On October 12, 2009, around 1 a.m. , officers arrived in the area of 1348 Ft Campbell Blvd and found a 29 year old male laying on the ground. He had been stabbed in the abdomen area. James Keith Toler was identified as the subject that stabbed the male. The victim said that Toler was an acquaintance and he did not know why Toler stabbed him. The victim was transported by Lifeflight to Vanderbilt due to the serious nature of the stab wound. The victim is now in stable condition.

JAMES KEITH TOLER (W/M, DOB: 1/16/72, Given Address: 1097 McDaniel Rd, Clarksville, TN) AKA “Gypsy”

Please call 911 if you see or know the location of James Keith toler . The lead investigator is Detective Andy Hurst, 931-648-0656, ext 1007 or the TIPSLINE, 931-845-8477.

Argument results in reckless endangerment x 2 and possession of firearm while intoxicated.

DAVID MICHAEL SEAMAN (W/M, DOB: 4/15/86, Given Address: 414 Montrose Drive, Clarksville, TN) was charged with: TWO COUNTS OF RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT AND POSSESSION OF A FIREARM WHILE INTOXICATED and has a Bond of: $6,000.

DAVID MICHAEL SEAMAN (W/M, DOB: 4/15/86, Given Address: 414 Montrose Drive, Clarksville, TN)

On October 12, 2009, around 4:30 a.m., officers responded to 2051 Ft Campbell Blvd in reference to an ASSAULT IN PROGRESS. When officers arrived, they saw DAVID SEAMAN holding a handgun. He told officers he pulled out a handgun after three men threatened to kill him.

Officer Ewing started an investigation and found out all parties involved in the altercation had been drinking.

SEAMAN and a friend had gotten into a verbal argument with three other males. The nature of the argument never came to light. After several minutes of arguing, SEAMAN went to his vehicle retrieved and brandished a 9mm handgun. Two of the males, 23 and 26 years old, continued to argue with SEAMAN. SEAMAN then fired a handgun round into the ground near the two males. Even after a round had been fired, the arguing continued until officers arrived on scene.

Ewing’s investigation further revealed there had been some threats and shoving which took place, but SEAMAN was the only person who displayed a handgun. Additionally, SEAMAN is a Gun Carry permit holder.

DAVID MICHAEL SEAMAN was taken into custody and booked into the Montgomery County Jail.

Child Rapist indicted and booked

On October 12, 2009, STEVEN ALEXANDER BANCROFT (W/M, DOB: 12/22/83, Given Address: 2709 Trenton Rd, Clarksville, TN) was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on THREE COUNTS OF CHILD RAPE with a Bond of $100,000.

STEVEN ALEXANDER BANCROFT (W/M, DOB: 12/22/83, Given Address: 2709 Trenton Rd, Clarksville, TN)

He was indicted by the Grand Jury on charges which stemmed from incidents which occurred between July and August 2009. A mother had reported to Police that her child, under the age of five, did not want to go the babysitter anymore. The child alleged that Bancroft had urinated on her, used a toy to touch her private area, and also took her panties off. The babysitter was STEVEN ALEXANDER BANCROFT. The results of Detective Ginger Fleischer’s investigation was presented to the Grand Jury and an indictment was handed down.

Since reading about this case, whenever I hear about any conviction I compare the jail time the person receives to this case. For example, a ‘blue collar criminal’ received three years in prison for embezzlement; to me, and I’d think to most people, that is a much lesser crime. Therefore, raping a minor should have had at least that long of an incarceration. I’m shocked that 120 days is even remotely considered a ‘valid’ sentence for a severe crime, especially rape.

A teacher has a special responsibility for the children in their care since they are in a position of authority and control. It is never acceptable for an adult teacher to have sex with a minor student. It is a crime. It is rape. It is never legally consensual because of the age and relationship of the student and teacher.

Bryan Dale Farmer is a rapist as well as former Tennessee high school teacher and coach. This case, which happened at Northeast High School in Clarksville, was not his 1^st conviction, and there have been allegations from at least three different schools and over a dozen girls. He is now a registered sex offender in Tennessee.

After his 120 day sentence, when he has another victim, who will be to blame? Since I have a [minor] daughter, I am especially appalled by this case. Teenagers may act grown up and look grown up, but in many ways they are not adults. Teenage girls are under a lot of pressure to look thin, attractive and sexy. An older man could take advantage of their infatuation and inexperience. Teenagers have had crushes on their teachers for years – that is no excuse for a teacher to rape a student.

