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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Death penalty gruesome then; a national discussion now
Dear Readers, In
Bate v. Rees, the
United States
Supreme Court recently
approved Kentucky’s meth
od of execution pursuant to
its death penalty scheme.
This is just the latest chap
ter in our struggle to have
a just method of exacting
capital punishment for
those deserving this ulti
mate sanction.
The early history of the
death penalty in America is
ugly. Until the Court broad
ened an accused’s rights, in
a series of ground-break
ing opinions starting in the
19605, an accused had very
few rights.
Consequently, with judi
cial imprimatur, the roster
of those executed are taint
ed by the stink of racially
or immigrant-phobic juries.
These black marks on our
justice system caused courts
and legislatures to adopt
reforms; in some cases, the
Are people able to count on you?
Your parents were
your first and maybe
most significant
leaders. They influenced you
with every word they spoke
and action they took. You
were watching, mimicking,
and adopting their values!
Were your family relation
ships strong? Or was yours
a dysfunctional or broken
home? Either way, what you
experienced growing up can
be applied in your workplace
today.
How important is it to
be able to trust others in
your organization to handle
the responsibilities they’ve
accepted? Leadership author
ity John Maxwell writes in
The 17 Indisputable Laws of
Teamwork that “teammates
must be able to count on
each other when it counts.”
He goes on to say that “the
greatest compliment you can
receive is being counted on.”
So, pause and be a lit
tle critical of yourself for a
moment. If I gathered all
those who work closely with
you and asked them to rate
you on how reliable you are
-how consistently you “come
through” when you commit
to something-how would
they rate you? Remember,
broken informal promises
count just as much as offi
cial job duties that are over
looked or forgotten!
As I was preparing my
thoughts for this article, I
read an essay by Randy Hicks,
President of the Georgia
Family Council. Hicks refer
enced Between Two Worlds:
The Inner Lives of Children
of Divorce by researcher
Elizabeth Marquardt, a child
of divorce herself.
Hicks wrote, “Elizabeth
observed that children of
divorce must travel alone
between each of their par
ent’s worlds and make sense
of their sometimes dramati
cally different sets of values,
beliefs, and ways of living.”
“No matter how amicable
divorced parents might be
and how much they each
love and care for the child,
their willingness to do these
things does absolutely noth
ing to diminish the radical
restructuring of the child’s
universe.”
My friend, Jack, had expe
rienced just such an amicable
divorce. Until his daughter
graduated from high school
and moved to Savannah, she
alternated weeks living with
Jack and with her mother.
Jack was there for every
special event in his daugh
ter’s life. Her mother, step
father, stepmother, and Jack
all loved her deeply, and she
"As a leader or
teammate, your
'count-on-ability'
rating Is evaluated
dally by those who
are affected by
your presence and
service."
The'Law'Man
4 V
Jim
Rockefeller
Attorney,
Rockefeller
Law Center
death penalty was aban
doned altogether.
In the modern era, the
Court first considered the
legitimacy of the death
penalty in 1972. Judicial
intervention or review was
balanced against the Bth
Amendment’s prohibition
against “cruel and unusual
punishment.”
In the case of Furman vs.
Georgia, the Court struck
down Georgia’s death penal
ty scheme, in part, because
the statute granting abso
lute discretion to a judge or
jury may have resulted in
knew it. Often, she would
have four parents show up
Building Future Leaders
Dennis
Hooper
Leadership
Development
Coach
ON AIR
You can hear Dennis
Hooper discuss how you
can build your
leadership
skills this Monday from
12:30-1 p.m. on
WNNG-1350AM radio.
at school events to support
her!
I encouraged Jack to send
the article to his daughter,
asking for an honest recol
lection of her youth. Despite
her mother and Jack making
the best of a difficult situa
tion, Jack’s daughter some-
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Storm Damage
J Mother's Day 2008
Awakened by a bomb sound (Almost seemingly in your home)
is a RUDE wake up call.
Suddenly standing straight up in the front of the house at
6:ISAM/6:3OAM you try and focus, and look around to see if all is
ok, thinking Whew ok now I am awake and in the same breath
your neighbor is trying to come through your door to tell you,
your are on fire in the back.
One of our shops and PU truck was burning like a piece of paper and
so intense so fast. .. Your mind is going in overdrive. Get the
Firefighters in route, get the children and husband awake and safe
(hopefully) and all this is less than 50 feet from your home.
You make the 911 call and you think it is taking forever seeing your
belongings in flames before you and you can't do a thing. Your
neighbors are coming from all directions trying to help. We had 2
others buildings, a Rental Truck and 3 other vans we did focus and
move them to safety. Neighbors were trying to keep the home wet
so sparks and hot debree would not extend.
After all is done by nature and you try and catch your breath looking
at a pile of ashes and debree and fried PU truck you can only burst into
tears and THANK GOD ABOVE FOR YOUR FAMILYS SAFETY
and YOUR HOME for all you are looking at can be replaced.
One tends to focus on the losses and damage causing extreme
stress and or health issues automatically.
IF YOU HAVE FAITH AND GOD IN YOUR HEARTS you thank him
for HIS LOVING ARMS enwrapping the situation and keeping your
family and home save. You pick yourselves up and march right into
overcoming the shock and push forward to the better of tomorrow.
