of freedom.
But you can do something about it.
Please mark your calendar to join human trafficking advocates from
around the State on Tuesday, January 24, 2012,
for the South Carolina Lobby Day to End Human Trafficking! On this day
you will have an opportunity to advocate for legislation that will
eliminate this horrific crime. Your presence at the Capitol is one of
the most powerful ways to ensure that your legislators recognize human
trafficking as a serious crime and use their voices and votes to support
critically needed legislation. So grab a friend and join us in Columbia
for an exciting day of advocacy to help end human trafficking in
South Carolina!
Never been to a lobby day before? No problem! You don’t need to be an
expert on human trafficking or have any lobbying experience to take
part. Polaris Project will have experts on site to brief you on human
trafficking, train you on how to lobby your legislators, and answer any
questions you may have.
All you need to do is RSVP
and we will help you
with everything.
What: SC Lobby Day to End Human Trafficking + Media Conference
When: January 24, 2012
9:00am: registration and training 10:30am: victim voices 11:30am: media
conference
12:30pm – 3:00pm: legislator meetings
Where: SC State House, located at 1100 Gervais Street, Columbia, South
Carolina, 29201
How:
RSVP online right here and we will do the rest!
12 On Your Side:
Investigation shows many home child care providers not in
compliance with law
An investigation shows many family child care
home providers in our area are not taking a state required
training course.
Posted: 5:50 PM Dec 5, 2011
Reporter: Elizabeth Owens
Email Address: liz.owens@wrdw.com
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Anti-drunk driving organization questions judge's reappointment - WIS
News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina |
United Way of the Midlands
Join us
for Community Assembly and workshops on
June 8!
Keynote
Speaker, Dr. David Walsh, has emerged as one of the world's leading
authorities on children, teens, parenting, family life, and the impact
of technology on children's health and development.
Dr. Walsh
will translate the latest findings from brain science into strategies to
help parents, educators and caring adults help students achieve school
success.
There are
three opportunities to hear from this dynamic speaker:
Part I: Community Assembly & Breakfast - Why do they act that way?
Understanding our children from birth through the teenage years
Wednesday, June 8
Breakfast &
Registration: 7:30 a.m
Program: 8:00 -
9:00 a.m.
Medallion Center
(7309 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia, SC 29209)
Cost: $10 per
person
Sponsor Table for
10 with Program Recognition: $300
Click here to register for the breakfast
Part II: Workshop -
Smart Parenting, Smarter Kids
Wednesday, June 8
(following Assembly)
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Medallion Center
(7309 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia, SC 29209)
Cost: $15 per
person (includes copy of Dr. Walsh's latest book)
Click here to register for the morning workshop
Part III: Workshop
- Why do they act that way? A guide to Adolescence
June 8, 2011
2 - 4 p.m.
LRADAC (2711
Colonial Drive, Columbia, SC 29203)
Cost: $15 (includes
copy of Dr. Walsh's latest book)
Click here to register for the afternoon workshop
Upstate Driver First To Pass Breathalyzer Program For Repeat DUI
Convictions
WSPA ©2011 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General
company
Families
of slain children meet for silent march
http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=13218194
Find more items like this at
http://www.wistv.com
Copyright 2010 WISTV
 ©
Sunday, Sep. 19, 2010
Remembering Drew: Dam swim draws
most swimmers ever
By BERTRAM RANTIN - brantin@thestate.com
The call for boating safety
sounded with a sobering splash just after 9 a.m. Saturday at the Irmo
boat landing along the Lake Murray Dam.
As they have the past 12 years, members of the Lexington High School
swim team were first in the water to begin the annual Dam Swim for Drew.
“We have mixed emotions today. But if it causes people to stop and
think, then I can feel uncomfortable for one day,” Randy Smith said.
Smith is the father of Drew Smith, who died in July of 1997 after an
intoxicated boater rammed into the boat he and his father were fishing
from in a Lake Murray cove. The following year, members of the Lexington
High School swim team decided to honor the 10-year-old, and about 30
people made the two-mile swim from the Irmo to the Lexington side of the
lake to raise awareness of boating and swimming safety.
