Death

Heavy subject. The question is whether it more moral to punish & forgive a murderer than to give an equal retribution for the crime? Moral high ground is one side of the coin and practicality and security for our society is another. Which is the lesson that will lead us away from such ongoing violence?
Senate Bill 60 is a step toward reinstatement of the death penalty in Alaska Death Penalty

6/23/98
The death penalty IS a deterrent to violent crimes; but only if, and when, they become mandatory. Sitting in a prison where you eat better than most of society; where all your medical and dental needs; AND your "education" is paid for by the society that should be punishing you is a farce.
    But then, America has become a farce. A once great Nation is now run by homosexuals and foreign corporations on the one hand, and by religious fanatics on the other. (NOT regular church-going folks, but
those who pound their version of Christianity down everyone else's throats).
    Quote the bible to prove or disapprove the death penalty? What for? 90% of the people who espouse "the good book" re-interpret it to benefit their personal outlooks on every subject anyway.      Kill someone I love and you WILL die. I don't give a damn whether the state has the guts to do it or not.
        Tom Thompson

REPLY 3 TO RUTH T.
I HAVE BEEN PONDERING TOUR 4/2/98 MESSAGE FOR AWHILE NOW, I HAVE IT HANGING IN MY OFFICE. I FEEL THE ONLY WAY TO REPLY WITH OUT SOUNDING SLANDEROUS IS TO REPLY AS FOLLOWS:
   RUTH, PLEASE TURN OFF THE T.V., RADIO OR ANY THING ELSE THAT MIGHT BE DISTRACTING YOUR ATTENTION. PUT ON YOUR READING GLASSES, AND PUT YOUR COMPUTER ON THIS SITE. READ YOUR REPLY TO MINE AND REMEMBER YOUR QUESTIONS! THEN REALLY READ MINE FOR THE FIRST TIME WITHOUT SCANNING IT FOR 30 SECONDS,
WOW !YOUR FIRST QUESTION IS ANSWERED IMMEDIATELY.
   YOUR NEXT QUESTIONS CAN ONLY BE ANSWERED BY YOURSELF, NOT A MINISTER, OR A DOCTOR, NOR MYSELF. PLACE YOURSELF AND YOUR SPOUSE IN THE POSITION OF THE 7 YEAR OLD GIRL, IN MY SECOND PARAGRAPH .THIS TINY LITTLE GIRL NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO BE 18 Y/O, SHE PROBABLY DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT DEATH WAS. HOW ABOUT BEING THE SPOUSE OF THE DELIVERY PERSONS, WHO WERE ONLY TEENAGERS. AND HAVING TO BURY THEM IN 2'X 2' BOXES.
             YOU ASK IF THE STATE IS "GOD"?   INSTEAD OF READING SOME BOOK BY SOME NUN, WHO IS "SELLING DEATH" BY PROFITING FROM BOOK SALES. WHO STILL HAS ONLY SEEN A ONE SIDED STORY, MAYBE YOU SHOULD READ ANOTHER BOOK THAT WE ALL SHOULD
KNOW. STARTING WITH THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES CALLED "GENESIS", CHAPTER 1:1
THROUGH REVELATIONS 22:21.
              ALSO REREAD THE FOLLOWING:
                        GENESIS 9:6 "WHOSO SHEDDETH MANS BLOOD, BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE
                                SHED: FOR IN THE IMAGE OF GOD MADE HE MAN".
                        EXODUS 21:12 "HE THAT SMITETH A MAN ,SO THAT HE SHALL DIE, SHALL BE
                                SURELY PUT TO DEATH"
        ALSO, YOU CAN NOT MURDER A PERSON LEGALLY. IF YOU COULD THE DEFINITION WOULD BE AS FOLLOWS "THE CRIME OF LEGALLY UNLAWFULLY KILLING A PERSON WITH PREMEDITATED MALICE"
        RUTH, I LEAVE YOU WITH ONE QUESTION ! HOW DO YOU AND SISTER HELEN PREJEAN, RECOMMEND TO THE REST OF THE WORLD TO PUT A STOP TO MURDERING AND KILLINGS, GOING ON IN THIS PLANET WE CALL HOME ?
    PS: THIS IS NOT A JOKE, BUT A HONEST QUESTION ! IF YOU WOULD LEND ME THE BOOK "DEAD MAN WALKING" I WILL READ IT OPEN MINDEDLY, AND GIVE YOU MY HONEST OPINION OF IT.
                                    CHRIS GREGOROFF(4-30-98)

Reply to Chris G.

