Victims Of Sexual

Handcuffed in the police Winnebago, Polly saw the face.Inside a three-ring binder the police gave her was a photo of the man she said had paid her for sex last November, then beat her unconscious and dragged her behind a trash bin in Southeast Baltimore. A stranger found her, one eye out of its socket, bones in her face broken.Polly, 38, who has been turning tricks for 19 years and uses heroin, never called police. But when she got busted for the fourth time for prostitution recently, what she knew about that near-fatal fall attack became a bargaining chip to keep her out of jail.

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has announced $1.2 million in grants from the federal Violence Against Women Act that will fund 43 programs for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in Maryland.The grants were announced Tuesday at the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Academy in Dundalk, where Townsend introduced a statewide sexual assault training curriculum to more than 100 law enforcement officers and victims' advocates.Those at the seminar learned the new standards for proper police response to incidents of sexual violence.

Six months after county budget cuts forced the Sexual Abuse Treatment Center to reduce services and staff, the agency is urging Carroll officials to restore a counseling program that served adults who sexually abused children.It's critical to treat the offenders as well as child victims of sexual abuse because in many instances the abuser and the child continue to live in the same household, said Sandra L. Rappeport, Carroll County district director of Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland.

A Howard Circuit judge's remarks in a recent sexual assault case have distressed local rape counselors, who say his statements appeared to blame a teen-age girl for being the victim of a statutory rape.Judge James B. Dudley made comments that upset the counselors in two court hearings involving a 31-year-old man who has pleaded guilty to fourth-degree sexual assault against the girl, who was 15 at the time, at his Elkridge home two years ago.Judge Dudley said he wasn't blaming the victim, but merely explaining how the behavior of teen-agers can subject them to criminal acts.

Support for Rape VictimsRape support is available 24 hours in Howard County.The Howard County Sexual Assault Center Inc. supports the Howard County Police Department and its investigations of instances of sexual assault in the county.The board of directors and I find the reporting in The Sun of the "PrimeTime Live" interview and the rape case on which it was based to be in especially poor judgment.The comments made by Kevin Thomas in "Robey gets Caught in TV Headlights" (April 16) and the editorial cartoon published the same Sunday hamper the work of the sexual assault center to provide crisis intervention, counseling and therapy to victims of sexual assault and rape.

For a 29-year-old Aberdeen mother raped last year, the ordeal did not end yesterday when her attacker was sentenced in Harford Circuit Court to 10 years in prison."

The Howard County Sexual Assault Center has joined America's first nationwide toll-free hot line for victims of sexual assault: 1-800-656-HOPE.The number is operated by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a Washington-based nonprofit organization.When callers dial the toll-free number, they are connected to the nearest rape crisis center.

WASHINGTON -- Victims of sexual abuse by priests should be treated with compassion and dealt with openly, a Roman Catholic bishops' committee recommended to the church's U.S. hierarchy yesterday.The panel, one of several to make presentations at the general meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, also urged leaders of the church to formulate policies that would cover a range of sexual misconduct, from pedophilia to harassment. And it urged setting up an advisory board to evaluate the policy periodically.

As part of its professional development series, the Family Life Center will present a one-day workshop, "Healing the Wound of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Adult Survivors in Therapy," with psychologist Christine A. Courtois, tomorrow at the Holiday Inn at 7900 Washington Blvd.The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will enable clinicians to increase their ability to recognize clues to a sexual-abuse history, develop therapeutic strategies, learn about issues related to delayed memory controversies and learn about the requirements for treating victims of sexual abuse.

A 53-year-old deacon pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually abusing three boys between 1975 and 1981 while serving at the Oak Grove Baptist Church in Churchville.Harford County Circuit Judge William O. Carr ordered a presentence investigation and set sentencing of Wayne Erskine Sisk of Bel Air for April 29.According to the plea agreement, Sisk could serve up to six months in jail, but his lawyers are free to argue for a lighter sentence, including probation before judgment.Sisk will be placed on probation for five years and must successfully complete a group therapy program for sexual offenders.