Every person with an ounce of compassion was doubtless horrified by Allen White's vicious murder in Griffin recently of his 6-month-old son, Wendell. Because of his anger with Wendell's mother, White reportedly smashed the baby's head twice into a paved parking lot.

Unfortunately, such evil is common. On Oct. 2, 1974, according to official court records, Kenneth Harris went to South DeKalb Mall in Atlanta, followed a woman he didn't even know to her car, put a bag over her head, and shot her to death because she reminded him of his hated stepmother.

The recent murder in Wyoming of Matthew Shepard, as reported in media accounts, is another horrible crime. His killers should be punished to the full extent of the law.

But we are told that the murder of Matthew Shepard is a "hate crime" because he was gay and that new laws with additional penalties should apply when gays are victims of crimes.

The murders of the baby in Griffin and the lady at South DeKalb Mall apparently are not, according to proponents of these hate crime laws, as serious because the victims were not gay.

In service of this agenda, the media have made the Shepard murder national news complete with nationwide candlelight vigils and comments by the President. Meanwhile, the media treat the murders of non-homosexual, non-celebrity persons merely as pedestrian local news.

This hate crimes movement makes no sense. Every violent crime is a hate crime, as are many property crimes. Why should hate crimes against non-homosexuals be treated as less serious than those against homosexuals?