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Sep 4, 2009 1:10 am US/Eastern
Dade Budget Cuts May Be A Life Or Death Matter
Second Public Hearing: Thursday, Sept. 17th
County Commission Chambers At Stephen P. Clark Building
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Protesters rally outside of the Steven P. Clark center in Miami, shortly before Miami-Dade commissioners considered the 2009-2010 Miami-Dade budget.
Alex Restuccia/CBS Viewer
Miami-Dade County's most vulnerable made their pleas to the Miami-Dade commission to not cut their budget Thursday night; women victimized by domestic violence and those on the brink of suicide could be affected by cuts.
Services such as Switchboard of Miami, which provides an emergency hotline for people in times of crisis such as suicide could see cuts.
"These are the people who need us the most, and you see for every crisis counselor that I have to take off the line, because we no longer have funding, that's a longer time that the phone will ring," said Catherine Penrod, CEO of Switchboard of Miami. "So if you're in a suicidal or domestic violence situation, how much time do you really have to sit on hold?
The group of many women who broke through the chains of domestic violence wore t-shirts and rallied together outside and inside government center, to publicize how important services such as Switchboard can be.
One former victim of domestic violence told
CBS4 News that it's not as simple as leaving an abusive relationship.
"It's not so simple, they think it's so easy to walk out that door and leave. But when we do, we get beaten every worse, and the majority of women keep coming back, and back, and back, until we finally realize that they are going to kill us or we're going to kill them, and we have to get out."
Comments from the public were heard up to just before 1 a.m. Friday, at which point commissioners and Mayor Alvarez himself made their presentations.
Another hearing is set for Sept. 17, also open to public comment
CBS4.com's Daniel Lastra & Michele Gillen contributed to this report
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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