April 4, 2003

Dear Friends,
As I reread the ending poem before sending it out today in the newsletter I was struck by a few lines that pertain especially to this time of new life in the calendar year (with the exception of our friends down under), as well as the work we are doing within Silent Witness. Our silhouettes stand for women who've been murdered yet their voices are still speaking loudly. And the shawl recipients say they feel their loved ones in the room when they wear these shawls. Here are the lines from the poem that ring so true for me: Perhaps the Earth can teach us, As when everything seems dead, And later proves to be alive.

Angels are cropping up all over the country to send us names of women who would value shawls. You are so thoughtful, so compassionate, so YOU. Thank you all so much.

WELCOME NEW EMAIL CORRESPONDENTS:
Karen Hill (DV Specialist, Oklahoma Coalition)

NEWS FROM THE STATES/COUNTRIES:

California:
More news of recent events in the Sacramento area from Tina Campbell: Since I last wrote you, the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board has added a few more outreach activities for Crime Victims Rights Week. April 6 Victim Compensation Booth (VCP) at Florin Mall. Board staff will provide VCP information to mall goers; April 7 Victim Compensation Booth at Westfield Mall; April 8 Board staff will participate in the 14th Annual March on the Capitol on April 8 and staff a VCP to provide information regarding the Program. The ceremony will begin at 11:45 a.m. Photographs of loved ones lost to violent crimes will be displayed and various organizations will be staffing booths to provide information to attendees. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association's (CCPOA)
sponsors the Annual March.

April 9 In honor of Victims Rights Week, Board staff will attend a one-day conference hosted by the Attorney General's Office of Victims' Services. This will be a chance for like-minded folks to get together and listen to the stories of some amazing speakers. Featured speakers include: FBI Special Agent Jeff Rinek, who took the confession from Cary Stayner. He will talk in candid detail about the case and how it affected his life; San Diego Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek, the prosecutor who tried the Westerfield case in San Diego and newly appointed Eastern District US Attorney, though not yet official, McGregor Scott (currently DA of Shasta County). For more information, you may contact Jonathan Raven, Director of
the Office of Victims' Services at (916) 324-9945.

Letters, brochures, applications, and posters are being mailed to all county public health officers informing them of Victims Rights week and asking them to display VCP literature in their clinics to educate the public regarding Program benefits A Victim Rights Week article is being printed in the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) newsletter A Victim Rights Week message will appear on April's State employee pay warrants In addition to participating in events, PACS designed a bookmark and awareness ribbons for Victims Rights Week. The ribbons and bookmarks were distributed to all Victim/Witness Centers and to various state, federal, and private organizations. PACS staff also drafted the Victims Rights Week Proclamation for the Governor's office.

*Thanks, Tina for all this information and for these fine events. A lot of
awareness will be raised.

Maryland:
Jodi Finkelstein, our SW Coordinator in Maryland received a Sheila Shawl from a women in MD who saw the pattern on our web site. She says:

"We received our first shall from S. Brendler, a woman who lives in
Rockville, Maryland. Ms. Brendler found out about the project through the SW website. She called me after finding my name on the list of state contacts. We had a wonderful phone conversation..she actually knew me from work I had done in the community---it truly is a small world. The shawl she knitted is beautiful---it is a deep pine green and VERY soft. She enclosed the shawl with a flowered note card merely stating her name, address and telephone number.

*I love that women are finding out about this project and mailing shawls to local coordinators. They are so beautiful and so comforting.

Mexico:
A contact in Mexico, Teresa Ulloa Ziaurriz, writes this note to Lois Herman, our international ambassador:
Thank you very much for having send to me the video and the book. I was thinking that the program should be started in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where more than 300 women had been violently murdered under a serial way and the impunity and lack of justice has had a expanding effect on the levels of violence against women, there, mainly in the issue of domestic violence. As soon as I receive the video and the book I will let you know my reactions. In the mean time, please receive my very best regards.

*Wouldn't it be amazing to be part of the reduction of DV in this ravaged part of Mexico. We could reach healing arms around all those families.

Minnesota:
Susan Pedersen from rural MN writes: "While on a day long tour of the capitol sponsored by Rep. Ray Cox (R) Northfield, I was able to attend a Senate Hearing on the conceal carry bill MN S#222. One of the women testifying was Joan Peterson of Duluth. Her sister, lost her life in August of '92 in a Minneapolis suburb. She was not aware of the Shawls for Sheila