Facing your attacker Facing your attacker (October 22, 2004)

'Oprah' show highlighting Pleasanton woman airs Monday
by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

The Oprah Winfrey Show will present "Coming Face to Face with your Attacker" on Monday, highlighting Pleasanton resident Sue Solis.

The Pleasanton Weekly told the story of Solis last November and her ordeal to cope after being shot in 1986 by a hired hit man, Dale Jones. She eventually came face to face with Jones in a program called Restorative Justice, being implemented by the San Francisco County Sheriff's Department and program coordinator Detective George Jurand.

"It's all about healing and forgiveness," said Solis, who found that by facing her attacker she was able to forgive him and begin to heal.

Jurand and program administrator Sunny Schwartz were in the audience for the Oprah filming in April, as was Solis' son Jacob, as well as hit man Jones and his wife.

Eight people from the San Francisco County Sheriff's Department also went to Washington, D.C., recently to receive a $100,000 Innovations in American Government Award for their Resolve to Stop the Violence Project.

Solis and her son spoke in July to a group of inmates at San Quentin who are serving life sentences. "All these men killed somebody," she said. "Some of them couldn't believe I could come to a place for forgiveness and it gave them hope that someone could forgive for such a horrendous crime."

The Oprah Winfrey Show will air at 4 p.m., Monday, Oct. 27, on Channel 7. That night at 7 p.m., the Oxygen Station will air the subject on Oprah After the Show, locally on Channel 73.

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