Will it go 'round in circles?

from Stanley B. Chambers, Jr's article in the Durham News:

Even as a 70-year-old grandmother, Daisy Waring admits she's still learning about herself. This lesson, though, comes at a high price.

Her grandson, Byron Lamar Waring, is on death row for the 2005 Raleigh stabbing death of Lauren Redman.

No one talks about it in her small town of Eutawville, S.C. So she kept her sadness and depression bottled up. She felt alone.

Waring first learned about healing circles while attending a conference in 2007 for those like her. The tradition has been used for centuries to resolve conflict and make important community decisions.

Healing circles have helped Waring so much that she travels to Durham every December for an event sponsored by the Capital Restorative Justice Project.

"It really helped me to grow because I really felt empty," Waring said. "Cried all the time. When I leave them, I have hope that it's going to be all right.

"It's an ongoing thing, but every day it gets better, and I'm learning to cope from it."

Apr 30, 2010 Policy, Circle, Case:Homicide, Practice

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