Insight
Monday, August 22, 1994 Page 7
— 44
Punishment is for the
purpose of
vindication, not to act
as a deterrent.
— Ball
death penalty supporter,
founder of The Plainsmen
-tf
mXm* ''■ _
Scott Wesely, a Lincoln resident and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, attends a
Saturday evening candlelight vigil outside the governor’s mansion. Death penalty opponents
plan to hold a vigil at noon every day outside the mansion until Sept. 2, the day Harold Lamont
Otey is scheduled to be executed.
— 44
Guilty or innocent,
this is a man (Otey)
who doesn’t deserve
to be killed by the
state.
— Farrell
death penalty opponent,
former actor on “M*A *S*H"
-f»
Death penalty supporters, opponents rally
By Chris Hain
Senior Editor
The protest at the State Capitol
Saturday was a matter oflife or death.
About 100 death penal ty opponents
marched down Centennial Mall to the
steps of the Capitol. In their footsteps
followed a group of death penalty sup
porters, chanting.
Once at the capitol, the death pen
alty opponents joined about 100 peo
ple at the Unity Day rally, organized in
part by Nebraskans Against the Death
Penalty.
“We need to stand up and be count
ed,” said Scott Wescly, coordinator
for the group. “We need people to
show there arc good reasons why the
death penalty should be abolished.”
Protestors heard speeches from
former Nebraska governors Frank
Morrison and Robert Crosby; Mike
Farrell, a former star of the TV show
“M*A*S*H”; parole board member
Don McCall; and state Sen. Ernie
Chambers.
Chambers, who has fought to re
peal the death penalty throughout his
15 years in the Legislature, said he was
pleased with the turnout for the rally
and hoped the interest would spur state
leaders to discuss the issue.
Chambers said he still had hope that
Nebraska death row inmate Harold
Lamont Otey would not become the
f rst person to be executed in Nebraska
since 1959. Otey is scheduled to be put
to death in the electric chair on Sept. 2
for the rape and murder of Jane
McManus of Omaha in 1977.
“There’s always hope.” Chambers
said. “There arc those of us who wil 1 do
all they can to bring that hope to
fruition.”
But many passers-by voiced their
desire to sec Otey’s death sentence
carried out. Motorists driving past the
rally shouted “Bum Otey.”
Terry Arthur, holding a sign that
read “Fry Willie,” took his support of
the death penalty to the Capitol steps.
He paced back and forth along the
street and heckled the speakers.
Arthur, 45, of Lincoln said he was
agitated by the feeble arguments of the
death penalty opponents. The death
penalty is a way for the state to protect
its citizens from people who threaten
society, he said.
A lot of attention at the rally was
focused on Mike Farrell. Farrell, who
played B.J.Hunnicutton“M*A*S*H,”
has spoken against the death penalty
for more than 20 years. Farrell said he
had spoken Friday with Otey.
“Guilty or innocent, this is a man
who doesn’t deserve to be killed by the
state ” Farrell said.
The death penalty is racially and
econom ically unbalanced, he said, and
it doesn’t act as a deterrent to crime.
But Larry Ball said deterring crime
wasn’t the purpose of punishing crim
inals. Ball organized death penalty
supporters — members of a group
called the Plainsmen.
“Punishment is for the purpose of
vindication,” Ball said, “not to act as a
deterrent.”
Ball said he had been frustrated by
the inability of the state of Nebraska to
implement the death penalty. But this
time he said he thought Otcy’s sen
tence would be carried out.
Parole board member Don McCall
said the timing of the execution of
Otcy was related to the upcoming
November elections.
“There is no political office or any
election that is worth winning at the
expense of another life,” McCall said.
On Saturday night, protestors and
counterprotesters reconverged in f ront
of the governor’s mansion for separate
vigils.
About 15 death nenaity opponents
held candles, and about 15 death pen
alt v advocates marched back and forth
holding flashlights.
Scott Wcselv began preparing for
Unity Day at 9:30 a.m. Near midnight,
he was still holding a candle for his
cause.
Margaret Vrana of Lincoln hugs her friend, Ruth Thone, near :
the conclusion of Saturday’s Nebraskans Against the Death
Penalty Unity Day. More than 200 people gathered on the
steps of the State Capitol to, in part, protest the scheduled
execution of Harold Lamont Otey.
Photos by Travis Heying/DN