AR-News: Articles on OK Cockfight Court Ruling

[Political Animal]

Ruling is something to crow about
2004-03-31
Oklahoman Editorial


OTHER THAN the inquiry of what took them so long,
Oklahoma Supreme Court justices have answered the
central question surrounding the 2002 cockfighting ban
approved by voters. 

The court said Tuesday that the ban is constitutional.
But since the ban isn't actually in the constitution,
lawmakers are free to mess with it. 

State Sen. Frank Shurden, dismissing the court's
decision as biased, continues to press for the
decriminalization of cockfighting. With two strikes
against him -- the public vote and the court ruling --
Shurden should be poised for a return to the dugout.
Instead he's still swinging at every pitch. 

Shurden, D-Henryetta, tied up too much of the
Legislature's time last year trying to overturn a vote
of the people. He's back this year with a bill to
reduce the felony penalty for cockfighting, a penalty
endorsed by voters, to a misdemeanor. 

The senator has also trotted out bills to make
cockfighting a county option, even though a clear
majority of Oklahoma voters decided to make the ban
statewide. And he continues to use the straw man
argument that a ban on cockfighting will lead to a ban
on rodeos, hunting and fishing. 

Few voters would act to ban those activities, but they
were convinced that cockfighting was an activity that
needed to end in this state. The ban hasn't really
been enforced even though it's been on the books since
the November 2002 vote. 

Court challenges and reluctant rural sheriffs have
made the ban an idle threat. Now that the high court
has ruled 7-0 to uphold the ban, perhaps citizens will
see more signs of enforcement. As for Shurden,
legislative leaders need to let him know in clear
terms that the people and the Supreme Court have
spoken. 

Perhaps the day of unrestricted cockfighting is over
in Oklahoma. That's the what people want and that's
what the court has allowed. 

 

 

Court upholds cockfighting ban
2004-03-31
By John Greiner
The Oklahoman


The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the
constitutionality of the cockfighting ban approved by
Oklahoma voters in November 2002. 

But the 7-0 opinion is not the end of a battle to
eliminate more than 40 years of cockfighting in
Oklahoma, cockfighting enthusiasts said. 

"This is going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,"
said James Tally, president of the Oklahoma Gamefowl
Breeders Association. The group has challenged the
cockfighting ban during the 2002 election campaign and
in the Supreme Court. 

Also Tuesday, Sen. Frank Shurden vowed to push his
legislation to lessen penalties for cockfighting from
felonies to misdemeanors. 

"We are so pleased that the Oklahoma state Supreme
Court without dissent has declared the anti-
cockfighting law constitutional," said Cynthia
Armstrong of the Oklahoma Coalition Against
Cockfighting, the group that circulated an initiative
petition for a statewide vote on the issue. "Now
enforcement of the law that was overwhelmingly
approved by voters in 2002 can begin." 

Oklahoma prohibited cockfighting until the early 1960s
when the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled gamecocks
were not animals and not subject to the laws
prohibiting animal fighting. 

In November 2002, Oklahoma voters approved the
anti-cockfighting proposal -- State Question 687 -- by
56 percent. 

Trent Baggett, assistant executive coordinator for the
Oklahoma District Attorneys Council, said, "If it is
constitutional, I think we have to enforce the laws." 

Gov. Brad Henry said, "Now that the court has ruled,
Oklahomans can devote their undivided attention to
pressing challenges in education, economic
development, health care and other important areas." 

Attorney General Drew Edmondson, whose office defended
the law, called Tuesday's ruling "a victory for the
voters of Oklahoma." 

Cockfighters who challenged the ban in the Supreme
Court after the November 2002 vote have 20 days to ask
for a rehearing. 

If they go to the U.S. Supreme Court, it would be rare
for that court to suspend the law from going into
effect until it rules on the issue, the attorney
general's office said. 

Efforts to prohibit cockfighting began in 1999 when
the Oklahoma Coalition Against Cockfighting circulated
an initiative petition to get the issue before voters.


Despite the proposal's passage in the 2002 general
election, the issue was back in court quickly as
cockfighters challenged its constitutionality in more
than 25 counties. 

Those cases were consolidated in the Supreme Court,
which took the case. 

The anti-cockfighting proposal is not a constitutional
amendment. It is a statutory change, meaning it is
subject to amendment by the Legislature just as any
other law. 

Shurden, D-Henryetta, said he is working on Senate
Bill 835, a bill from last year that would reduce the
penalties for cockfighting from felonies to
misdemeanors. 

Told of the Supreme Court's ruling, Shurden said, "I
didn't have any doubt. I think they've been prejudiced
all along." 


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