Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., toured the Centre County Women's Resource Center yesterday, speaking to the workers about a funding cut that could limit their services to the community.

The center, located at 140 Nittany Ave., could lose as much as $300,000 in federal funding under the proposed elimination of the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) fund, the center's executive director said in a press conference with Casey yesterday.

"The thought of that money going away [is] pretty scary," Executive Director Anne Ard said.

"That's a pretty significant hit for us."

President George W. Bush's proposed budget for 2009 eliminates the fund, a $2 billion loss of VOCA programs.

That includes those offered by the Women's Resource Center.

The funding helps pay for staff members who respond to sexual assaults, go to the courthouse with crime victims and other victim-witness assistance programs, Ard said.

Casey said that he thinks the president's proposed funding cuts are "outrageous."

"In a time where millionaires and billionaires are getting tax cuts, we should not be cutting services for domestic violence programs," Casey said.

The funding cut could affect as many as 61 facilities similar to Centre County's across Pennsylvania, Casey said.

In addition to talk of funding concerns, Centre County Judge Thomas Kistler also spoke to Casey about the planned child exchange center in Centre County.

The center will be a place where estranged or divorced parents can meet to exchange their children safely, he said.

It will also offer "supervised visits in a neutral territory with people around," Kistler said.

The idea for the center stemmed in part from an incident on Easter Sunday of 2007, when Williamsport resident Ben Barone shot and killed his estranged wife, Jodi, before killing himself.

The shooting occurred while the two were exchanging custody of their 3-year-old daughter in the parking lot of a Sheetz convenience store in Mill Hall.