Indiana Journey of Hope 2013

Back Home Again In Indiana

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Monday, November 19, 2012 
By: Bill Pelke

“Back Home Again In Indiana”
By Ballard MacDonald and James F. Hanley, 1917

Verse One
I have always been a wand’rer
Over land and sea
Yet a moonbeam on the water
Casts a spell o’er me
A vision fair I see
Again I seem to be

Chorus
Back home again in Indiana,
And it seems that I can see
The gleaming candlelight, still shining bright,
Through the sycamores for me.
The new-mown hay sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam.
When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash,
Then I long for my Indiana home.

Verse Two
Fancy paints on mem’ry’s canvas
Scenes that we hold dear
We recall them in days after
Clearly they appear
And often times I see
A scene that’s dear to me

Dear Folks,
The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing will be back home again in Indiana for our 20th anniversary in 2013. The Indiana Journey of Hope in 1993 was the inaugural event in our quest for worldwide abolition of the death penalty. On February 22-March 10, 2013 we will be conducting a limited Journey of Hope with a group of speakers traveling throughout the state of Indiana and into the Chicago land area.

This Indiana Journey will be very personal for me. I was born and raised in Indiana. I retired from Bethlehem Steel in Northwest Indiana. My kids, grandkids and great grandkids all live in Indiana.

My uncle Laverne used to take me to the Indianapolis 500 time trials when I was young. Jim Nabors has opened race day festivities for many years now with his rendition of ‘Back home again in Indiana’. I appreciate his sentiments more and more each time I hear him sing it.

I moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1999 and I love it here. I have met some of the most wonderful people in the world right here in Anchorage. Members of Alaskans Against the Death Penalty, First United Methodist Church, Alaska’s Amnesty International Program to Abolish the Death Penalty, the Alaska Innocent project, the Alaska ACLU and others have been very appreciative and supportive of the Journey of Hope. I love them all. But when I travel to Indiana I am back home again.

These Journey friends will be joining me in Indiana.

Randy Gardner is the vice-chairman of the Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing Board of Directors. Randy’s brother Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in Utah about two and a half years ago. Randy will be sharing his family’s story. The Journey has provided a platform for Death Row Family Members since 1993.

Terri Steinberg will be there. Terri’s son Justin was sentenced to Death by the State of Virginia under the ‘murder for hire’ law. I am convinced that Justin is innocent. But innocence aside, I cannot understand why our society insists on inflicting this kind of pain on mothers like Terri. The Journey totally supports Terri as she campaigns for worldwide abolition of the death penalty. The state of Virginia wants to kill her son and we want him to live.

Randy Steidl will be joining the Journey of Hope for the first time. Randy was sentenced to death by the State of Illinois and was eventually able to prove his innocence. Randy is active member of Witness to Innocence and as a resident of a neighboring state, Randy said he would be happy to be part of this Indiana Journey. The Journey of Hope has enabled many exonerees to share their stories. These stories have inspired thousands upon thousands of people around the world. Juan Melendez, Shujaa Graham, Curtis McCarty, Ray Krone, Randall Dale Adams, Delbert Tibbs, Greg Wilhoit, Sunny Jacobs and many other exonerees have shared the Journey stage.

Bess Klaussen-Landis will be back home again in Indiana too. In 1969 Bess’s mother, Helen Klaussen, was murdered in Elkhart, Indiana. Bess will share the journey that she and her sisters have been on. She will talk about the private fears that this sort of unsolved crime creates. She has served as a board member of the Journey of Hope and has spoken at Journey events around the country. Bess is a school teacher in Vermont and has written and recorded two albums, Beauty So Close and Way up in Vermont. Bess says that the Journey of Hope helped her find her voice. It is a powerful voice, a voice of love.

George White is a cofounder of the Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing and recently rejoined the Journey of Hope board of directors. George and his wife Charlene were shot in 1985 at George’s place of business in Enterprise, Alabama. George survived, Char died in his arms. In this country, do we convict people for crimes they didn’t commit? Ask George what his family thinks about that when he joins our weekend events. George is now living in northwest Indiana and works for CR England.

The Purpose of this Journey is Threefold

1. Help support the growth of the Indiana Abolition Coalition. We will raise the awareness of IAC, help increase their data base, and to help them in their mission to build consensus to end the death penalty in Indiana through education, collaboration and activism.
2. To raise support for a major Indiana Journey of Hope event October 4-20, 2013. We would travel the same trails we blazed so successfully in 1993. The dates would coincide with the World Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s Annual World Day Against the Death Penalty October 10, 2013. The African Journey of Hope to Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya took place during World Day activities in 2010. With world-wide support we can do this major event in October and it is our goal that the limited events in February and March bring about the needed attention and support for this to happen.
3. Seize the Day. The time is definitely right. We are starting to win. What just happened in California a few days ago was remarkable. 47% voted to end the death penalty. The percentage was much lower during the California Journey of Hope in 1995. It shows what a huge role education plays in abolishing the death penalty.

