By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council heard from two citizens Monday evening about protecting vulnerable people in the community.
The first suggested that some of American Rescue Plan Act funding be directed to the growing number of domestic violence and sexual violence survivors in the community.
The second asked City Council to not let hate crime survivors be maligned during public meetings.
Kathy Mull, director of the Cocoon, explained the increased demands on the domestic and sexual violence shelter and agency in Bowling Green.
“We know there’s a big need for survivors in our community,” Mull said.
When COVID arrived in 2019, the Cocoon saw a 15% jump in requests for services, and an increase in the severity of domestic violence cases. Later, the agency saw a 50% increase in reports of sexual violence.
Those demands have led to the Cocoon shelter almost always being full to capacity. So far this year, the shelter has had to direct 40 requests for help elsewhere.
The numbers are not going down yet – with 725 people served so far this year. A third of the people served are Bowling Green residents, Mull said.
“We think those increases are going to continue to rise,” she said.
While the demands continue to increase, the Cocoon lost $300,000 in Victims of Crime Act funding.
Mull asked City Council to consider using some of the ARPA funding to help the Cocoon help survivors find long-term safety and economic self-sufficiency. The city has an estimated $4.3 million remaining in federal ARPA funds.
The other speaker was Linda Lander, who expressed concerns about statements made to City Council in May by a former police officer, that contradicted witness accounts and a detective’s report about a racist attack that occurred at Waffle House two years earlier.
“There should be no attempts to undermine” the facts of the case, Lander said. “People can have their own opinions, but not their own facts,” she said.
The former officer blamed the innocent victims, who by all witness accounts were called racist slurs and did not provoke the physical attack against them at the restaurant, Lander said. The statements made during a council meeting appear to be in violation of a city ordinance making it an offense to knowingly make a false statement during an official proceeding, she said.
The same former officer spoke again at a June council meeting, during which he attacked the reputation of a Black member of the city’s Human Relations Commission, Lander said.
“I know these are very challenging times for public officials,” she said. But Lander urged City Council to stand up to false statements made at meetings.
Also at the meeting, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mary Hinkelman reported on the Holiday Parade plans for Saturday morning. New this year will be bleachers set up on Wooster Street at the four corners downtown.
In other business, council declared an emergency for an ordinance authorizing the city to enter a contract with the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce for the promotion and publicizing of the city. The goal is to bring patronage and business of cultural, educational, religious, professional and sports organizations into the city for the benefit of citizens and the local business community.