I’d like to express my sympathy to the students and their parents, friends and family who have had to endure this injustice. If you’d like to blame the teens or their parents, you are welcome to your opinion. I do not feel blaming the victim is appropriate. However, if you have other information about how this sentence was rendered, or details about this case, the public, including the parents of Tennessee students, would be interested .

For more information, refer to:

• Channel 5
• The Tennessean
• Knoxville News
• Teacher Blog

This article was submitted by a Clarksville online reader and parent of a minor student. We have exercised our option, at her request, to withhold her identity. The factual material and related news links have been verified.

This New Orleans celebration of two performances of the award winning Vagina Monologues will feature Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Faith Hill, Jane Fonda, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Hudson, Glenn Close, Julia Stiles, Ali Larter, Sally Field, Marisa Tomei, Calpernia Addams, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, and musicians Common, Eve, and Charmaine Neville. See details and get tickets at: http://v10.vday.org/

Ensler has a big picture for vaginas. V-Day is a vision to see a world where women live safely and freely. The monologues speak openly about vagina stories that were collected from women. Ending violence against women is the driving force behind the production. Women don’t talk about their own sexuality; they don’t talk about what pleases them, and when raped, they don’t talk about that either. Most of the time, they think it was their fault that they were attacked and they walk around with the hidden fear and shame of it.

Being a victim of rape by a parent, Eve knows how difficult it is to come to terms with that kind of violation and the work it takes to feel safe in your own body again. Being silent about our own sexuality has not been helping women to avoid violence.

Ensler, who has traveled to Africa and all parts of the world to hear issues of female genital mutilation and violence, says, It’s not enough to keep helping every crisis that happens. We need to have a revolution and change the source of the problem. We need men to get behind it because women can’t pull it off just by themselves. We need to realize that every single culture gives permission to violence against women.

International Statistics: Violence against women and girls is widespread – one woman in three will experience violence during her lifetime, most often at the hands of someone she knows. (United Nations Population Fund, Sept. 2000 and summary).

The number of girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation is estimated at between 100 and 140 million. It is estimated that each year, an additional 2 million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM. (World Health Organization, Fact Sheet No. 241, June 2000)

Internationally, 2 million girls between ages 5 and 15 are introduced into the commercial sex market each year. (United Nations Population Fund, Sept. 2000 and summary)

According to the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, a woman is raped every two hours in Pakistan, and in Punjab, a woman is raped every six hours and gang-raped every four days. (San Francisco Chronicle, July 2002) National Statistics: Approximately 1.9 million women are assaulted physically annually in the United States. That’s one woman every 15 seconds. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 200) One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to the participating law enforcement agencies were under age 6. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1996) Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 90 seconds. (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 2000)

On average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the U.S. every day. (Bureau of Justice Report, “Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim, 1993-99,” Oct. 2001) Pregnancy or recently pregnant women are more likely to be the victims of homicide than to die of any other cause. (Journal of the American Medical Association, March 2001)

In this country, MTV continually flashes us images of females in ideal male sexual fantasy roles. Clarksville On Line publisher, Bill Larson, was able to obtain a copy and permission to post the controversial film trailer to Dreamworlds III here. This film shows women always wanting sex, not meaning it when they say no, not having real minds or feelings, they are lost without men and they are just bodies. This is the trailer that MTV does not want you to see. The context is shocking and not recommended for children.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Vagina Monologues, which is part of an organized response against violence toward women, are performed at Universities and institutions across the world, with permission from Eve Ensler and with the agreement that monies raised go to groups that help battered women.

For the seventh year running, the Vagina Monologues were performed in Clarksville on Feb 26th and 27th at APSU, and despite snow fall both nights, over 200 people came to see the performance.

Dr. Eichhorn teaches the Vagina Monologues class and she is passionate about women’s studies education. Shocking, funny, and empowering are the monologues, because they talk about a subject that is taboo, the vagina and women’s sexuality.

Proceeds from the Vday event went to the following non-profit organizations:

• Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee (931) 552-6656
• Rape and Sexual Abuse Center (931) 647-3632, Crisis hotline: 1-800-879-1999
• Safe House (931) 648-9100 and (931) 552-6900

In this year’s production at APSU: Director Carrye Beth Murray, Director Holly Lanham, Coordinator Carly Hatcher, Rebecca Hubbel, Rukiya Richmond, Bess Bedell, Ellie Renderos, Sienna Finney, Laura Boudrequx, Marcy Austin, Tinesha Lott, Jessica Axley, Tiffany Davis, Amanda Abbott, Alisa Lewis, Jessica Axley, Amber Gaulden, Nicolette Tomaszewski, Jamila Weaver, Erin McNealy, Liza Kurtz, Coordinator Debbie Boen, Shannon Woodward, Amanda Hudson, Danielle Beck, Optimum Robinson, Samantha Chew, Tonika Bell, Samantha Pearson

One in three women are raped, mutilated and/or assaulted, says Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues. If that’s the case, why don’t we hear about it all the time, everyday, every hour? Because women have a tendency to think that it’s their fault.

