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ECU coach reacts to heckling fans
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Left: Sister Helen Prejean speaks against the death penalty in Constitution Hall on Tues- Death Penalty in the United States." Below: Actors Sean Penn and Susan day, March 3, 2009. Right: Patrick Sonnier served as the inspiration for Pre- Sarandon portray Prejean and Sonnier in the 1995 film "Dead Man Walkjean's renowned book "Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the ing." See www.thevistaonline.com for video coverage.
Death penalty opponent speaks onreligion, murder and morality Ryan Croft .S.pnior 11(poder
Sister Helen Prejean has walked five men to their deaths. Three of the men, she said Tuesday night at UCO, were innocent. Prejean, the internationally renowned author of "Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States," is a famous advocate for abolishment of the death penalty in the US. Prejean said over 130 prisoners have been exonerated from death row since the US Supreme Court revived the death penalty in 1976. "[The court] said 'Sony. We made a mistake'," she said. "That's not 'cause the court system was so thorough. It's 'cause college volunteers ... and innocence projects combed through those records." Prejean said innocent people are wrongfully put on death row usually because of misconduct by the prosecution. "DNA ... don't think of it as a magic bullet," Prejean warned. "DNA [evidence] only exists in one-in-every-four homicides." Prejean wrote about her first involvement in the death row system in the Pulitzer Prize-nominated "Dead Man Walking." "Dead Man Walking" follows the story of two brothers, E. Patrick Sonnier and Eddie Sonnier, who were convicted collectively of the kidnapping and murder of two teenagers on November 5, 1977. Patrick Sonnier was sentenced to death and Eddie Sonnier was sentenced to life in prison. Prejean said after Patrick Sonnier's execution date was set, Eddie Sonnier confessed to her that he killed both teenagers.
The 5th Circuit US Court of Appeals denied Patrick Sonnier a stay of execution and in April 1984, Patrick died by electrocution at Angola Penitentiary, according to "Dead Man Walking." Prejean explained that when two people stand trial for murder, the first person to claim the other defendant's guilt automatically receives a reduced sentence. "How do we know, out of those two people, who really did it," Prejean asked. "Do we really care?" Prejean said people should be angered over the murder of innocent lives. "We struggle with the death penalty ... because we feel outrage. So ... we say justice demands it," Prejean explained. "What else would you have done with Timothy McVeigh? It just never would seem fair that he could be allowed to live when 168 people were dead." Prejean said executing even the guilty is still murder. Despite what the state tells those who participate in the execution, the truth about the criminal's death is written on the death certificate that reads "Cause of death, Homicide," Prejean said. "You say those people deserve to die, but who deserves to kill them," Prejean asked. "Is this the only answer we can give to violence?" Prejean emphasized the death penalty simply imitates what people already know is the worst possible behavior — murder. "We try to teach our children that killing people is wrong," Prejean said. "If we legalize it and the Supreme Court says it's okay, the act is morally okay?" Prejean said the US Supreme Court's nil-
ing to reinstate the death penalty was mostly a preventative measure against murder. "Part of our thinking was 'Hey, you give them the death penalty, they're going to think twice'," Prejean said. "It's not that we're a bad and vengeful people that just want to kill criminals. That's not ... who the American people are." Prejean said people in the South often use the Bible to justify their eye-for-an-eye justice argument. "Are we going to flip through the Bible and quote us a little vengeance so we can have God on our side for the death penalty,"
Still from "Dead Man Walking" (1995)
she asked. "It's easy to flip through the Bible and get God on our side, backing up what we believe." Prejean asked for support in her crusade against the death penalty. "If you reach a point in your conscience where you know you're against the death penalty ... begin to act," she said.
Go to www.thevistaonline.co for video coverage.
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Local students to give back on spring break Senate approves English Mike Nievez (0,Tes1)ondeni Students at UCO have a chance to give back to the community and understand the ideals of poverty at the human level during the second annual Flipside Project this month. The project is intended to be an alternative spring break experience for students who are not planning to leave the Oklahoma City metro area. It is designed for the UCO community to include commuter, off-campus and non-traditional students. "The Flipside Project is to take college students, who by all traditional means, are pretty well off," Nathan Box, coordinator of commuter student services, said. "They're getting a world-class edu-
cation and not struggling for much. I want to flip that and I want them to see poverty. I want them to empathize with those individuals and realize they can do something to help out the less fortunate." Last year's event took place at Mercy Ministries, where students helped provide food to those in the community. "We had about seven students each day," Box said. "[We] reached all three of our target audiences last year. Our age range was from 18 to 3o, and [we] are hoping to take 25 students down there this year." The Flipside Project will be at the Oklahoma City Rescue Mission at 800 W. California Ave this year. "We'll have a different experience from last year." Box said. "Since the
economy has taken a downturn and the rescue mission's numbers have skyrocketed, [they] are at maximum capacity, and they're serving more people today in a really long time." The project will be held March 16-18, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. There is no registration deadline, only a first-come, first-served basis. The project was designed and paid for by the UCommute council and the Department of Commuter Student Services. For more information about the event and to register, please contact Nathan Box, coordinator of commuter student services, at 974-3655, nbox@uco.edu or go to Room 115 of the Nigh University Center.
language legislation Joseph Lopez the ,Ivta The Oklahoma State Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed one of the several English-only bills to be heard this session. Senate Bill 1156 by State Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, defined his bill as simple and to the point. With only two sentences, English would become the common language for the state while no longer requiring state agencies to publish state documents in languages other than English.
State agencies would not be held liable for not providing such documents in other languages. Anderson said the term 'common' was used in replacement of 'official' as members of several Native American tribes expressed concern considering Oklahoma's cultural history. "Because of this, the term was changed to `common', an "adjective that has no legal impact," he said. The legislation passed 46-o and heads to the House for consideration.