Walking with and supporting the marchers in their mission were County Sheriff James B. Quattrone, County Executive PJ Wendel, state Senator George M. Borrello, Jamestown Police Chief Tim Jackson, various non-profit organizations including Prevention Works of Jamestown, students from Jamestown Business College, Jamestown police officers including officer Emma Ward and Hope the comfort/therapeutic dog, Jamestown Firefighters and at least one fire apparatus and a coalition of concerned residents.

“The turn out is very well, I’m impressed so far and glad that the weather held up,” said Caylee Shelters, program manager of Jamestown Police Domestic Violence Unit. “Domestic violence is such a big issue here in the city of Jamestown and the county of Chautauqua, it’s really good when we have city officials, police departments and other agencies here to let our community know that domestic violence will not be tolerated here.”

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 1 in 3 women experience some sort of physical violence and 1 in 4 men do, making this a national problem.

The parade of marchers walked down Third Street and concluded their march at Jamestown City Hall, where a variety of speeches were given to include an opening prayer by Pastor Cameron Lienhart of Conduit Ministries and speeches by Mayor Eddie Sundquist and guest county and state officials.

City, County, state officials, police, fire, non-profit organizations and many more walk down Second Street as part of the 26 Annual Walk Against Domestic Violence and the 21 Annual Unity Day Event Friday. PJ Photo by Christopher Blakeslee

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports the following statistic:

On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. For one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men; 1 in 7 women and 1 in 25 men have been injured by an intimate partner; On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide; The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500 %.