Hundreds and hundreds of "Battered Brides" in Laramie County

"Battered Bride" (close-up) by Forrest King, oil painting, 36x48 inches

According to Safehouse: In Laramie County, one in every four women report that they are or have been the target of domestic violence. That's a shocking 21st-century statistic for the largest county in The Equality State, one that houses the State Capitol in Cheyenne where our legislators convene annually to discuss issues important to its citizens. If this isn't a pressing issue, I don't know what is.

Sometimes it helps to see a visual. Local artist Forrest King has done that for us. He's been working for months on his "Battered Bride" painting. As it nears completion (see above), he will exhibit it Thursday (today), Oct. 6, 4-7 p.m., at Safehouse's "Would You Walk in Her Shoes?" fund-raiser and consciousness-raiser for Safehouse at the Historic Depot in Cheyenne. You can see a series of photos documenting Forrest's "Battered Bride" project on Facebook. 

Come down to the Depot this afternoon. Walk around in "her" shoes for a few minutes. And then contribute to Safehouse, write a letter to the ed (and your state legislator), practice nonviolence in your own life.

Feeling safer already as new Wyoming concealed carry law goes into effect today

I feel safer already (from the Casper Star-Tribune):

A law that allows Wyomingites to carry concealed weapons without permits goes into effect today. 

-- snip --

During the second of two seminars on the new law sponsored by the Cheyenne Police Department on Wednesday, the instructor, officer Jay Remers, told the group it still is beneficial to get a concealed weapons permit. The firearms training is valuable for gun owners who may be familiar with hunting rifles but not with using handguns, particularly if faced with someone armed with a knife, he said. 

-- snip -- 

Officer Remers, meanwhile, said after the meeting that he expects only minor problems with the new law, like people carrying a concealed weapon into a prohibited area. “I don’t anticipate carnage in the streets, as some predict,” he said, adding that more signs prohibiting firearms have been posted in the capital city recently. 

-- snip -- 

The new law, he said, appeals to citizens who are suspicious of government and don’t want to subject themselves to the scrutiny associated with getting a permit. 

During the seminar, Remers warned of the severe ramifications of shooting or killing someone, even in self-defense. “If you can avoid shooting someone, avoid shooting someone,” he said. 

-- snip -- 

Read the snipped-out parts here.

Many local events lead up to March 29 talk in Cheyenne by activist and author Greg Mortenson

I try to spend some of that time I once devoted to Sunday morning mass to the contemplation of nature, spirituality and even organized religion.

While reading this morning’s Cheyenne paper, I saw an ad promoting the appearance of activist, educator and author Greg Mortenson. He wrote the acclaimed bestseller, “Three Cups of Tea,” about his experiences promoting primary education in Afghanistan. He will speak on Tuesday, March 29, 7-8:30 p.m., at the Taco John’s Event Center in Cheyenne. Tickets are $5 for students and $15 for the general public.

Presented by these Cheyenne Community Partners: Laramie County Community College, LCCC Foundation’s Gerald and Jessie Chambers Speakers Series, Rotary International, Laramie County Library System and Foundation, Laramie County School District #1.

Great cooperation on this project by all levels of the public education system. That includes the library. Kudos to Rotary International. I admire their good work. So many selfless and community-minded organizations out there. The Lions work on behalf of better vision, the Shriners sponsor childhood learning disability clinics, the Kiwanis Club seems to do all the good things a community needs, such as the amazing free pancake breakfasts during Cheyenne Frontier Days. I find it compelling that a bunch of people can gather together to perform good works. Such a contentious age we live in, yet altruism continues. We must crave it.

A few words about Mortenson from the LCCC Foundation web site:

Greg Mortenson, co-author of the New York Times bestseller, "Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time," will share insightful commentary and stunning photography to educate and promote awareness of the importance of primary education, literacy and cross-cultural understanding about the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson has dedicated his life to bringing education where few education opportunities existed before. In 1996, he co-founded the Central Asia Institute with his wife, Tara Bishop, and since then has managed to construct 145 schools in the Middle East and bring educational opportunities to more than 64,000 students, including 52,000 girls. Mortenson’s extraordinary journey has had many hardships, but recently it also has brought international appreciation. In 2009, he was awarded the "Star of Pakistan" and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in both 2008 and 2009. FMI: 307.433.0024.

