Letter to the editor

Ruidoso News

Reinstating the death penalty

I'm for reinstating the death penalty, here in New Mexico, especially for the adults who murder children.  I'm sick of adults raping, torturing and murdering our state's kids.

"A society must be judged primarily by the way it cares for its weakest members."  We New Mexicans definitely don't properly protect our kids.  Tragically, our state is one of our nation's worst states for child-abuse deaths.  Here in New Mexico, cruel, independent adults can rape, torture and murder innocent, dependent babies without the fear of losing their own lives.  I can't understand why the vast majority of our adults are more concerned about the lives of convicted, adult prisoners, including murderers, than they are about the lives of their young victims (e.g. Baby Brianna is dead, while the adults who raped, tortured and murdered her are still alive??).  Pathetically, a prison inmate can be sentenced to life-in-prison without the possibility of parole if he intentionally kills a fellow inmate; however, an adult, who murders a child, can't be sentenced to live-in-prison without the possibility of parole unless the murder was in conjunction with a rape, kidnapping or to silence a witness - and our adults, at large, remain silent??

In 2009, Governor Bill Richardson said that he would allow the people to decide whether or not he should repeal the death penalty. There were 1.9+ million people, in New Mexico.  Pitifully, only approximately 12,000 people voiced their opinions to the governor's office.  Sixty six percent of the individuals, who voiced their opinions, were against the death penalty.  The vast majority of our adults either vocally supported or silently condoned the repeal of the death penalty.

Judge Issac Parker proved that "timely" executions drastically reduce violent crimes.

In the 1800s, the Oklahoma Indian Territory was a haven for white outlaws.  The Indian police couldn't arrest a white man and the white lawmen had no jurisdiction within the Indian Territory.  Crime was so rampant in and around Oklahoma that President U.S. Grant asked a lawyer and former judge and congressman, Issac Parker, to establish a federal court at Fort Smith, Arkansas, which would have jurisdiction in and around the Indian Territory.  Additionally, the federal marshals would have the authority to arrest both Indians and whites inside and outside of the Indian Territory.  Parker established the court in 1875 and remained its judge until he died in 1896.

Per governmental statistics, during Judge Parker's tenure, his court hanged 79 convicted felons and crime drastically declined throughout the area.  Unlike the vast majority of today's judges and district attorneys, Judge Parker and the court's district attorney, W. H. H. Clayton were more concerned about the victims than they were about the criminals and they didn't place their own personal feelings above the law and their sworn duties.   Judge Parker was once asked, "Why have you hanged so many men?"  He replied, "I've never hanged a single man - the law hanged them."  Per a saying, " Prior to Parker's judgeship a fully-clothed woman couldn't walk the streets in and around the Indian Territory without the fear of being raped.  After his judgeship, a nude woman could walk the streets without the fear of being raped."  Thousands of Indians and whites attended Parker's funeral, because he was highly respected in and around Oklahoma.  Unfortunately,  judges or district attorneys, like Parker and Clayton, are extremely rare, today.

Reader, please don't stick your head in the sand and silently condone the atrocities against our children - let your state legislators know that you're for reinstating the death penalty, especially for the adults who murder kids.

Letter to the editor

Franklin L. Boren - Tinnie, NM