"Disorderly Conduct"

Wisconsin. A state that isn't too bad to call home. Nice lakes. Nice fishing. Nice hunting, if you are inclined. Nice towns, cities and bergs to live in and raise your children. Nice sports teams, too.

The Milwaukee Brewers' recent ownership change seems to be pumping new life into a team that isn't known for winning games. Nice football team, too; maybe you've heard of them: The Green Bay Packers. The Pack if you are a fan. "Our team" if you are a resident...or at least aspire to be a resident.

Brett Farve is a bad boy who turned good when he got on the wagon five, six or seven years ago. He is a family man now. That is worth aspiring to be. He is taking care of Deanna who is battling breast cancer. Brett had a rough year...lost his dad, his wife had to undergo chemo, but he is resilient. Admirable, even.

Then there is Ahman Green. Good player. Really good. Thought by many to be a good guy. A real nice man. That is that is the persona that he portrays.

Last night, Green was arrested for domestic violence. It is his third arrest. Incidentally, he made bail and the actual charge is now: disorderly conduct. See in Wisconsin, if you beat your wife, you get a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. For some reason, Wisconsin reduces the charge of Domestic Violence to disorderly conduct because apparently, no one in the Wisconsin judiciary has a daughter, niece, grand-daughter or other dear relative who has been the victim of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

How do I know this? Because the charge is reduced it is that simple. Have you ever known a victim of domestic violence? Have you ever seen the bruises that are explained away too quickly...I'm clumsy...I fell...I deserved it. (insert loud curdling scream)


Domestic violence in any form is a crime that often ends in murder. That is why the reduction to disorderly conduct is so offensive. And it is even more offensive because this is the third such offense that Green has been arrested for. Shameful. I am disgusted.

This all hits very close to home...yes, pun definitely intended. I am a survivor of domestic violence. I can take care of myself now. I got out. It took a long time to do it. But victims of domestic violence are not so fortunate. Many victims of domestic violence are murdered. It is the way that the story ends. And it is an ending that can be changed.

Part of the stigma that surrounds domestic violence is that no one can understand why anyone would stay with someone who batters them. It's about control. The batterer is very good at control. Inflicting isolation and pain...and sometimes being careful to hit where bruises are all but impossible to see...it is control by one over the life of the other. A victim of domestic violence isn't allowed to have friends, family or outside interests-in many cases. Right-not every case is the same and that, too, is part of the stigma that surrounds domestic violence.

The victim needs support and help to acknowledge and change the cycle. It is a path that requires a lot of therapy and support and determination. Domestic violence creates victims and you are not a survivor until you get out of it. Get away from the batterer.

To take domestic violence and term it disorderly conduct makes it sound like it was out of the batterer's control. Hey, you can tell me a lot of things and I will believe you, but this doesn't make any sense. A batterer commits assault...assault and battery. You do not go from assault and battery to disorderly conduct, which by the way is the same charge that you would cite a high school student for toilet papering their school. See the crime here?

It has to stop. Violence has to stop. It is not going to stop if it is referred to as disorderly conduct. Let's call it for what it is. If you batter a police officer, you are busted. If you batter a judge, attorney, district attorney, your boss, your friend, it is assault and battery. There is no difference.

Oh and one other point: Green's bail was $150. That's right $150.00. The cost of disorderly conduct has sunk to a new low. God bless America.