wave | ABOLITION NOW!
Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
P.O. Box 3092 Louisville Kentucky 40201-3092
(502) 585-2895 email: kcadp@earthlink.net website: www.kcadp.org
inside THs issu"! Darish members donate $2,000
| it man visits Louisvill 2
ACRE MELEE nue On Sunday, April 13, Father Dick Sullivan and very generous parishioners of St.
National Conference in October | 2 James Catholic Church in Elizabethtown raised nearly $2,000 for KCADP.
Despite a gorgeous spring evening, members came together over pasta and
Se Helen Frejeon In Boree 31 salad, to hear Sister Chris Beckett describe her experiences while ministering to the
Carl Wedekind visits Hopkinsville | 3 | men on Death Row at Eddyville State Penitentiary, and to write checks to KCADP.
- Sister Chris, speaking quietly but forcefully, had the rapt attention of her audi-
NCCI-Bluegrass Honors Mitchell | 4 | ence as she spoke of the men who call her “Sis” and would ask her to “walk with
them” as they told her about their fears, often asking for her help in finding peace in the terrible confinement of
the Death Row cell house.
In particular, she talked about Kevin Stanford, who was 17-years-old when he was arrested for the crimes for
which he was convicted. Kevin now has a new grandchild to give him hope as he lives each day, all his court ap-
peals exhausted, hoping Governor Paul Patton will commute his sentence before he leaves office. Sister Chris
talked about Kevin's long struggle to understand what he did and how to live with it.
KCADP continues to circulate a petition asking Governor Patton to commute Kevin's death sentence and used
this occasion to gather additional signatures. KCADP also urges everyone to write the Governor and ask him to
commute Kevin's death sentence.
Following Sister Chris, Father Dick spoke eloquently about his loss of a friend on Death Row last fall. Frank
Tamme finally died of the hepatitis he contracted while serving his country in Vietnam. Father Dick, who had
known Frank when they were children, had worked personally to try to prove his innocence.
It was an evening of powerful information and emotion.
KCADP needs more such events
a a
As the pie-chart shows, KCADP hopes to raise another $30,000 this
year to pay for ever-increasing campaign activities. With the 2002 year-
end balance and the income from donations during the first four months
of 2003, we are well on our way to raising the $75,000 we need.
Sister Chris has offered her services for more fundraisers like the one
Father Dick organized at St. James. But, we need your help in convincing
the leadership of your faith congregation or civic organization to invite
her and other KCADP volunteers to visit, speak, and ask for money.
KCADP staff will help you organize the actual event. Please call us Balance Needed
about the possibility of hosting an event even if you are not sure a plan $30,655
will actually develop.
Of course, individual gifts are important. We are grateful to members
who gave their generous checks and stock these past four months. Your
commitment to abolition will bring an end to the death penalty.
Page 2
May 2003
18 years on death row, but not bitter
Juan Melendez, a friendly, gentle man, spent well
over an hour telling his Good Friday audience what it
was like to spend 18 years on Florida’s Death Row for a
killing he did not commit.
Sponsored by KCADP, Floridians for
Alternatives to the Death Penalty and
Spalding University in Louisville,
Melendez appeared in the Lectorium of
the University’s Egan Center.
Dr. Phil Schervish, Dean of the
School of Social Work, welcomed
Melendez and Abe Bonowitz, Director of
the Floridians for Alternatives to the
Death penalty. Bonowitz, Melendez and
Abe’s dog “Governor” had been on a
multi-state tour giving presentations.
Melendez described how, at the age
of 33, as a migrant fruit-picker who
spoke almost no English, he had been
picked up by the FBI in Georgia. In the
space of only a few weeks, he found
himself accused, tried, convicted, sen-
tenced, and locked-up on Florida’s death
row. Two days after his arrival, another
death row inmate was executed.
“| thought they would be coming for
me any time. | tore up the sheets to tie
the door to the bars. | did push-ups. | was
not going to go without a fight. | did not know this sys-
tem.”
After guards explained that it would be many years
before his time might come, Melendez learned English
and began to adjust. He said he lived on dreams of his
mother and the beaches near her home in Puerto Rico
(though born in Brooklyn, he grew up on the island), and
pictures of his children and nieces and nephews.
Juan Melendez
Melendez pleaded with his listeners to understand
that even the “worst of the worst, child-killers” whom he
met in prison, had been badly damaged as children
themselves, and while they should never be set free,
neither should they be put to death.
