The Catholic News & Herald 1
October 19, 2001
October 19 , 2001 Volume 11 t Number 6
Inside
S e r v i n g C a t h o l i c s in Western North Carolina in the Diocese of Charlotte
All Saints School becomes ‘Wild
Statue finds final home in Mount Holly
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Swannanoa parish celebrates 65 years
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Local News Permanent deacons gather for annual retreat
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Life Chain links prayers for end to abortion
Photos by Jimmy Rostar
Jim Fowler, executive director of Mutual of Omaha’s Wildlife Heritage Center and host of “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” and Leno, a four-month-old Bengal tiger, were among special guests at All Saints School in Charlotte Oct. 12 for an educational presentation on wild animals. Fowler, a naturalist, zoologist and geologist who has made numerous television and movie appearances, is also seen regularly on “Animal Encounters with Jim Fowler” on the Animal Planet cable channel and on NBC’s “Today Show,” where he and his animal friends appear every two weeks. Above, All Saints Principal Betsy DesNoyer and firstgrader Anna Dettmer present Fowler with an All Saints shirt.
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Every Week Entertainment ...Pages 10-11
Editorials & Columns ...Pages 12-13
“ ... everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” — Luke 18: 14
Death penalty opponents take journey of hope By JOANITA M. NELLENBACH Correspondent MAGGIE VALLEY — Robert “Renny” Cushing Jr. stood before the small group assembled in St. Margaret Church Oct. 6 and talked about hope, but not the kind of hope someone had tried to give him in 1988. Cushing told the group that, “A man came to me after my father was murdered and said, ‘I hope they fry those people. I hope they fry them so you and your family can get some peace.’ I know that man meant to comfort me, but it was the most horrible thing he could possibly have said.”
The hope that Cushing, executive director of Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation, advocates is the hope that the death penalty will be abolished. About 20 members of the group are speaking throughout North Carolina Oct. 6-23 in a program called “Journey of Hope,” which is sponsored by North Carolina People of Faith Against the Death Penalty. Other Journey of Hope events within the Diocese of Charlotte were scheduled for Asheville, Charlotte and the Triad. Cushing might well be expected to strongly advocate the death penalty. “I came to speak to you because in 1988 Robert and Marie Cushing planted
a garden,” he said. “They were celebrating the birth of their new grandchild — my daughter. That evening as my mother sat on the couch watching the Boston Celtics playoff game, the doorbell rang. My father opened the door and was greeted by two shotgun blasts that turned his chest into hamburger and killed him in front of my mother’s eyes.” Robert McLaughlin Sr., the man who killed Cushing’s father, was a police officer. He took a sawed-off shotgun from the police evidence locker and, with his wife standing lookout, shot Cushing’s
See JOURNEY, page 14