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| Mid-Missouri Fellowship of
Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) is a group composed of people from many faiths, and no particular faith -- all coming together to support nonviolence and justice. Offering people of conscience an action response to a morally-impaired U.S. foreign policy. |
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A Report on the Injustice in the Application of the Death Penalty in Missouri (1978-1996)(Microsoft Word document) News
Common Dreams Background Iraq Crisis Issue Guide by Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies U.S. History with Iraq, 1980 - 2 August 1990 Commentary Common Dreams News Center April 12, 2003 April 8, 2003 March 30, 2003 March 29, 2003 March 25, 2003 March 24, 2003 U.S. steps up secret surveillance March 23, 2003 March 22, 2003 March 20, 2003 |
Local News and Announcements... Don't miss anything...please scroll downPastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba Coming to Columbia July 13Donations of Material Aid & Cash NeededPastors for Peace continues their caravan of humanitarian aide from the people of this country to the Cuban people this July. The Friendshipment will be stopping in Columbia on July 13. Join us in welcoming these ambassadors of good will, beginning that evening, Wednesday, 13 July anytime from 6:00-9:00 in the Fellowship Hall of First Christian Church, located at 101 N. 10th St. in downtown Columbia. There will be live music, a potluck dinner beginning at 6:15 and a program with speakers from the Pastors caravan making a presentation on Cuba and the humanitarian project. Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization(IFCO). For more information on this the 16th Friendshipment to Cuba or for more about the group's work log onto http://www.ifconews.org/Cuba/caravan16/main.htm For more than four decades, the U.S. government has immorally continued sanctions against the people of Cuba. Pastors for Peace provides mid-Missourians and citizens throughout this country a concrete opportunity to assist the Cuban people. Organizers are seeking donations of money, educational supplies, antibiotics, vitamins, medical supplies, construction supplies and tools, new childrens' shoes plus alternative energy equipment (Check the the Pastors For Peace website [pdf] for a full listing in English and Spanish). Checks can be written out to “IFCO” and earmarked “Pastors for Peace,” then sent to FOR, P.O. Box 268, Columbia MO 65205 (We will pass on whatever we collect, either mailing it ahead or passing it along at the July event. Call 449-4585 for more information, locally. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:  
Just a Moment…for Stanley L. HallIt can happen in less than a minute. Something that can change the life of so many people. Sometimes it can be good; most times it’s not. What a person does with a negative change has to come from deep within that person. Those changes are what defined the man Stanley Lamont Hall became. He entered the world too early and left it too early. Being born premature effected Stan’s ability to learn. School AND his classmates were difficult to deal with. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
Award-winning documentary “Picture This: A Fight to Save Joe"We wanted to remind you that the award-winning documentary “Picture This: A Fight to Save Joe,” about the legal battle to stop the execution of Joe Amrine, will be screened at the Ragtag Cinemacafé in Columbia on Wednesday, May 25 at 7 p.m. There will be a $12 cover for the event with proceeds going to help with Joe’s living expenses. John McHale, director of the documentary, and Joe Amrine will be in attendance at the screening. Danny Glover provided narration for the documentary.The documentary, is a follow-up to “Unreasonable Doubt,” which was a catalytic factor in the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision to re-consider Joe Amrine’s death sentence, vindicate him, and help set him free in 2003. “Picture This” draws viewers into the public fight to stop the execution of Joe Amrine, a Missouri man who was on death row for 17 years, despite there being neither witnesses nor evidence against him. This documentary reveals the empowering potential of video and the truth. In addition to the Columbia showing, “Picture This” has been shown at a United Nations Human Rights Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the annual meeting of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in New York City, and the National Communication Association Convention in Kansas City. The May 25 Columbia screening will be co-sponsored by the Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation. Proceeds will support Joe through the Public Interest Litigation Clinic, which defended him in his appeals and is his current employer. “It’s exciting to be showing the documentary in Columbia from where Joe received so much support from his legal team and supporters,” said McHale, an Assistant Professor of Communication at Illinois State University. Joe Amrine’s case reminds us that mistakes are made in our judicial system and highlights the need for a moratorium on executions with a thorough study of the death penalty. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
