GUN BARREL CITY -- Henderson County District Attorney Scott McKee laid out plans to conduct a training conference for National Crime Victims Awareness Week during his speech to the Cedar Creek Lake Rotary Club on Feb. 1. McKee, who is a resident of Cedar Creek Lake, told Rotary Club members attending the group's regularly weekly meeting at Vetoni's Italian Restaurant the Crime Victims Conference of East Texas in Athens would attract a wide range of law enforcement officials from 30 Texas counties. The focus would be on educating prosecutors and others involved in crime fighting about crime victims' special needs. "I think it's going to be a big thing," McKee said. "We want to do it annually." McKee noted that crime victim advocacy and support training is needed in Henderson and other small counties because of the severity of crimes that take place. "The most heinous crimes you can even think of -- murders and child sexual assault -- they happen right here in Henderson County," said McKee, who noted law enforcement officials need to be trained to help support crime victims and their survivors during the aftermath of violent crimes. The first conference will take place during the 2013 awareness week of April 21-27 at Lake Athens Baptist Church. Judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and others involved in crime fighting on the county, state and federal level are expected to attend the conference. McKee and two members of his staff are making appearances in Henderson County seeking donations from groups like the Rotary Club to help fund the conference. Money seized by the state from the illegal activities of criminals in Henderson County also will help fund the project, he said. Conference planners are raising money from the community to help bring representatives of a Washington State family who suffered a horrific loss in February 2012 when Josh Powell, a Pierce County man in Washington, killed his two children and himself during a supervised visit with him. Powell, whose in-laws suspected him of involvement in his wife's disappearance, apparently blew up his house. The children's surviving relatives now work to help raise awareness about crime victims. They do not charge for appearances, but their hosts provide them with transportation, lodging and meals during their appearances. Individual and group donations were pledged to McKee by Rotary Club members for the first Athens conference.