I was disappointed by an omission in the recent coverage of the tragic murder of Tiffany Hill (“Victim of shooting at Hazel Dell school honored at vigil“), which contained a moving tribute but failed to reference resources available to victims of domestic violence.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, or NCADV, estimates that about 20 people in the U.S. suffer physical abuse by a partner every single minute. The connection between domestic violence and murder-suicides is stunning: NCADV data indicates 72 percent of murder-suicides involve an intimate partner. The Evergreen State’s statistics are no less horrifying, with 42.6 percent of Washington women and 28.3 percent of Washington men experiencing intimate partner physical violence, rape or stalking in their lifetimes.
Readers of this paper should be made aware of the resources available to them. These include the YWCA of Clark County, which operates a domestic violence shelter and a 24/7 sexual assault hotline; the Washington State Domestic Violence Hotline; and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
If we don’t all do our part to ensure our community is aware of these resources, we fail to honor Tiffany Hill’s life. I encourage The Columbian to bear this responsibility in mind when covering future tragedies.
