A Close- Up Look At People Who Matter : Aiding Victims of Abuse Is Her Calling

On most Tuesday evenings, JoAnn Horwitz can be found at the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, reading photocopied reports of domestic violence.

She will read a report once, then again, to decide what the victim might need before picking up the phone to make the call.

“I look to see if there are any children,” said Horwitz, a volunteer with the Family Abuse Intervention Resources (FAIR) program of the Sheriff’s Department.

Sometimes the abuser answers the phone. That is when she may just give her first name and ask for the spouse.

“I see how they are feeling,” said Horwitz, who was one of the first volunteers when FAIR started as a pilot project three years ago. “I ask if they are all right and if they need anything, or just to let them know we are there for them.”

Horwitz’s job may be simply to give victims the names and numbers of agencies that can help them or their children, but she does more because of her pleasant way of dealing with people, Lost Hills Sheriff’s Lt. Jim Glazar said.

“She had such a bubbly personality,” Glazar said of his first memories of the Westlake Village resident, now 57. “She’s a very caring individual, extremely empathetic and very energetic.”

Sheriff’s deputies don’t have the resources to follow up on each domestic-violence case, so Horwitz and the two other FAIR volunteers step in. Horwitz is a willing listener to the victims--who may be men or women--as they relate stories of yelling, spitting, hitting and other kinds of abuse.

“I would say that, 90% of the time, the people who I call are so pleased there is a program out there made up of volunteers helping people,” said Horwitz, who then indicates on the arrest report whether deputies need to return to the home.

Horwitz said she understands marital discord. During her 11-year first marriage, she said she and her husband had a lot of anger and miscommunication. At times, she said, “we did not talk to one other.”

But, she said, “in those days--in the ‘60s--how did you tell someone you had marital problems?”

Today Horwitz manages the office for husband Alan Horwitz, a Westlake attorney, to whom she has been married for 12 years. Between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the couple are co-workers. “But when we get home, we don’t have to talk about what went on at the office,” she said.

Horwitz was also recently elected president of the Westlake Village Kiwanis Club. A member for only two years, she impressed the other Kiwanis members as she helped to galvanize the fund-raising efforts of the small, 15-member club, said Ric Ross, the club’s treasurer.

“She has a tremendous amount of energy,” Ross said. “I used to think I had a lot of energy until I met her.”

For much of her life, however, Horwitz said she cared only for herself and her family. But when the youngest of her three sons, Mark, was killed in an accidental shooting at a party eight years ago in Tarzana, her life changed. She said she realized how much she has while so many others need help.

“I had a real void in my life,” she said. “I needed to go out and help other people. I knew he would not have wanted me to sit around and feel sorry for myself. You have to go on with your life, and I did in a big way.”

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