KCADP brought Doug Stern on board in April to work as an organizer among
members of faith communities.
A Louisville native and marketing specialist, Doug has been an
abolitionist for years and has offered many forms of advice for
hammering out our message. He will be traveling to key cities and
towns to meet with individuals and groups to expand our efforts to end
Kentucky's use of the irreversible, arbitrary and unfair death penalty.
His first targets are the hometowns of Senate and House Judiciary
Committee members and the Senate and House majority leaders. These
are the lawmakers who really control all death penalty legislation. If your Doug Stern
State Senator or State Representative is a Judiciary Committee member
(see list), please consider inviting Doug to come and talk with you and others in your
area. If you know someone whom Doug should contact to arrange for meetings,
please get in touch with us by phone or email with names and contact information.
Working part-time, Doug looks forward to organizing people into effective citizen
lobbyists who will bring a message about abolishing the death penalty to their state
legislators.
“One of my skills,” Doug said, “is forming partnerships and alliances, something
churches and synagogues are used to doing.”
He added, “If we’re going to make sure lawmakers hear us and appreciate the
growing doubt in Kentucky and elsewhere about the death penalty, it will take a lot of
voices.
“So, I'll be looking for members of faith communities willing to serve on a
speakers' bureau, willing to approach their faith group leaders, willing to meet with
local legislators, willing to help me understand who and what makes their local
communities tick, and so on.”
Doug also wants to touch base with local media, especially editorial boards of local
newspapers.
Though primary targets for visits are in districts where Senate and House Judiciary
Committee members live, KCADP does not intend to ignore other communities. If you
live outside those districts and you want to invite Doug in to help organize where you
live, please pick that phone up right now and call us. Every community in Kentucky is
important in this effort to abolish the death penalty.
To schedule a visit with Doug, contact KCADP at PO BOX 3092, LOUISVILLE KY
40201-3092; by phone at (502) 636-1330; or email: kcadp@earthlink.net.
Maria Hines, a longtime KCADP supporter and board member. knows firsthand
the crippling effects of murder. Her brother, Jerry Hines, a Virginia State trooper, was
killed by a man whose car he had stopped on suspicion of drunk
driving.
Dennis Eaton, the man who killed Jerry, was convicted and
sentenced to death. As Maria struggled with the loss of her brother,
she came to realize that another man was to be killed, another family
made to suffer.
She also realized that she strongly opposed the death penalty and
tried, unsuccessfully, to obtain clemency for her brother's killer. She
has joined with other victims’ families and formed Kentucky Murder
Victims for Reconciliation.
Maria wants to visit with your faith group to describe her journey to Virginia's
death row. She will need a DVD player to show The Empty Chair, stories about four
families confronting the loss of loved ones.
Maria Hines
As they relive the murders, this 42-minute documentary reveals their instinct for
revenge during trial. The debate for punishment by death climaxes in a search to
forgive and heal.
Featured in the film are:
* Sue Norton who not only forgives the man who murdered her stepparents
but also forges a friendship with him.
« Renny Cushing and his lobbying efforts for victims' rights and against the
death penalty following his father’s shooting death.
* Suse & Peter Lowenstein whose 21-year old son is bombed out of the sky
over Lockerbie, Scotland, and their struggle against terrorism.
* Susan Gove Ramunda, who works tirelessly to keep the death penalty state
law after her daughter is bludgeoned to death.
A native Virginian, Maria came to Kentucky in 1949 to attend Nazareth College.
She received a master’s degree and taught both elementary and high school
students in several Kentucky communities. She has another master’s degree in
counseling psychology and has had an extensive career as counselor for the
Salvation Army and in private practice. She has received special training and has had
extensive practice in grief therapy.
To schedule a visit with Maria and The Empty Chair, contact KCADP at PO BOX
3092, LOUISVILLE KY 40201-3092; by phone at (502) 636-1330; or email:
kcadp@earthlink.net.
Doug Stern
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted