From bright_crow at mindspring.com Sun Feb 4 11:21:04 2001 From: bright_crow at mindspring.com (Michael Austin Shell) Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 10:21:04 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] Death Sentence, 2/7/01: Stanley Lingar Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.20010204102104.0079c340@pop.mindspring.com> Friends, Our friend John Todd send Jim the following email last night. Please consider it and hold the people involved in the Light. If you are led to, please contact the governor of Missouri and urge him to commute the death sentence of Stanley Lingar. Blessed Be, Michael. <><><><><><><><><><><><><> Subj: my letter what do u think Date: 2/3/2001 2:02:29 AM Eastern Standard Time From: BubbaBear3 To: JamesUG Friends I come to you asking for your help and prayers. I have never felt more strongly about anything. I have spent the last few hours in tears and prayers over this. And the words of Christ keep echoing thru my heart: "And the King will answer, 'In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.'" Right now one of our brothers needs our Christian love desperately. In just a few days the State of Missouri will end his life by lethal injection. His name is Stanley Lingar, one of the "least of these brothers." His crime was horrible. In 1985 he and his partner abducted, sexually assaulted and brutally murdered a young man sixteen years old. There's not a lot of sympathy or love for him around. But as Christians we must show compassion and the love of Christ. And there are serious questions about the degree of his involvement in the murder. His partner testified against him in exchange for leniency. (Now released after serving ten years.) It was Stanley's attorneys first death penalty case. And the prosecution made an issue of his orientation to sway a small town jury. Based on those facts is an attempt to persuade Gov. Bob Holden to commute his sentence to life in prison, but it's success is doubtful. And John Ashcroft was Missouri Attorney General at the time of the crime and pretrial. There's not a lot of sympathy for Stanley. But there must be Christian love. And there are things we can do. I will tell you more about that later. But let's all pray for Stanley. That he knows Jesus' love or that he will find him before he dies. I only learned of Stanley today. But he has been heavy on my heart. I am trying to reach Stanley's attorney. To find out if Stanley would welcome someone to visit and minister to him. I would be willing to go. Or perhaps a member of our Clergy staff. He may be abandoned by his family. Someone needs to be there for him if he wishes. Also the Missouri Coalition to Oppose the Death Penalty will hold a vigil during the execution. Anyone interested in attending may contact me. I hope the execution can be stopped. Follows is a posting I have been putting up around the Internet. It includes some background, news stories and links. And actions you can take. It was a heinous crime but I am opposed to the death penalty in any case. However it is likely the jury was swayed because of the orientation of the perpetrators. This is a highly charged and emotional issue. Also John Ashcroft was Missouri Attorney General at the time of the crime and pretrial. Please, especially Missourians contact: Gov. Bob Holden Governor's Office Jefferson City Missouri Capitol Building, Room 216 P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, MO 65102-0720 Telephone: (573) 751-3222 FAX: (573) 751-1495 Asking him to commute the sentence of Stanley Lingar to life in prison. Based on the fact that the jury was likely influenced by small town homophobia. Ineffective counsel and other issues as detailed below. Also see Amnesty International: Program to Abolish the Death Penalty http://www.amnesty-usa.org/abolish/index.html "Not only had his lawyer never handled a capital case before, but the prosecution based its claims on the testimony of a co-defendant who was granted leniency in return for testifying. A pathologist later testified at a post-conviction hearing that his testimony was inconsistent with medical evidence." Amnesty International. Man who killed boy asks Holden to reduce sentence By Tim O'Neil Of The Post-Dispatch postnet.com | News | Man who killed boy asks Holden to reduce sentence http://www.postnet.com/postnet/stories.nsf/ByDocID/EF7805D6D09939BC862569E70 03AACE3 A man who is to be executed next Wednesday for the murder of a teen-age boy in 1985 is arguing that prosecutors inflamed a rural jury by revealing his homosexual relationship with the co-defendant. Lawyers for Stanley Lingar, 37, made that a key argument in their appeal for clemency to Gov. Bob Holden to reduce the sentence to life in prison. Lingar is the first condemned man in Missouri whose execution has come up since Holden took office. Lingar is to die by lethal injection for the murder on Jan. 6, 1985, of Thomas S. Allen, 16, of Doniphan, Mo., whose car had run out of gas on the way home from a date. Lingar and his friend David L. Smith, both of whom also lived in Doniphan, gave the stranded Allen a ride and then ordered him to disrobe and masturbate. After Allen refused, they killed him and dumped his body in the Eleven Point River, 25 miles west of Doniphan, the seat of Ripley County in far southeast Missouri. Smith pleaded guilty of second-degree murder and testified against Lingar during a trial in 