PORT ANGELES — Five Clallam County law enforcement officers were honored for their work in assisting victims of domestic violence at the Valley Creek Estuary Park pavilion on Tuesday.
The first annual Gratitude award recipients were chosen by the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Task Force of Clallam County.
They received their awards, in the form of plaques, at the Healthy Families of Clallam County fourth annual domestic violence silent witness vigil, held at the pavilion.
Healthy Families also plans a silent witness vigil from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today on the corner of Washington Street and Sequim Avenue in Sequim.
Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher gave Officer Kevin Spencer and Sgt. Barb McFall awards for assisting the children of a woman who lost her life due to domestic violence in 2007.
“I know what it’s like to watch your mother be beaten,” Gallagher told the crowd of about 40 people.
“It was unheard of when I was a kid to have this, or this resource,” he added, referring to the vigil and the work of Healthy Families.
Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict gave Undersheriff Ron Peregrin and Sgt. Monty Martin their plaques.
Benedict said Peregrin and Martin received the awards for training deputies how to handle domestic violence calls and working with prosecutors on domestic violence cases.
He told the crowd to not hesitate to call law enforcement if they believe domestic violence is going on in their neighborhood, and that the Sheriff’s Department will always handle the calls seriously.
“We stand firm in that,” Benedict said.
“We will hold people accountable for what they do to their spouses and children.”
Lower Elwha Klallam Police Chief Rod Charles also earned an award but wasn’t present to receive it.
Benedict presented his plaque to a Lower Elwha Klallam police officer who came on Charles’ behalf.
“I’ve known Rod [Charles] for 15 years,” Benedict said.
“[The tribe] takes it very seriously and works very hard at it.”
Also to be honored with the Gratitude awards are Forks police officers Gene Hoagland, Mike Shannon, Erik Hanson as well as Rev. Pam Hunter of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Forks and Ruth Hahn, Neah Bay prosecutor.
They will receive the awards at the Oct. 27 Forks City Council meeting.
Becca Korby, Healthy Families executive director, said anyone who has shown compassion and a commitment to raising awareness of domestic violence and protecting its victims can be nominated for a Gratitude award.
Silhouettes
The vigil included 15 silhouette statues of women, each offering information about one of the 66 women, children and men who lost their lives through domestic violence from July 2007 to June 30 in Washington state.
Of the 15 silhouettes, four of them represented Clallam County residents.
They were identified as Christin Stock, 35, who died on Feb. 24; Charles “Bill” Boze, 73, who died on July 28, 2007; Amber Rae Bulus-Steed, 26, who died in December 2004; and Noelle Staneart, 35, who died on March 31, 2004.
Jeffrey Calvert of Bellingham shot and killed himself after killing Stock at her Port Angeles home, police said.
A second-degree murder trial is set Nov.3 for Andrea Jenette Freese, 33, who has pleaded not guilty to stabbing Boze to death at his Port Angeles home.
Nathan Eugene Hipsher pleaded guilty to beating Bulus-Steed to death and died of cancer in 2007 while serving a 29-year sentence in the Washington State Reformatory Monroe Correctional Complex.
Rockie Staneart, Noelle Staneart’s 46-year-old estranged husband, shot himself to death at his Diamond Point home after he allegedly entered her Sequim business and shot her in the head.
Korby said Clallam County averages two or three domestic violence deaths annually.
She read the names of some of the victims.
After each name was read, she would pause and state what led to the death and name children they left behind.
“Abigail. She didn’t have a last name. I want to remember Abigail,” Korby said to the silenced crowd.
Two women took the opportunity to remember those in their own lives who were victims of domestic violence.
Dana Steed, who lost her daughter, Bulus-Steed, urged her listeners not to be afraid to call law enforcement if they believe abuse is occurring.
“It’s better to be proved wrong by calling than to be proved right by not calling,” she said.
Don Smith spoke of Staneart, who was survived by two children, one of which Smith is raising.
“There is joy in my family that her memory will live on through her children, and sadness that she won’t be here for her grandchildren,” she said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@peninsula dailynews.com.
