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Please Forward to Editors
NOTE: Melendez is fluent in English and Spanish
PHOTO-OP!
P R E S S R E L E A S E
from
C I T I Z E N S U N I T E D FOR A L T E R N A T I V E S
TO THE DEATH PENALTY (CUADP)
(in alliance with the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,
Amnesty International Puget Sound and others.)
3 February 2004
CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz: 561-371-5204
PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY (Feb 3, 2004)
11AM
at the offices of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
909 8th Ave. near downtown Seattle
DEATH ROW SURVIVOR, VICTIM'S FAMILY MEMBER, ACTIVIST BEGIN NATIONAL
SPEAKING TOUR IN SEATTLE
Juan Roberto Melendez Colon, who survived almost 18 years on Florida's
death row for a crime he did not commit, will begin a national speaking
tour with a press conference and two speaking events in Seattle this
week. Joining Melendez are murder victim family member Bill Pelke,
director of the victims rights group Journey of Hope ...From Violence to
Healing, Abe Bonowitz, a former death penalty supporter who is now a
leading anti-death penalty activist and director of the national group,
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP), and
Governor, the canine mascot of the movement to abolish the death
penalty. The Journey of Hope Abolition Day '04 Tour centers around March
1st, which is International Death Penalty Abolition Day, the anniversary of
Michigan becoming the first English speaking territory in the world to
abolish the death penalty (see http://www.cuadp.org/abolitionday.html).
The group will speak in cities from Seattle to San Diego through the
month of February, then Alaska through March 22nd, and then back across the
United States, concluding in Florida at the end of April.
"We know that support for the death penalty in this country is a mile wide,
but only an inch deep," said Bonowitz. "This tour is a part of our ongoing
work to educate the public about why the death penalty is a bad public
policy. As in my own experience, once people learn the truth about how the
death penalty system fails us, most will reject the death penalty in favor
of the alternatives already available."
Biographical Information and background is
at: http://www.cuadp.org/abdaytour04/SpeakerBios.htm
SEATTLE SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, 2/3/04, at 11am: Press Conference at the offices of the Northwest
Immigrant Rights Project
Tuesday, 2/3/04, from 7:00 to 9:00pm, at Seattle Central Community College,
Room 1110
Wednesday, 2/4/04, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm, at the UW Law School, Room 119
The Public Is Welcome at ALL EVENTS
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SENT BY:
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director, CUADP
abe@cuadp.org
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YES FRIENDS!
There is an Alternative to the Death Penalty
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(CUADP) works to end the death penalty in the United
States through aggressive campaigns of public education
and the promotion of tactical grassroots activism.
Visit or call 800-973-6548
PMB 335, 2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy
Gainesville, FL 32609
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Visit www.cuadp.org or call 800-973-6548
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