Clarification
Because information was not available at the time, an article tTC in last Wednesday's Howard County edition of The Sun, about Howard County receiving a $3,688 grant from the state to fight domestic violence, did not say that the money fully funded the only such grant that the county had requested.
Pub Date: 6/18/97
When the state of Maryland handed out $1.2 million in grants from the federal Violence Against Women Act, Howard County nearly came up empty-handed.
The grants were announced yesterday in Dundalk by Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend who was kicking off a one-day training seminar on sexual assault and domestic violence.
Howard County received only a minimal amount of money to improve prosecution of domestic and sexual abusers. The county state's attorney's office was awarded $3,688 to train volunteers to help victims and encourage them to follow through with charges, said Marty Burns, spokeswoman for the governor's office of Crime Control and Prevention.
Howard's was one of the smallest of the 43 grants announced.
The small grant comes despite the fact that Howard's state's attorney's office has fewer programs to aid victims of domestic violence -- and a lower conviction rate -- than do its counterparts in other Baltimore suburban counties.
Townsend asked for a silent tribute in memory of Patricia A. Titus, a Carroll County woman found strangled in her home last week after seeking court protection from her estranged husband.
The victim's brother, John Biglin, urged more than 100 law enforcement agents and victims advocates from throughout Maryland attending yesterday's gathering to step up the fight against domestic violence.
"From this tragedy, it's my hope that [a policy of] no tolerance [toward domestic violence] will be adopted by the court system," he said.
John T. Titus, the victim's husband, is being held without bail in the Carroll County Detention Center on charges of first-degree murder in the death of the 40-year-old mother of two sons, ages 2 and 11 months.
Included among the federally funded state grants announced by the lieutenant governor is $48,773 that the Carroll County state's attorney's office will use to hire a prosecutor who will specialize in family violence cases.
The Westminster Police Department received a grant of $30,525 to help form a police officer advocacy team to go into victims' homes to follow up investigations of family violence and provide information, services and support.
Burns said she did not know yesterday whether the state's attorneys office applied for more grants but did not receive them. One hundred three applications were submitted; 43 were selected for funding.
Some of the other agencies receiving yesterday's grants included:
* For law enforcement: Baltimore County police, $27,862; Aberdeen police, $9,750; Frederick County sheriff, $40,411.
* For local family violence coordinating councils: Baltimore County Social Services, $11,614; Harford County Sexual Assault and Spouse Abuse Resource Center, $22,145.
* For victim services: Anne Arundel County SAC/YWCA, $12,800; University of Maryland Baltimore County, $49,975.
* For prosecution: Harford County state's attorney's office, $27,886; Frederick County state's attorney's office, $2,620.
Pub Date: 6/11/97
