THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
3A
>> DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Shelter helps abused
'Genius of Women' donations to benefit Salvation Army
BY BRIAN LEWIS-JONES
A violent, complicated history is the only common ground 22 poverty-strecken women and children have.
As temporary residents of Women's Transitional Care Services, they live together, pool their resources and make friends with one another. Blood, bruises, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder aren't uncommon here.
This is the struggle that Eva Vlach, volunteer program director for WTCS, has seen countless women endure.
"It's very amazing to see how in six weeks, a woman will go from having a trash bag over her stuff to having a job and a life," she said.
A small group of students at the University of Kansas are organizing a talent and performance show to help victims of domestic violence.
Maria Thorson, Milwaukee graduate student, helped organize the show, called "Genius of Women." Donations will go to the Salvation Army to help abused women and children.
Liz Miller, graduate teaching assistant in women's studies, said violence against women was still very pervasive in society and at times went unreported.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Web site said that in 2001, women comprised 85 percent of domestic abuse victims.
Vlach said women went back to their abuser an average of seven times before they left permanently. Love, poverty and religion were all reasons why women returned to their abusers.
"You don't go to the shelter if you have some kind of a safety net," she said.
Vlach said the goal of WTCS was to help connect women with the resources they needed to meet their goals. Sometimes all they needed was a place to stay.
Women sometimes stayed in an abusive relationship for the safety of their children, Vlach said. Women often brought their children with them to the shelter. At times they outnumbered adults.
Some of the children were angry, some were sad; others were embarrassed just to live at the shelter Still.
Vlach said children were exceptionally resilient.
"It's amazing how strong they are in those situations," she said.
Generally, children who get settied into the shelter get into school and do quite well. Vlach said. However, domestic abuse can set off defiant actions, clingy tendencies, withdrawal, bed-wetting and bullying in children.
Thorson brought the "Genius of Women" idea from Saint Louis University where she helped organize a similar talent show. This is the first year for the show at the University, but it is something Thorson hopes will be an annual event.
The show, free to the public, will take place at 8:30 p.m. March 30 in the Murphy Hall choir room. It will feature students performing monologues, original musical compositions, dancers and poetry.
Kansan staff writer Brian Lewis-Jones can be contacted at bljones@kansan.com.
Edited by Trevan McGee
》 REFUGEE CAMP
Critics question conversion Evangelical Christians work to spread religion in Africa
"We want to bring these children to Christ." Pastor George Pukwerkiy
BY KATY POWNALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aler, Uganda — "Telephone to Jesus. Hello?" the children of Aler refugee camp sing, their bare feet thumping the ground as they dance wildly in their concrete chapel.
Most camp residents have never used a phone, but they are learning about Jesus. The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, smiled as he watched the children — members of a club run by Samaritan's Purse, the Christian missionary organization he leads.
Christian evangelicals have been coming to Africa for centuries. Critics accuse them of taking advantage of vulnerable communities — forcing people to abandon traditional beliefs in exchange for desperately needed goods and medicine. Graham, though, says his group is meeting spiritual as well as physical needs, and he's proud of what has been accomplished.
told Graham.
"You have a pastor's heart," the American responded, slapping him on the back.
Purkweri said the war in northern Uganda has exposed children to many horrors. "This generation is our hope for the future," he said. "They are seeing lots of bad things that divert them from Christ and can corrupt their hearts. We bring them back."
Graham flew his private jet to East Africa last month with a 20-member delegation, including former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to check on the work of Samarian's Purse.
Randall Balmer, professor of American religious history at Columbia University, said the influence of groups like Graham's can be far-reaching.
"One of the most common criticisms of evangelicals is that they are looking for cultural conversions as well as spiritual ones," he said. "They want to change the way people dress and behave."
Graham, however, is adamant that his organization helps the world's
sick and suffering regardless of their religious beliefs. Humanitarian assistance only earns the Christians a hearing for the gospel they teach, he said.
As a minister, he said, "I want to help people physically, I want to help them with their hurt, with their pain, but I want to do that so I can tell them about God's son, Jesus Christ. The conversion we do is through persuasion, through reasoning. ... They will receive material help from us regardless."
Samaritan's Purse receives the vast majority of its considerable funding from private donations, which enables Graham to operate independently and quickly.
"Financially I'm not dependent on government, which is why I'm free to preach the Bible," Graham said. "Our money comes from Christians. ... An average gift would be under $100 dollars a year, but we have millions of people who support us. That gives us an advantage because when there is a crisis. I don't have to wait and write a proposal."
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Wireless companies take tax fight against Missouri cities to court
BY DAVID TWIDDY ASSOCIATED PRESS
phone customers.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With up to $600 million at stake, wireless companies have filed suit against hundreds of Missouri cities in the past month, claiming they're paying taxes that they shouldn't be.
The wireless companies' answer?
We don't sell telephones.
At issue are local laws, created in the 1940s and 1950s, that allow cities to levy taxes and fees on tele-
"Our technology was not around when these were made. Our technology is based on radio waves," said Cheryl Bini Armbrecht, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, which has filed suit against cities in Cass, Clay and Jackson counties.
Sprint Nextel Corp. has filed its own round of suits in 51 cun-
ties. Both companies are seeking a refund of telephone taxes they've paid under protest since last year.
"What were saying is for these laws to be extended to wireless, there needs to be a new law approved by voters," said Sprint Nextel spokesman John Taylor.
Gary Markenson, executive director of the Missouri Municipal League, disagrees with the companies, pointing out that at least part
of a wireless call travels over regular telephone lines.
"A cell phone is a telephone," he said. "Since these telephone taxes were put into place, there've been all sorts of changes _ cordless phones, car phones and now cell phones. This is an issue wed like to see decided by the court."
The decision could have big ramifications for the loser.
Markenson estimates cities take
in $50 million to $60 million in taxes from traditional landline customers every year — a figure that's been dropping as people switch to wireless or Internet telephones — and believes cell phones could generate $75 million more. If judges agree the tax applies to cell phone companies, they could be on the hook for $300 million to $600 million in back taxes, he said.
Cities began suing wireless companies five years ago, seeking payment of those taxes.
The General Assembly tried to resolve the issue in 2005, passing a law that prevented local governments from collecting the back taxes and limiting what they could charge in the future. But the Missouri Supreme Court last year overturned the law as unconstitutional.
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