The Woodburn bank bombing that killed two police officers and critically wounded a third will have to be prosecuted in such a way that no sane person anywhere in the state would want to repeat that kind of crime.

We know from other parts of the world - and not just from Iraq - that multiple bombings can become a trend and even a purposeful campaign. And in Oregon, we recently have seen an upsurge in bank robberies. These two trends together need to be suppressed before they go any further.

Police said they have a man in custody. Let's remember that he's innocent unless a court finds otherwise. But assuming that a court does find him guilty of having had a role in this bombing, the death penalty would not be out of place, regardless of what kind of a troubled childhood the bomber might have had.

And then an effort must be made to have the penalty carried out before some people involved in the case - especially relatives of the victims - get old or even retire or die.

Bank robbing, as noted, has seen kind of a spike in Oregon and the mid-valley. Most of the robbers leave after they get some money, and eventually they get caught. But the Oregon message must be that if you do any harm to anyone while doing a robbery, especially at a bank, the state will not deal lightly with you.

It will be tough for Oregon to send that message. Nobody seems overly eager to increase the speed and certainty of punishment for severe crimes.

But the results of this crime were so horrendous that the legislature may take notice. Maybe, though the judiciary would resent it, lawmakers could try to set time limits for appeals in capital cases.

The Woodburn bomb planter or bomb planters need to get what they deserve, not in 10 or 20 years, but while people still remember what they did. (hh)