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GORDON GARNOS
8/25/2006 Execution vs. abortion is discussion with no conclusion AT ISSUE: At the time of this writing the execution of South Dakota Penitentiary inmate Elijah Page was still pending. His voluntary execution was scheduled for some time this week. Since Page’s conviction of brutally murdering Chester Poage and Page’s subsequent sentence of death by injection there appears to have been very little discussion on whether he should face execution or have his sentence commuted by Governor Mike Rounds, at least not like we have read about from other states under similar circumstances. But there have been attempts to equate the execution with South Dakota’s abortion issue. Some folks may think this may look a lot like an apples and oranges issue. DOES ELIJAH PAGE asking for his execution negate anything? Not hardly. The discussion of the rights and wrongs of execution will continue ad infinitum. And don’t be surprised if there isn’t at least one bill introduced in the next session of the state Legislature to do away with executions in South Dakota. There is about as much polarization on whether South Dakota should have capital punishment as there is with the abortion issue. While the voters of South Dakota will vote this November on whether the very restrictive abortion bill will stand or go down in defeat, I feel no one on either side of the abortion issue will ever compromise on this issue. This also holds true on the issue of executions in the state. As to whether or not South Dakota should abandon the execution law, whatever the Legislature decides, this, too, will probably take the same route as the abortion bill is taking now, bringing the issue back to the people to decide. THE QUESTION OF executing someone as well as the abortion issue weighs heavily on Governor Mike Rounds. Being Catholic, his church strongly opposes both kinds of deaths. He has said he would not interfere with the sentence of death for Mr. Page. At this point we don¹t know if he would support a less restrictive abortion law, such as exceptions for rape and incest as well as to protect the health of the mother. Other Christian denominations have also pleaded with the Governor to commute Page¹s death sentence to a life in prison. If the execution takes place before you read this column you will know the Governor submitted to secular law rather than church law. Consequently, whatever is Governor Rounds’ final decision about the execution, that decision is bound to have its political consequences as well as play a roll in his reelection plans. BUT BEFORE ANYONE judges Governor Rounds on whatever may be his final decision, it would not hurt for all of us to reexamine our own stands on both the execution and the abortion issues. Tangled in the conundrum is the argument that ties some of the anti-abortion folks who support capital punishment and some of the pro-choice crowd who oppose execution. In delving into what our philosophies may be, once again we turn to Shakespeare’s “Unto thine own self be true.” The Sioux Falls Argus Leader recently headlined these questions: “A just punishment?” and “Will anyone weep for Page?” A just-punishment argument will go on long after whatever has happened or will happen to Elijah Page. For that matter, we may not weep enough about the value of life and the revulsion of death. IN 1969 GOVERNOR Frank Farrar commuted the death sentence of Thomas White Hawk to life in prison in fear of potential racial strife. White Hawk murdered a Vermillion jeweler in front of his wife and then raped her. Was that crime any more or any less heinous than the crime committed by Elijah Page? White Hawk died in 1997 in prison. Will Elijah Page’s name be any more remembered than the name of Thomas White Hawk? I doubt it. To further this point, few can tell what the name was of the last person to be executed in South Dakota. Fewer can recall those who never had a chance to come into this world of ours..... Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion and recently retired after 39 years with that newspaper. Garnos, a lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.
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