Terri Bowersock of Terri's Consign & Design

Terri Bowersock, Keynote Speaker at Arizona Press Women Awards Banquet



Arizona Press Women Annual Awards Banquet was held May 20, 2006 at the Fiesta Inn Resort in Tempe, at which Terri Bowersock of Terri?s Consign and Design was the keynote speaker. In keeping with the APW theme of ?Interviewing: Respect and Compassion for the Victim,? Terri shared her experiences of working with reporters and news people during the thirteen months her mother, Loretta Bowersock, was missing. Terri presented the following ten suggestions to victims and interviewers.



1. The victim should purchase a cell phone, for constant police, press and other official contacts dealing with the crisis. The cell phone can be turned off during times when rest is needed. Leave the home phone for friends, family, and personal business conversations.

2. When interviewing a victim, always ask permission to conduct an interview before asking interview questions.

3. The interviewer should be friendly and compassionate during an interview. The reporter?s sensitivity can make a difference in the victim?s story.

4. Be informative. Lend your expertise to the victim in a polite and supportive manner. For example, know the community resources available for such a situation and mention them to the victim.

5. Be considerate of the victim when taking photographs or conducting live interviews. If the victim?s hair is out of place, take the time to help straighten it before cameras take their shots.

6. Respect the victim?s personal life. Stick to the issue at hand.

7. Inform the victim that they can conserve their strength by telling the story only once by clearly communicating times when an interview would be given.

8. Sensationalism can be abusive. The interviewer needs to be sensitive to the victim?s feelings.

9. Don?t let your feelings influence the victim, encourage them to focus on forgiveness and goodness, instead of anger and revenge.

10. Challenge yourself to tell a different story from other interviewers, find a different perspective. A few reporters joined Terri in the day-long searches on foot in the desert and gained a deeper understanding of the issues, rather than just the facts. Also to learn more about the portrait of late life domestic violence and what forms it takes.



Terri went on to explain how her mother came to be missing. She shared stories of the long days hiking in the desert around Casa Grande trying to find her mother, refusing to give up; and, her own discovery process about her mother?s life, as the police investigation uncovered fraud by her mother?s significant other of eighteen years. Terri discovered the dynamic of elder domestic violence and the fraud cover up which often leads to the elder?s death. She suggested the dynamic was more widespread than we realize, and as our population ages, elder abuse and fraud will become a greater problem. Terri included in her handout, a brochure from DOVES, Area Agency on Aging, Region One Incorporated, a nonprofit agency, introducing three programs for seniors trying to break free of domestic violence.



Terri is focusing on forgiveness and goodness in her personal life, and using her years of successful consignment business experience to build Still N Style, a consignment department store raising money for charities, in honor of her mother, Loretta Bowersock. Terri?s voice is being heard as she strives, passionately, to offer the community an opportunity for consignment of more than furnishings, while supporting DOVES and other charities with public awareness and donations.



For more information about Terri Bowersock?s projects and businesses email Sherry Butler at sbutler@eterris.com or call 480.969.1121 x 1906.

For more information about Arizona Press Women, visit www.azpw.org.

For more information about DOVES, visit www.aaaphx.org.

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