By Kavita Chhibber

I’m neither pro nor anti-death penalty. I believe it should be decided on the case by case basis. And this is one case where I believe that this man does not deserve to die.

 His name is Troy Anthony Davis and he is a Black man from Savannah Georgia on death row for close to 20 years.

This is a story of what can possibly happen to you and me if we were to end up in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Add a screwed up legal system, and a dash of racism, and it could be a life in a maximum security prison, with years of no redemption.

But, don’t go by his name and the color of the skin. Read this story also because it could be that one time, your activism may be the difference between life and death.

Before their life began to unravel in 1989, the Davis family lived their American dream in a middle class neighborhood, in Savannah Georgia. Troy was a good student, a caring brother who nursed  a paralyzed sister back to health after dropping out of day school but graduating with Honors after attending night school.

 Troy was always the peace maker, says Martina his sister, the problem solver in a conflict when people were fighting.

19 August 1989-Bill Clinton was celebrating a birthday but that night, in Savannah,  near the Greyhound Bus station, events were unfolding that would forever change the lives of two families.

The sequence of events remain murky and sticky like that night, and stories have changed several times since then, as years and continuous media reports add to new twists and turns. But what has not changed is the fact that a young 27 year old Police Officer, Mark Allen MacPhail, lost his life in a senseless, brutal murder and Troy Davis was the young man who supposedly did it.

Macphail’s  senseless murder angered the police officers to such an extent that they had “Shoot to kill” orders as pictures of Troy, now rechristened the cop killer, and already condemned to being guilty even before he had been questioned flashed across the airwaves.

 No murder weapon was found and there is no DNA or any other physical evidence linking Troy Davis to the murder or to an earlier shoot out that night which injured another young man Michael Cooper. Davis’s conviction came because of the testimony of nine so called eye witnesses. Leading the eye witness Parade was  Sylvester “Redd” Coles. Coles has been described by many who know him as a fearsome neighborhood thug. Other eye witnesses were either those who claimed to be present at the shooting or near the crime scene and those who claimed Troy had confessed to them that he had killed  Mark Macphail. What came to light soon after was the fact that Sylvester Coles supposedly had a similar .38 caliber gun, which had killed the police officer. Affidavits submitted much later from 3 people who did not testify at the Davis  trial also claim that Coles, confessed to killing the officer after Davis was convicted.

 Martina says she is convinced that the Police knew Troy was innocent, “but they had already turned the wheels in motion. Our family was never allowed inside the courtroom  during the trial. They were able to be there only on the day he had been convicted and the prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.”  She also believes Coles is the one the Police should be questioning. “I talked to some body who knows Coles and who calls me to tell me where he is and I was told that when he is drunk he brags about the murder and no body does anything about it.”

 Seven of the 9 eye witnesses have recanted their testimony since then citing police coercion. Several members of the jury who had sentenced Troy to death, have sent sworn statements saying the jury’s decision was based on incomplete and unreliable evidence. The murky timeline of the events of that night, the recanted eye witness statements, have ensured there is nothing black and white about this case. Add to that accusations of Police being blind sided by the intense pressure to find the killer of a fellow officer, and police coercion, and the plot thickens even more.

 Martina says that there is no reason for these eye witnesses to come forward now. They are not related to each other, they don’t cross paths, and they don’t work together. Why would they stick their necks out now and deal with all the hassles that go with it?

 By now most people would think that there was enough in the case for it to be granted a retrial, but Troy Davis’s life is caught up  in legal knots that has many wondering about an urgent need for reforming Georgia’s judicial system.

 This lack of diligence combined with the anti terrorism and death penalty act signed by Clinton in 1996, and the Georgia Resource center, (that provides lawyers to death row inmates) crumbling under massive budget cuts resulted in the inability to investigate Troy’s case until after the expiration of the statute of limitations on new evidence.

Most people who have followed the case, or researched it say the evidence, the way the case was handled, the recanting, and the legal jargon, makes it all very confusing and unclear

 One thing however stands out very clearly for most people aware of the case.  If Troy Davis is executed, the justice system would have failed.

 Troy Davis  will die on the 23^rd of September if the Georgia State Parole Board does not change its mind and commute his sentence. They are the sole body vested with the powers to deny or decide to execute a death row inmate.

 Martina thinks that the internet, the international interest and the intervention of Amnesty International has managed to make everyone take a second look at the case, or Troy would have been put to death long ago.

