I question the use of the word “banal” to characterize the actions of Josh Powell. The word should not be attached to his decisions any more than to those of Mr. Matthew D. Stewart’s.

In the recent editorial on the deaths of Charlie and Braeden, you described the incident as banal. If by “banal” you meant to send a message that Powell’s actions should not be looked upon as a singular criminal act and that domestic violence is commonplace in our society, I agree that the word “commonplace” and “banal” are synonyms.

However, given that you identified this as “an act of tremendous evil, the actions of a remorseless sociopath…” then other connotations for “banal” aren’t appropriate. To wit, the double murder-suicide by axe, fire, and explosion were not “trite, corny, stereotyped, stock, set, familiar, bromidic, old-hat, hackneyed, well-known,” etc.” In my opinion, Powell’s evil, or any evil for that matter, should not be identified as commonplace or trite.

The Washington deaths are achingly familiar and reflect troubling societal issues – but they were not banal.

Mary Miner

Layton