THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 13, 1996 TAG: 9602130043
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
IF YOU ARE THINKING about shelling out $29.95 for the O.J. Simpson-tells-all video, I have a better idea.
Write a check for that amount and send it to one of the shelters for battered women in Hampton Roads. Others are doing it.
``That's a brilliant idea,'' said Ellen Ferber of the Samaritan House shelter in Virginia Beach, where they looked after 180 families last year. And turned away 10 times that number for lack of space.
The Simpson trial has shed light into the deep, dark corners of abuse within the home. ``To some, Nicole Brown Simpson is seen as a sacrificial lamb, as tragic as that may be,'' said Ferber.
Perhaps that is why Americans by the thousands are rallying to help women who need the shelters. They've opened their checkbooks.
``Contributions are up,'' said Cheryl Bonneville, executive director of the YWCA in Norfolk which operates a haven that accommodates about 1,400 women and their children every year.
The Y's Women in Crisis hotline number is 625-5570. Other local shelters include the Samaritan House (430-2120) and the Her shelter in Portsmouth (485-3384).
There are 43 shelters in Virginia; 3,464 abused women in the state sought help in those shelters. If you want more information, call Virginians Against Domestic Violence (1-800-838-8238).
When I was in Southern California on assignment recently, I heard women on radio and TV asking the audience to boycott Simpson's video. Send the money to shelters instead, they asked.
The idea is catching on here.
At the YWCA in Norfolk, the $29.95 contributions are welcome because of the shelter's $300,000 annual budget, about a third comes from generous people in the community. Other money reaches the Y from grants and the United Way.
In his blitz to pump up sales of his video, Simpson has outraged some women by claiming that his murdered ex-wife lied about being beaten, drank too much, abused drugs and stalked the former football great on the golf course.
What about those shocking photographs of her badly bruised face?
Zits, said Simpson. Nicole picked at her face. Nicole sustained the bruises when Simpson tried to hold off her attacks, he said.
She was real strong, Simpson suggested to a radio audience in Los Angeles. He has been on CNN (twice) to say that maybe, just maybe, his former wife made up all that stuff about being battered to void their prenuptial agreement.
And the diaries that damn Simpson? ``Crap,'' said Simpson. ``That stuff doesn't exist.''
Simpson recently called CNN's ``Burden of Proof'' unannounced, dialed up radio talk shows on the West Coast, gave an interview to The Los Angeles Times and sat before the cameras on The Black Entertainment Network for an hour.
Simpson is talking so much these days, I wouldn't be surprised if he dialed up Perry Stone during his afternoon show on WNIS here. After months of stony silence, the man won't shut up.
What is happening here in addition to the video blitz, said Bonneville, is that Simpson has entered a stage of denial. He is trying to ``totally disassociate'' himself from what happened to his former wife.
He's denying he did anything wrong and is blaming others. It's classic of batterers, said Bonneville.
Something else is at work here, she believes. As Simpson gives sworn depositions in the wrongful-death suit brought by the families of Nicole and Ronald Goldman that may be devastating to him, he needs to reinforce his image. He needs to show the world that he is still the heroic running back, the popular actor who often spoofed himself on screen. Still The Juice.
``I learned long ago that the abusive husband can be a really neat guy and very charming, much more than other men,'' said Bonneville. ``The same man can also be abusive, manipulative and obsessed with controlling women.''
Would you buy a video from such a man? by CNB