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CHECK OUT THE GAMECOCK ONLINE @ http://www.gamecock.sc.edu ' WEATHER ^ ^ INDEX TODAY J (==T~^\ fli U [ HSi NEWS 1 ? l_J ?f RrnfPrrirb WII "": wednesday p I I I l| I III IX BL ^ ?1 COMICS 11 ?? XL^WJ I IVVVvl \ SPORTS 12 Low 73 -? Serving USC since 1908 tim l*?y ctiaMs CLASSIFIEDS 15 pages Fightin MB BIB I wm B John Michael Greer takes part in a pray to protest the execution of Fred Kornah two protestors. Pearson heads the Soul Lg CS / # m I er session and candelij irens. USC English prof th Carolina Coalition to ' ipital pi BSS \ JBI \ v ISi sHHHH .^HH PHOTOS BY ROBERT WAUON The Gamecock ?ht vigil outside the governor's mansion, essor Bruce Pearson, right, speaks to > Abolish the Death Penalty. unishi Professor hec penalty oppot ROBERT WALTON Photo Editor Huddled together at the gates to the South Carolina governor's mansion, sheltering small candles and hoping for the miracle of clemency, opponents of capital punishment came to make their concerns known and to separate themselves from the sentence ahnnt. tn he carried nut.. Fred Kornahrens died by lethal ( injection early Friday morning for three murders he committed in . 1985. The candlelight vigil did not con- i vince Governor David Beasley to , grant clemency to Kornahrens, but according to Bruce Pearson, an English professor at USC, it provided a "religious setting for those who do not wish to have the state kill someone in their name." i Pearson heads the South Carolina Coalition to Abolish the Death Par\alt\7 TV\a crrniin nrcraniTO/t ttio X Viiui\JJ. lav 01 uu^/ wi 0U1UUVU uiv vigil and prayer service. The coalition is a volunteer organization, with no real membership or funding. There is a mailing list am/) n 0V1 r\fUr?f no "Drvovnnr? ciiiu a oiiaicu ucuci tiiat, ao i caiouii said, "If it is wrong for the individual to kill, it is also wrong as a group activity under state sponsorship." The coalition's goal is to abolish to the death penalty in South Carolina. Pearson said the group takes advantage of every opportunity to FW Mk Wm \ {jf Hufc HmI tnent ids death iitiori group. air its concerns and makes protest efforts whenever an execution occurs. Pearson said it is impossible to predict when the death penalty will fall, but he said he is confident evenhiallv ranital nnnishnriant will bp stopped. Twelve states and all democracies in Western Europe have no death penalty," Pearson said. "The United States is in the company of some rather unsavory nations." The coalition formed in 1977, when the current death penalty statute was enacted. In the mid-80s two grants were acquired which allowed the coalition 1a wiAm^Ain *-?v\ aPRaa nm/I r? fiill fimA iu maintain ail uuiv^c aiiu a luii-timc staff member. But when the grants from the Atlanta Fund for Southern Communities and the Catholic church's Campaign for Human Development expired, the organization became an all-volunteer group. The coalition has a core membership of about 100 people who attend vigils and protests that the coalition stages, but Pearson said he believes this is only a fraction of the people in South Carolina who are opposed to the death penalty. "We are just a group of volunteers trying to get a message across," Pearson said. If people understand the issues, they will come out against (capital punishment)." r