The Journey of Hope has a great board of directors. Cofounders George White and SueZann Bosler join with me to serve with Jo Berry, Esther Brown, Reece Robert, Rais Bhuiyan, Rick Halperin and Randy Gardner. These dedicated abolitionists are all making this world a better place to live. Jasmin Jenni is our webmaster and lives in Switzerland. Jasmin’s contribution and that of her predecessor Gilles Denizot has been greatly appreciated. Thanks to you both for making the Journey stories more visible with a first class web site. Your volunteer work has been very important to the Journey’s success.

George White and I had the opportunity to meet with Doris Parlette and the Indiana Abolition Coalition board of directors in Columbus, Indiana on October 13. We presented the Journey of Hope’s vision of the major event in October 2013. The death penalty has been on decline in Indiana. In the late 1980’s there were about 40 people on death row. Now there are 14. Indiana doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to kill, unlike a few states I could name. There are dedicated people in Indiana who are organizing for abolition now.

As president and cofounder of the Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing, you can rest assured I am an abolitionist. I have served on the board of directors of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) since 1996, the board of Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) since 2005 and the board of Alaskans Against the Death Penalty since 1999. I am on the advisory board of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), Dream One World and Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty (PHADP). I am a cofounder of the Abolitionist Action Committee (AAC). The Journey will once again be a sponsor as the AAC hosts the 20th Annual Fast and Vigil in front of the United States Supreme Court June 29-July 2, 2013. I have never missed a day of these events since we began in 1994. I hope to see you in DC next year.

It was the State of Indiana that sentenced Paula Cooper to die in the electric chair on July 11, 1986 for the murder of my grandmother Ruth E. Pelke. Judge James Kimbrough’s decision that day changed my life. I didn’t realize how much until November 2, 1986. On this day, in a miraculous way, I learned the lessons of love and compassion and about the healing power of forgiveness.

I was able to visit with Paula last month after meeting with the Indiana Abolition Coalition. Paula will be released from the Rockville Correction Facility on July 17, 2013 and I will be back home again in Indiana to greet her at the gates of the prison when she is released. I believe in restorative justice.

Yes, Indiana is a special place to me. It is where I grew up. It is where my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and many friends lived. It was in Indiana that I that I got to know my grandmother, whom we all affectionately called Nana. It was through Nana’s life and death that I learned about love and compassion, I learned about healing power of forgiveness and I learned restorative justice should be our goal.

1. Love and Compassion for All of Humanity
2. The Healing Power of Forgiveness
3. Restorative Justice

The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing has also adopted these tools for our abolition work. The Journey of Hope needs your help to help to spread these seeds of love and compassion for all of humanity. Because of you the Journey of Hope has been sowing this seed for over 20 years. We have seen this precious seed grow, mature and bring forth fruit. Can you help us sow more seed?

We need your help

Can you make a donation?
Can you organize some events?
Can you host a fundraiser for the Journey?
Would you like to be a Journey intern?
Can you think of something you could do to help make a Journey a success?

Please call me at 877-9-24GIVE (4483) toll free USA or 907-929-5808 for international calls. You can also email me Bill@JourneyofHope.org. The Journey has no staff, we are all volunteers. We have no major funding. We need your help!

We know we will be successful but the degree of our success in Indiana and around the world is up to you.
I can’t wait to get back home again in Indiana.

Back home again in Indiana

And it seems that I can see

The gleaming candlelight still shining bright

Thro' the sycamores for me

The new mown hay sends all its fragrance

From fields I used to roam

When I dream

About the moonlight on the Wabash

Then I long for my Indiana home

Donate Now. Thank you for your support. God Bless You!!

A life and legacy

A life and legacy

Pelke's devotion to family, faith resonates decades after murder

by Sarah Tompkins

Ruth Pelke's family has fond memories of holidays in her Gary home, complete with crocheted gifts, colored cookies and "Nana salad," Pelke's macaroni salad mixed with watermelon pickles.
But in 1985 four teenage girls turned their stepgrandmother's dining room into a crime scene, leaving Pelke dead with more than 30 knife wounds piercing her 78-year-old frame.
"It went through her body, through the carpet, through the padding on the floor," said Pelke's stepdaughter, Ruth Weyhe, now 88. "There were marks in the floor."
In an infamous case that made national headlines, 15-year-old Paula Cooper, 16-year-old Karen Corder, 14-year-old Denise Thomas and 15-year-old April Beverly were arrested and charged as adults in relation to the murder.
"Christmas has never been the same, that's for sure," said Pelke's now 64-year-old grandson, Bill Pelke.
'I just loved her so, so much'

