OCTOBER 3, 2025 ABUSE D.A. Groundcover writer October is the month that recognizes Domestic Violence. I want to include other forms of abuse, too. I am a domestic violence survivor, and I have recently been the victim of other forms of abuse as well. I was in two abusive relationships; one in my early twenties, and again in my late thirties. First, I'll speak to the relationship that occurred in my twenties. The man was 23 years older than me. He was very kind and generous at the beginning. I was having some family struggles, and he seemed to be the kind of man that I could share a lifetime with despite the age difference. Well, I was sadly mistaken. Once I became pregnant by him, he began to openly see other women. When I questioned him about it, he slapped me so hard that that was the end of that conversation for that day. He apologized and promised to never do it again. Then he took me shopping and gave me some money, and for a long time he did not do it — until after I gave birth to our daughter, who is in her 30s now. After I gave birth, he was back to his cheating ways. Once again, I asked him about it, and he slapped me and hit me several times and busted my lip. Then he told me to shut up and cook him some dinner. I cooked the dinner and sucked it up. At that point, I Groundcover Vendor Code While Groundcover is a non-profit, and paper vendors are self-employed contractors, we still have expectations of how vendors should conduct themselves while selling and representing the paper. The following is our Vendor Code of Conduct, which every vendor reads and signs before receiving a badge and papers. We request that if you discover a vendor violating any tenets of the Code, please contact us and provide as many details as possible. Our paper and our vendors should be positively impacting our County. • Groundcover will be distributed for a voluntary donation. I agree not to ask for more than the cover price or solicit donations by any other means. • When selling Groundcover, I will always have the current biweekly issue of Groundcover available for wanted to make it work for the sake of our daughter so that she’d have a father, since my father was not in my life after a certain age, and is not to this day. After two years of being abused about every four or five months, and once where I had almost killed him in self-defense, I left. I have permanent black eyes from him giving me a total of three black eyes. I did not indulge in a relationship for four years after that. I will not be in an abusive relationship ever again. I have a daughter who is now 15 years old. I left her dad when she was seven months old. I later gave him custody due to losing my babysitting job when the baby I watched turned about three and a half and started preschool. I lost my ability to pay rent and work because her dad told me that he would not care for our daughter unless I paid him. He also got her put into foster care, thinking that lying about me would make the court give him custody. That backfired on him and she went to foster care for 16 months, so I gave him custody to get her out of foster care. This worked until she turned ten years old. I gave birth to her at 41 years of age. Before she was born, I confided in him about some terrible and life changing experiences that happened to me. He has used that and done everything he can to hurt me using our daughter. He moved and isolated her from me customer purchase. • I agree not to sell additional goods or products when selling the paper or to panhandle, including panhandling with only one paper or selling an issue more than 4 weeks old. • I will wear and display my badge when selling papers and refrain from wearing it or other Groundcover gear when engaged in other activities. • I will only purchase the paper from Groundcover Staff and will not sell to or buy papers from other Groundcover vendors, especially vendors who have been suspended or terminated. • I agree to treat all customers, staff, and other vendors respectfully. I will not “hard sell,” threaten, harass or pressure customers, staff, or other vendors verbally or physically. • I will not sell Groundcover under the influence of drugs or alcohol. • I understand that I am not a legal employee of Groundcover but a since she turned ten. This is not just cruel to me, but a very horrible thing to do to a child as well. I am currently taking care of that through the courts. There were some mailing errors and other aspects of this situation that have prolonged this process. I have also been subject to being illegally taken and injected with drugs that I wasn't supposed to have been by medical professionals at hospitals that I won't name for my own future safety and well-being. I have PTSD from the numerous traumas in my life. I am not court-ordered to take any psychotropic drugs. This caused me to have mental episodes as a result of being illegally restrained and injected with drugs I won't name. This mostly occurred when I became homeless, and after I suffered some injuries from being hit by a car on my bike some years ago. I am much better now and not homeless. I had to contact medical records and have and am still taking steps to correct my medical records. Even before all of this, I had been abused physically and had a lot of false and extraneous charges put on me by the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti police. I did not have a criminal history until I moved to Washtenaw County. I have reported these abuses to the superior officers and Community Mental Health at the jail when I came in with my arms swollen from my elbows all the way down to my hands, and nothing was done. contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income. • I understand that my badge is property of Groundcover and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers. • I agree to stay off private property when selling Groundcover. • I understand to refrain from selling on public buses, federal property or stores unless there is permission from the owner. • I agree to stay at least one block away from another vendor in downtown areas. I will also abide by the Vendor Corner Policy. • I understand that Groundcover strives to be a paper that covers topics of homelessness and poverty while providing sources of income for the homeless. I will try to help in this effort and spread the word. If you would like to report a violation of the Vendor Code or leave positive review of a Vendor experience please email contact@ groundcovernews.com or fill out the contact form on our website. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 5 Ways that domestic and other abuses can impact you I have been assaulted five times and the individuals were never charged. Three of the assaults took place at the shelter here in Ann Arbor. Not one of the five assailants faced any consequences. When you are wrongfully incarcerated for charges and can not bond yourself out, you are at risk of losing everything you have without even being convicted of a crime. So, for a lot of the charges, I took plea deals to get out of jail. This criminalizes you, changes the whole perspective of your true person and character in the eyes of the Department of Justice. It also affects your ability to obtain some housing and a career that earns a livable wage. So now, I have very little, if any, trust in the police, courts and CMH organizations. Not all individuals are untrustworthy, but a lot of illegal paperwork and practices are facilitated by and through these people. Especially when you are not economically well off. As far as relationships: they are not as important as they used to seem to me. I will in the present and future choose to date only a holy man, and try not to indulge in sexual relationships until I marry someone, if it happens. That is my choice. 12/31/2025
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