News Letter
13 August 2008

John Lennon's killer has been denied parole for a fifth time after he was felt to still be a threat to the public. Mark Chapman will remain in New York's Attica Correctional Facility for at least two more years for gunning down the former Beatle in 1980 on a Manhattan pavement.

Chapman, 53, has been in prison for 27 years since pleading guilty to the murder, which he has said he committed to gain attention.

He became eligible for parole in 2000 after serving 20 years of a maximum life sentence.

In a one-page decision issued after Chapman's appearance, parole board members said they denied his parole "due to concern for the public safety and welfare."

The parole board said the although Chapman has had a clean disciplinary record since 1994, he told board members during the hearing that he planned and conducted Lennon's killing "with an essentially clear mind".

Considering that, the board said, his release "would not be in the best interest of the community".

Chapman, a former maintenance worker from Hawaii, fired five shots outside Lennon's apartment building on December 8, 1980, hitting Lennon four times in front of his wife, Yoko Ono, and others.

Ono, who has previously written to the parole board arguing against Chapman's release, did not offer any testimony in his latest hearing.

In my mail, I received the story of a woman named Irena Sendler. It was so remarkable that, as I usually do, I checked the veracity of the article. I found that it was true.

Irena Sendlerowa and her associates made many trips into and out of the Warsaw Ghetto during the bleak days of the German occupation of Poland during WWII. She was responsible for smuggling out and saving the lives of 2,500 Jews, most of whom were children.

The Nazis eventually discovered her mission and tortured her. This did not deter Irena, however. And even after the war, Irena tried valiantly to reunite the children with their parents.

For further reading about this heroic woman, please visit the following links:



http://www.irenasendler.org/
http://www.auschwitz.dk/Sendler.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irena_Sendler
http://www.hmd.org.uk/
http://fcit.usf.edu/HOLOCAUST/gallery/p126.htm
http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Poland/WarsawGhetto/Introduction.html