Parents Hope "Tina's Law" Reduces Dating Violence

Jim and Elsa Croucher’s daughter, Tina, was 18 years old when she was killed by her boyfriend in 1992. House Bill 19 was signed into law by Gov. Ted Strickland on Monday, Dec. 28. It will create dating violence curriculum and prevention policy for 7th- to 12th-graders across the state.

The subject matter will be taught for one to three weeks each year as part of Ohio curricula for health classes.



For four years, Jim and Elsa Croucher, of Monroe, pulled the blinds shut, turned off the lights, and mourned the loss of their 18-year-old daughter, Tina, who was slain by her abusive ex-boyfriend on Dec. 22, 1992. He then turned the gun on himself.

“It was tough, tough,” Elsa Croucher said.

“A bad time,” Jim Croucher said.

Eventually, unable to work, they retired early — Elsa from the Middletown City School District and Jim from the state of Ohio.

“We were severly depressed,” he said.

But the Crouchers kept remembering the words Tina’s girlfriends whispered to them during her visitation — “We should have told you something was wrong.”

Jim and Elsa Croucher say their daughter’s boyfriend was a “bit different,” but they never suspected domestic violence. Tina blamed each bruise, each scratch on a freak accident.

It’s estimated that some form of violence affects one out of every three teen relationships — with parents often kept in the dark.

Finally, after Tina called off the relationship for what she hoped was the final time, the Crouchers said her boyfriend went “off the edge.”

In 1996, the Crouchers established Citizens Against Domestic Violence, a nonprofit organization that educates teens about the dangers of domestic violence.

Elsa called the signing of the bill “a wonderful, wonderful day.”

She said the bill should “enhance tremendously” their crusade to reduce teen violence. They will perform teacher in-services and continue speaking in schools.

“This means we won’t have to do it all now,” Elsa said. “It’s a relief in that sense.”

What would Tina think?

“She’s up in heaven saying, ‘Go, go, go.’ She’d be proud that we turned a tragedy into a positive,” her father said.


http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/parents-hope-tinas-law-reduces-dating-violence-469778.html