Penny Resistance
This article originally appeared in Southern Exposure Vol. 12 No. 4, "The Chinese: 100 Years in the South." Find more from that issue here.
Because the courts are shortening and making straight the path to the death chamber, the number of executions is rising steadily. Besides judicial efforts and legal protest, it has become necessary to actively seek additional ways to broaden and strengthen opposition to the death penalty. The Commonwealth of Virginia imposes death by electrocution. In a very real way, the electrical network links our home to the electric chair. We have ended our silent complicity in the premeditated killing of prisoners. While holding back one cent (1¢) from our Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) bill, we informed VEPCO of our objection to electrocution. Our letter also asks the company two specific questions: How many kilowatt hours are required to kill a human? How much does VEPCO charge for the electricity required to kill a prisoner?
Subsequently, we have had several written exchanges with a VEPCO official who repeats that the company is merely obeying the law and that all good citizens should obey the law. The official steadfastly declines to answer our questions, so the exchange continues.
Moreover, in the new local telephone bill format, there is a Virginia state tax listed for the A.T.&T. Information Systems portion of our phone bill. We have begun to hold back one cent (1¢) from this state tax to object to the death penalty, informing the phone company of our reason each time.* Though we have not yet heard from the state on this, we expect that we will.
We refer to this economic and tax resistance as penny resistance. Multiple innovations in economic and tax and other forms of resistance are most urgently needed to impede the various methods of carrying out capital punishment. We pray and we hope that many others will consider joining in this resistance.
March 15, 1984
Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO)
P.O. Box 26543
Richmond, VA 23290-0001
Acct. No. 48 12 7198 1
Dear Folks:
One cent (1¢) is withheld from our electric bill. This is done to oppose the electrocution of prisoners in Virginia.
Euthanasia of prisoners is morally wrong.
How many kilowatt hours are required to kill a human?
How much does VEPCO charge for the electricity required to kill a prisoner?
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Donna B. Gorman Jerome D. Gorman
March 27, 1984
Dr. and Mrs. Jerome D. Gorman
8319 Fulham Court
Richmond, Virginia 23227
Re: Account Number 48-12-7198-1
Dear Dr. and Mrs. Gorman:
This will acknowledge and thank you for your March 15 letter in which you advised you withheld one cent as opposition to the electrocution of prisoners in Virginia.
Vepco as a regulated public utility, is obligated by law to provide electricity upon request without discrimination. The Commonwealth of Virginia has requested electric service to its correctional facilities, one of which contains the instrument of your protest, and by statute is granted the priveledge (sic) of such service.
We recognize and support the right of individuals to hold various opinions on various issues. However, these are individual value judgements and not conditions which determine or control the provision of electric service by Vepco. There are other legitimate avenues for you to address this issue.
We are not permitted nor will we allow exception in billing due to personal opinions. Your failure to pay any part of your electric bill is a delinquency on your part and for us to excuse it would be discriminatory and therefore improper.
Again, thank you for your letter. We trust we addressed your concerns. However, should you have any further questions, please feel free to call on us.
Sincerely,
J.S. Lewis Supervisor-Customer Relations
March 30, 1984
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you for your letter of March 27th; however you did not answer the two questions in our letter of March 15th.
We repeat these questions, and ask that you provide the information requested.
How many kilowatt hours are required to kill a human?
How much does VEPCO charge for the electricity required to kill a human?
Thanking you for your assistance, we are
Yours truly,
Donna Gorman Jerome D. Gorman
April 6, 1984
Dear Dr. and Mrs. Gorman:
I am in receipt of your March 30 letter in further regard to the electrocution of prisoners in Virginia.
In specific response to the questions posed, we wish to respond that we do not know the answers nor do we ever intend to make the determination. We further feel the questions are in extremely poor taste.
Our position in this matter is as stated in my March 27 letter.
Sincerely, J.S. Lewis
Supervisor-Customer Relations
April 7, 1984
Dear Mr. Lewis:
We have your reply of April 6th stating that you do not know nor do you ever intend to determine answers to our questions.
These questions are answerable. To repeat:
How many kilowatt hours are required to kill a human?
How much does VEPCO charge for the electricity required to kill a prisoner?
It is unjust that we are compelled to purchase electricity from a sole-supplier firm which appears indifferent to the use of its product for premeditated killing of humans. Tragically, your two letters inform us that VEPCO has little concern whether its product is used for stir-fry cooking or to fry those in stir.
Could you please refer our questions to someone in VEPCO who will answer them?
Yours truly,
Donna Gorman Jerome D. Gorman
April 11, 1984
Dear Dr. and Mrs. Gorman:
I have received your April 7 letter in continued regard to the electrocution of prisoners in Virginia.
The conviction you hold relative to capital punishment is laudable within the context of your right to hold such an opinion. We also support your right to voice same in any forum of your choosing. That is the right of every citizen. However, we thankfully live in a society where the rule of law is supreme, and under the law, the act to which you object is authorized under prescribed conditions. Our collective and/or individual position is irrelevant for as I stated previously, we are a regulated public utility which is obligated by law to provide electricity upon request and without discrimination. As a customer, the Commonwealth of Virginia is supplied electric service to its correctional facilities, one of which contains the instrument of your protest.
