Salem
Evening News
Published:
February 21, 2008 08:42 am
Women
share stories of courage, power
By
Michelle Morrissey
Staff writer
One
woman fought to have laws changed after seeing her rapist finally
brought to justice more than 30 years after the brutal crime.
Another
broke through the glass ceiling of the FBI to became one of the
lead investigators of the 1981 assassination attempt on President
Reagan.
A
third, finding that abused women and children had nowhere to go
to escape their abusers, created one.
Three ordinary women who, through the course of events, found
themselves in extraordinary situations, will tell their stories
in the "Women, Crime and Justice" event at The Landing
restaurant in Marblehead on Thursday, Feb. 28.
Organizer
CJ Cavalieri of Marblehead runs a local marketing business. She
met Kathleen Ham, one of the speakers, over the summer, and decided
to create a full evening out of a storytelling idea.
"These women have all had different life experiences, but
they are all dynamic women, and I've asked them to share that,"
Cavalieri said.
Tanya
DeGenova of Marblehead, a former FBI agent and now a security
consultant, said events like this provide an important service
to a local community - especially its young women.
"We need to mentor women who are coming up," she said.
"In my generation, most women would become teachers, secretaries,
etc. But things have changed. We need to encourage our women to
reach beyond the normal, reach beyond what's expected."
And each of the three women has done just that.
Kathleen
Ham
 |
| Kathleen
Ham listens during a news conference in New York, Wednesday,
Nov. 9, 2005. Fletcher Anderson Worrell, 58, was convicted
Wednesday of raping Ham at knifepoint 32 years ago, a verdict
made possible by DNA technology that did not exist when he
was a suspect decades ago. /Associated Press |
Ham will tell you that she was brutalized twice. Once by the man
who sneaked into her New York City apartment and raped her on
June 26, 1973; again by his defense lawyer at trial, whose cross-examination
she describes as vicious.
"I was really put on what I call 'the slut seat.' I was called
everything in the book," she said of the defense attorney's
grueling cross examination.
He called her a prostitute and tried to cast doubt on whether
she was really raped. It was a classic case of "blaming the
victim," she said.
"It was devastating to me. The humiliation and being raped
was bad enough, but in court, everyone was watching and people
were snickering."
Ultimately, the trial ended in a hung jury.
Ham was so traumatized by the courtroom experience, that she was
unable to go through a second trial. Her rapist, Clarence Williams,
jumped bail, and Ham moved to California, trying to put it all
behind her. Then came a phone call 30 years later.
"It was a friend of mine from New York. She said 'The district
attorney's office is trying to reach you.'" They had found
her attacker.
Williams, who had changed his name to Fletcher Worrell, was picked
up in Georgia and in the three decades since Ham's attack had
been charged with attacking other women.
Ham felt she was to blame. If she had testified at the second
trial, she thought, maybe her attacker would not have been free
during those years.
So in 2005, she came back to testify, telling again how Worrell
had raped her at knifepoint. Modern DNA testing enabled prosecutors
to tie Worrell definitively to the 1973 crime, and he was convicted.
Since her legal victory, Ham has campaigned to change the statute
of limitations on rape laws in several states. She joined the
fight to change New York's law, and was successful.
She speaks frankly about the rape and the ensuing legal battle,
but refers to the events quite separately.
"The rape ... I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I fought as hard as I could, but I learned quickly that men ...
especially when they have a knife to your throat, are stronger,"
she said.
"But the trial was a complete humiliation ... I had to sit
there and take it."
Now she feels it's her duty to speak out and work to change laws.
"Thirty-two years later, I am still angry about what happened
to me in court," she said.
She's heard from so many women over the years about her story,
and now that she's getting into the "Internet thing"
she's received so many e-mails, and keeps in touch with quite
a few of them.
"They tell me that it's as if I put into words what they
had wanted to say."
On Thursday, she'll speak about many laws that "would not
have been changed for the better but for the fact that women started
speaking out.
"And women have to continue to do these things," she
said.
Tanya
DeGenova

Tanya DeGenova
DeGenova
once had two factors working against her. First, she was a woman
trying to break into a male-dominated field. Second, she was too
short.
But
that didn't keep her from rising through the ranks at the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
"I was recruited in 1974 into the FBI, and when I reported
to Washington, I was told I was too short to be an agent,"
DeGenova said
She can chuckle about that now-outdated idea, but then, DeGenova
said, it was a different world.
The progress she made while with the FBI, as well as her experience
mentoring young professional women, are the reasons she wanted
to take part in Thursday's event.
"We
have to encourage women to step forward and share their stories,"
DeGenova said. "I'm sure in our community we have many women
who have very interesting stories to share."
DeGenova will tell one of her most interesting stories: the day
she was a first-responder to the attempted assassination of Reagan
in 1981 by gunman John Hinckley.
After regulations were changed that did away with things like
a height requirement to become an agent, DeGenova quickly worked
her way from FBI linguist (fluent in Russian, French and German)
undercover agent, to becoming a special agent.
It was as a field agent in '81 that she got the call about the
Reagan shooting.
"I just happened to be in the right place in the right time,
when I got the call," she said.
She didn't sleep for the next 48 hours; she and other agents had
to retrace where Hinckley was that day and the day before, finding
witnesses and evidence along the way.
"It was an ordinary day in my extraordinary career,"
she said.
She's quick to point out, however, "Anybody could have that
day in any career."