A number of events this month lead up to the March 29 event. Our family has been collecting pennies for Pennies for Peace. The library has focused many of its events around the concepts of altruism. Here’s one:

TEENS MAKE A DIFFERENCE, March 16, 6 p.m.: Join us for an evening with Judge Ronn Jeffrey as we explore ways you can impact your community in a positive way. Teens will have a chance to win a ticket to hear Greg Mortenson speak at the Taco John’s Event Center on March 29, 7 p.m. Don’t forget to bring your Pennies for Peace! (Grades 7-12 & parents, Cottonwood Room, 1st floor).

The library also will host a tea party on St. Patrick’s Day, celebrating tea-drinking cultures such as Ireland, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Very innovative. ON St. Patrick’s Day, many of us forget that the Irish also drink tea.  

LCCC has also planned a number of related events. This coming week is spring break on campus. But on Wednesday, March 23, these are scheduled:


Ethnic food tasting: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Center for Conferences & Institutes, Room 129/130. Food tasting limited to LCCC students and employees. Roundtable discussion: “Women and Islam in a Central Asian Context” with Dr. Marianne Kamp, Dr. Mohammed Salih and Arshi Nisley. 1-3 p.m., Center for Conferences & Institutes, Room 129/130.

See other events celebrating the work of Greg Mortenson

Warning to Governors: Don't use publicly-employed Guard troops to quash dissent by public employees

I've had sidebar links for both Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and its older brother, Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) for years. I am not a veteran but support them and their causes.

This time, they're standing with their fellow public employees. This sums it up:

We believe military service members are public employees too. It is dishonorable to suggest that military personnel should be deployed against teachers, health care providers, firefighters, police officers, and other government employees, many of whom are themselves serving in the National Guard.

It's true that U.S. Army and National Guard troops have sometimes been deployed to quash dissent. This happened regularly during the Vietnam War protests in the sixties and early seventies. I was a ROTC student at University of South Carolina in the spring of 1970 when the Guard was called out to police the campus after Kent State protests erupted. Some of the Guard guys were Carolina students, which made it strange. To my knowledge, none of them beat the crap out of their fellow students. It was a different matter with S.C. Highway Patrol troopers, who swarmed into dorms and beat up any longhairs they could find.

The Guard has been deployed by Governors to carry out racist and anti-union policies. In September 1957, Gov. Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to make sure that African-American students didn't enter the state university.

Arkansas National Guard commander blocks black students from entering their taxpayer-supported
university 

Only after Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Guard and sent in the 101st Airborne, did these brave students (Little Rock Nine) get to attend the university that their tax dollars supported.

Does this seem crazy? I was six years old and don't really remember it. But I look back on it and am astonished that this happened in my country.

Here's another photo pitting soldiers against workers from the IVAW web site.

And, finally, a quote from the IVAW web site:

Troops have been called out in the past against worker strikes, campus protests, and urban uprisings. However, recent events in Egypt and numerous examples from U.S. history have shown that service members have the power to side with the people and refuse to use violence against their fellow citizens. Troops activated for duty in Madison, WI will have to decide if public sector workers are really the enemy. IVAW says they are not and that troops should support workers fighting for decent jobs, wages, and benefits.

Wyoming Sen. Kit Jennings: Guns before people!

Republican Sen. Kit Jennings of Casper on Wyoming Legislature's concealed carry bill: "We kind of drew the line in the sand and said we're going to start here and start working back toward everybody having constitutional rights." He also said that Wyoming citizens and lawmakers sent this message with the passage of the bill: "Quit taking away our constitutional rights."

So why did he vote to strip constitutional rights from Wyoming LGBT citizens? Guns before people? Does he have a list of people he is going to eventually endow with constitutional rights? If so, gays and lesbians and teachers and immigrants must be way down at the bottom.

