Forty-Five Years Ago This Week: A bill sponsored by Rep. Jeanne Faatz’, R-Denver, House Bill 81-1336, was the final compromise bill intended to counteract the rising tide of domestic violence in Colorado. 

According to FBI figures, 40,000 women in 1980 were the victims of domestic violence. Every 18 seconds, a domestic violence incident was reported, the FBI indicated. Shockingly, over 90% of violence went unreported.

Faatz’s bill sought to provide state matching funds to existing local domestic abuse programs. Rep. Jeanne Marks, D-Northglenn, a co-sponsor of the bill, said that the number of victims of domestic violence was expected to rise as energy development in rural communities brought the social pressures common to booming communities. In the small town of Craig, domestic violence complaints had increased 350% between 1973 to 1976.

“Domestic violence crosses … all lines,” Marks wrote in an opinion editorial published in The Colorado Statesman. “The stereotype of the unemployed, often drunk, unshaved batterer … just doesn’t hold. The domestic abuse shelter in Adams County has a counseling program for men who want to change their behavior … participants have included a minister with a master’s degree in theology, an FBI agent, a few police officers and an attorney.”

Marks argued that simply recognizing the problem of men’s violence toward women was not enough and that citizens across Colorado were entitled to protection and support in order to leave dangerous situations.

Most of 20 or so existing programs, Marks wrote, saw their operating budgets slashed because of budget constraints. Safe House, one of three shelters in Denver, had shuttered in January 1981, and the Adams County shelter had cut the number of clients it could serve by half. On the entire Western Slope there was not a single residential shelter for battered women and children.

“The state has not, to this point, provided financial support for domestic violence programs,” wrote Marks. “This is a very difficult time to ask for ‘new money’ in the statehouse. But there are hidden cost factors … which may make prevention or containing domestic violence cheaper than merely responding to it.”

Marks referenced figures from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, which found that it cost $100 each time a police officer responded to a domestic dispute call, and in Denver, over 40% of all police department calls were domestic disputes.

This is in conjunction with FBI statistics that showed that 25% of police officers killed were responding to domestic disturbances. 

“Ignoring the problem won’t make it disappear,” Marks wrote. “Domestic violence is not only on the rise, but it tends to be a recurring problem, both within the same family and between generations. Without appropriate services, we’re bound to see the same family over and over again at a cost to the taxpayer.”

Twenty Years Ago: State Reps. Michael Merrifield, D-Manitou Springs, and Liane McFayden, D-Pueblo West, introduced HB06-1382 the “Right to Rest in Peace Act,” which protected families at funeral services by allowing them to mourn peacefully and privately.

Twenty-six other states had proposed similar legislation in response to protests by groups like the Westboro Baptist Church and its pastor, Fred Phelps, who argued that the deaths were God’s vengeance against the United States.

“It is simply unspeakable for anyone to try to disrupt grieving families during funerals,” said Merrifield. “This bill will help shield families from such disrespectful and despicable acts and assure Colorado families that they can mourn the loss of their loved ones without offensive and disrespectful interruptions.”

McFadyen said, “Our goal is to protect the privacy of families in mourning and the constitutional right to free speech. “Grieving families have a fundamental right to mourn peacefully at the most difficult moment of their lives.”

Rachael Wright is the author of several novels including The Twins of Strathnaver, with degrees in Political Science and History from Colorado Mesa University, and is a contributing columnist to Colorado Politics, the Colorado Springs Gazette and the Denver Gazette.