"Lynchburg peace activist Jack Payden-Travers has been named director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

The Charlottesville-based VADP was established in 1991 to seek alternatives to and the eventual abolishment of capital punishment. Payden-Travers assumed the helm Oct. 1, replacing Henry Heller who retired in June.

"For me, this is a wonderful position," said Payden-Travers, formerly director of the Lynchburg Peace Education Center. "I've been involved in prison work in one form or another back since the early '70s."

Payden-Travers is well-known in Lynchburg for challenging the city's parade/permit ordinance last year after his arrest at Monument Terrace, where he and other members of the Peace Education Center were protesting the bombing of Afghanistan.

Formerly a history professor at Lynchburg College, Payden-Travers prevailed in Circuit Court last spring, when Judge Mosby G. Perrow III found the city's ordinance unconstitutional.

The Peace Education Center continues to hold protests at Monument Terrace each week, as does another group, which supports the action in Afghanistan.

The peace group also holds vigils for all the city's murder victims, as well as vigils for inmates being executed by the state.

Chris Barrett, a fellow peace activist, said Payden-Travers' appointment will be good for VADP.

"I think it's a great fit," he said. "... I do miss him here, but this will be another avenue for him to teach peace, which he does so well."

Payden-Travers will now be holding anti-death penalty vigils at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. His first vigil as director of VADP will be Nov. 14, when Mir Aimal Kasi is scheduled to be the fourth man executed this year.

VADP's focus between now and Election Day will be to promote passage of a constitutional amendment that would allow the introduction of DNA evidence of innocence at any time. Under current state law, no new evidence can be introduced unless it is submitted within 21 days following a trial court's final order.

"We're working to get the word out this amendment needs to pass," Payden-Travers said.

But even passage of the amendment would not help many death row inmates, he said. Payden-Travers said only about 10 percent of the 104 people who have been exonerated nationwide since 1973 would have been helped by the introduction of DNA-based evidence.

The number of innocent people who have nearly been executed is one of the primary concerns of VADP.

"I hope no one would want to see an innocent person executed by the state," Payden-Travers said.

Payden-Travers has worked both nationally and internationally with organizations such as the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Habitat for Humanity and Witness For Peace. A founding board member of the Conflict Resolution Center of the Roanoke Valley, his work in conflict resolution includes mediation and nonviolence training. During the Vietnam War, he was active in draft and military counseling and direct action training.

Though he's happy with his new job, Payden-Travers said he doesn't want it for long.

"We hope to put ourselves out of business," he said. "Unfortunately, I'll probably be here a number of years."" (Shannon Brennan, The Daily Progress, October 13, 2002).