Check out his contradictory votes at http://legisweb.state.wy.us/

Teachers, get out your yardsticks to see if classroom flags measure up

Culled from this week's legislative report from the Wyoming Democrats:

Patriotism in the classroom (HB 204):  Rep. Gerald Gay (R-Casper) introduced legislation that would require all classrooms to have a standard sized American flag and that at the first period of each day students must recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  It also requires school boards to "ensure that no other flag or banner containing a political message or connotation is displayed higher" than the flag and that they have a policy for students who do not wish to recite the pledge.  The proposal passed the House on Monday and the Senate Minerals Committee on Friday on a vote of 4-1.  It now goes to the full Senate.

Wyoming teachers survived a legislative assault on their status as tenured educators. However, they now will have to carry a yardstick at all times, not to whack student knuckles (I went to Catholic school) but to ensure the proper size of the U.S. flag in their classrooms. No more of those disruptive "My American flag is bigger than yours" battles among teachers. When asked by their parents if their school room has a standard-sized American flag made in China, students can now answer loudly and proudly "yes!" or add emphasis with the German "yavohl!"

What are the consequences should a first-grader refuse to recite the pledge to the standard-size U.S. flag? That's when teachers will be allowed to use their yardsticks in a punitive manner. The details have yet to be worked out, but I'm sure Rep. Gay is working this weekend on the guidelines.

See how simple legislation can be? 

Wyoming: Guns 'R' Us

This e-mail update comes from Brianna Jones of the Wyoming Democratic Party. I'd just share a link but the info isn't up on the web site. So here it is in full:

The past week has seen both ups and downs for Democratic interests. Thank you so much to each of you that has responded to our action alerts over the past week and contacted legislators. It is so important that you are taking the time, even if the outcome is not always the one you would hope.

Your input is critical. Please continue watching for our action alerts and contacting your representatives on some of these important pieces of legislation. You can find email addresses for all legislators here: http://legisweb.state.wy.us.

The following is legislation that saw action this week:

Co-employee immunity (SF 61): As sponsored by Sen. Eli Bebout (R-Riverton) and Rep. Tim Stubson (R-Casper) the bill would raise the bar for suing a co-employee (usually a supervisor) for injuries in the workplace. Currently the standard is "willful and wanton" and the standard this would put in place is "with the intent." The AFL-CIO and Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, and the Wyoming Building and Construction Council all spoke out strongly against this legislation. It failed the Senate on first reading by a vote of 13-17.


Very rare and uncommon area designations (HB 152): This legislation as sponsored by Rep. Semlek (R-Moorcroft) would abolish the rare and uncommon designation and would "retain the authority" to remove protections. Adobe Town is currently designated as rare and uncommon. The Wyoming Conservation Voters and Wyoming Outdoor Council are opposing this legislation.

Health Care Choice and Protection Act (HB 35): Legislation sponsored by Rep. Bob Brechtel (R-Casper) passed first reading in the House today with 35 members voting in favor. This bill would make it a crime to implement the affordable care act in Wyoming. Please write your representatives and ask them to oppose this legislation.


Defense of Marriage Act (SJ 5): This legislation which was defeated in 2009, would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to only recognize marriages that are between one man and one woman. The proposal narrowly passed the Senate on a vote of 20-10, with 11 needed to defeat the measure.

DUI-elimination of right to refuse test (HB 29): Legislation sponsored by Rep. Gingery (R-Jackson) would remove the right to refuse a BAC test when there is reasonable suspicion of driving under the influence. It passed the house 35-23.

Civil Unions (HB 150): Rep. Cathy Connolly (D-Laramie) introduced legislation, which would create a system for civil unions in the state of Wyoming. The bill was heard by the House Judiciary Committee on Friday morning and narrowly failed on a vote of 4-5. Reps. Throne (D-Cheyenne), Barburto (D-Rock Springs), Greene (R-Laramie), and Brown (R-Laramie) voted in favor. Reps. Cannady (R-Glenrock), Peasley (R-Douglas), Nicholas (R-Laramie), Krone (R-Cody), and Brechtel (R-Casper) voted against.