Ruth Pelke grew up and worked on a farm in Peru, Ind., doing manual labor as well as helping her neighbors with chores as the women recovered from childbirth, according to her family. She was a second or third cousin to Weyhe and Robert Pelke's mother, and they said the family would see her during trips to the countryside.
Robert, Pelke's stepson who is 92 and living in South Carolina, said he always would remember how much faith Pelke had in him. And how she once trusted him to drive a wagon full of hay as a teenager – which he accidentally flipped over after turning a corner too sharp.
"She didn't hold it against me," he said. "She treated me very good. It was just one of those things she took in stride. She was very cool. She took everything calmly."
Weyhe, who now lives in Porter County, said she recalled farm trips dating back to when she was 4 years old.
"I used to go with her out to the pasture and bring in the cows and stand there and watch her milk," Weyhe said. "I just followed her everywhere. I just loved her so, so much."
A year after her mother died from leukemia, she said her father and Pelke became an item. But before Pelke would marry Weyhe's father, Pelke said he had to first ask his children if they would be OK with it.
Weyhe said they were thrilled.
"I remember her and granddad having a wonderful relationship," said Karen, Pelke's 47-year-old granddaughter. "They would joke around and he would tease her and smooch with her. He was always very loving and she was very loving back to him."
It was Pelke's first marriage, and she never had any biological children.
"She took on a whole family," said Pelke's 51-year-old grandson, Jon. "She was the only grandmother any of us had."

The family threw her a joint 70th birthday party and "Nana's Day" in May shortly after Mother's Day, donning Pelke with a queen's robe and crown. Bill said one of the reasons for celebrating her was because she didn't stand to be honored at a Mother's Day service.
"I guess because she didn't have any kids of her own, she didn't feel like she was a mother," Bill said. "And that bothered me."

Pelke opened her arms to her nonbiological family, as well as her church family. Her relatives said she was an active member of her Baptist church and volunteered as part of a child evangelism program in her neighborhood. For about an hour sometimes five days a week, she would meet with youths and share Bible stories ranging from David and Goliath to Noah's ark.
She was known for using vibrant flannel graphs to tell those stories, her family said, sticking figures made of flannel and paper against unique flannel backgrounds propped on an easel.
"She was just a loving, caring person and she spoke positively of people," said granddaughter Dottie McKay, 67, of South Carolina. "She loved the Lord."
McKay said Pelke was killed shortly before McKay's daughter's high school graduation party, and they found the card she had prepared for her daughter after Pelke's death.
"If you had a perfect grandmother or mother, she would be the one," McKay said.

That day
Pelke had been living alone since her husband, Oscar, died in 1983, and her family members said they had been trying to get her to move as Gary's crime rate started to rise.
The day before her murder Robert had gone to visit Pelke to talk about getting the Adams Street home in Gary's Glen Park neighborhood fixed up and ready to sell. Weyhe, also a widow at the time, said she had been considering trying to buy a place with Pelke to help get her out of the area.
"She wasn't afraid to stay where she was," Robert said. "She said she'd stay there until she went to heaven."
And on May 14 when Robert went to pick up Pelke for some errands, he found her body on a blood-soaked floor with a towel over her face.
"The first thing I did was lift up the towel and I saw she was dead," Robert said. "I grabbed the telephone, and it was jerked out of the wall, and then I had to run up and down the street. I couldn't find a neighbor home or nothing."
Bill said his father flagged down a car and asked to use their phone because his mother had been killed.
"I know he had never referred to her as his mother, and that was the first time I heard him do that," Bill said.
Karen said she found out after coming home and watching it on the news, as cellphones were rare in the 1980s. Her brother, Jon, said he listened to a radio broadcast as the news broke.
"I remember hearing it on the radio and not knowing and just feeling this feeling," Jon said. "And then when I was told when I got home what had happened, you're talking about shock. It was heinous."
Karen said it was a blessing to find out who did it so soon.
"I think hearing about it and not knowing what happened, you have terrible thoughts in your mind about who did this," she said. "You don't think young girls. You think men, and what else did they do to this helpless woman?"
Bill said he remembers showing up to the house, seeing his father and another relative trying to scrub stains off the wall and carpet.
"(I) visioned her butchered on the dining room floor and it would just tear me apart," he said. "I couldn't stand to think about it.”

