Domestic Abuse Calls Down In The Twin Ports

Charges against Superior City Councilor Graham Garfield have renewed conversations about domestic abuse in the community. The Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse (CASDA) saw a drop in the number of women and children that received services last year. Even so, domestic violence remains a problem in the Twin Ports.

CASDA Executive Director Kelly Burger said they answered 2,105 calls on their 24-hour help line and provided services to 224 women and children in 2016. The organization served 15 percent fewer women and children than the year before. The center received 2,188 calls and 263 women and children served in 2015. She said the incident involving a Superior city councilor and his fiancée highlights that domestic violence can happen to anyone.

“It crosses all ethnic, any race, any income guide lines,” she said. “And the fact is, it’s a problem in our community and that we need to be welling to recognize that domestic violence happens everywhere and anywhere and that we need to take a strong stand to say it’s not going to be tolerated towards women and children in our community.”

Burger said the community needs to recognize that domestic violence is a societal issue, but she wants victims of domestic abuse to know they aren’t alone.

“There is a place to come to for support and for help, that they won’t be judged by what has happened in their lives, that it’s not their fault,” she said. “This is the abusive personality that we need to be holding accountable within the criminal justice system, and, as a community, to say it’s not okay. It’s not okay to threaten your fiancée with a gun.”

Burger said they provide a 24-hour help line, emergency shelter, legal services and more to those who are experiencing with domestic violence.