Illegal Immigration (HB 94): This is a proposal mimicking Arizona-style SB1070 legislation targeting illegal immigrants. It was brought by Rep. Pete Illoway (R-Cheyenne) and heard in the house minerals committee. There was no motion to move the bill and it died in committee.

Marital Counseling (HB 65): Legislation as introduced by Rep. Bob Brechtel (R-Casper) was heard in the House Labor Committee. It would require three hours of counseling before a marriage or a divorce. The committee significantly amended the bill, but it ultimately died in committee.

Health Care Freedom (SJ 02): This legislation proposes a constitutional amendment guaranteeing so-called "health freedom." It was written in direct response to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It was amended significantly on the Senate floor during first reading and passed. The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Leslie Nutting (R-Cheyenne), voted against the bill following amendments.

Abortion - available information for decision (HB 118): This bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Brechtel (R-Casper) would require women who are considering abortion to be given government-scripted information and then wait 24 hours before having the procedure. It failed on general file on a vote of 23-32. 


Concealed Weapons (SF 47): This proposal, sponsored by Sen. Kit Jennings (R-Casper), was defeated last session, would all residents to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. It passed the Senate and will now go to the House.

Sen. Chris Rothfuss will talk about the concealed weapons bill at Monday's meeting of the Laramie County Democrats (see previous post). This is another in a long line of ridiculous bills considered by this legislature. Most handgun violence in Wyoming comes in the form of domestic dust-ups, drunken brawls, and in suicide, either attempted or successful. It's entirely possible that Wyoming's preponderance of guns keeps the violent crime rate down. I'm willing to give that notion some credence. But carjackings and armed robberies and drive-by shootings are still relatively rare in the state. So why does everyone need to carry around a concealed weapon? Is this another N.R.A. inspired and written one-size-fits-all legislation? Or another Tea Party-inspired be-afraid-be-very-afraid bills?

Ask Kit Jennings. Since 2008, Sen. Jennings has been a member of Don't Touch Us, the Domestic Violence Protection Group. This group was formed in Casper after a rash of 2007 domestic incidents ended in shootings. One involved a woman who shot to death her male partner. Will concealed weapons be handy prevention tools for battered women living under the thumbs of violent and well-armed men?

Here's info from a Dec. 22, 2010, press release from the Violence Policy Center, which addresses gun violence as a "public health issue:"

Since May 2007, concealed handgun permit holders have killed at least 282 individuals--including nine law enforcement officers--in 193 incidents in 28 states. In more than two-thirds of the incidents (134) the concealed handgun permit holder has already been convicted, committed suicide, or was killed in the incident. Of the 59 cases still pending, the vast majority (47) of concealed handgun permit holders have been charged with criminal homicide, two were deemed incompetent to stand trial, two incidents were unintentional shootings, and eight incidents are still under investigation. Of the 193 incidents, 17 were mass shootings where concealed handgun permit holders claimed the lives of 73 victims.

Here's another one from Sept. 30, 2010:

Concealed handgun permit holders have killed at least 202 individuals since May 2007 with 34 percent of the killings involving family violence according to the September update of Concealed Carry Killers, a Violence Policy Center (VPC) on-line resource that tallies news reports of killings by concealed handgun permit holders. The update comes one day before the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.

Forty-two of the 122 incidents involved family violence. Of these, 29 involved intimate partner violence. Fifteen of the 42 family violence incidents ended in murder-suicide, accounting for 65 percent (15 of 23) of all the murder-suicides committed by concealed handgun permit holders tallied by the VPC to date.

Violence Policy Center Legislative Director Kristen Rand states, “A permit to carry a concealed handgun has become one more weapon in the arsenal of domestic abusers who ultimately kill their intimate partner or other family member. Contrary to the false assurances of concealed carry proponents, too many of those with valid permits kill in anger, not self-defense.”

