Courts - Kentucky Mother honors slain daughter through good works

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Nearly one year after Amanda Ross was shot to death outside her Lexington townhouse, Diana Ross is honoring her daughter's life by taking on causes that were dear to her heart. Ross told The Courier-Journal she has taken her daughter's place on the Lexington Humane Society's board of directors, recalling that the last e-mail she got from her daughter was about a society fundraiser. She's also helping build a Habitat for Humanity home in her daughter's honor. Friends and family raised $42,500 toward Amanda's Project, which will break ground Oct 10 -- which would have been Ross' 31st birthday. But perhaps most importantly, she is helping victims of domestic violence. After the shooting, Diana Ross said she found an envelope her daughter had scrawled on, filled with her ideas for combating domestic violence. "I felt like I had to (get involved) because she had actually written on a big envelope all the things she was going to do," Ross said. Since then, Diana Ross has been a driving force behind the passage of Amanda's Law, which gives judges the authority to require domestic violence suspects and victims to wear electronic tracking devices. If the suspect is within 1,500 feet of the victim, the victim is notified. Ross said her daughter might still be alive if the law had been in existence last September. "If she had had one of those on, she would not have stepped foot out her door that morning," Ross said, noting that her daughter had tried to protect herself. Ross said she is frustrated that Kentucky judges have been slow to use Amanda's Law in the months since its passage, but she believes domestic violence victims and advocates will begin to demand that it is used. Diana Ross also plans to be involved in a push to pass a law allowing dating partners to seek protective orders. Under current state law, victims who do not live with or have children with a dating partner cannot seek such an order. Published: Wed, Sep 8, 2010

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