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Dear Friends and Family:
If you have spent any time talking with me (and you have) you are aware that a great deal of my time and effort is spent working to end capital punishment in Texas. What you may not know is that I have been vehemently against the death penalty since I heard about the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on my father’s battery operated radio all of those many decades ago. It frightened me as a child. If our government had the power and will to kill the Rosenberg children’s parents, might it not kill mine, as well...or would it come after my beloved older sister...or me one day?
Jim came from a different kind of background, with years of military experience that predisposed him to be a lukewarm death penalty proponent during the first 35 years of our marriage. One day he heard an attorney speak about the many fallacies in each step of the capital punishment system—bungled police investigations, bad forensic science, inept defense attorneys, dishonest prosecuting attorneys, and poorly prepared juries, to name but a few--and the almost certain likelihood that innocent people have been and will continue to be executed in such a flawed human endeavor. It prompted him to begin an informal study of the subject.
As it happened, I was sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed on that 1998 morning after Karla Faye Tucker was executed, sobbing and asking any divine ears that would listen, “What will it take to make this nightmare end?” Jim came to me, extended his hand, pulled me up, and said, “Come on. I’ll go with you. Let’s find the answer to your question.”
We “found” the newly formed Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty...and, as far as we are concerned, a calling for both of us. In the eleven years since that fateful day, we have seen TCADP grow from a small group of committed individual members to an organization with local chapters from El Paso to Beaumont and the Rio Grande Valley to the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. Today, TCADP has a state office in Austin with an Executive Director and a Program Coordinator to oversee its many publications and speaking engagements, all aimed to educate the people of Texas on the many myths and misconceptions about the death penalty. Because we in TCADP believe that once the people of our state know the ugly truths about capital punishment, they will want to see it end as much as we do!
Both Jim and I are proud to have been a part of TCADP and its mission all of these years, and we are equally proud today to be a part of the Race to Heal Initiative, an online fundraising drive that is a component of a national effort titled “Rachel’s Fund.” Donations generated by the Race to Heal Initiative will support TCADP’s efforts to build bridges to communities that have been impacted by violence and, in particular, to reach out to the family members of murder victims. These are the very people who can best carry the message of hope and healing and to help end the cycle of violence that culminates in an execution.
We are asking you to help us raise money for this vital cause. It is very easy to make an online (tax deductible) donation to TCADP, but we will take your check if you prefer. We will not be riding miles on bikes or swimming laps for your contributions, but we will hold you in a special place in our hearts for your generosity and compassion.
Thank you.
Sherry and Jim Coombes
Special thanks to Sadie Stewart for her off-line donation of $50.00 !!
Special thanks to GLC for her off-line donation of $25.00 !!
Thanks for the Memorial Donation of $100 in memory of Eleanor Lubrick.
Thanks to Pam Ferguson for her donation of $20.00.