[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 18957]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         IT'S TIME TO TALK DAY

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I would like to call my colleagues' 
attention to the efforts of Liz Claiborne, Inc., and Redbook to 
designate September 21, 2006, It's Time to Talk Day. What they want us 
and the Nation to talk about is domestic and dating violence, and they 
have partnered to encourage national dialog on the subject of this 
pervasive and terrible crime.
  We are not the only ones talking about it: talk radio, government 
officials, domestic violence advocates, businesses, and schools across 
the Nation are taking time today to focus on the issue that will affect 
nearly one- third of all women in their lifetime and many men. Bringing 
the crime of domestic and dating violence to the level of a simple 
conversation can start a chain reaction that will save a relationship 
and may, very well, save a life.
  Some of you may know that I am especially concerned about teen dating 
violence, a crime that exists in every community regardless of race, 
socioeconomics, rural or urban. A young Idaho woman in an abusive 
dating relationship died 6 years ago. Since that time, I have pushed to 
include dating violence as a definition of domestic violence under 
Federal law. My efforts would be fruitless without the help of citizens 
and organizations nationwide. Liz Claiborne, Inc. is one of the 
organizations that has taken a leadership role in educating teens about 
teen dating violence through its ``Love is Not Abuse'' curriculum 
designed for 9th or 10th graders. I have been pleased to support those 
efforts to promote this curriculum throughout the country this past 
spring.
  I commend the company not only on this endeavor but its newest effort 
to partner with the National Domestic Violence Hotline and create the 
first-ever National Teen Dating Violence Hotline. The hotline will be 
operated by the National Domestic Violence Hotline and will focus on 
teens and young adults up to the age of 24. Although there are national 
hotlines for adults, teens have special needs and require a different 
approach to dealing with their issues and privacy concerns.
  Time to Talk Day should not be the only day to talk about how we can 
prevent domestic and dating violence. We must work hard to educate our 
children how to live in healthy relationships to prevent the cycle of 
violence from being repeated in the future.

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