[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 77 (Thursday, May 22, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6973-S6974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              WYNONA WARD OF ``HAVE JUSTICE--WILL TRAVEL''

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about a truly 
remarkable Vermonter who delivers ``justice on wheels'' to victims of 
domestic abuse.
  Wynona Ward is the founder and director of Have Justice--Will Travel, 
HJWT, an innovative, mobile, multi-service program that assists rural 
victims of domestic violence through the legal process. She 
accomplishes this by combining her present profession as an attorney 
with her experiences as a truck driver to provide a variety of 
services--including free legal aid, in-home counseling, and 
transportation to and from court hearings and other social service 
appointments to rural families trapped in the generational cycle of 
abuse.
  Based on her pioneering and inspirational work on behalf of domestic 
violence victims and their families, Wynona has been selected by 
Lifetime Television to be honored in ``Lifetime's Achievement Awards: 
Women Changing the World,'' which will air tonight. An independent 
panel of judges reviewed thousands of nominations before selecting six 
women for the honor. Wynona received the ``Champion Award,'' presented 
to a woman who overcame ``seemingly insurmountable odds to create a 
positive change for herself or others.''
  Wynona was born into a poor family where alcoholism and abuse was 
routine--her father beat her mother and his 5 children, and sexually 
assaulted his daughters. Family violence was an accepted way of life 
then in rural Vermont. Local doctors treated the black-and-blues and 
other injuries that

[[Page S6974]]

frequently appeared on the bodies of Wynona, her mother and her 
siblings, but they never once asked how those bruises got there. No law 
required that they be reported, and even if suspected abuse were 
reported, law officials would hesitate to interfere with goings on in 
the home. The family had no choice but to suffer in secret.
  To escape her abusive father, Wynona married young and then worked 15 
years with her husband, Harold, in their own trucking business driving 
their 18-wheeler tractor-trailer unit cross-country. Years later, she 
received word from home that the abuse she had known was beginning for 
the next generation of her family. Wynona decided to take action by 
revealing the family secret so that her family could no longer deny 
that abuse existed, and volunteered as the victim's advocate for the 
child who had been sexually abused. Her experience led her to her 
current career after realizing how traumatizing and confusing the legal 
system can be for victims and their families.
  After she turned 40, Wynona entered the Adult Degree Program at 
Vermont College of Norwich University. She and Harold continued to run 
their trucking business, and as they crossed the U.S., she completed 
her B.A. on a laptop in the living compartment of their truck. She then 
entered Vermont Law School, and in April 2000, she passed the bar and 
was sworn in as a licensed Vermont Attorney.
  Drawing on her personal experience as a survivor of childhood 
domestic abuse, Wynona created a new way to bridge the legal, 
geographical, psychological, cultural and economic gaps that exist for 
battered women and their children. She came up with the concept of Have 
Justice--Will Travel from the knowledge that battered rural women 
living in isolation often lack education or job skills and access to 
telephones and transportation. They need comprehensive assistance in 
achieving self-reliance and independence. HJWT serves about 50 clients 
a year, and offers assistance to several hundred more women not only in 
Vermont but those in rural areas throughout the United States.
  ``Have Justice--Will Travel'' has been successful in serving women 
and children throughout the State of Vermont. It is a shining example 
for grassroots domestic violence assistance on a national level. I have 
met this extraordinary woman many times, and I never fail to be 
inspired and humbled by her dramatic personal story and her venture 
into a non-traditional career. I salute Wynona Ward today as a true 
champion.

                          ____________________