Drew’s death prompted lawmakers to pass tougher
boating-under-the-influence legislation that eventually became known as
Drew’s Law. The annual dam swim has grown each year. This year, it
attracted more than 200 swimmers.
“We are astonished,” Randy Smith said as he and his wife, Karen, watched
the first group of swimmers.
It’s a ritual the two haven’t missed since the first swim event and one
they hope will encourage people to think before taking potentially
deadly actions around the water.
“Your decisions have consequences,” Karen Smith said. “You don’t have
the right to go out there and drink and endanger someone’s life.”
While state alcohol-related boating arrests were below 50 annually
between 2000 and 2005, that number started to rise in 2006, and by last
year it had reached 107.
Most recently, four people were killed in two separate boating accidents
within minutes of each other the night of May 1 between Susie Ebert and
Flotilla islands. Three men face alcohol-related criminal charges in
connection with those incidents.
The Smiths say the rise in such incidents is troubling but hope those
numbers will drop again.
“It’s just a wake-up call to all these kids,” Randy Smith said.
“People think it always happens to the other person,” Karen Smith added.
“You are the other person. One fatality is too many.”
Saturday’s swim began at the Irmo boat landing, crossed the lake past
the three towers, and ended on the Lexington side of the dam at the SCE&G
Park. The event attracted swimmers from across the state and as far away
as Washington, D.C., and Kentucky.
The swimmers were escorted by members of the U.S. & Lake Murray Power
Squadron, Columbia Sail Club, Department of Natural Resources, Lexington
County Sheriff’s Marine Task Force, Columbia Fire and Rescue Squad and
kayakers from Palmetto Paddlers.
Saturday’s finishers included Matt Mahrer, a 2002 Lexington High School
graduate and former swim team member who was part of the first Dam Swim
for Drew.
“I’m glad to see the event
has grown over the years,” said Mahrer, now a State Farm insurance
salesman. “This is the first time I’ve done any real swimming in two
years. I’m just glad I finished. But the fact that I could make it — I
think I can come back a few more years.”
The Smiths hope many others
will continue as well and that the lessons from that dark July day won’t
be forgotten.
“If it changes one life, then it will have been worth it,” Karen Smith
said. “Because Drew was one life and that one life matters.”
Reach Rantin at (803) 771-8306
©
Posted on Sat, Sep. 18,
2010
Step toward day-care regulation comforts
mother
By CLIF LeBLANC
cleblanc@thestate.com
Her 3-year-old daughter
still can’t be around lots of noisy kids or pedal her tricycle like
other children, but Michelle Gaddie takes comfort that she has done
something to help protect other children in South Carolina day cares.
Friday, Gaddie stood next to Gov. Mark Sanford during a ceremonial
signing of a law, named for Kendra Gaddie, that for the first time
imposes training requirements on people who run or work in 1,500 in-home
day cares.
Michelle Gaddie hopes the mandated two hours of training is only the
start in demanding responsibility from providers, some of whom hurt the
children in their care.
“This is something that we hope will inspire others to take up the
mantle of change,” said Gaddie, whose infant daughter was slapped so
hard in a Northeast Richland day care two years ago that she suffered
bleeding in her brain. “When they see an injustice, they can do
something,” the mother said, choking with emotion.
The woman who pleaded guilty to the March 2008 attack, Talisha Lavette
Smith, walked out of the courtroom with five years’ probation. Smith,
charged with felony child abuse, had no prior criminal record.
Kendra still has screaming fits when she has sensory overload, such as
the racket crowds of children make. She has trouble opening doors
because the right side of her body remains weak, Michelle Gaddie said.
Damage to her daughter’s eyes from the impact cost her some peripheral
vision. Kendra turns her head to see what most children can see from the
corners of their eyes. Swallowing is still difficult, sometimes causing
her to choke.
The Gaddies moved in July to St. Paul, Minn., for Michelle Gaddie’s new
job. The family might return here someday, she said.
South Carolina has 3,335 regulated day-care facilities. In-home day
cares comprise almost half — 1,494 are registered with the Department of
Social Services. Very few, 18, choose to be licensed. A licensed
facility must meet more regulations, including mandated first aid
training. In-home day cares may keep no more than six children.
