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Monday, November 15, 1999 OnCampus/News    EXTRACURRICULAR    Death penalty rally held on Capitol's steps   KELSEY ADAMS | KERNEL STAFF   Rally attendants look at a blanket featuring art opposing violence. Andrea Noe CONTRIBUTING WRITER   FRANKFORT, Ky. - Music rang out from the state Capitol's steps Saturday as a crowd gathered to show opposition to the death penalty in Kentucky.   "The death penalty is unethical, unjust, uneconomical and unnecessary," said Emily Rigdon, a chemical engineering sophomore, one of many UK students who attended the event.   The Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Amnesty International and the Louisville-based Brat Magazine and Anti-Racist Action, sponsored the Youth Against Violence rally. The event was held to draw interest in Abolition 2000, the coalition's campaign to end the death penalty in Kentucky, campaign director Carl Wedekind said.   The Amnesty International chapter at UK helped organize the event and chapter president Amy Shelton was pleased with the rally's turnout.   "It's really encouraging that this many people came to show support and have a great time," she said.   People from the Student Environmental Action Coalition conference at UK also went to the rally.   "We're already working on human rights and social justice things, so this rally fits in," said Suzanne Webb, a coordinator for the conference.   Members of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union was in attendance and Executive Director Jeff Vessels believes that Kentucky could become the first southern state to abolish the death penalty.   "What we're trying to do is provide a legacy for future generations of nonviolence and justice that's fair and free of bias and discrimination," he said.   But the atmosphere wasn't all violence-based.   Musician and anti-death penalty activist Steve Earle performed and was joined by Louisville acts such as Red Sun, Skam Impaired and John Whitaker.   High school student Kara Mauldin and college student Trevor Cavazos spoke about why they want the death penalty abolished. Mauldin has an uncle on death row and Cavazos' father, a police officer, was shot and killed in the line of duty.   "Hate and violence must be retaliated not with hate and violence, but with love and forgiveness," Cavazos said.     Current Headlines OnCampus/News

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