AR-News: Minor Setback in OK on Cockfighting

[Political Animal]

The article below describes action the Oklahoma state
Senate took yesterday to reduce penalties for
cockfighting with knives, and to legalize naked heel
cockfighting.  In all honesty, while this looks like
progress for the cockfighters, it is not.

This legislation, if it passes the House next week,
would be on the ballot in November for the voters to
have their say.  I suspect that by legalizing
cockfighting they have overreached and will go down in
flames.

After we whip them in November that will be two
statewide votes on cockfighting that we will have
beaten them at.  The legislature will be hard pressed
to continue trying to modify the cockfighting ban
after we have beaten them in election after election.
----
http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/3328043/detail.html

ChannelOklahoma.com
Senate Narrowly Approves Cockfighting Measure
Bill Reduces Penalties From Felony To Misdemeanor
POSTED: 2:04 PM CDT May 20, 2004


OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Senate voted narrowly on
Thursday to submit to a statewide vote a bill reducing
cockfighting penalties to a misdemeanor.

Under a law approved two years ago by voters, it is a
felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison to raise
roosters for cockfighting or to take part in a
cockfight.

Senate Bill 835 would reduce the penalty for those
offenses to a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $500
and up to six months in jail on the first offense. A
second offense increases the penalty to a $1,000 fine
and up to a year in jail. A third offense increases
the fine to $2,000.

The measure passed the Senate, 25-22. It takes 25
votes to pass a bill in the 48-member legislative
body.

The bill now goes to the House for final
consideration.

"It was a humanitarian vote," said Sen. Frank Shurden,
D-Henryetta, principal author. "This lets voters
decide if they want to put people in prison for
chicken crimes."

Several southeastern Oklahoma senators argued the
felony provisions were too severe.

Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore, said raising or
possessing gamecocks should not be in the same
category as crimes such as sexual abuse and
manslaughter.

"These are good people. I went to school with them,"
said Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, of gamefowl
breeders, who watched on from the gallery.

Gumm said the ban on cockfighting was not good for the
estimated three million game birds in the state, who
face extermination. "They got the gas chamber, folks,"
he said.

Cynthia Armstrong of the Oklahoma Coalition Against
Cockfighting decried the Senate vote.

"We're extremely disappointed that some senators have
so little respect for a vote of the people," she said.
"This bill is a section by section gutting of the law
the voters passed."

She said the bill essentially legalizes cockfighting
if the roosters are not fitted with knives and gaffs.
If knives or gaffs are not used, cockfighting would
only be a misdemeanor, she said.

"If it passes the House, we will be running another
campaign to make sure the law the voters passes is
held in place," Armstrong said, adding: "I think the
people will reject this."

As to comments that the bill would spare the lives of
roosters across the state, she said:

"The sad fate of the cockfighting roosters lies
squarely on the shoulders of cockfighters. They have
tried to blame the people of Oklahoma who want to ban
cockfighting, and yet they are the ones who continued
to breed these roosters for maximum aggressiveness,
pumping them full of stimulants and making them
unsuitable for adoption." Copyright 2004 by The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


	
		
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