1986. That trial took place in the St. Francois County courthouse in Farmington, on a change of venue. Smith testified that Lingar shot Allen, beat him with a tire tool and finally killed him by running over him with his Mustang. During the penalty phase of the trial, Smith also testified that he and Lingar were homosexual lovers. "The reason the prosecution raised that was to offend the sensibilities of a rural jury," said Kent Gipson, a lawyer in Kansas City who is handling Lingar's appeals. "It was a blatant appeal to homophobia. How is it relevant to this case that you're gay?" Gipson also has an appeal pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Other courts already have considered and rejected appeals that raised the gay-bias argument. Ripley County prosecutor Christopher Miller, whose first term included the Allen case, said he believed the murder itself persuaded the jury to recommend death. Miller said Lingar and Smith's relationship was not central to the case but possibly relevant to their demands upon Allen. "They were telling their victim to masturbate for them, so the offense has a sexual nature," said Miller. "The sheer brutality of the murder is what did it. Look at the number of times they tried to make him dead. They shot him, they beat him, they clubbed him, and he wouldn't die." Smith received a 10-year sentence and is out of prison. Lingar has maintained all along that he was too drunk to remember anything about that night, Gipson said. Amnesty International's OUTFront program, which specializes in cases of alleged bias against gays, is protesting the execution with an argument similar to Gipson's. So has Queer Watch, a gay rights group in New York that opposes the death penalty. As for the protests from other groups, Miller said: "The claim has no merit. But the anti-death-penalty lobby is very strong, and I believe it will leave no stone unturned." A spokesman for Holden said his office was reviewing the appeal for clemency. Lingar is to be executed at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday in the Potosi Correctional Center. He would be the 47th put to death in Missouri since the state resumed carrying out the penalty in 1989. In the petition for clemency, Gipson also argues that Lingar had an inadequate defense and that Smith may have committed the murder but then blamed Lingar. From kcarlyle at juno.com Thu Feb 8 19:35:18 2001 From: kcarlyle at juno.com (Kim Carlyle) Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 18:35:18 EST Subject: [saymaListserv] Proposed Minute on Global Climate Change Message-ID: <20010208.183212.11287.19.kcarlyle@juno.com> Hello Friends, The following minute was presented to Representatives Meeting in December by the SAYMA Ecological Concerns Network. Friends were asked to take the minute back to their MMs and WGs for consideration. (After the minute was read, one Friend suggested a revision: that " To address this grave problem, Friends...can..." be changed to " To address this grave problem, Friends...SHOULD..."). Please consider this minute and respond with comments and suggestions. We are hopeful that at Yearly Meeting in June, we can approve a minute that has been seasoned in SAYMA MMs and WGs. --Kim kcarlyle at juno.com 828/626-2572 SAYMA Minute on Global Climate Change SAYMA Friends recognize that human activity is contributing to an unprecedented rate of change in our global climate. Symptoms include diminishing polar ice, changing local weather patterns, increasing frequency of severe storms, and rising global temperature. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that average global temperature will increase by three to eleven degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years. Three degrees would be the greatest rate of temperature change in human history; eleven degrees is unimaginable--for comparison, the last ice age was only seven to nine degrees cooler than now. Global climate change presents a great threat to our ecosystem. It accelerates the appalling pace of species extinction--the environment is changing faster than creatures can adapt. Possibly one-third of all species may be lost in the next hundred years. From an anthropocentric perspective, biodiversity gives stability to and enhances the productivity of the ecosystems that we humans are so dependent on, and provides an important source of new foods, medicines, and other products for the human species. But beyond that narrow lens of utility, Friends recognize the intrinsic value of God’s creation. Species loss desecrates God’s creation. Global climate change presents a great threat to social systems as well as ecosystems. Human refugees from droughts, floods, and rising sea levels, and the human suffering caused by crop failures and the spread of tropical diseases will stress societies and governments, setting the stage for violence, oppression, and conflict. Our peace testimony leads us to find ways to remove these potential causes of war. Global climate change is a result of human activity: the atmospheric buildup of heat-trapping gases is largely the result of fossil fuel combustion for transportation, indoor temperature regulation, and industrial use. Our country, about 4% of the world's population, emits 22% of the world’s greenhouse gases. Friends concerns for simplicity, right sharing of resources, and equality lead us to examine our practices and consider alternatives. To address this grave problem, Friends as individuals, as members of the Religious Society, and as citizens, can: - reduce use of fossil fuels for transportation, indoor climate control, recreation, and use of tools and appliances through conservation, efficiency, and use of alternative (such as human, solar, and wind) energy. - reduce industrial energy use through informed personal choices relative to products and services. - work for public policy that: - supports international agreements to reduce heat-trapping gases - discourages use of carbon-based fuels and encourages use of renewable sources of energy - develops, supports, and promotes both local and long distance public transportation systems. We urge Friends in their Meetings and as individuals to act on this concern. ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. From moriah at preferred.com Fri Feb 9 18:30:45 2001 From: moriah at preferred.com (Mary Calhoun) Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 17:30:45 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] IMP^o^ 094 Middle East Min Message-ID: <00a201c092e8$7aa86c60$0500a8c0@oem> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IMP ^o^ Bulletin 094 Minute Seeking Peace Between Israel and Palestine ........................................................ from Crossville (TN) Friends Meeting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (from a 1-8-01 message from Margaret Purchase) <|> We would like this Minute circulated within SAYMA. <|> It is unlikely that anyone from our Meeting will be able to attend the April 7th Representative Meeting in Ashville to present and speak for it. We wonder if another meeting would be willing to submit a similar Minute. ---------------------------------- Minute Seeking Peace Between Israel and Palestine The Crossville Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends has approved a minute calling on the U.S. Government to facilitate the peaceful resolution of the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian governments. The Meeting had received a report of a gathering held on at the Friends Boys School in Ramallah, Palestine, of about 100 United States citizens living in occupied Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza Strip which deplored the failure of our government to condemn the use of lethal weaponry against Palestinian civilians. The Meeting calls on the US Government to take the lead in providing international protection for Palestinian civilians, to support the demand for an immediate international inquiry into the root causes of the conflict, to suspend arms shipments to Israel which are in violation of the U.S.Arms Export Control Act, and to terminate the transfer of U.S. funds to Israel, (currently in the amount of over 6 billion dollars per year) for as long a Israel remains in violation of UN resolutions and international law. The Meeting believes that a peaceful solution can and must be found and calls upon our government at whatever level is needed to facilitate a termination of hostilities and the establishment of peace between Israel and Palestine. (Signed) Gladys Draudt, Clerk (931-484-6920) ~~~~~~ end ^o^ ~~~~~~ 1stpostdate 020901 ~~~~~~ _______________________________________ IMP ^o^ ... "Information Made Present" is a bulletin service of the SAYMA office to provide practical details to our geographically-challenged Yearly Meeting via our free list-server: semi-official information, bulletins that you can print, post, announce, publish, or pass around. Please address questions, corrections and additions to moriah at preferred.com, 540-628-5852 (machine), or SAYMA Admin. Asst., c/o 165 Jackson Street, Abingdon, VA 24210. Thank you! ^o^ Mary Calhoun, AA ----------------------------------------------------- To receive IMP^o^ bulletins, subscribe to the free list server, sayma at kitenet.net. You can e-mail to sayma-request at kitenet.net, writing only the word subscribe in the body of your e-mail message. You can also subscribe on the web at http://kitenet.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sayma. ------------------------------------------------------ From moriah at preferred.com Fri Feb 9 18:48:01 2001 From: moriah at preferred.com (Mary Calhoun) Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 17:48:01 -0500 Subject: [saymaListserv] IMP^o^ 093 Pop Min 12-00 Proposal Message-ID: <00e501c092ea$d97e27a0$0500a8c0@oem> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IMP ^o^ Bulletin 093 Population Minute Proposed Revision ........................................................ Presented 12-00 at Winter Rep Mtg ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (from RM #98 Minutes, and a 11-29-00 message from Geeta McGahey) <|> The proposed revisions respond to a request from YM 2000. <|> Celo Monthly Meeting and Cookeville Worship Group worked together on revisions to the population minute (approved at YM '00) to address concerns about the responsibilities of industrialized countries. <|> The draft revision was presented by Celo FM for circulation, comment, and seasoning. Other meetings and worship groups are encouraged to consider it. <|> They are asked to respond by May 1, 2001, so that Celo and Cookeville can continue work on the draft and have a minute ready to propose to Yearly Meeting 2001. <|> Please send responses to one of the following -- Sue Snider, Celo FM 482 White Oak Rd Burnsville NC 