That title is the theme of the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty, a non-profit group seeking to abolish the death penalty in the State of Texas.

            The TCADP will hold its annual conference at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, February 20, 2010. The theme of this year’s conference is “Seizing the Momentum: Building Capacity, Community, and Coalition.”

            The program will present the following awards:

• Courage Award: To Judge Charlie Baird who “has demonstrated constant and courageous opposition to the death penalty” and who “consistently worked for justice while serving on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (1990-1998).”
• Courage Award: Father Mark Miller, Rev. Gene Collins, Rev. David Mossbarger and Rev. Roy Gentry who demonstrated “great courage in establishing a new TCADP chapter in Odessa.
• Media Award: David Grann, staff writer, The New York Magazine, whose “in-depth investigation of the Cameron Todd Willingham case” with his article “Trial by Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?” which “explored the case in its entirety and debunked all of the evidence used to convict/sentence Willingham to death.”
• Appreciation Award: Ron Carlson, a murder victims’ family member, who worked with the TCADP “during the 81^st Legislative Session” and whose perspective “was particularly compelling to legislators.”

Information about attending the conference can be found at info@tcadp.org or at

www.tcadp.org under the “Conference” button or by telephoning (512) 441-1808.

            The conference will feature workshops, panel discussions, exhibits, and door prizes. It is a perfect opportunity for those who oppose the death penalty but who have not found an organized way to do it to get involved with a terrific organization dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty in Texas.

            Fighting the death in Texas is a lonely, sometimes seemingly solitary struggle, but there are many fine, decent people in this state committed ending the injustice of capital punishment. The TCADP is not a group of “wild-eyed liberals” as many conservatives would like to paint them. They are wonderful people who believe in the sanctity of human life and who stand firm behind the principle that the State, no more than any individual, has a right to extinguish a human life.