Readers Sound Off on the Death Penalty

Serial killers, guns and the death penalty. Whenever I write about one of those topics my mailbox blows up. Last week’s column about convicted murderer Dylann Roof and America’s policy of capital punishment — public support for it, the costs associated with it and its usefulness in deterring others – definitely stirred passions.

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Is America’s Death Penalty Dying?  

Upon the birth of a new year let’s talk about death, shall we? The death penalty, to be precise. The topic loomed over a courtroom in Charleston, South Carolina last week where the self-proclaimed white supremacist, Dylann Roof, undertook a fool’s errand.

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Good Riddance to 2016 And a Wish List for 2017

As my father would have said about the year 2016, “So long, and don’t let the door hit you in the rump on the way out!” Although Dad surely would have used more colorful language. It was a confusing, divisive and extremely frustrating year, wasn’t it?

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No Justice For Jon Benet Ramsey

All crime reporters have a story from their past they cannot shake, a case that either touched them on a profound personal level or remains mysteriously unsolved. This time of year, I think of a story I covered 20 years ago this week, which remains with me for both reasons: the Christmastime death of 6-year-old…

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Don’t Be Faked Out By “Fake News”

Here comes another one of those things branded as an imminent threat to public safety, something evil lurking out there which is poised to infiltrate our minds and poison the republic. It is described it in two words:  Fake News. Now some are clamoring to legislate, regulate or eliminate this thing called Fake News.

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Love DOES Trump Hate Crimes

Today’s headlines seem full of horrible crimes. Teenagers committing gruesome and senseless murders; a young California mother kidnapped off the street as she jogged, then branded by her captors and tortured for weeks; a young father in Georgia convicted of deliberately leaving his toddler son in a hot car to die. Sometimes I just can’t…

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The Cost of Burying Forgotten Souls

The average cost of a funeral these days is between $7,000 and $10,000. Imagine then, what it costs each state to bury inmates who die in prison, those whose bodies are unclaimed by family members. Just like the population in general, the average age of prisoners is getting older. Coupled with the past trend of…

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School Bus Safety Laws Long Overdue

If children are our most precious resource, then why aren’t we doing more to protect them as they travel to and from school? For decades, there have been concerns about the lack of seat belts in school buses. Yet today, only six states have laws requiring them.

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Note to Anti-Trump Protesters: Stop Whining

Stop it. I’m tired of turning on the news or picking up a newspaper and seeing your pouty faces, screaming for what you think you are due. I’m sick of reading your ill-informed signs adorned with swastikas and promising to beat back fascism. Makes one wonder if you’ve ever studied the real evils of history.…

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Cops and Kids – Perfect Together

Elegantly simple ideas are often the best. And here’s a great example, brought to you by the folks at the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. Following a spate of police shootings of unarmed civilians and several chilling assassinations of on-duty officers, no one can deny there is major tension in cities across the nation. So,…

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