Sir, - History will record that men and women of the United States played a part in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and Bosnia. Such men and women show people who kill that there is a better way than killing.
In sharp contrast is the rising American use of state killing. The death penalty tries to show that killing is terrible, but there is only one way to show that killing is wrong: it is by saying that killing is so shameful that a state will never resort to it.
The Governor of Colorado will soon decide whether to allow his great State to be marred by killing for the first time in 30 years. He will decide whether to put to death Gary Davis, who murdered a woman called Virginia May in 1986. All killing is wrong. Killing Gary Davis will not bring back the victim. It will only create new victims by punishing the family of Gary Davis, who had nothing to do with his crime.
If you believe killing makes things worse, why not tell the Governor? Governor Roy Romer, State Capitol, Denver, Colorado 80203, USA.
Perhaps Colorado will show the rest of the USA that there is a better way than killing. - Yours, etc.,
John Harkin,
Northland Road, Derry.