 What has been interesting to see is that many prominent personalities who are pro death penalty have pleaded on Troy’s behalf.  The reason for that is the question that every one has begun to ask-is the justice system in Georgia functioning as it should? This case has raised issues that affect far more people than Troy Davis.

The execution date has again been set for September 23^rd.

 There is a clemency hearing today, Sept 12 2008. Martina Correia, her family and Troy’s lawyers will stand before the Parole Board and plead for clemency for Troy. Macphail’s family will, the prosecutors will presumably plead to the contrary in a separate hearing, even though there has been no official comment from the Macphail family. No matter what the outcome we will never know how the Parole Board decided whatever they decide to do, because that is never made public.

Please go to http://www.kavitachhibber.com/main/main.jsp?id=troy_davis_story, and read the whole story. Please send emails to the Parole board. The information is given in the article.

Thanks

BY VEENA RAO

Running a newspaper is no child’s play. Unless you have the passion, dogged perseverance, and the willingness to work long hours and take on many roles, chances are that you will wind up in a short time.

NRI Pulse has survived two years. It has been fun. It has been challenging. It has been a learning curve and a period of evolution. Growing from an impulsive idea to a media that is a household name in Atlanta and Alabama in two years is no mean feat!

Why run a newspaper? A newspaper- even a community newspaper- is a potent weapon to effectively influence several thousand readers. It is easy to get major news from around the world. But people are interested in the happenings in their local community, and in their country of residence. That is where we come in.

How powerful even a community newspaper can be, I have learned over the past two years, from the number of partnership requests I have received from successful businessmen. While some offers were indirect and others direct, the most amusing experience involved a respected community member who had once made a “gentleman’s promise to always support NRI Pulse”. Super successful and very soft spoken, the gentleman’s childish sense of entitlement came as a complete shock to me. When I approached him for an ad for our second anniversary special issue, I was rebuked with harsh words that implied: I asked you for partnership in your newspaper and you refused. I am not interested in supporting your paper with an ad.

The gentleman had neither made a direct request, nor do I remember having refused his request. The crabbiness was because I had not understood his hints at acquisition and offered him NRI Pulse on a platter.  Success gives you that sense of entitlement!

But this experience made me realize how strong a weapon a newspaper is, and why some of the movers and shakers of the community want a stake in the local media.

Running a newspaper often involves striking a fine balance between giving in to the client’s whims and holding your own. This has led to all kinds of situations with advertisers. While most advertisers stick to their commitments and are on time with payments, a handful will try to extract maximum mileage in terms of PR articles and then do the disappearing act when it comes to advertising. Some will advertise, but will make you chase them for payments, or insist they have paid- without ever issuing a check.

A free newspaper survives on advertising revenue. There have been times when we have started the month with zero ads. I remember when we lost five ads on the very same day last year! This happened a few days after my dad was diagnosed with cancer. I recall battling dejection at the curve balls thrown my way.  Dad did not survive cancer. But his favorite newspaper has miraculously bounced back each month. We have not only survived, but have grown in terms of circulation and reach.

In spite of all the challenges though, the past two years have been fruitful and satisfying.

The impulse to start a community newspaper gained foothold in my mind in May 2006. The idea was implanted there by a fellow journalist who saw great potential for a free newspaper to service the growing Atlanta South Asian communities.

Armed with the whim, I approached the local businesses and a few prominent people I knew. I had no prototype to show them, nor a business plan to discuss. All I could tell them was, “You know my work as a journalist. Please support me.”

The support was overwhelming. I will always be grateful to the doctors of AAPI, Mark Premji, Suresh Sheregar of Udipi Café, realtor Narender Reddy, attorney Chandler Sharma, Global Mall’s Shiv Aggarwal, Anjan and Dr. Indrani Duttagupta, Gandhi Foundation’s Anthony Thaliath and others for their support through ads and sponsorships in the initial challenging days. I am also indebted to my friend Frances West for her unwavering support through the past two years.

The next step was to put a team together. Sonu Patel, my friend and co-worker from Atlanta Samachar, (the first Atlanta based newspaper that we both worked for, had closed down a couple of years earlier) came on board as designer and art director. Despite a busy schedule and other deadline bound projects to work on, Sonu pitched in bravely and we toiled day and night to put the first issue together. Soon Lopa D. Chowdhury joined NRI Pulse as marketing associate. Now we were a real team!

The editorial department fast grew into a virtual who’s who of the Atlanta community. Journalists Ravi R. Ponangi, Kavita Chhibber, Dr. Mala Chakravorty and Mahadev Desai contributed news reports and reviews. Prominent community members Dr. Narsi Narasimhan, Narender Reddy, Chandler Sharma, and later P.S. Lakshmi Rao and Dr. Arun Misra turned articulate writers.

