BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

What's it going to take for the public and law enforcement to GET IT!? She tried a court order. She had him arrested. She took all the legal steps she could right up to the day her ex-boyfriend shot her dead in a parking lot. By Megan Twohey and Liam Ford Cindy Bischof thought her breakup with a longtime boyfriend would go smoothly after he agreed to move out of her house. But Michael Giroux quickly turned hostile, writing up a plan to destroy her home and following through with it. Terrified after Giroux, 60, spray-painted every wall and piece of furniture in her Arlington Heights home last spring, the 43-year-old real estate broker moved swiftly to secure a protective order from a Cook County (Illinois) judge that prohibited him from contacting her. When he violated the order on two occasions, including an attempt to hang himself on her patio, she didn't hesitate to press charges that landed him in jail for two months followed by home confinement. To relatives and prosecutors...

DISTURBING SYNCHRONICITY The last couple weeks, one of my children has been in a down-cycle in terms of their self-control and acting out. I've been having many "I love you, but I don't love your behavior" chats. The learning disability in play is making it hard as well as the early onset of puberty, rushing hormones and having a single mother trying to meet all their needs with my precarious health. But I continue to apply as much love and discipline as possible to the situation. That's my job. I sit down and open my news readers and see what's going on in the world. The first thing that comes to mind when I read is the legal definition of (domestic) abuse: Domestic abuse is a pattern of behavior used to establish and maintain power or control over a domestic partner or family member. The behavior may include: acts of violence, intimidation, threats, psychological abuse, isolation, etc. to coerce and control the other person. Once again, my work in help...