The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 11

Dks MoinksScnpay Rkcistkk Dkcembkr 4. 1 1A 1L WS l6ci "The savinqs are yours Death penalty backers predict clear path for bill because the factory is WSil In Home Consulting i i it msiuiiaiion 1 97a NW 92 a Suite 5, Clhr, 1A Coll The Factory (51 5) 2264633 (OH of Swancon Blvd) In and out of favor in Iowa Hud Pedfict Ike MoUdaul Lottery winner is deserving, her friends say North Platte, Neb. (AP) A coworker of Nebraska's newest millionaire became worried when her friend took emergency leave to miss a day of work Friday. But Dalene Ferguson soon discovered that not all emergencies are bad. Her friend, Connie Daily, had just gone to Lincoln to begin collecting her half of a $100 million Power-ball jackpot.

Friends and neighbors of the mother of two, a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service, said Daily deserves her millions. "I'm absolutely thrilled to death for her," Ferguson said. "If anyone should get it, I'm glad it's her." Daily, 46, collected her first $1.7 million check Friday. She will receive a similar check each year for the next 20 years, as will Gary Allen of Alexandria, who also picked the right numbers in Saturday's jackpot drawing.

"Thursday afternoon, we were talking in the office about what we would do if we had won the lottery and here she was the winner and didn't know it at the time," said Julie Halligan, another co-worker who was employed in the Postal Service's finance department with Daily. Guy Manning stone lithographs and limited edition prints avaliable. Holiday specials on framing and On March 15, 1963, Victor Harry Feguer, 27, an itinerant from Michigan, became the 41st and last person to be executed in Iowa. Feguer received a death sentence after being found guilty of kidnapping and murder in the death of a Dubuque doctor, Edward Bartels, in 1960. Less than two years after Feguer was hanged at the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, the Iowa Legislature abolished the death penalty in 1965.

Before 1872, Iowa law decreed that executions were to be carried out in the county where the case was prosecuted, and the sheriff of that county did the hanging. Iowa's first legal execution mob lynch-ings and vigilante executions also occurred in the state was in Dubuque County on June 30, 1834. Illinois brothers William and Stephen Hodge, convicted of a murder near the Lee County town of West Point, were the first to die in a double execution in Iowa. The state's only triple hanging was on July 5, 1918, when three soldiers were executed at Camp Dodge near Des Moines after being court-martialed by the Army for rape. The death penalty was repealed once before in Iowa, but its absence lasted only six years.

Religious fervor among Iowans after the Civil War and revulsion over the loss of life during that conflict fueled a campaign to do away with capital punishment. The death penalty was restored in 1878 after outlaw bands began roaming the state, however, according to research in 1965 by Fred Watts, editor of an inmate magazine at the state prison. JackHovelson selected prints. See ui fit all tyuvi cMolidcuf. SUopputtf 2708 Grand Avenue, Des Moines 515-282-5111 IwwtntwiuriiAHl Ll 2 blocks West of Governor's Mansion MARATHON 40-50 Off Entire Stock of Furs LeatherFur Combinations PENALTY Continued from Page LA punishment bill failed to clear the House Judiciary Committee.

But much has changed, said Sie-grist. "The difference is the public exposure the issue had during the (1994) campaign," said Siegrist. "It was the focal point of the governor's campaign, and it was used in several of the legislative campaigns. It's an issue the people Iowa want us to address." Lobbyists who are working to block a death penalty acknowledge that the current political mood will make their task difficult in 1995. But lobbyists aren't despairing, said Philip Riley, a retired Des Moines lawyer and long-time opponent of the death penalty.

Riley said there is "a tremendous groundswell" of conservatism in the country. But, he said, "True conservatism isn't something that comes automatically with the death penalty attached. "I don't believe there's no stopping the death penalty. I don't feel a sense ofresignationatall." Law by July But some of the Senate's staunch-est opponents of capital punishment said they do not believe they can stop a death-penalty bill in 1995. Sen.

Larry Murphy, D-Oelwein, one of those opponents, was unequivocal in remarks last week to a meeting of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation: "In the Senate, if capital punishment comes to the floor, it will pass. My suspicion is we'll have a capital punishment law in Iowa July 1 next year." Another senator who opposes a death penalty, Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, predicted "a fairly concerted effort by opponents to at least slow it down long enough to let the other side speak." But in the end, Gronstal said, "I expect it'll probably pass." Lawmakers on both sides of the issue acknowledge that positions on the death penalty do not strictly follow partisan lines. Nonetheless, Senate Democrats have shown no inclination to debate reinstatement of the death penalty during the 12 consecutive years they have held the majority in the chamber. Democrats retained control of the Senate in November voting. Their margin is 27-23.

Won't Block Debate Both Majority Leader Wally Horn of Cedar Rapids and Sen. Randal Giannetto, D-Marshalltown, the likely chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, oppose reinstatement of the death penalty. But both lawmakers say they will not use the power of their legislative positions to block a death penalty debate in the Senate next year. "I'm pretty sure I'll end up voting 1 i i 1 IV ll I ''1 viip hi Examples of Savings: Stylish Full Length Leather Coat with Mink Trim Reg. $1200; sale $499 plus an additional 20 Off, NOW $399! Versatile His Her Mink to Leather Reversible Jackets Reg.

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The most common example cited by Branstad and others who support that proposal is a criminal who kills a person to silence a rape victim. Branstad aides have said there are about 400 inmates serving life terms in Iowa's prisons. About 25 of them would have been eligible for the death penalty had Branstad's proposal already been on the law books. Siegrist, the House majority leader, said legislative support for the death penalty could erode significantly in Iowa if application of the death penalty were perceived as overly broad. Nonetheless, some legislators, including Sen.

Tony Bisig-nano, D-Des Moines, want to go beyond the Branstad proposal and make a death penalty applicable for all major crimes. "I hate to think it," Bisignano said, "but I'm probably more conservative than the governor when it comes to the death penalty. The fact you need two class A felonies to be executed is absurd." Bisignano said that under the governor's plan, a drug dealer shot by another drug dealer during a sale of drugs might qualify for the death penalty. "But if one of our children are in the front yard and are killed in a drive-by shooting, that would not qualify," he said. said Horn.

"But that doesn't mean I won't let it be debated. I'm going to let the committee system work." Death-penalty supporters like Hurley point with concern to the way the Democratic-controlled Senate thwarted consideration of another emotionally charged issue with widespread support among legislators and the public. In the 1994 session, the House passed a bill requiring notification of a parent before a girl under age 18 could have an abortion. Despite apparent broad support for the legislation among senators, the bill died after key Democrats made sure the proposal was kept bottled up in a committee. Giannetto's selection as Judiciary Committee chairman is expected this week.

Although the composition of the full committee will be determined later, Giannetto said he wants the death penalty to receive a full airing on the Senate floor. "Anybody who was watching us really close was a little bit disgusted," Giannetto said of the Senate's treatment of the parental-notification bill last session. Draining Debate Giannetto, a lawyer whose practice includes defense of criminal clients, said he opposes reinstatement of the death penalty "because I tend to be pro-life both on the abortion issue and on the death-penalty issue." Nevertheless, Giannetto said, he would not use his position as committee chairman to thwart a full Senate debate on the issue. When a death-penalty bill comes to the floor of the House or Senate, lawmakers say they expect an emotionally draining debate that will in- Hurry and Shop F.arly...The Selections Won't Last! Featured Designers: Grosvenor, Adolfo Nina Ricci. No other discounts aonlv.

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