By John Howell Sr.
Members of Batesville Safe Shelter plan a November 2 “Masquerade for Hope — A New Beginning” ball Saturday, November 2 to raise funds toward a shelter to house victims of domestic abuse.

The masquerade ball was announced near the end of Thursday night’s community call to action meeting where victims of domestic abuse, spokespersons for law enforcement and other citizens described a growing problem little understood by those who have not been victims or who have not been closely acquainted with victims.

Panola County Sheriff Dennis Darby told the group about the difficulties that victims face, including embarrassment at coming forward to accuse their abuser.

“Where do you go for treatment?” Darby asked. “You’ve got to understand people. They’re in fear of a lot of things; they’re leaving their own bed, their comfort zone because of a reason they don’t have control of. It’s pretty sad.”

Batesville Safe Shelter board chairman presented Darby with a certificate from the organization, expressing its appreciation for his enforcement efforts to protect domestic abuse victims and for his work with the organization.

Batesville Police Department dispatcher Beverly Pope explained some of the departments experiences and policies. She said that officers and victims are often frustrated, both with the laws that deal with domestic abuse and with the justice system that metes out the law.

“It looks like it’s just a repeated cycle, because they get arrested, they go to jail — everybody’s entitled  a bond, regardless if it’s aggravated, if they have hurt you with an object or whatever — they still have that right,” Pope said. “That’s where the law, it looks like, does not work for us, but for the ones that are actually (arrested), because they have rights, too. I know your frustration because I have heard it over and over again where they cry for help, but it’s like the system is closing the door on them.”

Pope said that even if the abuse victim leaves the home, the abuser “wants to get you, they will get you openly, in the public.”

The BPD dispatcher recalled a young victim who had been shot by her abuser in a local park.
“She had restraining order, she was going by the book, but he still got her. He killed her in front of her children. … It was horrible, Pope said. “She was doing all she could do, but still he managed to go where she was, openly,” she continued.

Other women expressed frustration in seeking relief from their abuse through the Panola County Justice Court.

Batesville businessman William Turner had donated a building for use as a women’s shelter, Batesville Safe Shelter founder Jake Julian said. However, the cost of converting the structure for shelter use proved prohibitive, he said.

Instead, Batesville Safe Shelter seeks the donation of a three or four bedroom home in the country that could be more easily converted, Julian said.

“My goal for this shelter, real simple, is when you walk up to it, it needs to be a fortress,” he said.  “That woman needs to feel safe inside there. Those children need to feel safe inside that building.”

There is no shelter presently available for women in Panola and surrounding counties to house abused women and their children in a secure location, Julian said. The nearest shelters are in Tupelo, DeSoto County and Tunica.

In the interim, Julian said, Batesville Safe Shelter should organize a network not unlike the Underground Railroad that housed fugitive slaves and funneled them to free states before emancipation.

Several women in the audience volunteered to become part of such a network.