Tular County Quilt remembers 25 victims of violent crimes

The District Prosecutor of Tular County closed his 25th annual memorial quilt that honor victims of violent crime.
In the ceremony, which took place during the national week of the rights of national crime, spokesman said who told personal loss stories and campaigned for the rights of the victims.
The former district prosecutor Phil Cline discussed the origins of the quilt project and the importance of the support of the families of the victims.

The District Prosecutor's Office of Tular County organized its annual memorial quilt in compliance with the national week of the rights of victims of crime.

On April 24, families and friends of victims, law enforcement agencies and other affected members of the municipality filled the Visalia Convention Center Charter Oak Ballroom, where Memorial Quilts were exhibited from previous years.

The rights of the National Crime victim is aimed at the millions of Americans affected by crime, as well as the people who are in their name.

The office of the DA is watching the week by unveiling a handmade monument in the residents who died after violent crimes last year. This year's quilt, which includes 25 victims, is the 25th such monument.

Common experience of loss

The evening program began with a welcome from the deputy district prosecutor Erica Gonzalez, a presentation of the colors from the TCDA Ehrengarde, a call to the pastor Kyle Sawyer of the northeast meeting of God and a proclamation of the Tular County Board of Supervisor.

“Before I read the proclamation, I would like to take a moment to recognize the depth of the emotions that surrounds this congregation, an emotion that I feel deeply every time I take part in this ceremony,” said Tulare County, Eddie Valero, who left the meeting in Sacramento early to do the presentation.

“For 25 years, these commemorations have been waving the stories of loss, resilience and memory together,” he said. “Every picture in these quilts bears the weight of a life that is mentioned too early and the permanent love for families and communities that are left behind.

“It is trapped for many of us personally,” he continued. “One of the quilts honors the son of the cook in my parents' restaurant, a little boy from Orosi, whose life in Seville was shortened by violence. I have observed his mother over the years in unimaginable grief, and I am wearing Santiago's history with me today.”

Valero then read the proclamation of the board, which “23 million Americans suffer from the outrage of crimes every year and many experience emotional, physical, psychological and financial damage due to such a crime.”

Roxanne Serna, district representative of the Tular district for Senator Melissa Hurtado, also gave a presentation and shared comments.

“I am not only a speaker in front of them, but as someone who shares their grief,” she said. “I lost my brother on December 4, 2006. He was a victim of a violent crime that took us far too early. At that time he left a 3-year-old son and an unborn daughter who never had the opportunity to meet her father.

“He was a wonderful brother,” she added. “I loved him so much. We were inseparable. I can refer to all your grief.

“It is difficult to believe that it was 20 years ago,” she said. “The pain does not disappear. It simply changes the shape. But what has remained consistent is the support that this program has offered for families. For 25 years now, this ceremony and the service behind it have created a safe space for memory, healing and connection. It means that more than words can completely express.”

Create a safe space for victims

District Prosecutor Tim Ward then conducted a discussion with his predecessor, the former district prosecutor Phil Cline, who served from 1992 to 2012 when the program for the Advocate of victims became part of the DA office and the first commemorative capacity took place.

“We have dealt with rape, murder, child abuse and people in drunk driving,” said CLINE. “During this entire time they are exposed to the heartache, the tragedy of victims of crimes and then those who are left behind, the families of the victims.

“As with my experience, the experience of our employees was to do with victims of crimes and their families every day – a mother who lost a son, a sister who lost a brother, someone who lost a baby,” he said. “It was the employees who had the idea to do this – the secretaries, the witness coordinators, the supporters of the victim, the prosecutors, the investigators.”

Victims of crime were not always treated well by the judicial system when Cline started what he and the other prosecutors wanted to change.

“When I was a prosecutor and before we started this program, it was not unusual for us to go to court and we had the mother who had lost her son through violent crimes,” said CLINE. “The mother was not allowed to speak in court during the conviction. The defendant's mother, the person who did the murder, was allowed to allow.

“We wanted to be the voice for the victims,” he said. “Victims were not treated so well in court. When I became the prosecutor, I knew that I wanted to somehow to bring the victim program to the office of the office. It was in another department.

