[DP-announce] HELP - Big DP event on Tuesday 10/18

[Rich Woodward]

HELP! 

The Journey of Hope is coming to Bryan at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday 
October 18.  This is a really great event because it brings some 
fantastic speakers to town to talk about the death penalty and share 
their very personal experiences with it.  Family members of murder 
victims will share the stage with the family of men on death row.  
This will be a truly inspirational event.  (a complete announcement 
suitable for forwarding is pasted below)  Please share it with 
friends.

Since TCADP is sponsoring, we need help.  We need people to help with 
logistics, set up, take down, working tables after the event, etc. 
etc.  We need volunteers to arrive at 6:30 p.m. at St. Anthony's 
Catholic Church in Bryan (401 S. Parker, 5 blocks west of Texas Ave. 
on 29th street).   

Please send me an e-mail right now  letting me know if you can or cannot help 
out with this event.  

Rich
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Friends, 

No matter what you feel about the death penalty, we can all agree 
that it is an issue that requires thought and consideration and the 
perspectives of those most affected by this institution need to be 
heard.   The families of victims and the families of those being 
executed help us learn about the real personal consequences of the 
death penalty.  

On Tuesday October 18 you have the opportunity to hear those 
perspectives when the Journey of Hope is coming to town.  The Journey 
is a monthlong tour around Texas by nearly 80 persons visiting 
churches, schools, and many other venues talking about the death 
penalty.  What makes the Journey different is that the speakers are 
made up of family members of  death row inmates and family of murder 
victims.  Their message is one of love and forgiveness.   Bios of the 
speakers coming to BCS are presented below.  

Bring friends who are ambivalent about the death penalty, they need to hear this.  

There are 2 open events:
At 5:15 there is a talk in the Rudder Building sponsored by the campus 
organization, Aggies Against the Death Penalty

At 7:00 there is a community event at St. Anthony's Catholic Church , which is 
located 5 blocks west of Texas Ave. on 29th Street in Bryan.  That event is 
being sponsored by St. Anthony's Catholic Church, The Unitarian Universalist 
Church, Friends Congregational Church and the Brazos Valley chapter of the 
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.



Bios 
TAMU, 5:15 in Rudder Tower

In 1985 George W. White and his wife were shot by an armed robber at his 
place of business in Alabama. Sixteen months later, George was charged with 
murdering his wife.  Following a capital murder trial, George was convicted 
and sentenced to life in prison.  His conviction was overturned in 1989 and 
he was released from prison, but George remained in legal limbo until 1992, 
when proof of his innocence was finally brought forward. The White family 
rejects the death penalty as a solution or way of healing and George is now 
a full time speaker and lecturer on the topic, who lives in Florida.


©Christina Lawson  has suffered the loss of her father and her husband.  Her 
father was murdered when she was a child and her husband, David Martinez, 
was executed this past summer, July 28, 2005.  She has witnessed the pain 
from both sides: the loss of her father, the anger and hate felt towards his 
killer, the loss of her husband, the sorrow for his victim’s family and 
loved ones, the loss of a Daddy for their child.  She has realized through 
her pain, “The death penalty does not bring anyone back, it does not heal 
anyone... it brings back the pain of losing a loved one and destroys another 
innocent family.  Murder creates victims; it doesn't matter if it is a 
person or a state doing it. It causes the same loss and pain.”

©Tracy Spirko’s husband John Spirko is on Ohio's Death Row with an Execution 
Date of November 15th. Her story starts with her best friend being murdered 
in 1982.  As part of the grieving process all she wanted was the person or 
persons who did that to die.  At some point she began visiting a friend in 
Ohio's Prison System, and had a long hard look into her heart and realized 
that the Death Penalty is WRONG. Tracy has had pen pals in Prison since the 
age of 15, “I heard back from John who told me that it might make me mad, 
but he said, I'm Innocent!!! I thought to myself Yeah, you and everyone else 
on Death Row! I looked into his case and realized he really was INNOCENT!! “ 
   John just received a temporary reprieve and ordered a new full parole 
board hearing for executive clemency on Nov 11th.

©Mike Kennedy is a free lance peace activist from Dallas, Texas.  Mike has 
been on every annual Journey event since the organization was founded.  Mike 
participated on the Pilgrimage and TASK Marches and has attended at least 9 
fast and vigils in front of the United States Supreme Court, even in spite 
of his degenerative cerebellum condition.


St. Anthony's 7:00 p.m.
©Felicia Draughon’s summer between her Junior and Senior year of High 
School, was spent  in Houston at her brother's capital murder trial. Until 
that moment she wasn't really even aware that the death penalty existed. It 
seemed so archaic and silly. Her brother was sentenced to death on a gloomy, 
rainy day that summer in July 1987. Sso her journey began in order to try 
and make sense of the Capital Punishment Machine. “Like so many people on 
the Journey of Hope I didn't choose to become an anti-death penalty 
activist, it chose me. I certainly didn't choose to have a brother on death 
row...but it is because I have a brother on death row that I have had to 
ponder this issue every single day of my life and learn how tragic, unfair 
and arbitrary it is,”  Felicia became involved in the Journey of Hope in 
1998 in Texas and that is where she found a support group and her voice.

©Eloise Williams has suffered through the loss of three loved ones to 
murder.  Her son was killed in 1983, her sister in 1991, and her grandson in 
1994.  She says, “God has chosen me to give love, not seek vengeance and the 
death penalty.”  Eloise lived in New Orleans and has participated in several 
Journeys of Hope.  She has become a victim of hurricane Katrina and 
relocated to Beaumont, TX for now.

Abe Bonowitz is the Director of Citizens United for Alternatives to the 
Death Penalty.  Abe is also a member of the national board of directors of 
the Journey of Hope
From Violence to Healing. Abe has been working to 
educate the public about the need for death penalty alternatives for over 15 
years.  He only came to this position after arguing for many years to 
disprove the facts presented by death penalty opponents.  Abe changed his 
position after conducting extensive research on the issue by studying the 
academic and statistical research available from the government, scholars 
and various non-governmental organizations. Abe has worked in the death 
penalty section of the Ohio Defender commission, with murder victims’ family 
members, and with death row inmates.



--
Richard Woodward
www:  http://TCADP-BV.org  
e-mail:   r-woodward at TCADP-BV.org