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| Student receives unusual subsidy
By Antonio Velarde Staff Writer
News & Record
Student receives unusual subsidy
6-4-05
JAMESTOWN -- Zach Osborne wants to become a police officer, and he's got some help -- thanks to convicted criminals everywhere.
Death row inmates across the nation have raised $5,000 in scholarship money to help the rising sophomore at East Carolina University pursue a criminal justice degree.
Through their bimonthly publication, "Compassions," the inmates offer a scholarship to help college-bound relatives of murder victims pay their tuition.
Applicants are required to write an essay on the murdered family member and how they have forgiven the murderer.
Osborne, 19, wrote about his 4-year-old sister, Natalie, who was raped and murdered in April 1992 by Jeffrey Clayton Kandies, his mother's then-boyfriend.
Osborne, who was only 6 at the time, said he found strength in God to forgive Kandies, who is now on death row.
"God has a purpose for everybody," Osborne said, "and he just likes you to be a forgiving person."
The murder motivated Osborne to enter law enforcement, where he hopes someday to become a police investigator. "It will still happen," Osborne said of crimes like his sister's murder. "But at least I can try to help out and prevent it."
Osborne will formally be presented the scholarship on Tuesday at the Greensboro Police Station at 300 S. Swing Road. Among those presenting will be People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, High Point police Chief Jim Fealy and Greensboro police Chief David Wray.
Contact Antonio Velarde at 373-7071 or avelarde@news-record.com
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