NORTHWEST
MISSOURIAN
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2021
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 110, NO. 8
@THEMISSOURIAN
Campus supports assault survivors Shirts hung at Bell Tower for victims SIDNEY LOWRY News Editor | @sidney_lowry
H
As of now, the program has been presented to multiple student organizations on campus. Emily Nine, North Star Advocacy Center intern, helped with the outreach. The donated funds will be deposited into the shelter’s general operation fund unless the donor specifies where they want the fund to go. Donors will also be able to get a 50% tax credit if they donate $100 or more. If someone was not able to do the Adopt-a-Client program, other donations like supplies or smaller amounts of money will still be accepted. Mattson said being able to adopt someone who is being helped by the shelter helps bridge the gap between them and the public. “There are people who have lived here their whole life and have no idea that we exist, what we do and how much we help people. So the idea of Adopt-a-Client is trying to fulfill the three pieces: help us with funding, help a client feel valued and spread the word about our services,” Mattson said.
anging under the Memorial Bell Tower and woven through trees, dozens of multi-colored shirts display the words from domestic violence victims and survivors. A blue shirt reads “Just because you paid for dinner, doesn’t mean you get dessert,” while a white shirt shows a hand-drawn angel and a poem. Another had “I will not be defined by what you did” written across the front. These violence victims and survivors are a part of the Clothesline Project. By displaying a shirt with their message on it, survivors share their stories and support for other students who may be going through something similar. Though the rainbow of colors is eyecatching to people walking around on campus, the color on the shirts have meaning. The colors correspond with the type of domestic violence that occured. Red, pink and orange are for survivors of rape or sexual assault, yellow is for survivors of physical assault or domestic violence, blue and green are for survivors of incest or sexual abuse, and purple is for people who were attacked because of their sexual orientation. Brown or gray is for people who have experienced emotional, verbal or spiritual abuse. Black is for people who became disabled because of an attack, or were assaulted due to their disability. White is in memory of those who have died from violence or assault. It’s On Us, a new student organization aiming to fight sexual assault on campus, partnered with Green Dot to put on this visual-arts display, which started Oct. 1 and will end Oct. 8. Vice President of It’s On Us Courtney Rowe said the project was meant to get people talking about domestic violence and to show solidarity for the victims. “We encourage allies and survivors to paint whatever message they want,” Rowe said. “Whether that is sharing their story, showcasing their artistic abilities or sharing a statistic. Anything they want, nothing is off limits.”
SEE ADVOCATE | A4
SEE CLOTHESLINE | A4
ADDALYNN BRADBURY | NW MISSOURIAN
Vice President of It’s On Us Courtney Rowe adds a shirt to the Clothesline Project hanging under the Memorial Bell Tower. The multi-colored shirts display the words from domestic violence victims and survivors and will stay up until Oct. 8.
North Star seeks funds for clients
vices, the North Star Advocacy Center launched a new Adopt-a-Client program Oct. 1. This program allows one person, a group or organization to donate money to support the clients at the shelter. Executive Director Linda Mattson said this helps the center financially support victims by paying for things such as housing or legal fees. She also said that any donation, whether it is money or supplies, impacts a client emotionally. “If they need something like a toaster, we probably would have a brand new one, so I would bring it to them and say, ‘people can’t know who you are, but they care enough about you that they want you to have this,’ and they would just cry because they didn’t feel worthy and they didn’t deserve things or for people to care about them,” Mattson said. The advocacy center said that every client on average costs around $1,200 to serve their needs. People can sign up for $100 monthly payments for a year, or a one-time $1,200 payment. Donations can be made through checks, Venmo, PayPal or with cash.
SIDNEY LOWRY News Editor | @sidney_lowry
A small, yellow and green building on Second Street has been a temporary home for victims of domestic and sexual violence for 173 nights in 2020 alone. North Star Advocacy Center is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping victims, regardless of age or gender, every step of the way. It offers free and confidential services, such as crisis management and housing, to anyone who walks through its doors. To help with costs related to these ser-
COVID-19 hospitalizations rise, cases decline in county NATHAN ENGLISH Managing Editor | @nathan_3nglish
A Nodaway County resident died from COVID-19 Sept. 28 — the 34th death the county has seen from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. The individual who died was in the 8089 age bracket. Their vaccination status was unknown. The death was the third in the month of September. The county also had three deaths in July and August, respectively. The U.S. crossed 700,00 deaths from COVID-19 Oct. 1. Nodaway County hospitalizations have increased in recent weeks. As of Oct. 4, there were six hospitalizations in Nodaway County, and the seven-day rolling average for hospitalizations was nearly six per day. The seven-day rolling average Sept. 26
was slightly over three per day. “They’re kind of a lagging indicator,” Administrator of the Nodaway County Health Department Tom Patterson said of hospitalizations.
34
Deaths from COVID-19 since March 2020 in Nodaway County Despite a rise in cases among children in the past few weeks, none of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are children. Cases in older age groups have gone
down, while cases among children continue to rise. Patterson said the hospitalizations don’t correlate with a rise in recent cases; instead, they correlate with higher case levels in the past, like the beginning of September. Local cases have declined in recent weeks. There were 31 active cases Oct. 4, while the beginning of September saw a peak of 73 active cases on a single day. At Northwest, cases have mirrored Nodaway County’s trends. There were seven active cases on campus, according to the most available data at the time of publication. “The data looks good. And, you know, we are going to trust in that and move forward,” said Crisis Response Team 2 member Lt. Amanda Cullin. One of the promising statis-
ADDALYNN BRADBURY | FILE
A group of nurses prepares to give a COVID-19 vaccine during one of the county’s last mass vaccination clinics of the spring semester April 21.
tics the team continues to look at is campus vaccination rates. At the time of publication, 57% of students and 67% of staff reports being fully vaccinated to Northwest Wellness. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services released a new standing order Sept. 27. The order outlined new guide-
lines for booster dose eligibility in the state. Those eligible include: individuals 65 years or older, people 18 years or older who are at high risk for transmission because of work and/or have underlying conditions, and those aged 50-64 with underlying conditions.
SEE COVID | A4
Northwest Missouri’s oldest and largest independently-owned and operated bank. Maryville Savannah Mound City St. Joseph 660-562-3232 660-442-3131 816-324-3158 816-364-5678 AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
Member FDIC PLEASE
RECYCLE