Petersburg Pilot -

Forty years ago, Marlene Cushing was working as the community public health nurse when she attended the first meeting of Women's Aid in Violent Emergencies (WAVE). It was April and the head dispatcher of the Petersburg Police Department (PPD) was there and the assistant director of the children's center showed up, too.

And so did a handful of other women looking to volunteer and make a positive impact when it came to dealing with domestic violence (DV) locally. But Cushing says, credit for getting the group together that day goes to a woman named Harriet Thompson.

"She was the alcohol and...