July 29, 1997

Richard Drinkard

richard drinkard

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Richard Drinkard, convicted of killing three people with a hammer in 1985, was executed May 19th, 1997.

“Killing me is not going to bring back anybody, and I don’t think it’s gonna remove any of the hatred from those people’s hearts…. In turn, my family suffers, and the cycle continues.”

— Richard Drinkard
(audio clip)

“In here some inmates judge others by the crime. I don’t have no respect for somebody who shoots someone with a gun — doesn’t take any balls.”

— Richard Drinkard
(audio clip)

 

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

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