Mary is an enigma. As a domestic violence group leader she extols her lofty personal goal of ridding the world of violence, yet what she seems to believe is that it is only the men who must be civilized, while women may be allowed wide latitude in terms of their behavior: baiting, taunting,and antagonizing men is permissible for women, who are small and defenseless, and responsibility of maintaining domestic tranquility is on the men, because men are big and violent.

If you don t believe me then ask her to relate her story about how she provoked a cop to near violence in a bar one night, as an arrogant experiment in this regard... and ask her about her own conclusions with respect to that incident. It was her telling of this tale that soured me, & soon afterward I was asked to leave the group.

I was not in her group for domestic violence issues, by the way, so in that regard I had a unique vantage. That includes being able to appreciate the irony of having her co-leader and husband Larry hit me in the back of the head with the door as I was leaving that night, since several of the violent offenders in there were there for less. Finally, in the wake of that event, I believe that Mary caused trouble for me in my workplace, in an effort to drive me out of town. With her having apparently succeeded at that, I was devastated: really psychologically damaged, for a long time. Nice work for a mental health practitioner, huh?