Washington update for March

2008 is an eventful year so far.

In January, we worked with the Washington State Bar Association on their methods of dealing with members accused of sex crimes, prepared for the 2008 Legislative Session, and we traveled to Olympia to testify before a legislative committee.
In February, we made several trips to Olympia to testify and talk to legislators, put up a new website, and started preparations for Missing Children's Week, in May.
In March we

• Watched the clock as all of our Bills stalled in the final stage of the legislative session. In those final hours, the legislators showed us that they do not share our priorities. Disappointed? Hugely. Dis-spirited? Yeah, a little. And very motivated to get our message heard and our legislation passed in 2008/09.


• Received word from the Washington State Bar Association that they read our Letter of Request and agree that this is an issue they need to work on. They're forming a committee to figure out the best method of dealing with members accused of sex crimes, so that consumers of legal services in Washington State can have some faith in the integrity of those listed on the WSBA's member pages.


• Continued work on Missing Children's Week. This will be a week of prevention education in observance of Missing Children's Day. We're working with a rapidly growing number of organizations across Washington State to bring some amount of prevention education to every single child and care-giver in the state, in the hopes of reducing the horrifying number of children preyed upon each year.


• We still need help! The offers of encouragement are wonderful, and very appreciated, but all of this work costs a bit of money, and takes a lot of time. $12 pays for the website for a month, and you can donate it by buying a couple of items from our store! Or, if you'd like to work on a project, please contact us and let us know - a few hours of your time is a wonderful way to help.


• April 3 is "Blog Against Sexual Violence" day. You can participate over at www.wash-cap.org/blog. We're going to start a few topics, and you can come on over and participate. What topics would you like to see discussed? Let us know, and we'll get them up.

Thank you for your continued support. We started off the year with a lot of enthusiasm, and we're continuing with dedication and tenacity.

We have a very full agenda, we have a detailed plan of action, and we are moving forward.

-Bethan & Paula
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