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
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
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