What's in a sentence?
Cooper was sentenced to death at age 15 for the murder of Pelke.
But through a series of events where Indiana law increased the age a child could be put to death to 16, the state Supreme Court ruled putting Cooper to death would be unconstitutional.
Her sentence was commuted to 60 years, and through credit for time served, a day off for each day of good behavior and credit for educational programming and certificates, she is scheduled to be released in 2013.
While Pelke's family members said they agree on the principals of mercy and forgiveness, they did not all have the same view of what justice is.
Bill, once a supporter of the death penalty, later became one of Cooper's biggest advocates. He said he forgave her and has seen how she's changed through their letter exchanges and visits over the past several decades.
"If she was somebody who was 30 or 40 years old, I might not have the same sentiment," Bill said about giving her a second chance because of her youth. "I figured it was up to the state of Indiana to decide when she would be eligible to get out ... so I had no problem that she would get 30 years."
Robert said that while he was a supporter of the death penalty, he was not upset that Cooper's sentence had been commuted and that she would be released in a little less than a year.
"In other words, there was nothing I could do about it," he said. "She was gone, the people were found guilty and punished according to the law. I was satisfied and that's were I left it. … If you hang onto it, it tears your life apart."
Others said they did not think the punishment fit the crime.
"At 15, you know it's murder," Weyhe said. "And (Pelke) was murdered with such force."
Jon said he would want to ask Cooper why she had to stab Pelke so many times. When told his question, Cooper said she would want to have that conversation with Jon, and that she was "very, very remorseful."
The disparity between the 60-year sentence and the less than 30 years of actual time served was frustrating for some family members, Karen said.
"You're gullible and think 60 years, she's got to be 75 when she gets out ... but that's not what they really mean," Karen said. "It's a sleight of hand in our justice system."
Randolph Stone, a clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago, said the state system does not make sentencing very clear, and that there is a movement to have more truth in sentencing where a year means a year — or at least more than six months.
"That's one of the things that needs to change about the system, is the transparency of the sentencing process," Stone said. "It's very complicated for lawyers, let alone the public."
He also said having a carrot to dangle in front of prisoners as an incentive to behave while behind bars helps wardens control the population.
For those who don't think she should be getting out next summer, Cooper said they are justified in whatever they feel, be it positive or negative.
"They are not going to understand it no matter what I say," she said from Rockville Correctional Facility. "That's just the way they feel. People are entitled to the way they feel."



Sentence breakdown

Paula Cooper was sentenced to death in 1986 for the murder of Ruth Pelke. In 1989 her death sentence was commuted to 60 years behind bars. Here is the breakdown of her sentence calculation resulting in a 2013 projected release date:
60 years minus about 29 years for good behavior with day-for-day credit = 31 years
31 years minus 4 years for time served before 1989 = 27 years
27 years minus 3 years for educational programming = 24 years served
SOURCE: Indiana Department of Corrections





A second chance at life

A second chance at life

Paula Cooper: Convicted of murder at 15, a Gary woman prepares for her 2013 release

by Sarah Tompkins

ROCKVILLE, Ind. | Paula Cooper mixed no-bake cookies, creating balls of sweet coconut and baking cocoa the size of a fist.
The 42-year-old woman was preparing meals for more than 100 prison staff at Rockville Correctional Facility -- where she has spent most of her life.
“I take great pride in what I do,” she said of cooking. “People have to trust you to eat your food. That's the most personal thing that they could do -- is taking something out your hand and believing you've done nothing to it.”
In 1985, Cooper was convicted of fatally stabbing an elderly Gary Bible school teacher 33 times with a butcher knife.
She was 15 years old.
The murder involved three other teenage co-defendants from Gary's Lew Wallace High School and left the region shaken.
Cooper was the only one sentenced to death -- a sentence eventually commuted after international attention and new state legal precedent.
Initially facing the electric chair, Cooper's sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Now, more than 25 years later, Cooper says she is a different person, tutoring inmates in the culinary arts while she is counting down the days to her 2013 release. And a second chance at life.
“Seven, eight years ago, I couldn't say I was ready to go home, and I wouldn't tell anybody that because that was a lie,” Cooper said about her rehabilitation. “My time is coming and, you know, I just hope that people give me a chance out there. That's it -- because people do change.”

