The messages on these tee-shirts are extremely powerful.

Karthryn Burr, Clatsop County Womens Resource Center community programs manager

SEASIDE Its not everyday youll see tee-shirts hanging from the rafters of the Bob Chisholm Community Center in Seaside. More than 100 of the specially painted shirts are now in place at the Center as a project designed by the Clatsop County Womens Resources Center to highlight April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The tee-shirts were produced as a culmination of the Clatsop Community College Womens study class and were first on display at the college in Astoria. Other tee-shirts were made during an event at the Community Center in Seaside April 5.

Often, men and women have difficulty talking about sexual assault. So this project is designed to start that conversation. It opens the opportunity for people to share their emotions, said Karthryn Burr, Clatsop County Womens Resource Center community programs manager. The shirts are a vessel for people to express their feelings concerning sexual assault whether they are victims, family members, or others. The messages on the tee shirts are extremely powerful.

A dedication ceremony for the tee-shirt project was held at the Community Center in Seaside April 10. The shirts will remain hanging through April.

Another public event to raise awareness about sexual assault is planned April 25 at the Clatsop County Court House in Astoria when the Womens Resource Center invites male community members to walk in the shoes of women assault victims.

This is a spin off of the Walk in My Shoes national campaign, Burr said. It will be a statement by our male community members and others that they are taking a stand against sexual assault. It is important that they put themselves out there in a vulnerable way in the victims shoes.

The Clatsop County Domestic Sexual Assault Team, made up of members from the Womens Resource Center, area hospitals and law enforcement agencies, respond to sexual assaults reported to police or hospitals.

Burr said the number of victims has remained consistent over the past five years.

In 2006-07 the team responded to 16 assaults, seven alone in January that year. In 2007-08 there were 11 reported cases, 10 in 2008-09, 21 cases in 2009-10, 20 cases in 2010-11, and through March of 2012 the team has assisted in nine case of sexual assault.

But we believe there are many, many victims that choose not to report the sexual assault to police for a variety of reasons, mostly because of fear, Burr said. Since 2008 we have served 49 victims who chose not to report the assault to police.

Burr said national figures show that one in three in women and one in six men in America will be a victim of sexual assault in their lifetime.

To report sexual assault, or for more information about the awareness campaigns, call (503) 325-5735.

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