Local abuse prevention center refuting claims of derogatory comments

Annette Macfarlane is seen here in a screen shot of a YouTube video shot by the Tremonton Leader at a Tremonton City Council meeting on March 5, 2013. Macfarlane is the director of New Hope Crisis Center and spoke out against a proposed hog processing plant.

<strong>LOGAN—</strong> Those who work with Cache Valley’s Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency <a href=”http://capsa.org/en/” target=”_blank”>(CAPSA)</a> have been working to clear the organization’s name after being labeled as racist after a community meeting in Tremonton last month.

Annette Macfarlane, Director of the New Hope Crisis Center, a domestic violence shelter in Brigham City and Tremonton, expressed opposition to turning Tremonton’s old Lay-Z-Boy Plant into a pig processing plant.

Macfarlane said processing plants like that often bring in Hispanic workers, and claimed that along with that Hispanic influx, domestic violence would also increase in the area. She used “quotes” from CAPSA Executive Director Jill Anderson and a Cache County Sheriff’s deputy to back up her claims.

CAPSA Community Outreach Director Michelle Merrill said the organization has never made any such statement (the Sheriff’s Department also said Macfarlane’s claims are false), and has been working to clear CAPSA’s name ever since.

“We wanted to just make sure that we made the public aware that this is clearly not our stance at all, and this conversation or the comment that Annette claims came from Jill Anderson’s mouth never even happened,” Merrill said Thursday on KVNU’s <a href=”http://610kvnu.com/assets/podcaster/324/2013_04_26_324_10374_2867.mp3″ target=”_blank”>For the People show</a>.

“We live in a great community that has been very supportive of CAPSA, so we wanted to make sure that they knew that we continue and we will continue to provide safe caring and confidential shelter, advocacy, and support of all victims of domestic violence and sexual assault here in Cache Valley.”

CAPSA’s full statement regarding the matter can be found <a href=”http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/news/local/article_26b05f7a-adfe-11e2-b2c1-0019bb30f31a.html” target=”_blank”>here</a>.

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