Community can show support Friday for proposed shelter

Each week, usually in our Friday edition, this newspaper runs a list of incidents or calls requiring Panola County Sheriff Department deputies to either respond, investigate or both.
Many of those calls involve petty thefts or personal spats, but several, too many, involve domestic violence.
While all domestic violence may be classified as serious, it can sometimes escalate  and become fatal to the participants as well as responders.
Merit Health Medical Center Chaplain Jake Julian knows this all too well. He regularly witnesses the results of domestic violence in the local emergency room, recently stating, “Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women, exceeding injuries caused by muggings, stranger rapes and automobile accidents combined.”
He also stated domestic violence calls were, “The most dangerous call police officers have to answer; more police officers die on these calls than any other deaths combined.”
That’s serious stuff and Julian says he sees multiple cases each week, four to seven, in his position as pastoral counselor at the local emergency room. He estimates that number is only the “tip of the iceberg” as many cases go unreported to law enforcement.
What especially bothered him was that victims of this violence, once released from the emergency room, had no place to go other than to return to the place where the incident occurred, with the nearest shelters being located in Tupelo and Desoto County.
Twice his group of supporters has been turned down from a location by nearby residents who did not want a safe shelter in their neighborhood. The organization now has plans to lease property from Hosannah Worship Center between Pope and Courtland and will soon go before the county’s planning commission for approval.
Meanwhile this Friday night at 7 p.m. a stage play entitled These 4 Walls will be presented at Batesville Civic Center and will address not only domestic violence but other problem areas in the home including drug addiction, wasted teen talent and rape.
Sponsored by Batesville Safe Shelter, Bim-Bam Burgers, Sardis Baptist Association and Boys and Girls Club, the goal is to sell 1,500 tickets at $20 with proceeds to be divided between the Shelter and Boys and Girls Clubs.
The problems are real and affixed to our community. Friday’s event is a way to better recognize and address these serious issues.
Our presence is needed.  So are our ticket purchases or donations.