Victim Witness Assistance Program

The head of a local volunteer group, a career prosecutor, and a former teacher who has heightened awareness of drug abuse and street violence are being honored tonight by the Orange County Bar Assn. for their efforts to improve the community and uphold the law. "The purpose is to award individuals who reached out and have done something really unique for the community," said deputy public defender Danni Murphy, who helped select the winners of the bar's annual Liberty Bell awards.

Before the reporters gather and the Court TV cameras go on, before the tension of a major trial mounts to the clash of cross-examinations and summations, prosecutors have to rely heavily on more than just their law school training to prepare them for the courtroom duel. Behind the scenes interviewing witnesses, handling filings and doing the unglamorous support work for the lawyers are people like Donna Nagamine.

Orange County's only rape crisis center and hot line plans to shut down July 1 due to lack of funds, leaving sexual assault victims with no local network to call for 24-hour-a-day counseling and advice. The Orange County Sexual Assault Network needs about $60,000 to operate its phones and office for the next year and without it will close in a month, said founder Linda Yuppa.

She was mummified in bandages from the chest up, nearly skinless, when I met Cheryl Bess 13 years ago. Blinded and burned by sulfuric acid and left for dead by her attacker, Cheryl survived. She had wandered five or six hours through the San Bernardino County desert before she got help. She was 15.

For those who want to embrace the season, there are a bevy of holiday TV shows this weekend. Natalie Cole, Andy Williams, Kathie Lee Gifford, Trisha Yearwood, Peabo Bryson, Lorrie Morgan and Steven Curtis Chapman perform tonight at 9 on ABC's "A Musical Christmas at Walt Disney World," on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42. Activities under the mistletoe are underscored tonight on NBC's "Cafe Americain" (8:30 p.m., Channels 4, 36 and 39) and "Dream On" (10 p.m.

In general, a court order is necessary to obtain police protection from domestic violence. And legal assistance is necessary to obtain a court order. In Orange County, the Victim Witness Assistance Program provides such assistance to victims of domestic violence, who for the most part are women with young children. Of the almost 200 people a month that the program helps, perhaps 1% can afford private attorneys. Despite its obvious importance to the county, the program was scheduled to end Sept.

In the weeks before she was shot to death, Denise Wallace and her husband, Allen, had violent fights, their sparring often spilling out into the neighborhoods where they lived, acquaintances of the couple said Friday. "There was one Sunday where he was getting into the car, and they were yelling and screaming," recalled a neighbor at a Placentia apartment house where the Wallaces lived from the middle of November to mid-December.

Disturbed by the infrequent use of a new law designed to protect battered women, Superior Court officials have called a meeting with police agencies around the county to encourage them to apply for more restraining orders at night and on weekends. The state law took effect July 1, enabling officers to get restraining orders over the telephone, during hours when courts are closed, to separate couples troubled by violence.

Our nation has voted for change. However, one important program which must remain intact is the successful "Operation Weed and Seed" crime-fighting strategy now being implemented in Santa Ana. Nationwide, 20 cities, including Santa Ana, have been chosen as demonstration sites and received federal funding to help finance local law enforcement activities. America's neighborhoods are facing a crisis. Violent crime, drug use and gang activities are taking over many of our once peaceful communities.