Finally, after a police informant’s
confession came to light in 1999, a
confession prosecutors knew about be-
fore they took Melendez to trial,
Melendez was freed. On that day, Janu-
ary 3, 2002, Melendez said he knew he
was being taken out, but not why. When
the guards came for him he expected
the usual procedure of strip-search and
handcuffing, but that didn’t happen.
When reporters asked him what it was
like being free, he told them he just
wanted to look at the sky and smell the
grass.
The state of Florida neither apolo-
gized nor admitted wrongdoing in the
Melendez case, and gave him what it
gives every prisoner who leaves prison,
$100.
Melendez suffers from arthritis pain
in his wrists and arms from the years of
walking the prison yard in handcuffs,
and his stomach still has trouble accepting
non-prison food. Still he exhibited no trace of bitterness.
He said he found peace through forgiveness while he
was in prison. His goal now is to do what he can to bring
an end to the death penalty in the United States.
He lives with his mother in Puerto Rico and spends
much of his time giving presentations like the one at
Spalding University.
Photo: Abe Bonowitz
NATIONAL COALITION TO
ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
OCTOBER 16— 19
EARLY REGISTRATION
SPECIAL
The NCADP national conference is only a short drive
to Nashville this year and already several Kentuckians
are planning to be there.
If you register before September 12, you can save
$30. Register now for $110 and you get the whole con-
ference and a dinner ticket to the special awards din-
ner that honors the Abolitionist of the Year.
The meeting takes place at the Sheraton Nashville
Downtown Hotel, 623 Union Street: 615-259-2000.
Each room costs $115 nightly and sleep 1—4 persons.
To register early, view the preliminary schedule and
book a room, visit www.ncadp.org. See you there!
May 2003
Page 3
Violence against Earth and people linked at conference
In 1995, 20 years after writing about powerlessness
in Appalachia, the Catholic Bishops of this region issued
another pastoral message, this time about creating a
sustainable community in Appalachia.
They decry the fact that a new economic system ap-
pears to be trying to turn Appalachia “into a social and
natural dumping ground, exploited in a post-industrial
way which threatens
the very web of life.”
The reference is
to the reliance on
housing out-of-state
prisoners and the
dumping of out-of-
state waste as a
||means of generating
| |jobs and revenue.
To explore how a
people of faith might
foster a sustainable
community, the
Catholic Committee
of Appalachia in con-
juntion with Berea College presented a two-day discus-
sion led by Sr. Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walk-
ing, and Sr. Marya Grathwohl, a specialist in Creation
Spirituality. They titled it, “Receding Violence...
Brat Sr Cre Beka SOW
Sr. Helen Prejean, CS]
and Sr. Marya Grathwohl, OSF
Reseeding the Earth. It took place on the Berea College
Campus over the last weekend of April.
On Friday evening, Sr. Helen reviewed her journey
from acceptance of the death penalty as a suitable pun-
ishment for those who kill to her realization that it is a
punishment that must be completely abandoned so
much does it violate the way we are called to live and
treat one another. She urged her listeners to use mod-
ern technology, from the internet to the arts, theatre,
movies, books, etc., to bring this message to those who
are not yet singing with the choir.
The conversation continued on Saturday with Sr.
Marya leading participants through a meditative reflec-
tion on the connection between human life and the
natural world, the threads that form a web of life.
Violence against the Earth- mountaintop removal,
for example - damages the relationship for those who
must live with its results - frequent flooding.
She asked a question that bears exploration. What
social effects are there upon a community when the
majority of its members now work in a prison?
No one left with easy answers to difficult questions,
but all could see that violence against persons and vio-
lence against the Earth share in the destruction of the
web of life described in the pastoral letter. This insight
opens the door wider for persons to work together who
might otherwise have been reluctant to do so.
Wedekind takes Abolition Now! message to Hopkinsville
The Foston Chapel Baptist Church in Hopkinsville
welcomed KCADP'’s Abolition New! director Carl Wedekind
and campaign coordinator Mary McCarthy with wide-
open arms on Sunday, April 27.
The Rev. John Banks invited Carl to his pulpit to
speak about KCADP’s mission in Kentucky. Carl talked
about how we are working in the legislature and around
the commonwealth against the death penalty and the
philosophy of revenge and violence it perpetuates.
Also in attendance were Mrs. Ethel Bussell, mother of
Charles Wayne Bussell who is on Kentucky's Death Row,
and Bussell’s attorney, Susan Martin of the Department
of Public Advocacy. Martin is in the process of trying to
win another trial for her client. Bussell, who is African-
American, was convicted on circumstantial evidence by
an all-white jury in the killing of a Christian County white
woman. He was sent to Death Row in December, 1991.
