Throwback Thursday from 2/18/2015
Will You Make Up Your Mind!
SOME PEOPLE ARE NEVER HAPPY. For example – the State of Utah. The legislature there has passed a bill that authorizes the use of a firing squad for executions. They have done this because there have been problems with the “lethal injection” method of offing the bad guys.
Actually, this has been a problem in a number of states. A shortage of the chemicals used to carry out the executions has upset some people, while being cheered on Death Row, no doubt. Because of the shortage, in one state, the injection designed to quietly do in the guest of honor quickly, took 43 minutes, during which the guy moaned and struggled, before shuffling off his mortal coil.
For some reason the media referred to this as a “botched execution.” Was the guy supposed to be executed? Yes. Did he eventually bite the big one? Yes, again. Doesn’t sound “botched” to me. “Botched” to me would mean that the guy was now living in Boca Raton, sipping on a Margarita and watching “Golden Girls” reruns.
Now, with a shortage of the desired “bye-bye juice” on the shelf, states are being forced to go to alternative methods. It’s like when you run out of coffee, you go to Starbucks. OK, a bad analogy. You go to Starbucks anyway. Well, I do, even when lethal injection isn’t an option.
Given the uproar over the “botched” executions several states are plodding toward taking action, but Utah certainly has not wasted any time. Leading the way, they have reinstated the firing squad. There is no soul searching, navel contemplation in Salt Lake City. No Coca-Cadaver? Lock and Load!
Firing squads: quick, easy (read – hard to “botch”), inexpensive, and, if done properly, not all that messy. It sure beats the heck out of beheading by any method. How would you like to be the janitor at that place?
Baddies in Utah used to have the firing squad option up until 2004 when the state joined the fad and changed over to the three-drug cocktail. Before 2004, the ‘nearly departed’ had an option – a shot in the arm or a shot in the heart. Take your pick.
But now, the power to choose your exit in Utah, is once again in the hands of the prisoner because —
Some people just don’t like needles.
This news item got my attention because we are going to be in Utah this June – not for an execution, mind you, but for a church meeting. Chances are this topic will not come up under new business or old business. It might pop up during an ad hoc session in the hotel bar, however. Stranger things have happened.
Down the Hall on Your Left 
Not too closely related, but the article today reminded me of one (or two or more) visits to the Illinois State Penn near Chester, IL, where I was privy to exam their electric chair. It hadn’t been used for some time, but it was clean, no dust. Even the belts were polished up. It was in a little room which was in a big room. The little room was just big enough to hold The Chair. The big room had chairs, but they were the folding kind and stored along the three other walls. I never did get too close, let along ask if I could sit in it. The Captain that headed up the personal tour probably would have let me set in it, if I had wanted to. My Dad was Assistant Warden down there and well respected. Otherwise, I doubt I would have had several eyeball examinations of that scary object. Naturally, there was little light in either room. In fact, I don’t remember any light at all in the little room where The Chair was. This would have been back in the golden 60’s. Memories.
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