DeGenova, who runs a security consulting business, said her background
as a first-generation immigrant was at the heart of her ambition.
"I don't want to settle for less, I don't' want to be a second-rate
citizen," she said.
She recently ran for public office, and while she wasn't elected,
she says that striving for high goals is something all women should
do.
"Sharing my particular story may encourage someone else to
step forward," she said.
Celeste
Niarchos
In
1978, Niarchos had been practicing law for three years. She was
starting her family.
And she wanted to give something back.
When
some of her family members were victims of domestic violence,
Niarchos said, there were little or no services to help them.
So
with a few other people and a $167,000 federal grant, she funded
HAWC, Help for Abused Women and Their Children, as a support agency
for anyone affected by domestic violence.
"This
was a cause that was near and dear to my heart," she said.
"I was frustrated with the lack of response by law enforcement
and society, to address the problem."
Now a lawyer focusing on family law in Salem, Niarchos says she
still sees the effects of abuse - both physical and emotional
- on families.
"Society
was just beginning to pay attention to domestic violence (when
she started her project). Very few shelters were available,"
she said.
"The
law as it then existed, provided no protection for women,"
she added. "Unless a police officer or a witness was present,
the perpetrator would not be charged with a crime."
That, despite overwhelming physical evidence, she said.
Things
changed for the better when the 209A legislation - the restraining
order law - went into effect.
"It was passed in the late '70s and that was a huge development,"
she said.
HAWC was part of the movement.
"We
were very much involved in promoting the passage of that legislation
and designing a program that includes support services,"
she said.
The
holistic approach to crisis intervention includes support groups,
a hot line, a safe shelter, education and substance abuse counseling
if needed.
"We
wanted to help women and their children break that cycle of violence,"
she said.
One of most successful parts of the HAWC program is its support
groups, where abused women meet other women who have been abused.
"We
show women, 'See, there's nothing wrong with you. You're going
to meet women going through the same exact thing.' "
She
said she'll speak Thursday about the effects of abuse on children.
"People
still don't' have a clear understanding, that it has very negative
effects. We want to help parents understand that their actions
affect their children," she said.
"Historically
we see that children who've grown up in a situation with battering,
(they) themselves become batterers," she said.
Staff
writer Michelle Morrissey can be reached at 978-946-2496, or via
e-mail, mmorrissey@salemnews.com.
If
you go
What:
"Women, Crime and Justice" dinner and talk
When: Thursday, Feb. 28; registration and dinner, 6 to
7 p.m., formal presentations, 7:15 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: The Landing Restaurant, 81 Front St., Marblehead
How: $25 buffet dinner. Cash bar available. A portion of
the proceeds benefits the NOW Foundation. For information, call
CJ Cavalieri, 781-631-4546 or e-mail mprsolutions@comcast.net.
|
Marblehead
Reporter
Wed Feb
20, 2008, 01:05 PM EST
Women's
speaking series to benefit local charities
By
Carolyn Moore
MARBLEHEAD - "Women, Crime and Justice: will be the topic
of discussion over dinner next Thursday night at The Landing Restaurant,
as a local resident helps kick off a three-part series aimed at
encouraging women to share their life experiences with other women
and the community as a whole.
The
event is scheduled to run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb.
28.
The
night will begin with a buffet dinner and follow with a formal
presentation by a panel of three professional women.
Tickets
are $25, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the National
Organization for Women Foundation. (www.nowfoundation.org)
"There
are so many dynamic women who are willing to share their experiences,"
said C.J. Cavalieri, owner of Marketing and PR Solutions in Marblehead.
Cavalieri founded the Women's Speaking Series this past summer
after she met the woman who would inspire the series, Kathleen
Ham.
Ham is a North Shore native turned California lawyer who, in 2005,
agreed to return to New York to testify against the stranger who
had raped her nearly 30 years earlier. Her courage, testimony
and DNA testing led to his conviction and information linking
him to 23 other rapes. Linda Fairstein will feature her story
in a new book, "Killer Heat,", due out next month.
"I
was so compelled by her life experience and asked her if she would
consider sharing her story with other women. She readily agreed,"
said Cavalieri.
With
the help of local sponsors that include North Shore Kitchens Plus,
National Grand Bank and Marblehead Savings Bank, Cavalieri secured
not only Ham, but also Tanya DeGenova, a retired FBI supervisory
special agent and founder of TSD Security Consulting Group in
Boston, as well as Celeste Niarchos, one of the founders of HAWC,
Help for Abused Women and Children, who today has her own family-law
practice in Salem.
"The
topic - women, crime and justice - was intriguing to me,"
said Niarchos, who will discuss the ways in which the founding
of HAWC corresponded with the creation of the Abuse Prevention
Act (Chapter 209A) and the dramatic shift in how abuse was addressed
thereafter.
While
Niarchos' story is intriguing in its own right, she is excited
to hear the stories of her fellow panelists.
"I
have some interesting stories to share," said DeGenova, who
recently made a bid for the Republican nomination to fill the
vacated 8th Essex District state-representative seat.
DeGenova
is a strong believer that women's options are limitless.
"We need to encourage women to reach beyond traditional careers
- to not be afraid to reach beyond the norm," said DeGenova.
The
women's speaker series will include two future installments, scheduled
for June and October. Each event will benefit a different charity
on the North Shore, said Cavalieri.
While
space is limited at this Thursday's event, tickets are still available.
Contact Cavalieri at 781-631-4546 or e-mail mprsolutions@comcast.net
to make reservations.
|