The crime
It was a spring day when Cooper and three other teenagers decided to rob a house.
“We just had got really bored,” Cooper said. “We had started burglarizing people's houses, and that's basically got us to the point where we were at.”
April Beverly, whom Cooper said she met in person for the first time that day, lived behind a 78-year-old grandmother's house and suggested that house be their target.
Ruth Pelke lived alone in her Adams Street home in Gary's Glen Park neighborhood. Family members called her “Nana,” and she took interest in sharing Bible stories with children, including Beverly, in the Gary neighborhoods.
While accounts differ as to what exactly happened inside Pelke's house on May 14, 1985, Cooper describes the crime as a “robbery gone bad.”
“It was a murder,” Cooper said. “And it wasn't one that was planned or premeditated. It just happened.”
Cooper said the other burglaries were done at various vacant homes, and this one was different because, unbeknown to them, Pelke was there.
And she invited the girls into the house.
According to records, the teenagers pretended to be interested in taking part in Pelke's Bible classes. When Pelke let them in to write down the information, she was hit over the head and then stabbed dozens of times with a 12-inch knife.
“Once we got inside, it was like, 'What do we do now?'" Cooper said. “And everything just started happening ... It was a long time ago, and there are some things I can remember about it and some things I don't, but it just was never the intention, we just never had the intention of hurting anybody.”
While records place the knife in Cooper's hands, she said it was in everyone's at some point. The girls ransacked the house, stole about $10 and Pelke's car keys and drove away.
Cooper said they were “panicking, and then just one thing is leading to another, and everything is just moving really fast.”
Bill Pelke, the victim's grandson, said his son turned 15 the day his grandmother was killed.
“At first I thought, well, it was probably some 30-, 40-year-old drug addict, you know, trying to get money for a fix or something,” said Bill, now 64. “When we found out several days later that it was ninth-grade girls, it was just a real, just a real shock.”
Denise Thomas, then 14, Karen Corder, then 16, and April Beverly, then 15, later received sentences ranging from 25 to 60 years in prison. Thomas was convicted of murder, Corder pleaded guilty to murder and Beverly pleaded guilty to robbery in connection with the murder.
Beverly was pregnant and Corder a young mother at the time of the crime.
Cooper said she felt like they conspired against her to get favorable sentences, and that she, in turn, took the biggest fall.
“I think one of the misconceptions is that I was some ringleader of this big murder; that's not true,” said Cooper, who had no prior criminal record. “What I want people to know is that all four of us were guilty, and that's the bottom line. There was no innocent person in that house.”
After pleading guilty in April 1986 to murder, and murder while committing a robbery – without the benefit of a plea deal – Cooper was sentenced to death.
Indiana legislators later changed the law to make 16 the minimum age someone could be sentenced to death. But the law was written to exclude Cooper. International media attention and petitions for clemency on Cooper's behalf poured in from around the world, including from Pope John Paul II.
In 1989, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to sentence someone younger than 16 to death, and the high court commuted Cooper's sentence to 60 years in prison. It was the second harshest sentence for murder at the time.
“This is a difficult conclusion to reach because of the gruesome nature of Cooper's acts,” wrote Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard in the court's opinion.
And with a day knocked off a state sentence for every day of good conduct, Cooper is scheduled to be released July 17, 2013.

The time
Cooper wears a maroon T-shirt over khaki-colored pants, her daily prison garb, with a yellow I.D. clipped below her left shoulder. She has short, black hair, wears white and brown eye shadow and is soft-spoken. She describes herself back in the 1980s as “horrible.”
“I'm the type of person that I don't like to be fake,” she said. “I don't like to pretend with people. I mean, I was a very troubled person years ago. I was very troubled, had some very serious issues with myself and people, period.”
According to reports and Cooper herself, she was originally from Chicago, physically abused as a child, ran away from home starting at about age 12 and had regular contact with the Juvenile Detention System.
One report describes how Cooper was beaten with an extension cord and how a family member placed Cooper and another young relative in a car and started the engine in a garage in a murder/suicide attempt.
After years of being bitter in prison and falling into the negativity that hovers over many in that environment, Cooper said she has changed.
“If I never have hope, if I never have faith, if I never believe in anything, and I'm just sitting here moping around all day long, my life is just one ball of misery,” she said. “You have to learn how to deal with your own bitterness and anger and the things that's going on inside.”
Cooper credits her growth to God's intervention and her taking advantage of Rockville's programming after transferring nine years ago to the facility about three hours south of Gary.
Cooper was previously involved for discipline issues, but is now a leader among inmates, tutoring many in culinary arts. She said she felt like she had a lot to prove to people, and she was proud to be instructing fellow inmates on how to properly prepare meals.
“There's a lot of people in there that's never cooked before," Cooper said. “Ever.”
Her first job after arriving at Rockville was for Prison Enterprise Network, known as PEN Products, a division of Indiana's Department of Correction that manufactures various products for the state prisons and has some joint ventures with private companies as well.
Cooper said the woman in charge told her she originally never had any intention of hiring her. But after Cooper explained her past and shared her present, she was hired.
“That was my first chance, and I didn't want to let her down because I felt like she was the first person I encountered here at this facility, and if I had've disappointed her, then I was never going to be able to redeem myself,” Cooper said.
Cooper said she ended up a valued employee, pressing more than twice the daily quota of metal parts used for doors and ice machines.
And while she said she's grateful to count her mother and sister among her supporters, she has found another source of strength in an unsuspecting place: Bill Pelke, the murder victim's grandson.
“He's my -- he's my biggest encouragement,” Cooper said.
Bill Pelke, who once agreed with the judge's death-penalty ruling, became one of Cooper's strongest advocates in having that sentence commuted. They have written each other almost weekly for decades, and have in-person visits when possible.
Pelke said he realized his grandmother would have wanted compassion for Paula, and that God made forgiveness in him possible.
“We're supposed to hate the sin but love the sinner,” said Bill Pelke, who wrote a book about his experience and helps victims' families through the nonprofit Journey of Hope, From Violence to Healing. “Paula has changed. She's not the same person that committed that terrible crime in 1985.”

