Posted on 01/05/2005 2:34:33 PM PST by rocksblues
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A local columnist and her businessman husband committed suicide on New Year's Day after sending out their obituary, letters to friends and a newspaper column supporting "death with dignity," authorities said.
The obituary stated that Ethan and Helen Levine, both suffering from serious illness, died together "through united self-deliverance," according to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle of Cheyenne and the Casper Star-Tribune, which received copies. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050105/D87E4IQO1.html Wyo. Couple Write Notes, Commit Suicide The bodies were found Tuesday by Laramie County sheriff's deputies, who went to check on the couple after the obituary and letters were delivered. Laramie County Coroner Bill Ryan said Wednesday that the Levines appear to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Helen Levine, 73, had been a columnist for both newspapers and was formerly public information officer for the state health department. Her husband, Ethan Levine, 50, had been manager of Frontier Mall and served on the Tribune-Eagle editorial board.
The final column Helen Levine wrote for the Casper Star-Tribune reminded readers of her support for "death with dignity," the newspaper said. She also wrote that the couple had "experienced insults" related to their jobs, and she criticized President Bush for the war in Iraq and other things.
The newspaper quoted from the submission in a news story but does not plan to publish the column, which it said came in the mail Tuesday.
In their letter to friends, the Levines described their health problems - Ethan Levine had multiple sclerosis and diabetes and his wife had heart disease. Their letter called MS "a great age equalizer" that brought chronic fatigue and pain.
"We know what we feel and why we have made this choice," the letter said. "We also know that our decision may not be met with the same understanding by you. All we can ask is for you to respect our choice and understand this was something we both felt so strong about."
Jim Angell, director of the Wyoming Press Association, said the two "were both very, very smart debaters. If you ever got on the opposite side of a political issue, they'd talk until they wore you down."
Gov. Dale Freudenthal had appointed Helen Levine to the Wyoming Senior Services Board. In a statement, Freudenthal said, "I have known Ethan and Helen both for years and years and considered them friends for a long time."
Natch. Ohio or Washington state, you reckon???
Lol, when it comes to liberals, everything is his fault.
Jmo, but if they were well enough to plan this whole thing, then I think they were healthy enough to keep plugging along.
FMCDH(BITS)
BWAHAHAHAHA!
Besides, suicide is against the law! Arrest them both.
FMCDH(BITS)
After decades of brainwashing that human life is meaningles and a souless lump of animated protien, we can only hope that this trend expands and continues among the Leftists that have bought into these lies.
"we can only hope that this trend expands and continues among the Leftists that have bought into these lies."
This is just another reason why the socialists are slowly going extinct. Post-modernist relativism is empty, bankrupt, and gray. The socialists have stopped breeding and are now killing themselves early.
They committed self murder and all murderers go to hell. They are just starting their God given term of eternity in hell. God forgives the repentent but the Bible says (somewhere) "It is appointed unto man but once to die, and then the judgement." They died and then faced judgement. All opportunity to seek God's forgiveness is here-and-now, not hereafter.
And God does say he hates several things:
Proverbs 6
16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes,a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
God also says he hates divorce. It is an error to think that God doesn't hate.
Death with dignity eh?
Ooops! Too late.
Buh Byeee! Don't let the Pearly Gates hit you on the butt!
I hate to say this, but we are all seeing a highly ominous trend unfolding.
In the future, many of the liberal Baby Boomers are going to decide to take their own lives, rather than face old age and/or disease. These people are so used to control, and so used to moral relativism, suicide will be viewed not only as a logical, but even self-righteous choice.
Why is this ominous? It means we win!
How many democrats have been murdered in the womb? Enough to swing the election! People that would kill their children would have raised them to be idiots just like themselves.
The new AARP mantra will be "Kill yourself and save Social Security and Medicare!"
True! Just shows have evil, literally, destroys itself.
What an image. Chris spitting. Yuk!
Well, I just realized that.
"...many of the liberal Baby Boomers are going to decide to take their own lives, rather than face old age and/or disease."
It'll also beat being made into Soylent Green.
Seriously, I don't think too many of them have the stomach to do the most extreme final deed. Never having had a generational definition that included courage or resolve, most of my cohort will seek the easiest route - more drugs. Personally, I take a distinctly guilty pleasure in the physical failings of my g-g-generation and their suprise and pains as they age.