Columbia businesses calling for an execution moratoriumPlease Patronize the following Columbia businesses which have endorsed a resolution calling for a study commission and execution moratorium in Missouri. (So far more than 50 local entities-- houses of worship and organizations, in addition to the businesses-- have endorsed the public policy and signed a resolution). Below, you will also find contact information and in some cases the website for the business when we could find one, so you can determine their hours of operation and other particulars. Please thank the owners/workers for their business's support of this reasonable public policy and do reward the locally-owned businesses for their progressive and wise stand on this matter, with your consumer dollars, whether you live here or when you visit Columbia Urge other businesses not on this list, which you patronize-- to endorse a resolution calling for a study commission and moratorium on executions. Contact 573-449-4585 for more details to join and/or support the campaign. Thank you in advance for being a conscientious consumer and for joining the effort to help create a more just and fair society. -- The Mid-MO FOR is the local coordinating group for the statewide moratorium campaign
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Executions remain a monstrous thing, and I feel guiltyBy Sylvester Brown Jr.Of the Post-Dispatch 04/28/2005 I killed a man Tuesday night. It's not easy accepting responsibility for taking a life, but I do. When Gov. Matt Blunt decided Tuesday to let the scheduled execution of convicted murderer Donald Jones move forward, he did so with Missourians in mind, he said. "We have capital punishment in our state because we believe some crimes are so horrific and so terrible that the only reasonable penalty, the penalty that fits the crime, is indeed the death penalty," Blunt told reporters Tuesday. "And we will apply the death penalty this evening." [more...] 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
Vernon Brown’s wait draws criticismST. LOUIS (AP) - Death-penalty opponents objected to an inmate’s three hours strapped to a gurney before his execution, saying the wait adds grist to their claims that death by injection is inhumane. [more...] 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
State kills another human beingVernon Brown executed early Wednesday morning. [more...] 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
Protest and Halt Tuesday Execution of Vernon BrownVernon Brown is scheduled to be executed at the Bonne Terre prison in southern Missouri, late Tuesday night, a few minutes after midnight, officially on May 18. He is a man who's mentally-ill and one who has proven himself to truly be a danger to society, receiving death sentences for two horrific murders. In 1986, he kidnapped Janet Perkins, a nine-year-old girl, whom he had tied up and strangled. He also received a death sentence for the 1985 murder of Synetta Ford. Despite the vile offenses he committed, he remains a human being with an intrinsic right to life-- not a right to freedom, but a human right to continue living and breathing. The state of Missouri and its minions have no moral right, despite a legislated “legal right” to kill. We mourn with the loved ones of the two, the child and the woman who were murdered by Mr. Brown. It is impossible for us to fully understand the depth of their emotional suffering over their profound losses. We sadly also realize that killing Vernon Brown will obviously not restore life to the dead. It will however increase the number of human beings killed in our society and the number of humans mourning the violent death of a loved one. Please take a stand for life. What You Can Do: *Contact Gov. Matt Blunt on Monday or Tuesday. Urge him to commute Vernon Brown's death sentence, thus showing a reverence for life--end the killing. Write: Gov. Blunt, and fax him a letter at: 573-751-1495; Phone 573-751-3222 E-Mail: It's best to write, call or fax but if you can't, send a note via mogov@mail.state.mo.us. Please note: FOR's coordinator and a few other volunteers did a count of all correspondence to Gov. Blunt in regards to the last two executions. We found just 43 personalized letters from Missouri residents (a pretty, pitifully small number from my perspective) opposing the execution of Stanley Hall. Just 57 people wrote to protest the state killing of Donald Jones. Perhaps the numbers reflect the lack of faith we understandably have in Gov. Blunt to do the right thing. It’s also worth noting that just one person (a different person each time) wrote to his office urging the governor wrote to him asking him to allow the executions to take place. I am also assuming his workers aren't holding back nor destroying letters. Some people insist they wrote letters (which we did not find). Please do write to the governor and let us know you wrote a letter. Send a copy via e-mail to us if you want as well at jstack@no2death.org. Jeff *Join Vigils for Life Tuesday 17 May 5:00- 6:00 p.m. Boone County Courthouse, Columbia 6:30 p.m. Newman Center, 701 Maryland,Columbia 11:00 p.m.