ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 18, 1995 TAG: 9512180006
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: & Now This
David Morris, the truck driver whose life was saved by good Samaritan motorists who pulled him from his overturned tractor-trailer moments before it burned, won't be spending Christmas at home in Yadkin, N.C., this year.
Morris will remain at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he has been since the Dec. 3 crash, at least through Christmas.
"I don't mind being here a bit," he said Saturday from his hospital bed. "They're keeping me comfortable, and everyone has been so nice."
Anyone who'd like to add some Roanoke-style cheer by sending the trucker a Christmas card may forward it to David Morris, in care of Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Jefferson Street at Belleview, Roanoke, Va., 24014.
A candle for a child
At the end of each workday this month, an employee at the Child Abuse Prevention Council of the Roanoke Valley switches on an electric candle in the front window.
The candle is the council's way of remembering the valley's one known victim of child abuse this year - a 1-year-old Roanoke girl who drowned in 6 inches of bathtub water. Her death is under investigation.
"We want to remind people that this time of year we need to say our prayers for these little people," said Shannon Brabham, the council's executive director.
The child's death was the only one linked to child abuse in the Roanoke Valley this year, Brabham said. Last year, there also was one - 7-month-old Darius Akeem Ayton, whose mother admitted to holding his head underwater because she was frustrated with his crying.
She was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
In the past five years, six children in the Roanoke Valley have died at the hands of a family member or caretaker. Statewide, the number of deaths linked to child abuse has dropped since 1992-93, after a steady increase.
In fiscal year 1992-93, there were 43 deaths. In both 1993-94 and and 1994-95, there were 27.
Victims no more
Deanna Lund, an actress who has headlined at Rising Star and other science fiction conventions in the Roanoke Valley for years, practiced what she had been preaching in changing the name of an antiviolence organization she helped create.
Lund, who has appeared in many movies and television shows but is perhaps best known for her role in the Irwin Allen TV series, ``Land of the Giants," was a victim of violence herself about a decade ago when she was beaten, robbed and cut by a man with a knife. She was reluctant to go public about it, but did so a few years ago in forming Victims of Violence, a group that focuses public attention on violence against women and ways to prevent it.
At a meeting of the organization in Salem a few months ago, members voted to change the name to Victims of Violence No More. "This has the advantage of saying that we will no longer put up with women being victims in this nation," said Fred Eichelman, a retired Northside High School social studies teacher who now heads The Friends of Deanna Lund fan club and also is involved in the anti-violence group.
Lund telephoned Eichelman Dec. 3 to tell him that she had nearly been a victim of violence again. Earlier that day, two men in a car stopped as she was going into her Los Angeles home through her garage. One, armed with a pistol and wearing a hood, got out and demanded that she give him her watch.
She said the name-change decision came back to her, and she shouted "No! No more!'' She began swinging at the intruder with her pocketbook, and let out what she described to Eichelman as "my best Irwin Allen scream," which brought neighbors to the scene. The would-be robbers fled.
Information on the activities of Victims of Violence No More is available by writing to Friends of Deanna Lund, 545 Howard Drive, Salem 24153.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB