Forty Minnesotan women dead at the hands of their husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends or family members.

Friday, January 26, 2001

Forty Minnesotan women dead at the hands of their husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends or family members. Fourteen Minnesota counties with no shelter for battered women and their children. An estimated $3.5 million lost when oversight for services to fight domestic violence was transferred to the Department of Public Safety from the Department of Human Services.

These numbers add up to one thing – an epidemic. In 2000, more women were killed as a result of domestic violence than any other year since 1988, when the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women began keeping track.

The previous high was 31, recorded in 1992.

This is not a family problem; it affects the whole community. Whether it’s dollars spent to help injured women recover, to safe house battered women and their children or for programs designed to help children who witness family violence, every Minnesotan pays for domestic violence.

Domestic violence needs to come to the forefront and real solutions need to be sought.

The MCBW has urged Gov. Ventura and his administration to make efforts to control domestic violence a priority, and they’ve asked to have that $3.5 million reinstated.

Indeed, this is an issue that Ventura and the Legislature need to examine. More needs to be done at the state level to help prevent family violence and to help the victims who have endured it.

It’s not a family problem; it’s a state epidemic.