Archives for September 2012

This subject is as touchy as talking politics & religion. Everyone has an opinion about it, and I have mine. I don’t expect that everyone who reads this is going to agree with my views, and I respect those who will disagree with me.

I should warn you that this is not something that I want to debate here, I am open for “real” conversations if you seriously want to adventure there with me. 

Many of you who are reading this know my story, and you have walked this long journey with my family & I. For those who don’t, should know that when I was 11, my 8 year old sister, Vicki Lynne Hoskinson, was riding her bike in broad daylight when she was kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered by a disgusting monster who was on parole from California and lurking the streets of our little community in Tucson, AZ. Frank Atwood, a previously convicted pedophile who had been molesting children from an early age, sits on death row for his crime, he’s been there since 1987.  Vicki was murdered September 17, 1984.

Vicki, just 18 days before she was murdered in 1984, age 8

YES, I support the Death Penalty. I feel that it should remain on the books as an OPTION in heinous crimes, especially those committed against children.

So why this blog today? Last week a judge ruled that “Montana must change the way it executes prisoners after ruling that the current method is unconstitutional; giving a victory to death penalty foes that could be short lived.”  (The Daily Interlake) This affects the two inmates who sit on Death Row in Montana. The ACLU has already stated that it will push for legislative change in this matter, they have been trying hard to abolish the death penalty in Montana for many years. The Death Penalty is an OPTION and I will continue to personally fight to keep this law on the books.

Then there was this flyer that I came across for a fundraiser to be held later this month in Tucson, AZ.

Do I have a problem with the fact the Coalition of Arizonans to Abolish the Death Penalty is raising money for the their cause? NO. Do I have an issue with the fact that another monster sitting on death row with Frank Atwood will actually be a “guest speaker”?  YOU BET I DO. It is utterly and completely ridiculous and it makes my blood boil.  Danny Jones, the man who murdered three innocent people, Robert, Katherine & Tisha in 1992, will have his drawings displayed and speak to help this organization raise money.

This is as absurd as the fact that while Frank Atwood has sat on death row he has earned college degrees and wrote books. It is DEATH ROW people! When did it start that OUR tax payers dollars went to the higher education of death row inmates?  Where does it stop? I wonder how many members of the Coalition are victims of heinous crimes whose perpetrators are sitting on Death Row? Or why, they feel that it is important now to define the talents of a monster who thoughtfully took lives of innocent people rather than spending their time and efforts on helping children, educating the poor, building houses for the homeless, or feeding the hungry?

I could go on for days … literally. For now, I’ll stop and hope that for at least this moment I have raised some questions in your minds. I know I am starting to question what I can do to stop death row inmates higher education and “guest speaking” engagements.