# Pizzas for the homeless in Nashville thanks to death row request **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528 "2007-05-10T13:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/1 "2007-05-10T13:06:37Z")
Philip Workman’s last request before execution was a pizza to be given to a homeless person. [From CNN:](http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/08/workman.execution/index.html) \*Riverbend Maximum Security Institution refused, said Riverbend spokeswoman Dorinda Carter. “We can get some special things for the inmate but the taxpayers don’t really give us permission to donate to charity,” Carter said.\* Today’s headline: [Executed man’s request honored: pizzas for all](http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/09/execution.pizza/index.html) From the article: \* Homeless shelters across Nashville were inundated with donated pizzas all Wednesday.\* 150 pies to Rescue Mission from a group of friends who pitched in $1200 17+ pizzas for a teen center PITA sent 15 veggie pies to Rescue Mission Beautiful. Some days I love the humans. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/2 "2007-05-10T16:29:44Z")
Heh. He may have made the request to be a thorn, or out of genuine concern. Either way, the homeless get pizza, so for today, something was done right. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/3 "2007-05-10T17:16:43Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Heh. He may have made the request to be a thorn, or out of genuine concern. Either way, the homeless get pizza, so for today, something was done right. [/QUOTE] I would hardly call that doing something right. Pizza is junk food! Why not give them all caesar salads with low-fat dressing? Now that would be doing something right in the world. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/4 "2007-05-10T18:20:47Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] I would hardly call that doing something right. Pizza is junk food! Why not give them all caesar salads with low-fat dressing? Now that would be doing something right in the world. [/QUOTE] I call it doing something right. Very nice ending. ---
**Author:** ![zelie\_zelerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/59ef9b/32.png) [@zelie\_zelerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zelie_zelerton)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/5 "2007-05-10T20:08:04Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] I would hardly call that doing something right. Pizza is junk food! Why not give them all caesar salads with low-fat dressing? Now that would be doing something right in the world. [/QUOTE] If one is homeless and not guaranteed to be eating well or often why on earth would they want low fat anything? Pizzas are not junk - they have cheese, vegetables and sometimes meat. Like all foods, if you eat them constantly then you will experience health problems. Pizza on it’s own is not problematic. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/6 "2007-05-10T20:27:16Z")
I think it was nice, but I also have to defend the prison. It is generally (almost always IME) against the law for govenment entities to contribute to charities. It creates an appearance of governmental favoritism (why pizzas for the homeless and not for the abused women or the orphans or the poor?) and, more importantly, it probably is an unconstitutional “gift of public funds”. (Public officials may not make gifts out of the public purse.) A group of _employees_ can decide to do something charitable, up to and including yearly United Way giving campaigns, but “the government” can’t. So I wouldn’t read anything negative into the Prison’s refusal to honor that request. Legally, they probably couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/7 "2007-05-10T20:31:21Z")
Wonderful story. I think I’ll have a couple delivered tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/8 "2007-05-10T22:32:18Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] I think it was nice, but I also have to defend the prison. It is generally (almost always IME) against the law for govenment entities to contribute to charities. It creates an appearance of governmental favoritism (why pizzas for the homeless and not for the abused women or the orphans or the poor?) and, more importantly, it probably is an unconstitutional “gift of public funds”. (Public officials may not make gifts out of the public purse.) A group of _employees_ can decide to do something charitable, up to and including yearly United Way giving campaigns, but “the government” can’t. So I wouldn’t read anything negative into the Prison’s refusal to honor that request. Legally, they probably couldn’t. [/QUOTE] So you would rather the prison officials give a pizza to a dead man rather than a live, needy one. Noted. Score: Red Tape: **1** Common Sense and Decency: \*\*0 \*\* Every person who donated money or pizzas to the situational cause was protesting arbitrary beaucracy. Same guard who fetched the last meal could have just as easily handed it off to a man on the street. Grand, selfless, charitable gesture by a large number of like-minded people. Kudos to all who donated. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/9 "2007-05-10T22:40:54Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] PITA sent 15 veggie pies to Rescue Mission [/QUOTE] Veggie pizzas kinda suck, but I wouldn’t call this donor a pain in the ass. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/10 "2007-05-11T00:35:36Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] So you would rather the prison officials give a pizza to a dead man rather than a live, needy one. Noted. Score: Red Tape: **1** Common Sense and Decency: **0** [/quote] Re-read my thread and point out to me – to all of us – where I said ANYTHING about my own preference or what I would “rather” see happen. What I _said_ is that donation to charities by government entities are almost laways illegal and sometimes unconstitutional. Score: Knee-Jerking: **1** Reading Comprehension: **0** ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/11 "2007-05-11T02:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=zelie zelerton] If one is homeless and not guaranteed to be eating well or often why on earth would they want low fat anything? Pizzas are not junk - they have cheese, vegetables and sometimes meat. Like all foods, if you eat them constantly then you will experience health problems. Pizza on it’s own is not problematic. [/QUOTE] I was joking, friend. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/12 "2007-05-11T06:14:28Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] Every person who donated money or pizzas to the situational cause was protesting arbitrary beaucracy. [/QUOTE] Underlining mine. Is that when those whom someone in power has deemed attractive rule, or when **Beaucarnea** rules? Cos if it’s the second, I think **Ragallag the Axe** and **Winston Smith** want some words with you. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/13 "2007-05-11T20:42:07Z")