The future
With just about a year left of her sentence, Cooper is looking forward to giving back to society and getting a job.
But she said she is worried society will not give her the opportunity because of her past.
“We should pay for our crimes and we should, you know, take our punishment,” Cooper said. “But everybody deserves a second chance.”
That ability to find work is one factor in whether inmates return to prison, according to various studies. In Indiana, about 40 percent of the prison population released in 2005 went back behind bars within three years, according to the DOC.
“I mean, I don't care if I have to sweep floors, wash dishes or flip hamburgers, I'm going to take what I can get, you know, just to get on my feet and show people that I deserve a chance. Because I've done my time,” Cooper said.
During her decades in prison, Cooper has earned her GED, received a bachelor's degree, completed an apprenticeship program in housekeeping and collected various certificates. She said she hopes it helps her find steady work, and that regardless, she wants to talk to troubled youth and help them avoid making her mistakes.
“You know, I have a real story,” she said. “And there's somebody out there, even if it's just one kid, that will listen. And I'm hoping to get them.”

---------------------------------

Timeline of events

May 14, 1985: Bible teacher Ruth Pelke is murdered.
May 15, 1985: Stepson Robert Pelke discovers her body.
May 1985: Four Lew Wallace High School students arrested for the murder of Ruth Pelke -- Karen Denise Corder, 16; Paula Cooper, 15; April Beverly, 15; and Denise Thomas, 14.
Nov. 7, 1985: Denise Thomas convicted of felony murder/murder on Dec. 4, 1985; Sentenced to 35 years in prison.
March 26, 1986: Karen Corder pleaded guilty to murder of Ruth Pelke on May 29, 1986; Corder sentenced to 60 years in prison.
April 21, 1986: Paula Cooper pleaded guilty to the stabbing murder of Ruth Pelke.
June 23, 1986: April Beverly pleaded guilty to robbery in connection with the murder of Ruth Pelke.
July 18, 1986: April Beverly sentenced to 25 years in prison.
July 11, 1986: Paula Cooper is sentenced to death.
July 13, 1989: Indiana Supreme Court finds Paula Cooper's death sentence unconstitutional and commutes her sentence to 60 years in prison.
July 17, 2013: Paula Cooper's scheduled release from prison.

---------------------------------

May 14, 1985: Bible teacher Ruth Pelke is murdered.

May 15, 1985: Stepson Robert Pelke discovers her body.

May 1985: Four Lew Wallace High School students arrested for the murder of Ruth Pelke -- Karen Denise Corder, 16; Paula Cooper, 15; April Beverly, 15; and Denise Thomas, 14.

Nov. 7, 1985: Denise Thomas convicted of felony murder/murder on Dec. 4, 1985; Sentenced to 35 years in prison.

March 26, 1986: Karen Corder pleaded guilty to murder of Ruth Pelke on May 29, 1986; Corder sentenced to 60 years in prison.

April 21, 1986: Paula Cooper pleaded guilty to the stabbing murder of Ruth Pelke.

June 23, 1986: April Beverly pleaded guilty to robbery in connection with the murder of Ruth Pelke.

July 18, 1986: April Beverly sentenced to 25 years in prison.

July 11, 1986: Paula Cooper is sentenced to death.

July 13, 1989: Indiana Supreme Court finds Paula Cooper's death sentence unconstitutional and commutes her sentence to 60 years in prison.

July 17, 2013: Paula Cooper's scheduled release from prison.

Two new board members

Journey of Hope adds two new board members

SueZann Bosler, Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing cofounder has rejoined the Journey boards of directors after a 5 year break while she pursued her college education. Joining SueZann on the Journey board is Reece Robert. Reece is the coordinator for Alaskans Against the Death Penalty. Reece is from Anchorage and SueZann is from Hallandale, Florida. We welcome these two fine people to the Journey board of directors.

Washington DC area Journey of Hope

Washington DC area Journey of Hope June 22-July 2

Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing

Washington DC area Journey of Hope June 22-July 2

Journey of Hope speaker will be touring the DC area June 22-July 2, 2012.

Speaking events are being planned for Northern Virginia, Washington, DC and Maryland. The Journey of Hope will culminate when we join with the Abolitionist Action Committee’s 19th annual Fast and Vigil June 29-July 2 at the US Supreme Court. The Journey of Hope has been a big part of the Fast and Vigil since it began in 1994.

If you are interested in hosting a speaking event for your church, school, college and/or community group during these dates, please contact the Journey at info@JourneyofHope.org.

The Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing is led by murder victim family members who are opposed to the death penalty. We travel around the country and around the world sharing our storiesce to Healing and talk about how the death penalty has nothing to do with the healing that murder victim family members need when a loved one has been killed, but how in fact it continues the cycle of violence and creates more victim family members. We say stop the killing. We have seen enough. Death row family members, exonerated and other abolition activists join our Journey speaking teams to help put the human face on the issue of the death penalty.

Speakers include Shujaa Graham, Terri Steinberg, Charity Lee, Randy Gardner, Scott Langley, Art Laffin, Bill Pelke and others. Speaking events are free, although love offerings or honorariums are welcomed. The Journey of Hope is a 501 c 3 non-profit organization.

Events will be scheduled on a first come, first serve basis.

Rachel Lawler has volunteered to help coordinate the DC Journey. Please contact Ann Feczko for possible DC events, John MacDiarmid for Northern Virginia or Rachel for Maryland and all other general questions. Brian Evans has offered to help with Amnesty groups that might want to organize an event.

In addition to telling our stories we will be promoting the fast and vigil and encouraging attendance of our audiences to visit our actions at the court. June 29th is the 40th anniversary of Furman V. Georgia, a decision that temporarily halted executions in the US until the July 2, 1976 Greg V. Georgia decision that allowed executions to resume. June 29th is an important landmark and it is a day that will be widely observed. There will be a rally that day at the court plus speaking teach ins at the court each evening.

5 states have abolished the death penalty in the last five years. California voters can replace the death penalty with life without parole in the upcoming November election. Since the Troy Davis case media has given a lot of attention to the abolition movement. It would be helpful to our cause if media would be invited to Journey speaking events.

Please let us know what we can do to help make the Journey of Hope a success in your area.

Bill Pelke, President Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing http://www.journeyofhope.org/
Cell phone 305-775-5823 a

Trusting in God`s plan....by Terri Steinberg

Trusting in God's plan
By Terri Steinberg,
Mother of Virginia Death Row Inmate Justin Wolfe

I knew that we had a death penalty in this country, but being a busy mom, I never did anything about it or gave it much thought. I was raised to believe that all life was sacred. Our Fifth Commandment says "Thou shalt not Kill" and there were no footnotes or exceptions. I knew that the two greatest commandments were to love God and love your neighbor, and I believed that meant I could not kill them. The death penalty just did not make sense to me. Then one day, the death penalty came into my home and threatened the life of my oldest child, and destroyed the childhood for his siblings.

My oldest son, Justin Wolfe, had gotten involved with selling marijuana when he was in high school. He bought marijuana from a young man named Danny and sold to another named Owen. One night, just before Justin's 20th birthday, Owen shot and killed Danny. Owen was arrested in California three weeks later and brought back to Manassas, where he was questioned every day and threatened with the death penalty. At the end of two weeks of questioning, he was convinced that the only way to save himself from the death penalty was to say that someone asked him to do it. So he blamed Justin.

When Justin called to tell me he was turning himself in, I collapsed to the floor. I have to admit, I respected him for accepting responsibility for his actions in order to clear his name of this horrible crime. He assured me, “Mom, they think I had something to do with Danny's death, so I am going to turn myself in. Now, I may have to face some drug charges, but it will be a first offense marijuana charge. I should be home in a few days. I just have to clear my name of this murder. Please, don't worry.” We trusted the system and believed the truth would set him free. But after a trial that lasted three weeks, the jury deliberated just one hour and found him guilty of murder for hire. Justin was sentenced to death. 

I could not go out of the house for many weeks. I was devastated, exhausted, embarrassed and so very sad. As a mother, I had failed to protect my children. I couldn't face anyone. I went to different grocery stores, a different church. The murder trial was all over the local papers, which said horrible things about my son. It seemed like there was no place that I could turn where I wasn't bombarded with it. Before the arrest, I had always been very active with the kids - volunteering, coaching, room mom, and whatever else needed to be done. Now my job as mother is consumed with protecting my children from the horrible truth that our state is working really hard to kill their big brother, a brother they love and looked up to; trying to help them grow up to be normal” when the death penalty has stripped "normal" from their lives.

My time is consumed with saving Justin's life, and the fight to end the death penalty. I travel often with a group called the Journey of Hope, from Violence to Healing; a group consisting of murder victims' family member who oppose the death penalty, family members of the people on death rows from across the country, and men who lost years of their lives to the death penalty - exonerated of their crimes and now finally free. We talk about how the death penalty does not bring the healing that someone needs after losing a loved one to murder, and how the death penalty only creates more victims.