    You say in your March 18th message that you've "...been there, and Damn proud to have done it!", but you don't say what it is that you've done. Please explain to what you are referring.
    You are right, I have not seen a murder first hand. My eighteen year old daughter was not murdered; she met her death in a horribly violent and tragic manner. Would my loss have been any greater if her sudden death
had come at the hands of a murderer? Would I miss her more, or mourn her less? If she had been murdered, and then the murderer legally murdered, would that bring her back to life? Is the state God?
    You say you BELIEVE that the death penalty would be a deterrent to murder, but there is not one shred of EVIDENCE that it is. Is it revenge you seek? That won't bring a dead loved one back to life either. If we
sanction the death penalty, the message we give our children is that violence and the taking a life is justifiable. Let us not sink into utter savagery.
                             Ruth B. Taylor (4/2/98)

      First of all I would like to say a few words about myself. I have seen with my own eyes the carnage left behind after a brutal murder has been committed. The pain and suffering of small children, teenagers, and adult family members and friends go through, even years after such a awful crime has been committed. I have worked in corrections (DEATH ROW) as a corrections officer, and as a police officer in both Georgia and Alaska. Also I have been in over fourteen different countries while serving in the military. I am not bragging about my past nor am I writing a book, all I am saying is I have been there, and Damn proud to have done it!
     I challenge any one reading this to look deeply into there souls and try to imagine coming home and finding your most loved children, spouse, mother, father or friend raped, murdered or mutilated. What do you think will be going through your mind? How about taking your family for a church picnic, and having your seven year old daughter raped and murdered. This was done by a 59 year old family friend. When he was caught and asked why he did it, his answer was " I loved her so much and she deserved it". What would your "FEELINGS" and reactions be to the following which happened in 1992. Imagine that your the manager of a worldwide pizza outlet, or the parent of these victims. You send a delivery to a certain address, and the young delivery person knocks on the wrong door and doesn't come right back. You then get a phone call from a mad customer who states that his order did not arrive and he wants his order, you then send another one. A short time later "you receive a pizza order delivered back to you" with blood on the boxes, you open it up and find body parts of two employees in it.     This sorry S.O.B. does get caught and say's "I'll bet they will never knock on my door again". While in jail this monster has the gall to have a jail house tattoo put on his arm with the pizza outlets symbol on it. He has been convicted of every charge giving to him, but has appealed the decision with every excuse possible, the last
one that I know of was because of a misspelling of his lawyers first name.
     I FIRMLY BELIEVE, WITHOUT A SHADOW OF DOUBT THAT THE DEATH PENALTY NATIONWIDE WOULD BE A DETERRENT TO MURDER! We as parents sit back and let ourselves, and our children watch it on t.v. everyday. We spend millions of dollars every month buying/renting and going to the movies, to see
people shot and murdered and killed.   But when we see some poor inmate on DATELINE, 60 MIN. ect., crying and begging for his ass not to be put to death. Because he found God, or is sorry for murdering someone else in
cold blood, so we feel sorry for him. What happened to the American people, that we have gotten so soft and weak/meek, that we feel that these monsters should be forgiven. And sent back out into the "normal" population. Our minds have been so use to seeing it on t.v. that we say that wouldn't happen to me and/or that only happens in the movies.
    Why don't we sit back and remember how we felt when Kennedy, the Pope, the Postmistress of Ruby, or the most recent incident in our community, Trooper Bruce Heck. HOW SOON WE FORGET !! If we can watch it in HOLLYWOOD why can't we watch it on the news. I think that WE the people and WE our Government should show these executions on national, local, cable and satellite news flashes/broadcasts. If our children can listen to the music that they do. That is, saying that it's cool to bust a cap in someone's head because he is black, white, or a Cop, or because he belongs to another gang, I think that it might just open our eyes a little bit.
   R.B. Taylor, states on 2/17/98 that she is " proud to live in a state that outlaws legalized murder" this lady has definitely not seen a murder first hand, nor has lost someone close to her, by murder.   Also lets look at the statement that she wrote by author of Dead Man Walking" Sister Helen Prejean, who states :The death penalty is NOT a deterrent to murder but rather would "multiply the the tragedies by imitating the violence".
      I disagree, first who are the murders imitating (the answer :the monsters who murdered people before them ,and sentenced to life in jail and get out in 15/20 years).   Second we send our children to school before they become adults so the can learn "prior". We teach about drugs, sex, booze, and every thing else we can by showing and telling them, before they find out the hard way. Remember the old saying:" I WILL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT". IF people not just children, but teens and adults saw with there own eyes what would happen to someone that does a horrendous crime like murder, I bet it would make a big dent in the murder rate .
                                                                                                                                                       Chris Gregoroff (3/18/98)

Senate Bill 60 calling for an advisory vote on the death penalty is currently pending in the Alaska State
Legislature. This advisory vote is simply a first step toward the reinstatement of the death penalty in
Alaska. Let's not go that route!   I am proud to live in a state that outlaws legalized murder. Sister Helen
Prejean, author of "Dead Man Walking" has documented that the death penalty is NOT a deterrent to
murder, but rather would "multiply the tragedies by imitating the violence". Please urge your legislators to
vote against SB60.
                                                                                   Ruth B. Taylor (2/17/98)