RADAR ALERT:
Penna. Conviction Spotlights DV Awareness Month Theme

News Flash:

This past Tuesday, September 16, Wendy Flanders of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was convicted of making false claims of domestic violence and for committing perjury in a child custody hearing.

Ben Vonderheide, the target of the charges, explained he had been subjected to more than 40 false allegations over the past six years, including charges of domestic violence, harassment, and even the kidnapping of his own son.

"All I wanted was for Wendy Flanders to get help, and stop behaving in these awful ways, destroying her life and ours. But she's not received any help in that regard," Vonderheide revealed. "I'm overwhelmingly happy for the fathers coming down the road who may not have to go to jail, for the children who are going to know their fathers, and love their fathers."

Vonderheide's full commentary, "The Perjury Trial of Wendy Flanders" can be viewed at: http://daddyjustice.com

Ben Vonderheide is just one of the one-million persons who are falsely accused of domestic violence each year. In order to stop the wave of false allegations, the theme of the 2008 Domestic Violence Awareness Month is "False Claims Hurt True Victims: Fix VAWA Now!"

Throughout October, members of the VAWA Reform Coalition will highlight the problem of false claims, and their devastating effects on innocent Americans, families, and children.

RADAR has prepared a flyer to hand out at political rallies, meetings, or other meetings. The flyer can be found here: http://mediaradar.org/docs/RADARflyer-DVAM2008.pdf. We encourage persons to start now to organize your own local events to highlight the problem of false allegations of domestic violence.

To learn more the problem of spurious charges, we invite you to read RADAR's Special Report, "A Culture of False Allegations: How VAWA Harms Families and Children:" http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARreport-VAWA-A-Culture-of-False-Allegations.pdf

Ben Vonderheide's battle cost over $350,000 in legal expenses. False allegations of domestic violence have become a legal and social travesty. For our children, we must work together to stop this epidemic.

Date of RADAR Release: September 23, 2008

Want to improve the chance that they'll pay attention to your letter? Click here.

R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to improve the effectiveness of our nation's approach to solving domestic violence. http://mediaradar.org