OKLAHOMA:

Do Killers Deserve a Finer Burial? To most of us, the condemned killers executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary are the dregs of society. To the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, they are heroes and martyrs.

No martyr deserves to be buried the way these killers too often are, the coalition has concluded. To end up in a prison cemetery known colloquially as "Peckerwood Hill" is too ignoble for even the most hardened criminal. Thus the coalition is raising funds so that executed murderers won't be buried like a common pauper.

Note that their concern for the killers doesn't extend to the victims of crime. How many of these victims wind up being buried as paupers? How many murder victims are laid to rest by families that spend years trying to recover from the funeral expenses? Not even criminals who die naturally in prison are of concern to the anti-death penalty zealots. The coalition wants to raise funds only for the executed killers so that a "proper" burial or cremation can take place.

This is further evidence that those opposed to capital punishment have lost all contact with reality. The reality is that some people don't deserve to live because they took the life of another. The state executes them and, unless the killer's family intervenes, plants their bodies in a prison cemetery in McAlester and marks their graves with an inexpensive plaque.

The Tulsa World reported last month that "Peckerwood Hill" contains the graves of 624 inmates and 3 infants born to female convicts. Obviously, most of them were not executed by the state. They just died in prison and their remains were never claimed.

Of those buried at the cemetery, the names of 192 are unknown because their markers have deteriorated. It's this lapse into anonymity that apparently moved the coalition to make sure that condemned killers aren't forgotten. The thieves and rapists who die naturally in prison will have to find some other bleeding hearts to make sure they get a "proper" burial. The coalition is only interested in their beloved execution cases, the men and women they elevate to hero status to put a human face on capital punishment. They don't recognize that these people waived their humanity in their calculated act of committing a capital crime.

The "residents" of the prison cemetery are given inexpensive markers, usually listing the inmate's name, date of birth and date of death. Some are remembered for their military service. They are buried in plain pine coffins made at one of the state's corrections facilities.

We have no problem with the state footing the bill for a burial and marker for the inmates who die in prison, having served as much of their time as their lives allowed. We do have a problem with the coalition singling out for special recognition the most heinous of criminals.

Sure, it's their money and they can do what they want with it. The state is under no obligation to spend more than a pittance to bury these killers. What's troubling is the continued obsession with murderers. They didn't deserve to live; how much less do they deserve to remembered?

Will the coalition's love affair with condemned killers extend to the exhumation of the bodies of those who were executed and buried at the prison cemetery in years past? Will the coalition seek to dig them up so they can reburied in a more noble location, in a more dignified manner?

We're not suggesting that condemned killers be placed in a Hefty bag and taken to the landfill. Having paid the price for their crime, they deserve to be buried in the prison cemetery alongside the inmates who died naturally. But to raise money so that these vilest of inmates get a better burial than other criminals and better than many victims of crime is sickening. (source: Editorial, The Oklahoman / R.Halperin's news)