And these are permitted gun owners. What happens when anybody can carry a concealed weapon? People such as the mentally ill Tucson shooter? Makes you think...

Federation survey: "Severe mental illness alone does not predict future violence"

The National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health released a release this week in response to the tragic shootings Oct. 8 in Tucson. The read it in its entirety, go here.

Here are the notable paragraphs:

The National Federation reminds us that most individuals who have mental health conditions – and that can be as many as one in five Americans at any given time – are no more likely to be violent than the rest of our population. A 2009 analysis of data from over 34,000 participants in the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions revealed that severe mental illness alone did not predict future violence.

We do know that in order for families and youth to be more positively engaged with mental health and other services, they need to know about them and how they can be useful. The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health encourages people to join us in making a pledge to help parents connect with other parents whose children may have behavioral, substance use or mental health difficulties and to connect youth with other youth who have experienced mental health concerns. By giving parents and youth information about how to connect with other parents and youth, we provide natural productive support for all family members to increase their wellness and recovery management skills. To find those local family-run organizations, call the National Federation at 240-403-1901.

All of our communities have families struggling with mental health issues. One thing that parents can do is share their experiences and assist others. That was a huge topic at November's FFCMH conference in Atlanta.

As I recounted in a Nov. 13 post. Gary Blau outlined five areas in substance abuse and mental health that the feds at SAMHSA and federation members would like to be included in benefit packages, such as those that are part of Medicaid and Medicare.

1. Respite care, so parents can get a break and even go back to work.
2. Therapeutic mentoring to extend services
3. Behavioral health consultation services. Monitor children in daycare and preschool and get help for those who need it. Can reduce the number of kids kicked out of daycare for aggressive behavior.
4. Use technology to deliver services. “Our kids come out treatment and don’t go to AA meetings. They do communicate via social network sites.” This can be used for e-therapy and peer counseling.
5. Parent and caregiver support services. He said that this is the number one issue for SAMHSA. “We need a cadre of parent support providers, and we’re working on a certification process.”

Not to say that your neighbor's experience with a troubled child would prevent another tragic shooting. But support and information from those "who have been there" could make a difference. These type of support services will be coming our way, whether we're ready or not. Clinicians can't do it all. There are no child psychiatrists within the borders of our 93,000-square-mile state. There are many reasons for this. But instead of waiting for an influx of child psychiatrists craving wild winds and wide-open-spaces, why not claim the resources we already have and get to work?

Searching for Arizona's soul

While watching crusty and opinionated Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik on TV over the weekend, I thought, "I'm glad this man is watching over my boy."

My boy is Kevin. He's no longer a boy but a man. A resident of Tucson, and a student at Pima Community College. Kevin probably doesn't give it much thought but it's good to have a sensible and sensitive human as the county's chief law enforcement officer.

I've spoken to Kevin several times since Saturday's shootings. Yes, everyone in Tucson is talking about it -- and we're all upset. No, he's never seen the shooter around campus. But there are five PCC campuses and thousands of students. I haven't had a chance to talk to him since this evening's memorial service at the University of Arizona Arena. Attendance was 26,000. I wanted to be there.

Tucson is a fine city. My most recent trip to Arizona was in January 2009. Call me a genius but January in Tucson is much more temperate than July in Tucson. My wife Chris and daughter Annie and I drove to Arizona in July of 2007. Long Fourth of July weekend and we had a week off. The evening of July 3, we stopped in Bernalillo north of Albuquerque and watched fireworks with a bunch of teenagers sitting on the hoods of their cars. The next night, we ventured out of the AC to watch the holiday fireworks from Tucson's A Mountain.

A few days later Kevin and I ventured out in the midday sun to visit the University of Arizona Poetry Center. U of A has since built a new poetry center, which was mentioned by University President Robert Shelton in tonight's closing remarks. He read a poem by W.S. Merwin, who lives in Hawaii but has spent a lot of time at the center, according to Shelton. Interesting how poetry and music are needed in times of woe.

