By Don Plummer, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta
Bishop Rob Wright will take part in an anti-death penalty vigil and invites others to join him for prayers at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10, outside a state prison in Jackson where an execution is to be conducted. He also welcomes prayers from other locations at that time.
Wright will protest the execution of death row inmate Tommy Lee Waldrip at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, which is near I-75 between Atlanta and Macon. (Driving directions are included below.)
Waldrip is scheduled to be executed for his part in the 1991 murder of Forsyth County store clerk Keith Evans. Evans was killed before he was to have testified against Waldrip's son, John Mark Waldrip, in the younger Waldrip's armed robbery retrial. Evans was a clerk at the store John Waldrip was accused of robbing.
Waldrip's final appeal request, to the U.S. Supreme Court, was denied May 27.
Wright, who oversees 109 Episcopal churches and worshiping communities in middle and north Georgia, opposes the use of capital punishments in all cases.
The bishop took part last month in a protest of the state execution of Marcus Wellons, who was convicted of raping and murdering his 15-year-old neighbor. During that vigil Wright explained his opposition to capital punishment.
'Guilt is not the issue'
"His guilt is not at issue. His human dignity is. Our human dignity is,” Wright said June 17 outside the prison. “His execution will not bring back the 15-year-old girl he killed. Neither does capital punishment deter crime. The death penalty is state-sanctioned lynching. A placebo for grief. Blood lust. An eye for an eye. Nowhere does Jesus affirm this practice."
Wellons' death was the nation's first execution since April when an Oklahoma inmate died of a heart attack more than 40 minutes after a botched lethal injection.
Waldrip is set to become the 55th person executed in Georgia since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated following a 12-year lapse due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1964 that suspended all executions in the United States.
The prison is at exit 201 on Interstate 75. Take GA 36 East toward Jackson. The entrance to the prison is on the left about ¼-mile from the interstate.
The following schedule of anti-death penalty vigils in Georgia on July 10 was provided by the Rev. Kim Jackson, chaplain for the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center in Atlanta:
Jackson: Georgia’s Death Row, 6:30pm, contact: Kathryn Hamoudah, 404-688-1202, khamoudah@schr.org
Atlanta: State Capitol on the Washington St. side, 6:30pm contact: Peggy Hendrix, 404-771-8940
Americus: US Post Office, Prince St. & Forsyth St., Americus, GA, 12:00pm: Contact: Elizabeth Dede, Elizabeth@koinoniafarm.org, 229-591-0114
Athens: UGA Arch on E. Broad St., 6:30pm-7:15pm contact: Robbie Buller, 706-783-5131, jupileep@igc.org
Augusta: Public Library, 902 Greene St., 6:30pm Pat Seaborn, 706-860-2721
Clarkesville: Clarkesville Courthouse, 6:30pm, contact: Helen O'Brien, (h) 706-754-2508, hob400@windstream.net
Columbus: Consolidated Government Center; 100 10th St., Columbus, GA 31901, 6pm, Contact: Tonza Thomas, Assistant Secretary of the Columbus Branch NAACP, naacpassistantsecretary@yahoo.com
Conyers: Rockdale County Courthouse; Milstead Ave. side; 922 Court St; Conyers, GA 30012, 6:30pm, Contact: Barbra Lee, 700-483-2648
Dawson: US HWY 520/80, 6:00pm
Macon: Macon City Hall, 6:30pm contact: Mary Palmer Legare 478-320-0117
Marietta: Cobb County Courthouse, Cherokee St./Roswell St., 6:30pm contact: Brian and Debbie Freel, 404-641-7719, debbyfreel@yahoo.com
Savannah: Chatham County Courthouse, 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM contact: Carol Hunt, 912-233-4161 http://www.gfadp.org/vigils