AR-News: Cockfighters Ridiculed in Shreveport Times

[Political Animal]

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/timgreening/html/F8ECBF86-5DC9-4659-B703-0C71CB4B67F8.shtml
	 
	Tim Greening 
	Roosters get no respect, I tell ya
	April 10, 2004
	Roosters get no respect, I tell ya
	
	"These animals are treated with respect. A rooster in
a cockfight is 
treated better than one in Winn Dixie."
	
	-- Louisiana Rep. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette
	
	BATON ROUGE -- Heated testimony began today in a
legislative committee 
considering a bill that would ban cockfighting in
Louisiana.
	
	The hearing was halted several times, however, as the
chairman scolded 
the more immature lawmakers who couldn't stop giggling
anytime someone 
said "cockfight."
	
	Despite surveys that show 85 percent of voters
approve of a ban, past 
bills attempting to do so failed, largely due to the
highly influential 
hillbilly lobby. 
	
	"This is an assault on our culture. What's all the
ruckus? 
Cockfighting don't hurt nobody nohow. Well, 'cept
maybe the roosters," Festus 
O'Gillicuddy, a representative of the People for the
Hillbilly Way, told 
the House Committee on Antiquated Barbaric Rituals.
	
	Festus McConrow of the Society to Preserve Depraved
Pastimes testified 
that the sport is a misunderstood tradition.
	
	"Really, you make it sound like there's something
wrong with whippin' 
up barnyard animals into a murderous frenzy for the
purposes of 
gambling."
	
	Besides, McConrow said, they've tried pitting other
animals against 
each other but it wasn't as entertaining. 
	
	"Turtlefighting took too long. Then we put men in
chicken suits and 
had them fight with chain saws. But they couldn't see
so good through the 
masks, and some spectators got cut up pretty good."
	
	The most compelling testimony, however, came from
Foghorn Killhorn, 
the champion rooster who holds the World Cockfighting
Federation title 
after defeating "Nature Boy" Chick Flair at
Roostlemania XIII. He praised 
cockfighters as professionals who take the sport
seriously.
	
	"We athletes are tested every week for synthetic
growth hormones. And 
if we test negative, they give us some right away,"
Killhorn said. "And 
even when they work us up into a murderous rage, they
say 'please.'" 
	
	"So it's your testimony that the cockfighters treat
you with respect?" 
said Rep. Festus Boudreaux, D-Dogpatch. 
	
	"Oh, yes, nothing like the last time I walked into
Winn Dixie. There, 
I get no respect at all. I went to a Winn Dixie the
other day and told 
the manager I wanted something to motivate me for my
next fight. He 
showed me a bottle of barbecue sauce. No respect, no
respect. He says 'Get 
some pants, kid, your genitals are showing. Whew! Talk
about Chicken 
Little.' No respect, no respect. Then he says 'Boy,
are you one ugly 
rooster. I haven't seen a beak that ugly since Jimmy
Durante quit making 
movies.' I tell ya, no respect at all."
	©The Shreveport Times
	April 10, 2004
	 
	 
	 

 


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