Chick Arranges 2 Billboards Against Battering of Women

Stirred by the slaying of Nicole Brown Simpson, a city councilwoman and an advertising agency have worked together to create a graphic reminder of the costs of domestic violence and publicize hot-line numbers for battered women.

Two 14- by 48-foot hand-painted billboards will go up this week in Reseda and Hollywood, showing the stark image of a woman’s body shrouded by a coroner’s sheet. The caption above the corpse reads, “Some Women Will Never Talk to Anyone About Being Abused.”

The Reseda billboard, to be erected Friday, will list the phone number for the Haven Hills women’s shelter in Canoga Park, while the Hollywood version, to go up today, will give the phone number of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women.

The billboards came about after the much-publicized slayings of O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman as Councilwoman Laura Chick sought a way to publicize the Valley’s only shelter for battered women.

Chick contacted Dash Stolarz, who works in public relations at the nation’s largest billboard company, Patrick Media Group in Los Angeles. Stolarz helped Chick with her City Council campaign.

The company donated both the space for the signs and the painters.

The disturbing, predominantly black-and-white image of the shrouded body was taken from an award-winning 1989 campaign for the Commission on Assaults Against Women.

The Reseda billboard will be located near the intersection of Sherman Way and Balboa Boulevard and will be moved to another Valley location after about 30 days. The Hollywood billboard will also be moved from its initial location after about a month.