Event to focus on impact crimes have on victims
Images of Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi, a former state trooper and sheriff, were captured over the decades as he escorted alleged perpetrators to and from the state police barracks, preliminary hearings and the courthouse.
“We always see a front-page story about the bad guys, but not the victims,” he said Thursday as he introduced at a commissioners’ meeting Betsy Dane, administrator of the Crime Victim and Witness Program at the Washington County district attorney’s office.
That may sometimes be the case because survivors are too grief-stricken to speak, but, in recent years, candlelight vigils for victims of homicides, accidents or other tragedies, plus rallies for victims’ rights, also make the news.
Dane said her office was among nearly 200 applying for a U.S. Department of Justice grant through the Office of Victims of Crime and one of 90 selected for funding a program that is planned as part of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week with a theme of “Engaging Communities – Empowering Victims.” She described the grant as “just under $5,000,”
“I’m pleased we’re going to be able to do something a little more ambitious this year,” Dane told the commissioners.
The Crime Victims and Witness Program is inviting crime victims to either appear in person or through a five-minute video interview. Those participating in the program include the families of 10-year-old Ta’Niyah Thomas, who was shot to death just over a year ago in her Washington home; Rhonda Furmanek, who was murdered in December 1994 in Greene County; Vince Kelley, who was shot by a man robbing a bank inside the South Strabane Township Giant Eagle store in June 2013; and a person victimized by juveniles.
Dane hopes the video interviews will spur discussion among those attending a program scheduled for 6 p.m. April 23 at the Washington High School gymnasium and auditorium.
The gathering will cap a series of events to be held in Maple Terrace, Jollick Manor and Lincoln Terrace.
“We have to build partnerships to better address every victim’s needs,” said Dane, who added that she’ll have more information closer to the event.
The commissioners also recognized the Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services’ Sexual Trauma Treatment and Recovery program, which supervisor Joanna Dragan said serves hundreds of sexual violence victims every year, and Washington County Children and Youth Services agency, which serves approximately 3,000 children every year.
The commissioners also proclaimed National Library week, which might seem to be unrelated to crimes and abuse, but CYS Administrator Kimberly Rogers noted that under a state law enacted in 2013, librarians at public libraries are included in a long list of “mandatory reporters” who must inform authorities of suspected child abuse. Rogers also said the John K. Tener Library in Charleroi now has a room designated for parental visits with children that are supervised by a CYS staff member. The visits were formerly conducted at Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services offices.