Suicide lurks for the usual zealots and those like the athiest commie disciples of those like Scott Nearing's "Good Life" and, for the rest of the hapless feel-gooders, being euthanized by the very children that CSN&Y admonished us to teach so well. I was sick of pony tails, folk songs and sick ideology in 1968 and the passing decades haven't made many of these people any smarter.
Hundreds of thousands of WWIIers died in their prime and millions more took a risk for something noble. Boomers, OTOH, charge the latest boxed edition of the Gratefull Dead collection and feel good because a percentage of the profit goes to reforestation efforts in the Amazon.
I earnestly hope to live to be 100 years old, even if I am bent, blind and creaking, so that I can see the demise of the vast majority of my g-g-generation. As a generation, we have been a blight.
"The Bible says suicide is wrong."
<Well, no, actually, it doesn't. There are seven suicides and one attempted suicide reported in the Bible, and they are presented either neutrally or as appropriate, under the circumstances
While early Christianity accepted suicide, it condemned killing of others, including warfare, self-defense, and capital punishment. After all, Jesus had taught non-violence: "Do not resist one who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also....I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
This was taken seriously by the early Church Fathers, for example, Tertullian, who asked, "Can it be lawful to handle the sword, when the Lord himself has declared that he who uses the sword shall perish by it?"
However, as Christianity became the dominant religion in the Roman empire, its views on suicide gradually changed, until suicide became a religious sin and a secular crime in the sixth century. In 533, Christian burial (a requirement for getting into heaven) was forbidden to suicides who killed themselves while accused of a crime.
In 562 this was extended to all suicides, regardless of the reason or circumstances. In 693 even attempting suicide became an ecclesiastical crime punishable by excommunication, with civil consequences to follow.
OLD TESTAMENT SUICIDES:
Abimelech (Judges 9:54), dying of a skull fracture during a siege, ordered his armor-bearer to slay him, to avoid the ignominy of having been seen to have been killed by a woman (she threw a millstone at him).
Samson (Judges 16:26-31) killed himself to avoid being "made sport of" by the Philistines, after his capture and infamous haircut, taking his tormentors with him. Samson's act of Faith earned him a place among the saints of Christianity (Hebrews, 11:32).
Saul (1 Samuel 31: 3-6), wounded and defeated in battle with the Philistines, asked his armor-bearer to kill him. When the aide was afraid to do it, Saul fell on his own sword. The armor-bearer then did likewise.
Achitopel (or Ahitophel, var. spellings) (2 Samuel 17:1, 23), plotted to overthrow David. When his plan failed, he put his household in order and hanged himself. It is interesting to note that the account specifies that he was buried in his father's sepulchre, in contrast to the Christian Church's long history of refusing burial in hallowed ground to suicides.
Zimri (1 Kings 16:18) usurped the throne of Israel; when he failed, he burned down the palace around himself.
NEW TESTAMENT SUICIDES:
The Jailer at Philippi (Acts 16:26-29), under the mistaken impression that all his prisoners had escaped during an earthquake, thought that his career and life were in jeopardy and prepared to fall on his sword. Paul stopped him, not arguing that suicide was wrong, but merely that the jailer was acting under a misapprehension.
St. Augustine of Hippo, in the early fifth century, wrote his arguments opposing suicide.(1) Augustine does make a weak attempt at finding a Biblical injunction against suicide, claiming that it violates the Sixth Commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" (though a more accurate translation from the original Hebrew is "You Shall Not Commit Murder") (5). Augustine is forced to admit that there are exceptions (http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/s/suicide.htm) making it all right to kill another person, but dismisses reasons for wanting to end one's own life.
Augustine's arguments did not immediately take hold in Western culture. The first comprehensive Christian-era legal code was the Code of Justinian. This codex, drafted about a century after St. Augustine, did not punish suicide, if the person had a good reason for killing himself; good reasons cited include, "impatience of pain or sickness, or by another cause, weariness of life... lunacy or fear of dishonor." In short, every reason except no reason at all, and that was punished only on the grounds that it was irrational: "whoever does not spare himself will not spare another."(8) Suicide did not become a crime under English Common Law until the 10th Century
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.