Since Saturday, I've spent many hours online reading commentary about the Tucson shootings. I tended to gravitate to those pieces that talked about Arizona's culture.

One of the best is by Aurelie Sheehan. She's the director of the U of A creative writing program. She's a friend and a one-time Wyomingite. She wrote this:

Saturday night we had signed on to go to a benefit concert for a small organization that develops music programs for at-risk children in the Southwest. It was organized by a talented 12-year-old boy who took guitar lessons alongside our daughter, and we had been looking forward to it. Now no one really wanted to go — we were all too beaten down by the day. But we went anyway, to support the young guitarist and the nonprofit group.

We sat down in the school auditorium, restless, a little ill at ease, scattered in our thoughts. About 200 people were there. The lights went down and, after a weirdly protracted pause, Brad Richter, the nonprofit’s co-founder, took the stage. 

We talked quietly about what had happened that morning. He had played guitar at Gabrielle Giffords’s wedding, in 2007. And that evening he played an original composition for us, something she had requested he play then: “Elation,” the song was called. The feeling of community in the room was palpable, and if elation was beyond our reach, we were at least consoled.

Aurelie is such a great writer. I've also worked with Brad and know his soulful music. Again, here are the arts helping us to make sense of tragedy.

A harsher critique of Arizona appeared on Media Matters. It's by Will Bunch and is entitled "Arizona is where the American dream goes to die." Here's an excerpt:

The real factors behind this Arizona Nightmare -- venal banks, too much borrowing, too much outsourcing of jobs that, unlike home construction, would have been permanent and stable -- were too abstract, especially for the toxic soup of talk radio. It is tragic how a state that once prided itself on Barry Goldwater-style can-do self-reliant libertarianism devolved into blaming The Other the minute that things went south here. Virulent anti-immigrant nativism -- occasionally sprinkled with things like neo-Nazism -- grew into the desert, as did fear of Muslims, to the point where an architecturally unusual new Christian church in Phoenix had to declare in a giant banner that it was not Islamic. Political heroes were now those like Arpaio who didn't just pursue reactionary policies but actually heaped humiliation and degradation on The Other, in sweltering outdoor prison camps. Ditto with members of Congress suddenly out of step with the new zeitgeist -- moderate Democrats like Harry Mitchell and Gabrielle Giffords were not just to be disagreed with but to be physically threatened with vandalism or worse. Meanwhile, guns became a statewide obsession, as lawmakers competed to see just how lax an environment they could create, where it was legal to bring concealed firearms just about anywhere. This was the world that surrounded and buffeted a disturbed young man in Tucson named Jared Lee Loughner.

I've seen that part of Arizona. I've seen it in Wyoming, too. The anger of people who are well-to-do but who feel a strange resentment towards The Other. Those people who are wildly indignant about nearly everything because, well, because...

O.K., calm down, self. No name calling tonight.

Will Bunch does that pretty well. Although he wraps up with this hopeful note:

...maybe Arizona can dust itself off, gaze into the splendor of its big sky and see what an outsider sees, and remember what it was that brought them all to this scenic corner of America in the first place.

The promise of paradise.

Timothy Egan wrote "Tombstone Politics" for the New York Times op-ed pages. He wrote that great book on the Dust Bowl. To read his column, go here: 

Tombstone, the town, is in Giffords’s southern Arizona district, an Old West burg where shootouts are staged, bodies fall into the street, and then everybody applauds and laughs it off. Tombstone politics is the place we’ve been living in for some time now, and our guns are loaded.

We're living in a mythic cowboy West and our guns are really loaded, unlike those on "Tombstone Territory" and "Wyatt Earp" or "Gunsmoke." All Hollywood versions of Wild West shoot-em-up towns. But a fake Tombstone is one thing. A very real Tucson where deranged people fire guns at politicans?  We can't afford that.


For full text of Pres. Obama's speech, and other coverage of today's Tucson events, go here. 

Washington reacts to Giffords shooting

As always, Joan McCarter at Daily Kos provides perspective to today's news -- this one the shooting of Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson.

Go to Washington reacts to Giffords shooting