AR-News: (OK) Cockfighting on Indian Land to be Tested

[Political Animal]

Man says cockfight Saturday will be legal
2004-04-16
By David Zizzo
The Oklahoman


State Attorney General Drew Edmondson has said
cockfighting is not legal on American Indian land or
any other place in Oklahoma, a spokesman said
Thursday. 
That means a man who claims to have scheduled a
cockfight Saturday in Cotton County apparently will be
violating the law, Edmondson spokesman Charlie Price
said. 

Organizer Mike Turner told The Associated Press the
cockfight is legal because the state ban on it doesn't
apply to American Indian land, where he intends to
hold the event in southwestern Oklahoma near Randlett.


Turner, director of the Kiowa Association for the
Preservation of Cultural and Rural Lifestyles, said
Indian land is exempt from the federal Animal Welfare
Act and the state cockfighting ban. 

Price said Edmondson's office told Turner in November
2002 that his attempt to create a "safe haven" for
cockfighting on American Indian land is illegal. 

"Oklahoma's Anti- Cockfighting Law is as applicable in
Indian Country as it is outside of Indian Country,"
the letter by Assistant Attorney General Neal Leader
stated. "Under Federal law, you can not create a safe
haven for cockfighters operating within the State of
Oklahoma." 

The state ban was approved by Oklahoma voters in
November 2002, but gamefowl owners and cockfighters
used injunctions so they could continue fighting their
birds. In March, the state Supreme Court upheld the
constitutionality of the cockfighting ban,
invalidating these injunctions. 

The law makes it a felony punishable by up to 10 years
in prison and a $25,000 fine to hold cockfights, to
keep equipment or facilities for cockfighting or to
possess the birds for the purpose of fighting. 

Martha Perez, spokeswoman for the Kiowa Tribe,
headquartered in Carnegie, said, "We have no knowledge
of what this fellow is doing." 

She said tribal officials think Turner is basing some
of his claims on a resolution the tribe approved two
years ago calling for preservation of traditional
tribal activities. 

"There were no specifics in there for, quote,
cockfighting," she said. "That's not one of the rural
lifestyles of the Kiowa Tribe." 

Cynthia Armstrong of the Oklahoma Coalition Against
Cockfighting called the proposed cockfight a scam. 

"They don't have a right to cockfight in Oklahoma, and
trying to hide behind a ridiculous scheme is not going
to work," she said. 

Turner told The Associated Press there had been a good
response to the event. 

"I can't guarantee them anything, but this is our last
chance to stand up for our freedom," Turner said. "I'm
not concerned about being arrested. If I am, then I'll
go to court and fight it." 

Turner said there will be no booking of bets and there
will be no violations of Indian gaming regulations.
Drugs and alcohol will be banned. 



Contributing: The Associated Press



	
		
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