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Jan. 12, 2006 1) Up until the very moment he was executed in Virginia’s electric chair on May 20, 1992, Roger Keith Coleman maintained that he did not rape and murder his sister-in-law, Wanda McCoy, back in 1981. But a new round of DNA testing ordered by Virginia’s outgoing governor, Mark Warner, proved that Coleman was indeed the killer. I’ve made my opposition to the death penalty clear on several occasions, and I’m happy that Warner took the steps to settle this issue once and for all. But the system worked in the Coleman case; the right man was punished for the crime. Fellow death-penalty opponents will be inclined to see this as a defeat, but I don’t. In fact, this may open the door for more states to follow suit. There’s no doubt that innocent men and women have been saved from Death Row while their still alive. And in my mind, there’s no doubt that innocent men and women have paid with their lives for other people’s crimes. This wasn't one of those cases. 2) In his recent column “On Bad and Dangerous Jobs [Is Writing a Safe Profession?]” (January 11, 2006), Mark Gelbart defended taxi drivers who make it a point, for whatever reason, not to pick up potential African-American fares. “I'm sorry if some people get passed over by taxi cab drivers because they are black,” Gelbart wrote, “but I sympathize with the taxi cab drivers; especially the ones who are understandably skittish because they have been mugged in the past.” I agree that being a taxi driver is a dangerous business. It’s not a job I’d like to do, because I know that white folks can be just as crazy as black ones. But any man who is so paranoid of black people needs to find another line of work. And I’m not sorry to say that. 3) Brian Michael Barbeito’s “Open Letter to Bad Drivers” (December 31, 2005) struck a chord with me. Living in Charlotte, which has more cars per capita than any American city outside of Los Angeles, I deal with bad drivers on a daily basis. I’m getting the gray hairs to prove it, too. Sometime down the line, I’ll be devoting a column to my own driving pet peeves. 4) In my column, My Choices for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2005 (January 2, 2005), I made a case for longtime Washington Redskins wide receiver Art Monk to receive the ultimate career honor. Monk is among the 15 finalists for the 2006 class, and I’m hoping that the electors will see fit to finally enshrine him. Assuming a maximum class of six people, here’s who I’d like to see join Monk in the 2006 Hall-of-Fame class: • Quarterback Troy Aikman, who led the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles in the 1990s. • Coach John Madden, who was at the helm when the Oakland Raiders won Super Bowl XI and has been an off-the-field ambassador for the game, as a television color commentator and as the face of EA Sports’ NFL video game franchise. • Quarterback Warren Moon, pro football’s all-time yardage leader, who threw for more than 72,000 yards in a pro career that includes stops in both the United States (with Houston, Seattle, Minnesota and Kansas City) and Canada (with Edmonton). • Running back Thurman Thomas, who played on all four of the Buffalo Bills’ AFC Champion teams in the 1990s. • Defensive lineman Reggie White, the NFL’s all-time sack leader, who helped lead the Green Bay Packers to victory in Super Bowl XXXI. ------------ About the author: Claxton Graham has written a number of articles for Useless Knowledge. He works as a business systems analyst. Email: scifiwriter8502@email.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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