Reasonable citizens may disagree over capital punishment, and while I make no corporate or personal statement here, I wish to reiterate that capital punishment is the law of the land. We will obey the law which by the way, is the exact duty of each and every citizen. In the performance of our duties then, it is indeed unfortunate to be so unfavorably characterized.
As a citizen, you have the right to petition for a change in the law. We suggest that you avail yourself of this.
Specifically addressing your persistent questions, it is our position that it is not our responsibility to make the requested determination, the request is in the poorest of taste, and we will not now nor in the future dignify same with a reply. We are firm in this position.
Sincerely, J.S. Lewis
April 13, 1984
Dear Mr. Lewis:
In a very real way, the electrical network links our home to the electric chair and death chamber. We have ended our silent complicity in the killing of humans by electrical euthanasia. Our letter of April 7th asked you to refer our questions to someone in VEPCO who will answer them. Please respect that request.
The questions are the same:
How many kilowatt hours are required to kill a human?
How much does VEPCO charge for the electricity required to kill a prisoner?
Yours truly, Donna Gorman Jerome D. Gorman
May 5,1984
Paul G. Edwards
Vice-President of VEPCO
P.O. Box 26666
Richmond, VA 23261
Dear Mr. Edwards:
In our current VEPCO bill, an enclosed flyer named you as VEPCO contact for questions or suggestions about improving communications between VEPCO and your customers.
We have been corresponding with Mr. J.S. Lewis, your Supervisor for Customer Relations. Though we have repeatedly asked for answers to plainly worded questions, Mr. Lewis has not provided the information requested.
Would you please look into this matter, and inform us of your findings?
Thank you.
Yours truly,
Donna Gorman Jerome Gorman
May 11, 1984
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Gorman:
I am in receipt of your May 5 letter.
After reviewing the previous correspondence on this matter, I find our prior reply to be appropriate.
Sincerely,
Paul G. Edwards
May 21, 1984
Dear Mr. Edwards:
As customers of VEPCO, we do not find your letter or those of Mr. J.S. Lewis to be either satisfactory or appropriate replies to our answerable, matter-of-fact and plainly worded questions.
Does your letter of May 11th and those of Mr. J.S. Lewis on March 27th, April 6th and April 11th represent the definitive corporate response of both the Virginia Electric and Power Company and Dominion Resource Services, Inc. due to our questions?
Yours truly, Donna Gorman Jerome Gorman
June 4, 1984
Dear Mr. Lewis:
In continued objection to the premeditated killing of humans by electric euthanasia, we are holding back an additional penny from our electric bill. Our check and bill are enclosed. Your letters implicitly inform us of the grisly fact that VEPCO does provide electricity for the premeditated killing of humans.
We acknowledge this to be an unpleasant circumstance for you, just as it is for us. Besides electric power, does VEPCO provide any advisory, consultative or technical services — either on a continuing or episodic basis — related to the electric chair in the Virginia State Penitentiary at 500 Spring Street, Richmond?
Yours truly,
Donna Gorman Jerome Gorman
June 5, 1984
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Gorman:
Your May 21 letter to Mr. Paul Edwards has been referred to me for reply. The answer to your question is yes.
Sincerely, J.S. Lewis
June 7, 1984
William Berry
President of VEPCO
One James River Plaza
Richmond, VA 23219
Dear Mr. Berry:
We have written several letters to VEPCO about a serious matter. Replies have not been satisfactory, appropriate or acceptable.
Can you please help us?
Yours truly,
Donna Gorman Jerome Gorman
June 7, 1984
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Gorman:
I am in receipt of your June 4 letter, also your remittance of $95.70 which has been credited to your account.
We do not provide any advisory, consultative, or technical services of any kind whatsoever either on a continuing, episodic, or any other basis you may think of relative to the electric chair at the Virginia State Penitentiary. Nor are we associated in any way with the duties of any correctional institution.
Your failure to pay in full for services rendered is unacceptable, not only because it deprives the Company of funds justly earned, but it violates the Company's Terms and Conditions for Supplying Electricity on file with and authorized by the Virginia State Corporation Commission. Section XII A states: The supply of electricity by the Company is contingent upon payment of all charges due from the customer." Also, Section D of the same Section reads in part: "Payments shall be paid without regard to any counterclaim whatsoever." Your failure to adhere to the aforementioned Terms and Conditions subjects your service to whatever action is appropriate under law.
You have other legitimate avenues to address this issue. Deducting a portion of your electric bill is not one of them.
Sincerely,
J.S. Lewis
June 8, 1984
Dear Mr. Lewis:
Thank you for your letter of June 7th. For religious, moral, cultural and social reasons, we are conscientious objectors to the death penalty. VEPCO is only one of the avenues we are pursuing in opposing this atrocity. It is common knowledge that VEPCO spends handsomely to lobby the Virginia General Assembly. We do not believe it is unreasonable to hope that some of the money we have paid to VEPCO over the years could be used to lobby for disconnecting VEPCO from the electric chair, including your enabling act of providing lethal electric power. We would support that lobbying effort with enthusiasm.
Yours truly,
Donna Gorman Jerome Gorman
* The telephone tax, because it is imposed by the state, is used in part to support the death penalty.