So far so good. This was fun. Even the challenges were fun. Like finding the right printer. We went from printer to printer, learning along the way that not every printer does newspaper print jobs. We finally found this very accommodating web printer whose quote fit our budget.

While there was no business strategy to begin with, I had made up my mind that our product would be a no frills free newspaper in tabloid size with focus on quality content. The overheads would be kept low in order to allow for a maximum 70:30 content-to-ad ratio. I wanted our readers to have real content to read, and not have to flip through pages in a vain attempt to find content.

The next big challenge was in distributing the newspaper. I went from business to business, seeking permission to set up our racks and leave copies of NRI Pulse for patrons to pick up. Within the second month we started getting calls from people, advising us to set up distribution points in new areas. Before we knew it, we were distributing at over 70 locations!

Today, NRI Pulse has expanded its team to include several new members- Mubashra Siddiqui, Jyothsna Hegde, Yesha Malik amongst others. Our team is young, bright and eager to serve. We are the only Indian media to service both Georgia and Alabama.

It is an overcrowded market jostling for attention. There are magazines of all shapes, sizes and languages out there. But I believe we will continue to thrive, simply because we have something to offer to the reader.

If you have suggestions for our improvement, or general comments about the newspaper, write to me at editor@nripulse.com.

BY ARUN MISRA

Why did all republican candidates, falter one after another, in favor of McCain ?  Since they did not belong to the Old Boy’s network. Hence President Bush,  Senior Bush and numerous others have endorsed McCain, so that the ‘Same Ol, Same Ol’  can be continued, no one comes forward to rock the boat, the tax cuts for the rich as well as deployment of troops in Iraq to keep our contractors profitable, stays in place.

Why do so many democrats like Kerry, Kennedy, Lewis are against Hillary Clinton ?

To help McCain get elected, and save the country from the embarrassment of being run by a woman, who is untested and could be unpredictable, may bring troops back home on popular demand.

Do we treat women equally, and will we allow them to get into powerful positions? We should not, as our religion, the literal word of God in the Bible, tells us that women were created from the rib bone of a man, and  are inferior to men and should follow men, not lead them.  Hence the entire democratic party stalwarts are busy embarrassing Hillary, trying to  get her out of  the  race, by supporting Obama.  Why black Obama then,  who has been meticulously trying to hide his middle Muslim initial,  Hussain?  Why are white Christians so generous with their money and support for black Obama ? Do we love blacks, have we changed,  want to provide  them  with equal opportunity ? Are you kidding ?  Do we want Obama in White House ?  An emphatic No. We would have treated Obama like we did to Martin Luther King or to Malcolm X, or are doing to Lois Farrakhan, if we believed that he will win.   Obama is serving a clever purpose, to get Hillary out of  race, so that all whites, who still make the majority of the population will forget their differences, be it democrat  or republican, get  together and vote for their beloved white candidate, John McCain, and save us from the disgrace of having a woman or a black president.  If John Kerry becomes the candidate for Vice President, with republicans, de ja vu, as he had tried to rope in McCain in 2004, things should become very simple. Poor John Edwards, spoke too much against the corporations and bothered them with litigations. He would have befriended the affluent and powerful once elected, but got swayed in impressing the poor and the masses at the cost of the rich. This is why republicans are voting in huge numbers for Obama and against Clinton. The two parties are the same, which was amply proved by Bill Clinton’s period, and is being exemplified by George Bush’s government.  The two parties combine  to put up a great drama to  entertain and fool the public, and succeed very well at it. And the dream ticket of  a woman and a black will be even an easier kill for the conservatives. The ‘country is not ready for it’, but if Hillary does not put Obama on her ticket, the blacks may

mass-boycott the election, as their candidate with so much of votes and delegates was ignored, and  McCain reaps the benefit. On both counts, the clever ploy has put Hillary between a rock and a hard place.

Since I wrote this,  Hillary is already out. My comments were not published, as I am not a political Pundit, but a mere insurance agent, and should confine my thoughts to insurance. How about giving more popular votes to Obama, but more electoral college votes to McCain, and elect the latter as president, without any help of the supreme court judges ?

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* Arun Misra, Ph.D., former professor of biology,  a Financial Planner, lives in Atlanta.

Address: 5005 Johns Creek Court,

GA 30022-5513.

Web : www.arunmisra.com  E-Mail : misrausa@yahoo.com