The only enforcement provision of the new training law, which took
effect Aug. 27, is that parents can look up whether a provider has
completed the course, according to DSS. DSS enforces the state’s child
care laws.
Providers cannot lose their livelihoods for failure to comply, said
DSS’s chief attorney, Virginia Williamson, and Leigh Bolick, the head of
day-care regulation. Bolick said the two-hour training will be an annual
requirement.
Michelle Gaddie picketed the State House and lobbied legislators to get
a bill passed. Sanford commended her and her husband, Patrick Gaddie,
for their tenacity in pushing for greater regulation. Still, it’s not
enough, he said.
“It’s a bitter irony that state law requires far more training to braid
hair than it does to operate some child care,” Sanford said in a
statement.
Gaddie said it’s too easy to get permission to operate a child-care
facility in South Carolina. “You need $15 and a smile,” she said
referring to the registration fee.
Gaddie said she is very disappointed that the Legislature defeated a
provision of the bill that would have set a two-year minimum sentence
for providers who seriously hurt children.
“We were hoping that what happened to us would never be repeated … that
somebody would walk out of the courthouse.”
The judge who handed down Smith’s initial sentence retired from the
bench after a firestorm of protest. A second judge did not change the
penalty. DSS closed Smith’s business.
Laura Hudson, a veteran crime victims’ rights activist, said the S.C.
Crime Victims Council plans to push for a five-year minimum sentence
during next year’s legislative session.
She said the new training requirement “has no teeth to it. It’s a baby
step.
“But I agree with the governor that it’s a quantum leap from where we
were.”
Reach Clif LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.
The Hollywood Hills Initiative to
Reduce Crime
Written By Sheriff Leon Lott
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
In the past 14 years, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department has
employed problem solving policing techniques to reduce crime. Below is
an example of one of these initiatives. The key component has been
community involvement and action on the communities and Sheriff’s
Department’s part.....
Link to full article
OVSEC Updates
The Office of Victim Services Education and Certification recently
welcomed a new Director, James D. Irby, II. Feel free to contact James
or Leslie Sims, Program Assistant, with any questions, comments or
concerns.
If you've submitted your VSP Application or Victim Service Certification
Application and still haven't received your VSP Identification Card,
please feel free to contact our office for your VSP Number. We're
working as quickly as possible to get those cards out to you.
Reminder: You are invited to the Fifth Annual South Carolina Crime
Victims'
Unity Ceremony on April 21, 2010 at 11:00am on the South steps of the
State House. Please call the Office of the Crime Victims' Ombudsman at
(803)
734-0357 to RSVP or for more information.
The following trainings have recently been approved by OVSEC for
certification hours. You may visit our website,
www.oepp.sc.gov/ovsec, click
on the "Approved Trainings" tab and then click on the training title to
pull up additional details.
Please Note: The Judges Victims Training * Spartanburg County scheduled
for April 16, 2010 has been rescheduled for May 7, 2010.
The Invisible Victims: Children Exposed to Domestic Violence April 9,
2010 Dorchester County Council Chambers, 500 N. Main Street,
Summerville, SC Pre-Registration Deadline: April 2, 2010
When Love Hurts: Understanding Domestic Violence April 9, 2010 Union
County Career & Technology Center, Union, SC Registration Deadline is
April 5, 2010
7th Annual "Joining Hands to Protect Children" Conference April 13, 2010
Tronco's *Medallion Center, Columbia, SC
Scenes Through the Eyes of the Victims
April 21, 2010
Sergeant Jasper State Park, Hardeeville, SC
Victims' Rights Week
April 28 * 30, 2010
Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center, Greenville, SC
2010 Sara Schuh Child Abuse Conference
April 29, 2010
Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, Mt. Pleasant, SC
Redefining Batterer Intervention Services May 14, 2010 Columbia
Metropolitan Convention Center, Columbia, SC
Reading Between the Lines
June 24, 2010
Trinity Lutheran Church, Greenville, SC
Upcoming Event: The 2010 South Carolina Victim Assistance Academy will
soon be submitted to OVSEC for approval. The SCVAA will be held in
Columbia on May 16 * 20, 2010. For more information on the 2010 SCVAA,
or to register, please visit
www.scvaa.sc.gov. |
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