COUNTYWIDE : Victim Aid Program Gets 7th Advocate

Ventura County will add a seventh victim advocate to its Victim/Witness Assistance program under a plan approved this week by the Board of Supervisors.

The new advocate will concentrate on assisting victims of domestic violence, said Kathleen McGoldrick, the program’s director.

She said the state will provide the $31,248 needed to hire the new staff member.

In fiscal 1990-91, the county will provide $145,389 of the program’s $310,389 budget, with some of the funding coming from fines criminals are ordered to pay.

The board approved the position Tuesday although some supervisors expressed displeasure with McGoldrick’s warning that “to turn away victims at this point is giving the cold shoulder” to targets of domestic and sexual abuse.

“I don’t appreciate the political speech,” Supervisor James R. Dougherty said after McGoldrick told of several cases in which women and children had been assaulted.

However, he joined his fellow supervisors in voting to continue the program.

McGoldrick said she feared that despite sharp increases in violent crime, the program was in danger of being cut.

More than 11,000 crime victims and their families were assisted by the Victim/Witness agency last year, McGoldrick said. Advocates provide services such as counseling, crisis intervention and help in obtaining restraining orders, she said.