ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HUDDLESTON
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
A STATEWIDE TOUR by activists opposed to the death penalty will pass through Western Virginia this weekend.
When Bob and Adele DellaValle-Rauth held a prayer vigil at a Bedford County church in March, they were the only participants to come pray for the inmate who was being executed and for the family of his victim.
Unless you consider the praying mantis crawling on the wall.
This is one of the few incidents Adele laughs about when talking about the work she and her husband do.
The praying mantis, which feeds on other insects, grasps prey with its forelegs that it usually holds together as if praying, and Adele has seen a couple during intense periods in the last few years.
She and Bob do a lot of praying.
As Virginia coordinators of Pax Christi, an international Catholic movement, they have been involved in many peace and human rights activities during their five-year marriage.
Their phone bill is normally more than $150 a month. They don't even keep track of the postage, but they spend 75 percent of their time writing letters, making telephone calls and visiting not only inmates but also victims' families and others in inhumane situations.
Bob and Adele, who met on a Catholic Church justice and peace mission, are now coordinating a leg of the Journey of Hope, a two-week public education tour across the state where activists speak against the death penalty. The journey is sponsored by Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation and Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
Although the families' group was founded by a Richmond woman after the murder of her mother-in-law, this is the first year the Journey for Hope has come to Virginia, which ranks third behind Texas and Florida in the number of executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Fifty-four men currently are on death row in Virginia.
The DellaValle-Rauths are coordinating a rally Sunday at 7 p.m. at Saunders Grove Church of the Brethren in Moneta and an assembly Monday morning for Staunton River High School ninth-graders who are studying nonviolence this year.
During the rally and assembly, members of the sponsoring organizations will describe their experiences of having a loved one murdered, tell how they have overcome vindictive feelings, and call for an alternative to the death penalty.
Journey for Hope started Sept. 21, and more than 200 events will have been held throughout the state by Oct.6.
The DellaValle-Rauths haven't had a relative murdered, but through Bob's prison ministry, they have become friends with inmates and family members of some victims.
Bob, a retired engineer, can trace his strong feelings against the death penalty back to June 19, 1953, when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiring to commit wartime espionage. "The night of that killing, I wept, because I could not see the state deliberately putting someone to death for murder, and this was for treason.''
He was just out of the Navy and was getting his engineering degree. He heard much discussion about the trial and execution. Many people, he said, thought the couple should have been executed.
Likewise, he said, many Virginians profess religious beliefs, and yet a Virginia Tech poll this summer showed more than 80 percent of Virginians favor the death penalty for convicted murderers. "I think their conscience hasn't come to grip with that dichotomy."
Bob does not think the state "should have the right to take life. It's a violent act, and we must break the cycle of violence."
But, he said, criminals should pay for their crimes, and there should be an alternative to the death penalty.
Virginia Journey for Hope events also call attention to a state law that prevents death row inmates from having a court consider evidence discovered more than 21 days after conviction.
Virginia is the only state with the statute, said Bob, adding that 48 men have been released in other states because of new evidence.
Adele, a former nun, described the Journey of Hope tour as promoting spiritual awareness. She said it stresses "love of the sinner while acknowledging the sin. We recognize the pain of those left behind."
The victims' families, she said, "have learned through their own struggles to accept that meting out revenge does not take away the pain or bring a loved one back."
For directions to the Bedford County Journey for Hope rally Sunday, call the church at (540)297-7654 or the DellaValle-Rauths at (540)297-6493. Other area events include: Roanoke - Temple Emanuel, Sunday, 7 p.m.; WFIR radio talk show, Monday, 9 a.m.; and Awakenings Cafe, Plowshares Peace and Justice Center, Monday, noon. Also: Ferrum College - Chapel Service, Sunday, 7:30 p.m.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Bob and Adele DellaValle-Rauthby CNBspend hours at their Smith Mountain Lake home fighting the death
penalty. color.