[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 129 (Monday, October 16, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING 20 YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE PROVIDED BY TOBY MYERS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. KEN BENTSEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 16, 2000

  Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to honor Toby Myers for her 
twenty years of dedicated service to battered women and their families 
in the Houston area. I understand that Ms. Myers has worked tirelessly 
to ensure the women in domestic violence situations get the services 
and help they need to leave dangerous situations which may threaten 
both their personal and their children's lives.
  The statistics about domestic abuse are alarming. As we all know, 
women are more likely than men to be victims of domestic abuse. A 1996 
Lieberman Advertising research project found that more than one quarter 
of all American women or 26 percent of women have been physically 
abused by a husband or a boyfriend during their lives. An even higher 
percentage of Americans, some 30 percent, know of someone who has been 
physically abused during the past year. Regrettably, domestic violence 
is one of the leading causes of injury among American women. In 1994, 
37% of women who sought treatment in emergency rooms were violence-
related injuries according to the U.S. Department of Justice report. In 
1998, 106 women in Texas were killed by their intimate partner. Clearly 
we need to do more to combat this domestic abuse.
  Toby Myers is a long-time advocate on behalf of these women. 
Beginning in 1980, she helped to found the Aid to Victims of Domestic 
Abuse (AVDA) in conjunction with the National Council of Jewish Women 
and Greater Houston Section. As a trained educator, Ms. Myers 
volunteered her time and talent by providing counseling for those 
abusive men who sought help through her private practice called the 
PIVOT Group. Through her volunteer work at the AVDA, Ms. Myers helped 
to establish the innovative intervention program called the PIVOT 
Project. This Project creates a psycho-educational counseling group for 
men who are abusive in their intimate relationships. After the initial 
success with one group of abusive men, Ms. Myers helped to expand the 
scope of the PIVOT Project to serve more families. Since 1991, the 
PIVOT Project has served families in Pasadena, Katy, Rosenberg, Texas 
City, Baytown, Webster, Northwest Houston, Conroe and Bay City. In 
1995, the PIVOT Project was selected as one of four sites for 
participation in a national research project funded by the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This longitudinal study continued 
to track those men who participated in the program in 1995.
  During her twenty year career, Ms. Myers has worked on both a local 
and national level to share her expertise on domestic violence. She has 
served on the Board of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence 
and has chaired the Family Advisory Committee for the Texas Department 
of Human Services. She was also selected as one of the 150 appointees 
by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to help develop a national policy 
group on Violence and Public Health.
  She also shared her knowledge as a teacher and mentor. She is 
currently serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas 
Health Science Center in Houston. She has also held faculty positions 
at both the University of Houston--Clear Lake and Texas Women's 
University. Her graduate level courses in family violence are renowned 
for being well attended and sought after by students interested in 
combating domestic violence.
  I want to congratulate Ms. Myers on her twenty years of services and 
wish her well in her retirement. I know that many women in Houston and 
the surrounding area will thank her for her personal involvement in 
their lives to make this world a more livable place.