28714 828/ 675-9531 ssnider at m-y.net Hector Black, Cookeville FM 170 Hidden Springs Lane Cookeville TN 38501-9178 931/ 268-9889 <|> Proposed revisions are marked by *{ }* ------------------------- Population Minute Draft Revisions from Celo Monthly Meeting In accordance with Friends testimonies of equality, simplicity, and harmony, we recognize the sacredness of all life, the interconnection of all living things, and the balance required to sustain an acceptable quality of life for all inhabitants of our planet. We are committed to providing all children with a safe, loving, nourishing, and habitable world in which to live. In October 1999, world human population surpassed 6 billion, having doubled since 1960. At the present rate of growth, it is likely to double again within the new century. The effects of this rapid population growth exacerbated by excessive consumerism, threaten all of earth's creatures, placing insupportable demands on her finite resources, creating unmanageable problems of waste disposal, and intensifying environmental degradation. While remaining sensitive to the needs and values of all cultures, we acknowledge our responsibility to become informed about world population growth and the concerns it raises. Through our leadings and sharings, we will seek knowledgeable, loving, and creative ways of working towards effective and realistic solutions. These include providing education on and means of contraception for both sexes, encouragement of adoption as an alternative to having biological children, and open support of those who choose not to procreate. *{Recognizing that the countries of North America and Europe have caused and continue to cause the most serious environmental degradation,}* it is essential that those who have more than they need strive toward a simpler, less wasteful life-style. *{We offer this minute in a spirit of concern that while population control may no longer be an issue in our countries, we understand why large families are important to others. They are an insurance that there will be help on the farm and that the family will have someone to care for the infirm and elderly within the family. Two sons are important to be able to have one move to the city to have a cash income. We realize that for many countries without the safety network of social security and government aid programs, the large family is the primary care giver and protector of the poor.}* Special emphasis must be given to measures to reduce poverty, provide security for people as they age and empower women. Literacy, equal social status, and the general education of women to broaden their life choices are measures that not only improve their lives but help delay childbirth and limit family size. We urge our government to renew contributions to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, and we urge meetings to study further the problem of rapid population growth and to discern how we are to act on this concern as individuals and as meetings in our own communities, in our country, and in support of countries throughout the world. *{We pledge ourselves to work towards a more equitable sharing of the world's resources and towards systems that will aid those in need in the hope that this will reduce the need for large families.}* ~~~~~~ end ^o^ ~~~~~~ 1stpost 020901 ~~~~~~ _______________________________________ IMP ^o^ ... "Information Made Present" is a bulletin service of the SAYMA office to provide practical details to our geographically-challenged Yearly Meeting via our free list-server: semi-official information, bulletins that you can print, post, announce, publish, or pass around. Please address questions, corrections and additions to moriah at preferred.com, 540-628-5852 (machine), or SAYMA Admin. Asst., c/o 165 Jackson Street, Abingdon, VA 24210. Thank you! ^o^ Mary Calhoun, AA ----------------------------------------------------- To receive IMP^o^ bulletins, subscribe to the free list server, sayma at kitenet.net. You can e-mail to sayma-request at kitenet.net, writing only the word subscribe in the body of your e-mail message. You can also subscribe on the web at http://kitenet.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sayma. ------------------------------------------------------ From kcarlyle at juno.com Wed Feb 14 11:44:44 2001 From: kcarlyle at juno.com (Kim Carlyle) Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:44:44 EST Subject: [saymaListserv] Southern Appalachian Friend Message-ID: <20010214.104142.11287.2.kcarlyle@juno.com> Hello Friends, Just a reminder: the deadline for the next issue of our YM newsletter is 03/01/2001. Please send your contributions to me. Thanks. --Kim kcarlyle at juno.com 828/626-2572 ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. From kcarlyle at juno.com Thu Feb 15 11:02:22 2001 From: kcarlyle at juno.com (Kim Carlyle) Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 10:02:22 EST Subject: [saymaListserv] SAF Submissions Message-ID: <20010215.095930.11287.1.kcarlyle@juno.com> SAF Contributors, Please note that my basic (and free--but you get what you pay for) e-mail service does not allow me to receive file attachments. So please send your contributions as e-mail messages. (You should be able to "copy" from your text file and "paste" into your e-mail message.) Thanks. --Kim kcarlyle at juno.com 828/626-2572 ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.