New legislation to help Safeplace

By Staff
Melissa Cason
TUSCUMBIA – New legislation will give the local, non-profit organization, Safeplace, Inc., more funding.
A press conference was called Monday at the Colbert County Courthouse to announce the new legislation that will give Safeplace more funding to help those in need.
Senator Roger Bedford and Johnny Mack Morrow worked with other legislators to get this legislation passed this year.
The new law will give Safeplace $25 from every domestic violence case. Each domestic violence case will have $25 fee attached to it, and that money will be to the organization to help victims find shelter from their batterer.
"We are proud of what we have done," Safeplace Board President Tom Watley said. "If we could tell the whole story, it would make you proud to see a mother and her child have a safe place to go. We hear that same story over and over again."
Bedford said he used to think child abuse and domestic violence happened somewhere else, but he said he knows it happens everywhere, and only about 10 percent of abuse is reported and subsequently stopped.
"You can have good laws but you can't implement them alone," Bedford said. "You have to have good people. That's where Safeplace comes into play."
While the law will go into effect in Lauderdale, Colbert and Lawrence Counties, Franklin County voters will have to vote for the measure on the 2010 ballot.
"They wanted a chance to vote on it," Bedford said. "I have every confidence that it will pass in Franklin County."
Representative Marcel Black said the measure was a group effort with the legislature, and it additional funding gives Safeplace an additional resource to provide shelter for the abused.