At Rev. Banks’ request, some 50 members of his
congregation signed the petition asking Governor Paul
Patton to commute the death sentence of Kevin Stan-
ford. Banks, who is also president of the Hopkinsville-
Christian County Chapter of the NAACP, has a strong in-
terest in justice issues. Last December, he was involved
in the organization of a rally of more than 500 people in
Hopkinsville who showed their support for 20-year old
Demond Brown, who was convicted by an all-white jury
on two counts of murder in connection with a local traf-
fic accident.
In addition to signing the Stanford petition, KCADP’s
new friends promised to make more copies and get
more signatures, as well as distribute our brochure
around town.
After the service, Carl and Mary met with Rev. Banks
and with Roberta Galli, a long-time KCADP member and
activist. They will be helping us build on the friendships
made that Sunday in Hopkinsville.
Speakers are available to visit your community to dis-
cuss the death penalty. Call Mary McCarthy or Kaye Gal-
lagher for more information or to set a date for a visit.
Richard Mitchell Honored by NCCJ
The National Conference for Community and
Justice—Bluegrass selected KCADP Board Mem-
ber Richard Mitchell to honor at the 53rd An-
nual Lauren K. Weinberg Humanitarian Awards
Dinner.
The award, presented on May 6, was given
to Mitchell as a champion of tolerance, peace
and justice. An announcement about the award
describes him as one who “quietly and indefati-
gably works behind the scenes performing es-
sential roles as communicator, facilitator, and
by leading with his actions. An active leader in
the Central Kentucky Council for Peace and Jus-
tice, The Humanitarian, the Living Wage Cam-
paign and other progressive groups makes
Richard Mitchell a humanitarian model for our
community.”
Congratulations, Richard. We applaud your
hard work on behalf of others.
Kentucky Coalition
to Abolish the Death Penalty
P.O. Box 3092 U.S. Postage
Louisville, Kentucky 40201-3092 PAID
Louisville, KY
it www.kcadp.org
Non-Profit Org.
Permit No. 110
Please check your mailing label and, If there is no date, or if
there is a date prior to 05/31/03, please help by paying dues:
$15 for individuals; $25 for families; $5 for seniors/students.
Berea Ministerial Association
hosts Roundtable discussion
Over 20 people turned out for a round table discus-
sion on the death penalty hosted by the Berea Ministe-
rial Association on Thursday, May ist. Rev. Ed McCurley
welcomed the group to his First Christian Church along
with Rev. Darren Brandon of Berea United Methodist
Church, Rev. Kent Gilbert of Union Church, Kevin Stamp
of Berea Baptist Church, and Rev. John Curtis of St.
Clare Catholic Church.
After KCADP board member Brian Juzwik-McDonald
gave a history of the death penalty in Kentucky and each
minister offered a brief summary of his denomination's
stand on the death penalty, everyone entered into small
groups for discussion. Afterwards, participants said they
had found the evening stimulating and had heard new
ideas from their friends and neighbors. The Ministerial
Coalition has decided that this roundtable on the death
penalty will be the first of a series of discussions on so-
cial issues as they relate to people of faith.
Please contact Mary McCarthy or Kaye Gallagher if
you want help in organizing a Roundtable discussion in
your community.
Annual Yard Sale in
Lexington
Well it is that time of year again, time for the Central
Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's annual
garage/yard sale fundraiser.
This year's sale will be held on Saturday, May 31
from 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at Roberta Harding's home at
360 Colony Boulevard. in Lexington.
Items can be dropped off Friday evening, May 30 and
on Saturday morning from 7:00 a.m.- 8:00 a.m. It is
helpful if you put a price on the items.
At this point we need the membership to donate
items to be sold at the garage sale. So please keep this
in mind when you do your spring cleaning.
We also need helpers at the garage sale. If you can
work , please email Roberta at: robertam@iglou.com.
KCADP EXPRESSES ITS GRATITUDE TO JUST
CREATIONS FOR SHARING WITH US THEIR PROFITS
FOR THE EVENING OF APRIL 3 .WE ALSO THANK
ALL THE MEMBERS WHO VISITED THE STORE TO
SHOP AND HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR THE COALITION.
Amnesty International Faith tn Action Weekend
Amnesty International USA has scheduled this year’s National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty
for October 10-12. This event invites the diverse range of faith communities throughout the country to devote a
weekend to reflect, discuss, and take action on abolishing the death penalty within a faith-based framework.
To register as a participant or for more information, please contact Kristin Houlé at 202-544-0200 ext. 496 or
visit our website at http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/faithinaction.html.
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