“I was addressed early by the supervisory board to take over to take on another unit in another department,” he recalled. “They wanted me to take it over. It was a disturbing unit. I didn't really want to do it, but I saw an opportunity there. I told you that I would take this disturbing if you (victim advocates) put it into the office of the DA so that we can personally serve the victims of crime.

A deal was made, he said.

“For the first time we were able to expand the staff to create the position of the sacrificial lawyer, to have people, serve the victims and turn to them and rework them,” he said. “We are dealing with victims and witnesses, and then that's over. We go to the next case. But the victim's family has the loss and they need services after the court is over.”

CLINE said that the memorial quilts came from the desire of his office “to stay with the victims of the crime after the case was over to honor them, not to forget what had happened with the families of the victims, and not to forget what losses they had with the victims of violent crimes.”

A guest panel followed the program, which included three women whose relatives were victims of violent crimes. Monica Reyes lost her brother, Gina Moreno, a son and Alice Aleman Fisher lost her husband.

Honor, remember, talk

Brian Johnson, a former ABC30 South Valley correspondent, gave his perspective on reporting on crime stories in Tular County.

“I don't miss to call family members or friends of victims of crimes, especially on the day after the death of this person,” he said. “It never got easier. I didn't like it back then, and I never want to do it again.”

He gave his family members of victims of crime by how to deal with the media.

“If you are a family member or a friend of a victim of crimes, they are only careful with people they turn from the media,” he said. “If you call yourself the media, try to do your homework and maybe keep yourself with these more traditional branches such as ABC30 or the Visalia Times Delta because there are so many people who like to be media or reporters, but they have no background. They did not go to school.

“Not to say that you cannot be a journalist, but you may not have these values and ethics to tell the best story and the most accurate and fairest story,” he said. “I would say it is easier to say than it, but avoid as much as possible social media, and I say that the knowledge that social media can have a really great value for families.”

Johnson's main concern concerns the comment area, which normally follows stories on social media.

“I always saw that as the worst place, sometimes the ugliest place on social media and on the Internet,” he said. “There is not much moderation there. The comment area can get a little out of control, and if you are a family member or a friend, you may see something that could have a negative impact.”

According to Johnson, however, there are reasons to speak to the media.

“I would say and I am biased, but at some point you want to consider taking part,” he said. “Obviously you want the story to be fair. You want to evaluate whether the reporter will tell the individual story well, but I think it is a way to honor, honor, talk about your loved one, talk about your loved one.

“For the good or bad, there is a lot to say about the state of journalism today, but you can be this voice for you,” he said. “We know that the families of the victims often have no opportunity to speak to a hearing in the courtroom in the courtroom. In many cases, this is a long time to get to this point.

“If you choose to speak and ultimately be up to you to speak to members of the media, this is your way of using your voice on behalf of your loved one,” he added. “That can be a positive thing.”

“No victim will ever be forgotten”

Ward was the last speaker before the new quilt was unveiled.

“Every quilt in this room is unique because individual life reflects them in them, and the love that went into the creation of these quilts,” he said. “Every meeting of these quilts inevitably brings tears, and every year new families runs through these doors and they are greeted by survivors, who unfortunately experienced this very unique and very specific, overwhelming type of grief.

“With the obligation to simply go through these doors, you show your action and participation much more than any words I could speak,” said Ward. “They convey a eloquent message that no victim will ever be forgotten and that no family will be alone in their grief.

“Focus on each other tonight and no matter what happens, the sons, the daughters, the sisters, the brothers, the mothers, the fathers, everywhere in this room, are not overlooked, they are not ignored and they will certainly never be forgotten,” he said.

Ward read the names of the 25 people who remember this year's quilt and asked the families of every person. After reading the list of names, he asked the people of the people to stand on the quilts of the previous year.

“You will see that you are under a new family and are not alone and will never be so,” he said. “No beloved person is alone. They are now united in a new family that is represented by needles, threads and love.”

Common experience of loss

Create a safe space for victims

Honor, remember, talk

“No victim will ever be forgotten”

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