-Midnight State Capitol, High St., Jeff City Elsewhere around state, log onto www.moabolition.org Other Issues worth considering….. * Inadequate legal representation. In the trial for the murder of the little girl, for which he is to be executed, trial counsel did not call a single witness or introduce a single exhibit in the penalty phase. There was much that such an investigation could have revealed. In childhood he was abused by his grandfather and may have been his grandfather’s son, through incest. * His childhood was marked by poor school performance, abuse at home, and a head injury; since then he often fell into trance-like states which he did not remember and in which he was not responsible for his actions. No investigation of possible brain damage was carried out. Also, he had become a chronic user of PCP. He was purportedly under the influence of PCP, which has anesthetic properties (according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) PCP and can induce “a profound departure from reality, which leaves the user capable of bizarre behavior and severe disorientation.” While this would excuse him his violent behavior, it could help explain why he may have done what he did. * Others would mourn his death, including his brother Quin Turner, who while serving in Desert Storm, wrote a strong letter of mitigation for him, revealing another side to his brother, one of warmth and love. However, the trial judge in the trial for the murder of Synetta Ford kept it out of the court records. In addition to the information Quin Turner provides about Brown’s childhood, he reveals the grief he will feel if he loses his brother. He wrote his letter to the court while deployed to Saudi Arabia in “Operation Desert Shield,” as a platoon sergeant in the Army's Headquarters and Light Maintenance Company, 801st Maintenance Battalion with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). “All I know right at this moment is that I must help fight two battles, the one over here, the one over there, my brother's life.... (T)he natural love that two brother might share, my brother has shared with me throughout our lives, (and) truly let's me know that I have been blessed. “I remember the times of being chased home by the bigger boys at school that is until I reached the railroad track where there stood Vernon. He not only stood there to protect me, but my friends as well....through him I learned to stand on my own two feet.” Mr. Brown's brother continued, explaining that the U.S. military's justification for launching the 1991 war on Iraq, theoretically in defense of Kuwait: “Now, here I am with a whole lot of others doing exactly for the people here what he has done for myself and others. “My brother's life means a hell of a lot to me, as well as others that may not show it outright...Please, let God's law (and not a human-imposed 'death sentence') decide his fate-- he has too much good in him to let go of (him). If my brother is guilty, which to me is very hard to believe, then by all means protect the lives of others, yet protect (Vernon) from those that can do more harm than good.” Sadly, we must count state officials among those bent on doing harm to Vernon Brown. Call 573-449-4585 for more information. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
Jamming for Justice Concert proceeds will benefit the legal defense of Danny Wolfe, a man most certainly wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, who's awaiting a new trial after the Missouri Supreme Court overturned his conviction and death sentence two years ago. Admission is a $5 suggested donation-- more would be welcome. Here’s a line-up of the talented bands that have graciously agreed to perform (please note: Uncle Charlotte and the Swamp Rabbits had to back out just the other day due to a family issue that will be taking one of the band members out of state. In their place, the equally entertaining and skilled Bait Shop Boys, kindly agreed to play):
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High court overturned double-murder ruling (2 YEARS ago!)--Danny Wolfe is still waiting for the court-ordered new trial--no trial date has yet been set as of April 2005. Please write letters of support: Danny Wolfe D-9, Platte County Detention Center, 415 3rd St. Suite 10, Platte City MO 64079). Donate to “Danny Wolfe Legal Fund” & mail to Dale & Sherry Rusch, P.O.Box 10971, Springfield MO 65808. Call Jeff at 573-449-4585 for more info. Published Wednesday, February 12, 2003 by the Columbia Daily Tribune JEFFERSON CITY (AP) - The Missouri Supreme Court yesterday overturned the convictions of a man sentenced to death for a double murder near the Lake of the Ozarks, ruling his attorneys failed to pursue evidence casting doubt on his guilt. 0 Comments (perma-link) Email this:
April 2005 International Peace and Justice NewsHeadlines
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| Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation |
P.O. Box 268 Columbia, Missouri 65205 |
| Questions about the Fellowship of Reconciliation? -- contact Jeff Stack at
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