MERIDIAN —     There is no sure fire way to address the issue of domestic violence without talking about society in America as a whole.

    According to Leslie Payne, executive director of The Care Lodge in Meridian, a domestic abuse shelter and organization that treats victims of domestic abuse, only about 15 to 20 percent of domestic cases are reported in the nation. Given that statistic, and the fact both domestic abuse officials and law enforcement authorities have seen an upsurge in the number of cases they are dealing with, there are a great many people still suffering from domestic abuse and violence.

    "There is no silver bullet to address this issue," says Payne, who has been with The Care Lodge for more than 18 years. "We are dealing with problems that are spawned by a wide variety of parameters beginning with the economy to how these people have been raised. This is a problem in close relation with our overall society and how we go about our daily lives living around violence."

    Payne says The Care Lodge, begun in 1981, has seen more and more victims come through her doors looking for counseling and shelter from their abusers. She says when the community as a whole gets to a point to where enough is enough, only then will this problem be brought to the forefront and the issues addressed aggressively.

     "We find ourselves treating the symptoms but not the underlying problems of domestic violence," Payne says. "There has to be education. There has to be the funding to handle all the people who will seek help. There has to be a support system for the victims. And we can't forget about the abusers either. We have to address their issues and show them their behavior is wrong, detrimental to their families and above all, dangerous."

    To show how dangerous a domestic problem can be, Police in Newton have charged Paul Campbell, 48, with the weekend murder of his wife. Campbell was formally charged this week with killing 65-year-old Georgia Campbell. Her body was discovered at home Saturday, after police received a phone call. Police Chief Harvey Curry said the couple lived at the Oak Street home together. Curry said Mrs. Campbell died of blunt force trauma.

    In another recent domestic violence case the Clarke County Sheriff's Department says it is still on the lookout for a man they say shot his girlfriend in the DeSoto community over the weekend.

    Investigators say Jerry Wayne McCarty allegedly shot his girlfriend, 35 year-old Cassandra Hamilton, while she was sitting inside of a Dodge Spirit. The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday on County Road 260 in the DeSoto community.

    Sheriff Todd Kemp says it is a miracle that only Hamilton was injured, given that another female and a small child were sitting in the back of the vehicle at the time of the shooting.

    Kemp says Hamilton and McCarty had been arguing prior to the gunfire, which put Hamilton in a Jackson area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

    "Apparently, it got to a breaking point about 8:30 on Saturday night," Kemp recalls. "He allegedly knocked the glass out of the driver's side door, then walked around the car, firing multiple times what we believe was a small caliber handgun."     Kemp said Thursday they are still looking for McCarty. He said they had a few tips Wednesday that didn't pan out. He is confident McCarty will be in custody soon.

    Kemp says he remembers being a young deputy and answering domestic calls out in the rural areas of the county. He says these types of calls are in many respects some of the most dangerous ones to which a law enforcement officer can respond. He says the officers try to be the neutral party and to find out what is at the root of the problems but many times the volatility of the situation is much worse.

    "We have seen over the years a steady increase in domestic calls and for what reasons, I don't honestly know," says Kemp. "Some problems can be attributed to everyone being stressed out about trying to make ends meet with bills and commitments. Others are more in line with these abusers were themselves abused as youngsters or they observed that kind of behavior as children and now they think that is the way they should act."

    "That is where the education about domestic abuse needs to come in," Payne says. "This vicious cycle is everywhere and we need to break it."

    Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun has seen the domestic abuse dynamic in action.

    "What we are dealing with here are highly emotionally charged situations and environments that can turn violent very quickly," Calhoun says. "How do you stop that between two spouses or a father and son or mother and daughter?"

    Calhoun says according to LCSD records, in 2008 there were 133 domestic violence reports taken. That number dropped to 120 the following year but in 2010 the number rose again to 137. So far in 2011, the department has noted 148 reports.

    "And we haven't even gotten into the holiday season, which is the time we have the most during the year," Calhoun says.

    According to 911 Central Dispatch records, in just one day the Meridian Police Department responded to 17 domestic calls on Oct. 11, which resulted in two arrests.

    Payne says children can't rationalize the difference between make believe and the real world in the same sense as adults. She says whenever the issue of domestic violence is addressed, the adults need to be taught they are responsible for the behavior, in the present and in the future, of their children.

    "The behavior of the children is modeled after the adults in their lives," Payne says. "I've been around long enough to see the children who came into our shelter are now young adults. So I've seen the impact first hand."

    The Care Lodge, since 1981 through 2010, has housed 3,981 adults in their shelter. They have also housed almost 5,000 children. For those who haven't sought shelter but rather have asked for counseling on how to deal with domestic violence issues, Payne says they have counseled and consoled more than 14,000 people.

    "As advocates, we have to help those who walk through our doors," Payne says. "Our programs are designed to bring them out of the darkness that is domestic abuse. But we can only do so much. All organizations like ours can only deal with a small percentage of the people who really need us. That is why we need our government leaders to step in and help us."

    But how do you tackle a problem that is so much a part of the fabric of our society?

    "There is no easy answer," Payne says finally. "But the problem is there. When are we going to try and find the answers?"

    On Oct. 18, speakers from the Mississippi Attorney General's Office, the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the National Network to End Domestic Violence will bring "Surviving the Violence: Technology in Today's Relationships" to the MSU-Meridian campus. This program is part of the focus of MSU-Meridian’s social work program’s 16th annual conference on domestic violence. Payne says the conference will attract law enforcement officers, social workers, teachers, counselors and other individuals from across the state who are interested in assisting victims of domestic violence. 

    The event, scheduled in October each year in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, will be held at MSU-Meridian’s Kahlmus Auditorium. Registration begins at 8 a.m.