Tuesday, July 24, 2012

MEMO:  Former Oregon State Representative Betsy Close



To: Oregon State Senators and Oregon State Representatives

Date: March 20, 2003


From: Coral Anika Theill
 




From 1976 through 1998, 1 lived in Corvallis, Independence, Albany and Salem, Oregon. In 1998 I moved out of state, per the recommendation of my physicians and counselors, to live in hiding and safety.




In 1995, I sought legal help to escape a long-term abusive marriage. During this time, Oregon State Representative Betsy Close aided my abuser personally and in Court. Transcripts and documentation of my court trials are available to the public. Representative Betsy Close expressed her belief, on the witness stand, that no Christian woman has a right to divorce her husband except in cases of desertion or fornication.




I believe this individual is an obstacle to women and children in Oregon seeking safety and wholeness. She holds many extreme fundamentalist beliefs that are a detriment to women and children as well as the general community. As long as she remains in office, women, in situations like mine, will have to prepare for the worst.




New legislation is needed that would promote the safety, wellness, and wholeness for women, children and families involved in domestic violence and abuse incidents in Oregon and throughout America. BONSHEÁ offers viable solutions and proposed legislation on pages 161-162.




Domestic violence has been cited as the major health care problem in the United States affecting more individuals and families than any other single health care problem (former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop). In 1999, Governor Kitzhaber reported that domestic violence is at epidemic proportions in Oregon.




Domestic violence has been recognized as being at the core of other major social problems: individual alienation, child abuse, other crimes of violence against person or property, as well as alcohol and drug abuse. Domestic violence along with other types of family violence-child abuse and neglect, sibling violence, etc., is destroying not only families, but also communities. The price of domestic violence is staggering.




I hope and pray BONSHEÁ: Making Light of the Dark, will promote wholeness, healing and awareness for all those who read it.




To assist you in understanding the summary of my divorce case in Oregon, this is my story:




"After surviving years of marital abuse and neglect, a woman suffers a mental/nervous breakdown. She becomes pregnant while in a near catatonic state. Toward the final stages of her pregnancy, she recovers from her breakdown. Although her body is frail, she is healthy emotionally. She births her baby. Baby and mother enjoy bonding and breastfeeding. The mother cherishes her newborn son. After undergoing several psychiatric tests and evaluations, her physicians state that she is well.




"Her abuser (the father of the child) manipulates the judicial system and seeks custody of the baby. With the help of the religious community and the mother's prior mental history, the court awards the father custody of the nursing infant. The mother is ordered to pay her attacker/abuser child support, is sued for his attorney fees and no longer is allowed contact with her child. The baby is abruptly removed from the mother. The mother goes into shock. The ‘father of the child’ has committed a crime against the mother but is embraced and rewarded in our ‘judicial and religious system.’" The victim becomes the criminal. The woman is me; the father of the child is my ex-husband.




There are individuals mentioned in my story who refused to acknowledge the horrors of my survival of marital abuse and my cry for help. They became an obstacle to my basic human rights-freedom and safety. I am holding them responsible and accountable for the continued trauma I have experienced throughout the past several years. I am requesting that the acts of disrespect, dishonesty and violence against me be acknowledged and resolved.




"Justice is itself great standing policy the of civil society and any departure from it under any circumstances lies under the suspicion of being no policy

at all." –quote found in the Justice Building in Salem, Oregon




Betsy Close was  a hostile witness in Coral Theill's Polk County court case February/March 1996.  Betsy Close aided Ms. Theill's abuser, Mr. Marty Warner, Independence, Oregon, personally and in Court.

                Photo of Betsy Close, Albany, Oregon



Coral's published book BONSHEA Making Light of the Dark is available at the Corvallis, Albany, Salem, Independence, Dallas, Monmouth, Chemeketa Community College and Linn Benton Community College library.

BONSHEA has also been used as a college text for nursing students at Linfield College in Portland, Oregon


Or order online at: http://iuniverse.com http://barnesandnoble.com or http://amazon.com

Toll free: 1-877-9235 iUniverse, Inc.

*Read reviews at http://barnesandnoble.com and http://amazon.com


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