Symbols and reminders of domestic violence are currently on display through the end of this month at the Cass County Courthouse and Cass County Memorial Hospital, in Atlantic.

Photo’s courtesy Bev Groves

T-shirts made by victims of domestic violence or their friends and families, are on display as part of “The Clothesline Project” (www.clotheslineproject.org). In a follow-up to our report last week, KJAN News spoke with Bev Groves Crime Victim Coordinator, and Assistant to Cass County Attorney David Wiederstein,  Groves says t-shirts representing each form of domestic violence are on display as part “Domestic Violence Awareness Month.”

The shirts are made available through Southwest Iowa Families, which collected them from victims of domestic violence and/or their friends and families. Groves says one of the shirts hanging in the corridor of the 2^nd floor in the Cass County Courthouse, caught the eye of 4^th District Court Judge Susan Kay Christensen

The shirt made in memory of Holly Durbin.

The shirt was in memory of 29-year old Holly Rae Durbin, of rural Shenandoah, who died in July 2009, from a gunshot wound to the head. In February, 2015, Fremont County District Court Judge Timothy O’Grady found 35-year old Brian Heath Davis guilty of first-degree murder in connection with Holly’s death. Davis was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Southwest Iowa Families, in conjunction with Catholic Charities and Phoenix House, have been providing the displays for a number of years at this same time. The color of the shirts is representative of the type of violence women have endured.