We have many in the community that support us; yet it still hurts that there are those former friends that no longer want anything to do with us. We were not welcome at some neighborhood functions and some people blatantly looked the other way as we passed. In some ways, I understand. It was hard for me to talk about it, so I can imagine it would be hard to know just what to say. But I always felt a simple "hello" would have been nice.
Last July, a Federal court judge finally recognized that Justin is innocent of this crime and vacated his sentences. Unfortunately, the state is appealing this decision, so he still sits on death row, in isolation, where he has been for 11 years now, and will celebrate his 31st birthday on March 17. The Fourth Circuit Court hearing is scheduled for May 17, and we continue to hope.
I know God has a plan for Justin and our family. I pray every day that I can follow His lead and do as He asks, to be His servant with this cross He has given. Each day, I pray the Our Father and focus on and sometimes struggle with the words – "Thy will be done." Those words carry so much meaning and responsibility for me. But I have to believe that God will carry us as we carry this cross. I know that one day Justin will come home; he will be free of that place. What I don't know is who will he come home to - me, or our Father in heaven. I hope he will get another chance at life here with us, but I know I have to trust in God's plan, whatever that is.

I know that we do not need to become the murderers we lock up to protect ourselves. People who commit crimes need to be held accountable, and society deserves to be protected. But our prisons are capable of doing that without taking another life. Justin's story is a prime example of how the system does not work. There are many days I stop and wonder how this happened in our lives. I know this cross was given to us for a reason and I pray I carry it well. I hope we can use our situation to help other young people make better decisions for themselves. I hope somehow we can help demonstrate the flaws of our system and prove that the death penalty is cruel, unnecessary and only creates more victims of violence. We can only hope somehow we can make a difference. 

Maybe His plan is for Justin's story to make a difference in the lives he touches. I know he has made a difference for the men on the row, as he tries to make the best of each day, positive and upbeat and is always looking out for the weaker ones there. As we head into the feast of the most famous execution of the innocent, may we reflect on the death penalty, and the lessons Jesus came to teach us: "Love one another as I have loved you" and "Whatever you do to the least of our brothers, you do to me."

I have stood in the field, holding hands with the mother or family member as their loved one is being killed by our state. No family should have to endure that pain. I have looked into the eyes of "the least of my brothers," and I know the person I see is more than the person who committed a horrible crime. He, too is a child of God, loved by God, and his family. And the question should not be "do they deserve to die for what they did," the question is "do we have the right to kill them?" I believe we are called to do better, and I pray you will join me in the fight to end this cycle of violence we call the death penalty. 

Please let your legislators know that you respect life - all life - and we do not need or want a death penalty in our beautiful state. Let them know you would prefer your tax dollars to go to supporting life, not death, to supporting victim's families, not creating more victims. And I ask you to please keep my family in your prayers, along with our lawyers, the students and professors at The Innocence Project at UVA and the judges that hear his case on May 17.

In hope, 

Terri

Your help is needed!

Dear friends of Journey of Hope

we're reaching out to you to ask for your support and thoughts. Since months we're working hard to get the new website done. The good part of this story is that we’re ready for getting it online.

Our new provider is located in Germany called Flexinetz: they are supporting human rights! Since more than 25 years the owner of Flexinetz Internet Service is a supporting member of amnesty international, being active on individual cases some years as well. A small percentage of the income of Flexinetz goes to ai by yearly donations of the owner. They even offered Journey of Hope their support by a monthly discount on the webserver-package.
This and the incredible work they had done in the past with helping us with the new website showed us that this is the right move.

The sad news is that 1&1, our current provider, seems to have an opposite opinion about moving our website.  In order to make the provider aware about the switch, the domain owner needs to call up and confirm the cancellation by phone. As 1&1 officially says on their website: “Our service team will process and confirm your termination.”
Yes, that’s what they did, but Bill Pelke, founder of Journey of Hope and domain owner never asked for deleting the whole site. As asked by 1&1 he called up and asked for the transfer to another provider. The cancellation of the contract was for „move to another provider (KK)“, not „delete“, so that’s where the damage began. The contents cannot be backuped anymore, because 1&1 deleted them unexpectedly and without prior notice.

Unfortunatly the Journey of Hope website can’t be reached since that phone call. No e-mails are being sent nor forwarded. So that what is going on right now with the Journey of Hope website.
Now we’re asking you for your help and support. Please write to 1&1 complaints@1and1.com and ask about the following:

*********
Dear 1&1

I’m a visitor and supporter of journeyofhope.org and it’s organization Journey of Hope.

It is now more than a week ago that you made the domain unavailable and did not keep it ready for a transfer.
It is now more than a week ago that you made the email-address unavailable.

I’m strongly asking you to do the following immediately:

• make all domain contents publicly available under http://journeyofhope.org
• give us back the access to all former mailboxes *@journeyofhope.org

Thank you!
*******

Together we are able to make up their mind. Thank you very much for your time and support in helping us in this cause

Jasmin
Webmaster of Journey of Hope