Yes, this so makes up for the cop he killed. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/14 "2007-05-11T20:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] Yes, this so makes up for the cop he killed. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Can I say “thread-shitter” in MPSIMS? Never mind, I know I can say, way to miss the freakin’ point! ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/15 "2007-05-11T20:56:57Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] Yes, this so makes up for the cop he killed. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] It’s lucky you made that point, because the thread was getting deluged with posts claiming that this prisoner’s gesture made up for his crime. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/16 "2007-05-11T20:58:39Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] Can I say “thread-shitter” in MPSIMS? Never mind, I know I can say, way to miss the freakin’ point! [/QUOTE] Well, kind of. Everyone is going “Awwww” when the man is, I guess, a cop killer. It’s pretty bizarre to me, at least. Throw in a bunch of uncertainty surrounding the death penalty and it is no longer a cut and dried pizza for some homeless dude. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/17 "2007-05-11T21:13:33Z")
We have a tradition (not a legal right; merely a tradition) of allowing an inmate to select his final meal. Matters not if the meal is fish and chips, chicken and waffles, or prime and a baked potato- an employee of the prison is dispatched to fetch the meal of the inmate’s choosing. A meal, which in my opinion, is wasted on a dying man. Might as well hand the meal to someone one _not_ convicted of a heinous crime. I am not advocating anarchy. I am not recommending that we chuck our hard won laws and regulations in favor of “screwing the man”. A pizza can be had for five bucks, and the guard could have handed the box out the cruiser window to a hungry citizen. Doesn’t seem like a big deal; though the national press clearly feels that the story and the outcome is a very big deal. No amount of good intentions or good deeds can replace the life of police officer Ronald Oliver who was killed during the robbery. The small gesture of requesting a pizza for a homeless person was just that: a small gesture. But the public at large turned the last wish into a large gesture, and whether or not the individuals donating were protesting the death penalty, representing a belief in Workman’s innocence, or protesting arbitrary decision to deny a homeless man a pizza the result was the same: whole bunch of homeless people got to eat last Wednesday. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/18 "2007-05-11T21:28:27Z")
[QUOTE=Beaucarnea] We have a tradition (not a legal right; merely a tradition) of allowing an inmate to select his final meal. Matters not if the meal is fish and chips, chicken and waffles, or prime and a baked potato- an employee of the prison is dispatched to fetch the meal of the inmate’s choosing. [/quote] . . . So long as it doesn’t cost the taxpayer more than 20 small, and – this is the crucial part – so long as it’s actually _for the inmate_, since he is the one the State has a duty to house and feed. > [@](#): > > A meal, which in my opinion, is wasted on a dying man. Might as well hand the meal to someone one _not_ convicted of a heinous crime. If it’s wasted on a dying man, that’s an argument for doing away with the tradition altogether, not for giving the meal to someone else. > [@](#): > > I am not advocating anarchy. I am not recommending that we chuck our hard won laws and regulations in favor of “screwing the man”. A pizza can be had for five bucks, and the guard could have handed the box out the cruiser window to a hungry citizen. No, the person dispatched for the pizza cannot buy it with taxpayer money and then give it away. I’m honestly not sure which part of _They can’t do that; it would be against the law_ you are having trouble with. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/19 "2007-05-11T21:35:48Z")
**Beaucarnea** so you’re of the opinion law enforcement and other government employees should only obey the laws that they do not deem to be “arbitrary?” It’s sort of you know, one of the big complaints people have about government employees, that they often act as though they are above the law. The last thing we need is regular citizens advocating they should only follow the laws they like. ---
**Author:** ![Beaucarnea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@Beaucarnea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beaucarnea)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528/20 "2007-05-11T21:51:19Z")
Lucky for all involved that I was not the prison employee chosen to fetch the last meal, or I might have handed a pizza to a homeless man, and such terrifying chaos would have ensued that only martial law could have restored order. Lucky again that an officer arrested danger to society [Sylvia Stayton](http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/07/24/loc_loc5a.html) for plugging parking meters. **Jodi** , my opinion about the prison officials’ refusal to honor the request is just that: an opinion. The resulting outpouring of donations from the public was far more productive than one measly pizza anyway, so you and I are both happy. Justice was served, and hungry people were fed. Your law degree is well-earned, and your point taken. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pizzas-for-the-homeless-in-nashville-thanks-to-death-row-request/403528.md?page=2)