St. Cloud Remembers Gleason And Take Back The Night

ST. CLOUD - Despite the chilly weather students and community members gathered in Barden Park at St. Cloud State University as St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis proclaimed (Thursday) yesterday Take Back the Night.

Take Back the Night is a national event put on by the Take Back the Night Committee held each year in honor of victims of domestic and sexual assault.

The crowd remembered Colton Gleason who was tragically murdered on September 20th in St. Cloud just a few blocks away.

"We've had some tragedies that have happened in this community recently. Those incidents continue to shake that security that a community needs to have and has to have. When people come together to stand up against that…it shows the community that we're not going to stand for it" says Kleis.

Keynote speakers and musicians were invited to help raise awareness for violence against women and children.

TBTN committee member Ashlee Moser says, "It's called Take Back the Night because we believe that everybody has the right to feel safe on their streets, in their communities and in their relationships."

T-shirts were strung out on clothes lines throughout the park as part of TBTN's Clothesline project.

Moser says that victims of domestic and sexual assault can put their feelings down on T-shirts in an anonymous way for the public to see that are displayed throughout the park.

Groups such as Anna Marie's Alliance, Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center, St. Cloud State Women's Center, and SCSU sorority Kappa Phi Omega came together to support TBTN and be a resources for victims of domestic and sexual assault.

CMSAC client services coordinator Tamara Hennes-Vix says, "If we all work together the belief here tonight is that we could end violence against women and children."

Festivities concluded with a march through downtown St. Cloud to signify the community taking back the night.