by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

A Princeton High School senior stepped in front of the television cameras at the Capitol and said it must end.

Tony Hallin, founding member of Teens Against Dating Abuse, spoke at the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women press conference on Wednesday (Feb. 7) and explained that ending the domestic abuse means starting early.

"We want to end domestic violence because it doesn't stop when teens become adults," said Hallin.

"Our hope is that future domestic violence is eliminated everywhere in Minnesota," he said.

Speaking after the press conference, Hallin said he has heard "horror stories" from friends about incidents of date abuse that had happened to them.

Hallin, who will be an instructor at a teen leadership summit in late February in St. Paul, views the problem of date violence as affecting all high schools.

"High schools are all different," he said.

"But in ways they're all the same," said Hallin.

Other speakers took the podium at the coalition press conference, an event at which a 2006 Minnesota "Femicide Report" was presented.

The report not only memorialized domestic violence victims but detailed "red flags" which the coalition believes indicates the potential for lethal violence in a domestic violence case.

Sometimes the legal system doesn't work, argued Vicki Seliger Swenson, the sister of Teri Lee, who along with her boyfriend Tim Hawkinson were murdered in West Lakeland Township in Washington County last September.

Swenson, fighting back tears, spoke of the deep love she and her family had for her murdered sister.

She also spoke how the steps her sister took to protect herself and her four children ultimately proved fruitless.

"My sister died following the system," said Swenson.

She did turn to the courts, Swenson explained.

Indeed, Swenson recounted how her sister flatly told a judge that the alleged murdered, Steven Van Keuren, would come to her house and kill her.

In an analysis of 20 domestic violence cases in Minnesota in 2006, the coalition identified four "red flags" that could indicate a particular domestic violence situation could turn lethal.

These are victims are attempting to end a relationship, that there has been death threats, and the perpetrator has a history of violence and access to firearms.

On the wall behind the speakers coalition members pinned decorated shirts memorializing domestic violence victims.

One was for an infant from Isanti.

The coalition is looking for increased funding for domestic violence intervention programs.