MOST of all one takes for granted what FIREFIGHTERS go through.
I want to say a SPECIAL THANKS TO THE PEACH COUNTY
FIREFIGHTERS that fought trees in route blocking them to get to us
and OUR FABULOUS NEIGHBORS for their actions and concerns for
us and our CHURCH "The Way" Baptise Church for their open arms
in clean up and or whatever we need. This testimonial is small to the
losses I hear around us in MACON which are so much worse.
OUR HEARTS AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU ALL
All of us can and will overcome together...
Remember GOD loves us each and everyone
Johns Auto Glass
560 Harper Road, Perry, GA 31069
it appearing that the death
penalty was more likely to
be handed down to blacks
over whites. No decision
was reached on the con
stitutionality of the death
penalty in all cases.
Four years later, in
1976, the Court considered
Georgia’s new, revised death
penalty scheme in Gregg v.
Georgia.
The Court specifically
held, for the first time in
the modern era, that the
death penalty was permit
ted under the Constitution.
In prior cases, the Court
had ruled both electrocution
and public shooting as legit
imate forms of punishment
under the Bth Amendment
but that disembowelment,
quartering, burning, and
torture, were not.
In Gregg, the Court reject
ed the notion that “modern
standards of decency” made
the death penalty a “cruel
and unusual” form of pun
times felt alone. She lament
ed, “I belonged everywhere,
without belonging anywhere
specific.”
Jack had wanted to “be
there” for his daughter. He
learned, however, that from
her viewpoint, half the time
he had NOT been there at
all. Her reality was different
from what he would have
preferred.
Sure, she knew she could
call on her dad for anything.
But she also knew she’d have
to call rather than glance
across the room. Jack real
ized from her response to the
article that his “count-on
ability” rating was, in real
ity, about half of what he had
imagined!
Recall your youth. If
your parents were present,
you likely never gave it a
thought; you just assumed
they’d always be there. Your
parents were count-on-able,
at least in terms of avail
ability.
If you were a child of
divorce, however, or another
situation prevented a par
ent from being present, you
were aware of the absence.
Though not literally aban
ishment. It found a long
history, even back to our
English law roots, permit
ting the use of the death
penalty.
Interestingly, the Court
did not find any statisti
cal support for the theo
ry that the death penalty
has any deterrent effect.
Ultimately, the Court ruled
that Georgia’s “bifurcated”
system (where a jury first
decides guilt or innocence
and then deliberates sepa
rately on whether or not
to apply the death penal
ty, with a post-trial judi
cial override procedure) is
constitutional. This opinion
suggested a model for all
statutory schemes.
Since then, the method
of execution and the death
penalty itself has come
under attack, particularly in
an attempt to limit the class
of defendants eligible for
execution, such as minors,
mentally challenged, or
doned, you sometimes won
dered where you fit and just
how important you were to
those supposedly filling their
parental responsibility.
As a leader or teammate,
your “count-on-ability” rat
ing is evaluated daily by
those who are affected by
your presence and service.
Leaders who think otherwise
are deceiving themselves!
Dennis Hooper helps good
organizations enhance lead
ership skills. Learn about
Dennis’ work at www.build
ingfutureleaders.com. E-mail
him at dhooper2@juno.com.
Call him at 478-988-0237.
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1-75 Exit 136 • 987-8877
WAREHOUSE SALE!
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Sale to be held at:
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472 Perry Parkway, Perry, GA
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For More Details Call: 478-808-9905
163754
insane defendants.
The most recent contro
versy was Kentucky’s lethal
injection-method of execu
tion, which is the method
of execution used in every
jurisdiction in the U.S. per
mitting some form of the
death penalty (a minority
of states also permit elec
trocution as an alternative,
California permits lethal
gas and lowa permits a fir
ing squad).
Because of this case, all
executions nationwide were
halted while it was being
decided.
Concerns about the valid
ity of lethal injection, how
ever, proved unnecessary.
The Court noted the poten
tial for problems with execu
tion, where the delivery of
drugs was not in sufficient
quantities to avoid possible
painful suffocation, in the
administration of the sec
ond and third drugs in the
cocktail, but that mere pos
Assessing Your
Leadership Skills
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SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2008 ♦
sibility does not make the
method unconstitutional.
Thus, death penalty sen
tences are once again being
carried out. As I have dis
cussed over the past few
weeks, further debate on the
wisdom of the death penalty
as a sentencing option, par
ticularly given its financial
costs, will now also move
forward . . . and that is a
national discussion that will
not be resolved easily.
Local attorney Jim
Rockefeller owns the
Rockefeller Law Center and
is a former Houston County
Chief Assistant District
Attorney, and a former
Miami Prosecutor. E-mail
confidential legal questions
to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.
com. Visit www.rockefe.ller
lawcenter.com for Frequently
Asked Questions and
Jim’s blog, The Rockefeller
Report.
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(478)954-1507
F. Dennis Hooper
Certified
Leadership Development Coach
Building leaders and
organizations of excellence
(478) 988-0237 dhooper2®juno.com
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16 1964
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