Dr. Jill Eichhorn, Coordinator of APSU’s Women’s Studies Program, teaches The Vagina Monologues class, a class whose students participate in The Vagina Monologues production. This is the 7th year The Vagina Monologues has been presented at Austin Peay State University. Eichhorn hopes to help women claim control over their lives, their bodies and their voices. She wants women to release the shame that comes from sexual abuse, including the abuse that women and girls experience daily when they see women objectified on the media.

Dr. Eichhorn (left) with Eve Ensler at Vanderbilt University

Women think that the horrible feeling they have after being assaulted somehow belongs to them. Being invaded or touched inappropriately invalidates them incredibly. It makes them feel as if their own body is disgusting, that their body has betrayed them; they hate it for that. They think that they have become the nasty, fear-based, controlling, invasive feeling that they are left with. It makes them feel so low down that they cannot speak up.

After a violent episode, the abuser can become lovable and sweet.  Eventually tension builds, escalates and explodes again.  Immediately he asks forgiveness or blames her for the explosion.  She may think she’s crazy to want to leave him, he’s such a good person.  She might stay because of financial reasons and to protect the children.  

Women seldom talk about their own sexuality; they don’t talk about what pleases them, and they also do not talk about sexual abuse. When rape, mutilation or assault happens, the victim feels stuck in an isolated world of terror.

On the subject of rape, 60% of men surveyed think that “she brought it on to herself.” Surprisingly 40% of women surveyed think that she brought it on herself. Men who have justified date raping often use these excuses: because of the way she dressed, because she asked a guy out on a date, because he spent a lot of money on her, etc.

MTV continually flashes us images of females as the ideal male fantasies. In those fantasies, women always want sex, they don’t mean it when they say no, their minds and feelings aren’t important – in fact, they don’t exist, they are lost without men, and they lust for man’s approval. This imagery is not balanced by imagery that shows more truthful aspects of women. An excellent movie about it is Dreamworlds III

Monologue’s author Eve Ensler says that as far as sexuality goes, men and women are both lost. Boys are brought up not to cry, taught not to have feelings or else they are sissy boys. They are practically tortured by their piers as adolescents for anything that is different about them and any feelings of inadequacy that they show. Ensler, who spoke to a full house at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on February 18, said that Martin Luther King Jr. is her mentor. He taught her to focus on the task. Many people told her not to use the word vagina in the title to the monologues. She said, “What should I call it, furniture?” She said that people still tell her that word is too strong to use. They still tell her to shut up.

She’s visited many countries and cities and been witness to many stories of abuse and rape. The worst, by far, is the Congo, she said. In the Congo there are whole towns of raped women. Their bodies have been mutilated by the rapists and I won’t share the details here.

Ensler says she will not stop saying the word. She has a purpose, a revolution. There has been a global strategy to undermine women, a strategy she calls femicide. Dealing with each crisis as it happens is not going to solve the problem. Ensler says we need to redress the bigger issue. Every single culture gives permission to violence.

Ensler wants all of us to stop pretending to be found, and be lost, together. Women cannot stop men from committing violence on women. Men can stop men. There needs to be a global strategy to figure out why love is harder to do than killing.

“The Clothesline Project”

An Art exhibit called The Clothes Line Project will be displayed around the auditorium.

This is the 7th year The Vagina Monologues are to be shown in the Clement Auditorium on campus. This year Ensler is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of the monologues. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $50 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it. As elsewhere, Clarksville benefits go to the Safe House, Legal Aid of Tennessee and Sexual Abuse Center.

The monologues tell vagina stories. They are funny and sad and sassy; they are stories collected and collaborated from real women. The play opens with the lines, “I bet you are worried. We were worried. We were worried about vaginas.” There’s no place in this play hiding in shame about the existence of the vagina. The monologues give women the notion that their sex organs don’t have to be and shouldn’t be a big secret.

