Editorial: We must all fight to stop domestic violence

Statistics tell a sobering story: A woman is beaten every nine seconds, children are present at an average of 1,712 incidents of abuse, 70 percent of child witnesses also are victims, and three or more women are murdered by their boyfriends or husbands every day in the United States.

Citizens must stop this type of insanity. That's why October has been designated as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Nevada first lady Dawn Gibbons spoke to a small crowd in Fallon last week about domestic and sexual violence and how, in many instances, the victim becomes a murder statistic.

The first lady mentioned two cases of domestic violence that put Northern Nevada in the spotlight three years ago: Darren Mack fatally stabbed his estranged wife, Charla, in May of 2006; and Kathy Augustine, Nevada's state controller, was murdered by her husband, Charles "Chaz" Higgs, just two months later.

According to Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada's attorney general, abuse comes in many forms, either between husband and wife, girlfriend and boyfriend or same sex couples. In many cases, Masto said, it is the dominant partner who chooses to exert his or her power by many means, including physical, emotional, verbal, spiritual, financial, or by threats of destructive acts.

Domestic violence is everyone's business.

Nevada, unfortunately, is near the top in another unflattering national survey. The Silver State continues to be among the top five states with the highest number of females murdered by males. In most cases, the individuals involved in these incidences knew each other.

The Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence encourages citizens to work together to stop these incidences, either by contributing money or clothing to local shelters, volunteering time to a program that aides abused individuals, talking to children about relationship violence, offering support to a victim or getting the word out that domestic violence is not OK.

There is no reason why another individual must endure domestic or sexual violence from another.

Nevada's top-five ranking is disgusting and unacceptable. We encourage everyone to take a role - however small or large - in stopping domestic and sexual violence, in every community in Nevada.