Every victim of domestic violence has a story to tell. Few are as compelling or public as Linda Rhoutsong's.
Fewer still are the women who faced the kind of terror that Rhoutsong faced and lived to tell their story.
Rhoutsong, of Dayton, was profiled in Sunday's edition of the Nevada Appeal in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Her goal is to let women in abusive relationships know they should get out - they must get out.
Fourteen years ago, she was confronted by an abusive boyfriend who burst into her home with a shotgun blast. She was seriously wounded, but returned fire. The man also was shot by her 11-year-old and later died.
It was the ultimate, disastrous ending to a relationship gone wrong. We hope, as Linda does, that people reading her story - mostly women, but men as well - will take steps now to prevent anything similar from happening in their own lives.
The people to whom domestic-violence victims should turn in Carson City are the Advocates to End Domestic Violence (through the Domestic Abuse Hotline, 883-7654.) Do it before the situation escalates into the confrontation that Rhoutsong survived.
The Advocates provide more than a sympathetic ear. It operates a safehouse, where victims and their children may take refuge.
Advocates accompany victims to court, help file protective orders and work with the Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada to take care of the children in the family.
For Rhoutsong, the children are the reason to act.
"If you don't care about what it does to you, think about what it does to your kids," she told Appeal reporter Teri Vance. "My kids are still scarred. The only thing I have to deal with now is the guilt of what I put my kids through."