From the movie, VDay, Until the Violence Stops: Being in shame about women’s sexuality and not talking about it has not gotten women anywhere; in fact:

• One in three women is raped, mutilated, and/or beaten.
• RAPE is often viewed as “her fault” even though…
• No woman is asking to be raped.
• The female body is a MYSTERY to women. Women don’t know pleasure and how to talk about it. When raped, they can’t talk about that either.
• Women’s FEAR and GUILT take away from their power and spirit.
• When women release their stories they become the world’s stories.
• If women say they will not tolerate violence, it forces the violators to have to work on their own issues.
• RESPECT goes to those who: EXPECT it, COMMAND it and REFUSE to live without it.

One of the many handouts given to the Vagina Monologue class by guest speakers from Legal Aid of Tennessee shows the Power Control Wheel, which illustrates the pattern of abusive and violent behaviors used by a batterer to establish and maintain control over his partner.

Coercion and threats: Making and/or carrying out threats to do something to hurt her. Threatening to leave her, commit suicide, or report her to welfare. Making her drop charges. Making her do illegal things.

Intimidation: Making her afraid by using looks, actions, and gestures. Smashing things. Destroying her property. Abusing pets. Displaying weapons.

Emotional abuse: Putting her down. Making her feel bad about herself. Calling her names. Making her think she’s crazy. Playing mind games. Humiliating her. Making her fell guilty, ashamed.

Male privilege: Treating her like a servant: making all the big decisions, acting like the “master of the castle,” being the one to define men’s and women’s roles.

Economic abuse: Preventing her from getting or keeping a job. Making her ask for money. Giving her an allowance. Taking her money. Not letting her know about or have access to family income.

Isolation: Controlling what she does, who she sees and talks to, what she reads, and where she goes. Limiting her outside involvement. Using jealousy to justify actions.

Using children: Making her feel guilty about the children. Using the children to relay messages. Using visitation to harass her. Threatening to take the children away.

Minimizing, denying, and blaming: Making light of the abuse and not taking her concerns about it seriously. Saying the abuse didn’t happen. Shifting responsibility for abusive behavior. Saying she caused it.

This handout from the Clothes Line project got a lot of discussion in class:

Dating Bill Of Rights (for men and women)

I have the right:

• To ask for a date.
• To refuse a date.
• To suggest activities.
• To refuse any activities, even if my date is excited about them.
• To have my own feelings and be able to express them.
• To say I think my friend’s information is wrong or her/his actions are unfair or inappropriate.
• To tell someone not to interrupt me.
• To have my limits and my values respected.
• To tell my partner when I need affection.
• To be heard.
• To refuse to lend money.
• To refuse affection.
• To refuse sex with anyone just because they took me out on an expensive date.
• To refuse sex anytime for any reason.
• To have friends and space aside from my partner.

I have the responsibility:

• To determine my limits and values.
• To respect/not violate the limits of others.
• To communicate clearly and honestly.
• To ask for help when I need it.
• To be considerate.
• To check my actions/decisions to determine if they are good for me or bad for me.
• To set high goals for myself in my dating relationships.

Women

Women, get yourself to these monologues.

Statistics show that you are only slightly behind men in thinking that women bring rape on to themselves. If you think this way, you are enabling a diseased violent crime to continue and you are hurting your fellow womankind.

Men

Men get yourselves and the women and daughters in your life to this. If you really want to protect them, realize that women need to “own” their bodies as a key to protecting them.

They need your support and encouragement in this.

Dr. Eichhorn says the monologues will help bring understanding to our community about what it means to be female.

Clement Auditorium can be found on this map. Click to make larger. Park on campus or at the University and College parking lot for free after 4:30 p.m.

Throughout the world, women face violence every day. From the battlefield to the bedroom, women are at risk from violence in all areas of life. Violence against women is an abuse that is not confined to any political or economic system. It is prevalent in every society in the world. It cuts across boundaries of wealth, race and culture. It affects the young and the old. Wherever we live, women are suffering violence.

Violence against women persists because society allows it to. Virtually every culture in the world contains forms of violence against women that are often invisible because they are seen as normal or acceptable.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Discrimination against women

The underlying cause of violence against women lies in gender discrimination – the denial of women’s equality with men in all areas of life. Women are also targeted because of their race, class, culture, sexual identity or HIV status, or because they are from poor or marginalized communities.

In many countries, violence against women is written into the law. In Jamaica the law fails to protect women from marital rape, incest and sexual harassment. Discriminatory maternity and infant health services in Peru are letting hundreds of impoverished women and children die every year and denying many of them the right to an identity.

Violence against women happens because far too often governments turn a blind eye to it, do not punish those who commit crimes against women and fail to ensure effective access to justice for women. The single most important factor that allows violence against women to persist, whether in times of peace or in times of war, is rampant impunity. Those who attack and rape women, know that they can get away with it, even though rape and other forms of gender violence have long been prohibited under international law.

