 |
| Ann Bauers shares a photo of her son, Keith, who was brutally murdered in 2003. |
“It has helped me to heal. It has helped my family to heal,” Ann Bauers said of ongoing efforts to support people whose families have been devastated by unthinkable crimes, while preparing for the upcoming National Day of Remembrance event in Carter County.
Bauers is one of many people who have joined together in forming the National Justice & Hope For Crime Victims organization which is hosting a “National Day of Remembrance” in Carter County next Saturday, September 7, from noon until around 4 p.m.
The afternoon will begin with a performance by the band Southern Rail featuring vocalist Tracy Dickerson, Bauers said, followed by an appearance from “the singing attorney, Will Wilhoite,” and “singing judge” Rupert Wilhoit. Guests will enjoy hot dog dinners and fellowship throughout the event, which will conclude with an end of day devotion and balloon release.
“Everybody’s welcome, but it is for victims of horrific crime. It does not have to be murder,” she said. sitting inside the group’s headquarters, a former country store where Bauers and her family spent many years, at 5201 East Highway U.S. 60 at Wilson Creek, a few miles outside of Grayson.
The group began under a different name when Bauers teamed up with David Flatt and Lee Gussler, and has since grown to include board members KSP Detective Rob Garnes (retired), Edith and George Sparks, Terry Bauers, Randy Waugh Sr., Shara Savage, Joy Kennedy, R.D. POrter, and Bill Rowe, as well as new board members State Senator Whitney Westerfield and Ruth Boggs, formerly of Safe Harbor. The organization continues to be supported by Judge Flatt, Judge Wilhoit, Commonwealth Attorney Brandon Ison, Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Derrick Willis and the Kentucky State Police.
The group’s name is not difficult to explain, she said.
“We hope to get justice when there is a horrific crime,” she saida, noting their goal is to provide support, comfort and assistance to others whose lives have also been forever altered by violent criminal acts.
For more information, Bauers asks people o simply “Get me on Facebook.” The Kentucky Office of Victims Advocacy can be reached online at http://ag.ky.gov/ova
