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Show Wednesday, February 12, 1997 The Park Record County Seat mmmimmm New domestic violence bill proposed at Capitol Abuse in front of children could become a separate charge in Utah by Kirsta H. Bleyle OF THE RECORD STAFF In Salt Lake County, an estimated esti-mated 60-percent of teen-aged violent vio-lent criminals lived in homes where they witnessed domestic abuse. Additionally, experts estimate esti-mate that approximately 80-percent of all domestic violence offenses are witnessed by children. According to Utah Attorney General Jan Graham, children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to be violent offenders, drug abusers, or gang members at some time in their lives. To curb the generational cycle of domestic violence, Graham is supporting a new piece of legislation that will potentially prove to be a deterrent to perpetrators who commit acts of violence in front of children. House Bill 92, which is slated for argument in the Utah House of Representatives later this week, would charge perpetrators of domestic violence with a separate charge of child abuse when the act is committed in front of a minor. Conviction of the separate charge could result in either a misdemeanor, misde-meanor, or lesser-degree felony, depending on the circumstances of the act. An important aspect of the bill. Graham said, is the support it is receiving from law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, as these are the entities that will be charged with enforcing the law. H.B. 92 is being sponsored by Representative Gary Cox, a former for-mer West Jordan police officer and one-time chairman of the Utah Domestic Violence Advisory Council. "This bill," Cox said, "will provide pro-vide pro-active, preventative, interaction" to police agencies. He stressed that the bill will work effectively in conjunction with recent training received by law enforcement officers across the state in the area of recognizing domestic violence. "We've changed our perspective on domestic violence," Cox said, adding "when I was trained as a police officer.. .we handled these matters as civil, not criminal, problems. prob-lems. This bill calls the victimization victimiza-tion exactly what it is: child abuse." Cox said the bill will act as a deterrent to violent offenders who actually want the child to witness the abuse due to a "this is what will happen to you" mentality regarding regard-ing child discipline. According to a report from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, children who witness parental violence "face dual threats: the threat of witnessing witness-ing traumatic events, and the threat of physical assault." Furthermore, the impacts of witnessing wit-nessing domestic violence are estimated esti-mated to include psychological trauma evidenced by the fact that men who watched their fathers hit their mothers are three times more likely to hit their wives. If H.B. 92 is enacted, Utah will have created the first ever bill of its kind in the country. "I think we're pioneering out here," Graham said, adding that inspiration for the bill "was born in my head." The Attorney General's Chief of Staff Palmer DePaulis told The Park Record that the bill has received a good deal of positive support over the past few weeks, and could be voted on as early as next week. "This bill represents great reform of violence at home," Graham said, "and we intend to make this a rescue mission." Experts suggest individuals in situations of domestic violence contact a local shelter and leave the house at the first opportunity. Additionally, local shelters such as Park City's Peace House take in abused women as well as their children. chil-dren. According to Sharon Tongson, Executive Director for Peace House, of the 134 individuals offered shelter in 1996, 72 were children. "It's about time," Tongson said regarding the bill, adding that "these kids have many other problems prob-lems and may have been physically and sexually abused themselves." Tongson added that it takes a specially spe-cially trained staff to help children with the impacts and psychological scars caused by witnessing domestic domes-tic violence. For more information on Peace House, or the Domestic Peace Task Force, please call 647-9161. Sheriff's Report m Domestic violence calls run high in county during past week On February 9, Summit County Sheriff's Dispatch received a report of domestic assault in the Park City area. A deputy responded to the apartment address, where he found a women with her three children The woman told the deputy that she was sharing custody of the children chil-dren with her husband, whom she had been attempting to divorce for over a year. The woman told the deputy that when she arrived at her husband's residence earlier that day to pick the children up, her husband argued about the pre-arranged pick up time, grabbed one of the children out of her arms, and shoved her against the wall. The deputy called a member of the Domestic Peace Task Force to the scene to help counsel the victim. The sheriff's department, after attempting to reach the husband at home, then made an entry on the statewide computer to locate and hold the suspect. On February 7, deputies responded to a call from the Park City Police Department regarding a juvenile party in the area. When the deputies approached the residence, they witnessed many juveniles carrying carry-ing around cups. Officers rang the doorbell, which caused yelling and running around within the residence. resi-dence. The subjects refused to open the door, causing a deputy to use an side door to gain entry into the residence. resi-dence. After gathering the juveniles into the front room area, deputies cited four individuals through the Summit County Third District Court. On February 6, a deputy responded to a traffic accident with property damage in the Park City area. When he arrived at the scene, the officer observed a car with damage dam-age to its side. The driver advised the officer that she had travelled the wrong way on a one-way street and was hit by a local resident who said she turned onto the road without checking for on-coming traffic because she knew it to be a one-way street. The officer noticed that the road was not marked in any way as a oneway one-way street, and noted that the oncoming on-coming driver should have been wary of pedestrians, parked cars or other obstructions as she was making mak-ing her turn around the blind corner. After discussing the accident with the Summit County attorney, the officer determined both drivers were at fault. On February 5, deputies began an investigation into items that were being taken from employee cars in the North Summit High School garage since Christmas time. To catch the perpetrator, an officer marked some Pepsi cans, placed them in one of the vehicles, and watched the car. The officer observed a female student approach the car, take the cans, and place them in her pockets. When the officer approached the girl, she denied taking the items, which were subsequently found in her coat pockets. The girl was taken to the principal's office where her mother was told that juvenile court would be notified and the girl would be charged with theft from an auto and misdemeanor theft. After speaking with the girl, the officer determined she was in need of counselling. The officer further observed that the girl might be the subject of ver bal and physical abuse from the mother's boyfriend, as the boyfriend told the officer he would yell at the girl and hold her hair in order to talk to her. The officer advised the boyfriend that he could not yell at or hit the girl, and that he would have to control his temper. The officer further determined the Division of Family Services should be contacted. contact-ed. On February 4, officers responded respond-ed to a medical tall regarding a possible pos-sible overdose by a teenager in Park City. Arriving at the scene, the officers offi-cers noted that medical personnel and the family of the teenager were present and in the girl's room. When asked about the possibility of overdose, over-dose, the officers were informed by EMTs that the girl had only taken some aspirin, and was not in any physical danger. The officers were informed that a friend of the girl's had called in the 91 1 call after speaking with her. The friend said the girl stated she was going to commit suicide, so he decided decid-ed to make the call after hearing the girl yell "help me, help me" into the phone and then state she had taken 25 pills of some kind. The officers advised the girl's parents to keep an eye on her and to call them if any suicidal actions were witnessed in the future. On February 4, deputies responded to a call in South Summit pertaining to a dispute between parents par-ents who have a divorce pending and were arguing over visitation rights with their three children. The mother told officers that the father was entitled to visitation rights every other weekend, and had not returned the children when he was scheduled to do so. 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