Sexual Violence

Two thirds of sexual crimes in Hungary are committed by people known to the victim, yet few of the perpetrators are tried for their crimes. Rape by police and security forces is endemic in Nigeria as is the abject failure of the Nigerian authorities to bring perpetrators to justice.

Sexual violence affects women in all societies in times of peace as well as times of conflict. Indigenous women in the USA are at least twice as likely to be raped or sexually assaulted as women in the USA in general..

The government’s ongoing failure to tackle violence against women in Papua New Guinea has resulted in this violence becoming so pervasive that it impedes national development and contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Violence in the home

Women remain at risk within their own home as well. 50% of women who die from homicides are killed by their current of former partners. Tens of thousands of women in Georgia are hit, beaten, raped and in some cases even killed by their husbands or partners. A very small percentage of women seek help and justice from violence. Many stay with their partners because they have nowhere else to go and lack financial independence.

Nearly 3,000 women were registered as victims of violence in the home in Belarus in 2005, although the actual number is believed to be much higher. As there are no shelters for victims of domestic violence in the whole of the country, these women have nowhere go.

A lack of adequate temporary housing in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – means that women have little opportunity to seek redress in a secure and safe environment.

States must protect women from domestic violence by ensuring that adequate laws are in place, that specialist training or health care is available, and by ensuring women who need it have access to shelters.

Conflict

During armed conflicts, violence against women is often used as a weapon of war, in order to dehumanize the women themselves, or to persecute the community to which they belong.

Acts of violence against women are often ordered, condoned or tolerated by those in the highest echelons of political or military power. They persist because those in power do not acknowledge the wrongs that have been done and rarely prosecute those who have committed them. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been subjected to sexual violence during the conflict in Darfur. No one has yet been tried or prosecuted for these crimes.

In the context of the current conflict in Cote d’Ivoire many women and girls are the victims of gang rape or are abducted and forced into sexual slavery by fighters. Rape is often accompanied by beatings and torture — often committed in public and in front of family members. To Amnesty’s knowledge, none of the perpetrators of these crimes has ever been brought to justice.

Despite governmental lack of interest and social apathy and silence in many countries – activists around the world continue to campaign against violence against women and to confront discrimination and impunity.

Human rights defenders

Much of what has been gained in women’s human rights so far has been thanks to the efforts of women themselves. They have organized themselves, broken taboos, spoken up – sometimes at great personal cost – and have led brave and inspiring campaigns against violence against women. They have achieved dramatic changes in laws, policies and practices.

Some of them are victims and survivors of violence themselves who despite risks and difficulties and together with human rights defenders, women activists, women’s organisations and the women’s movement take a stand and speak out against violence in order to make a difference for all women in the world.

Many human rights defenders face risks, but women encounter additional risks because of their gender and the issues they address. Women who defend the human rights of women, especially women from marginalized racial or ethnic groups, can find themselves under threat of violence. Because they often challenge cultural, religious or social norms about the role of women in their society, they are frequently subjected to harassment and repression, ranging from verbal abuse to sexual harassment, rape, and murder.

Often, when women pursue legal action and stand up for their rights, they are faced with hostile systems and environments. Frequently, women activists have had to face ridicule and prejudice when they have sought to take leadership in communities or societies that view the woman’s role as strictly one within the family. Women who have dared to challenge social and religious conventions have been subjected to public accusations aimed at discrediting their character. Women protesting against discriminatory laws and practices are often accused of being traitors to their faith or culture or enemies of the state.

In March this year, four women’s rights activists in Iran were sentenced to prison for their role in organizing the peaceful protest and demanding equal rights for women in Iran in June last year. The activists are organizers of the “One Million Signature Campaign” launched in August 2006 that demands an end to discriminatory laws against women. They were officially charged with “actions against the state” and threatening “national security” and all four of them were tried in absentia.

Violence against women may be universal but it is not “normal” or “inevitable”. As long as women are denied their human rights, anywhere in the world, there can be no justice. Recognition of women’s human rights is an essential requirement for every society. Individuals and communities have vital roles to play in overcoming discrimination of women, impunity and gaining justice.

States must prevent, investigate and punish those responsible and we must break the silence – Act now, Stop Violence against Women. For more information visit Amensty International, The Health and Human Services Womens Health web site, or the Lifetime End Violence Against Women web site.

* Information in this article came from from Amnesty International and LifetimeTV.