Supporters of potential senate bill gather inside the Capitol

Courtesy of Anquinette Taylor

Alice Flowers, sister of the late Rosemary Pate, friends, family and supporters gathered at the Capitol rotunda to advocate for Senate Bill 904: Abuse of a Parent bill Wednesday.

In July 2013, Cops found 51-year-old Rosemary Pate, dripped in bleached and stabbed numerous times in her Ocoee residence. With a full investigation, the suspect turned out to be her 19-year-old son Everett Pate.

Prior to her death, Pate lived in fear that her son would indeed kill her. Family and friends were aware of “minor” abuse Rosemary would reference, but they were unaware that the fear of her son had escalated due to the excess amount of violence Everett Pate placed at his mother’s feet.

After her death, Alice Flowers, alongside of her daughter and Domestic Violence specialist, Tiffany Kelly, went on in the pursuit to getting their Parent Abuse bill recognized as a category of Domestic Violence. Since then, Flowers, Kelly, friends and family have worked tirelessly to spread the awareness of parent abuse.

“We cycled 300 miles from Orlando to support the abuse of the parent bill,” Flowers said.

Flowers stated that she had never been a cyclist like her sister, but after her death she took interest to it. She used her sister’s bike to cycle from Orlando to Tallahassee.

“We need this bill because parents are dying the hands of their children. We don’t have statutes that specifically addresses when a child abuse their parent. However this is a form of domestic violence, and it needs to be added as a form of domestic violence,” Flower said.

She explained the lack of concern from law enforcement after continuously reiterating that it’s nothing they could do, but arrest the child and only to soon return the child back to his abused mother. Eventually, the abuse would reconvene and the violence would intensify itself.

We need to find a way to get this law passed to the next level. We just want to do whatever we can to show the importance of this,” supporter and friend of Rosemary Pate, Maria Robinson, said.

I did not know that there was an entire segment of people who were being ignored until my aunt. With further research, I noticed it was parents of minor children who were abusing them. At least 50 of them were those I have come in contact with,” Kelly said.

Kelly also spoke about her non-profit, The Morning After Center for Hope and Healing Inc. The center targets domestic violence, a child to parent violence initiative community outreach. The center serves to be a bridge between marginalized communities and the services that are out there.

“Parents may feel embarrassed, but talk to non-judgmental support groups, go to Ride4rose.com for resources, and receive as much help as you can. We out here fighting for you we are that voice for you, fighting to get laws in place for you, to get protected and to help your child,”  Flowers said.