[CUADPUpdate] Workman's Last Request Honored

[Abraham J. Bonowitz]

Hi All,

My hat is off to the folks in Tennessee, who 
worked their butts off to try to save Phillip 
Workman, a man who did not commit a crime worthy of execution.

Read about it here:  http://www.tcask.org/

See the video 
here: 
http://deathpenaltyusa.blogspot.com/2007/04/phillip-workman-deadly-silence.html

And while it is not the first time a prisoner has 
asked that his last meal be given to the 
homeless, it is the first time I am aware of 
where the official denial of that request spurred 
public outrage and action.  Phil Workman, RIP.

paz!

--abe

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/09/execution.pizza/index.html

Executed man's last request honored - pizzas for everyone





Story Highlights

• Hundreds of pizzas were delivered to Nashville homeless shelters Wednesday
• Death row prisoner asked that his last meal be pizza for a homeless person
• Prison refused to honor his request, saying it doesn't donate to charity
• One woman and her friends paid $1,200 to fulfill Philip Workman's last wish
By Ashley Fantz
CNN

(CNN) -- Hundreds of homeless people in 
Nashville, Tennessee, ate well Wednesday evening 
-- all in the name of a man who the state put to death just hours earlier.

Philip Workman, 53, requested that his final meal 
be a vegetarian pizza donated to any homeless 
person located near Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

He was executed there at 2 a.m. ET Wednesday.

But prison officials refused to honor his 
request, saying that they do not donate to charities.

That apparently upset a few people willing to pay 
for and deliver a lot of pies themselves.

Homeless shelters across Nashville were inundated 
with donated pizzas all Wednesday.

"I was like, 'Wow, Jesus!' " said Marvin 
Champion, an employee of Nashville's Rescue 
Mission, which provides overnight shelter, food 
and assistance to more than 800 homeless people a night.

"I used to be homeless, so I know how rough it 
gets. I seen some bad times -- not having enough 
food, the cupboards are bare. But we got pizza to 
feed enough people for awhile," Champion said.

"This really shows the people here that someone out there thought of them."


$1,200 worth of pies

Donna Spangler heard about Workman's request and 
immediately called her friends. They all pitched 
in for the $1,200 bill to buy 150 pizzas, which 
they sent to the Rescue Mission.

"Philip Workman was trying to do a good deed and 
no one would help him," said the 55-year-old who 
recruited a co-worker to help her make the massive delivery Wednesday evening.

"I knew my husband would have a heart attack -- I 
put some of it on the credit card. But I thought 
we'll find a way to pay for them later," she 
said. "I just felt like I had to do something positive."

Spangler wasn't the only person to place an order in Workman's name.

The president of the People for Ethical Treatment 
of Animals read a news story about the prison 
denying the inmate's last request and ordered 15 
veggie pizzas sent to the Rescue Mission Wednesday morning.

"Workman's act was selfless, and kindness to all 
living beings is a virtue," said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk.

Not far away, 17 pizzas arrived at Nashville's 
Oasis Center, a shelter that helps about 260 
teenagers in crisis. By 9 p.m. ET, more pizzas 
had arrived, said executive director Hal Cato.

"We talked to the kids and they understand what 
this is tied to and they know that this man 
[Workman] wanted to do something to point out the problems of homelessness."

When Workman robbed a Wendy's in Memphis, 
Tennessee, in 1981, he was a strung-out cocaine 
addict looking for a way to pay for his next high, he has said.

He was homeless at the time. Workman was 
convicted of shooting and killing Memphis Police 
Lt. Ronald Oliver during the robbery.

Many of the pizzas ordered in Workman's name were 
delivered anonymously, but the first 17 at Oasis 
Center came from a Minneapolis, Minnesota, radio 
station that devoted much of its morning show 
time talking about Workman's request.

"They were upset about it," said Cato.

He plans to call other homeless shelters in 
Nashville Thursday and share the pies. "They 
should be able to benefit from this, too," he said.

Cliff Tredway, the director of public relations 
for the Rescue Mission, said it's more than pizzas that helped that shelter.

"It's the story of a guy whose execution 
translated into a generous act," he said. "It's 
people donating to other people they don't know.

"It's about a group of people who society often 
writes off getting a pizza party today."

*****