{"id":1946,"date":"2007-07-09T01:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-09T07:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/officials-confident-cockfighting-ban-will-hold-up\/"},"modified":"2007-07-09T01:13:00","modified_gmt":"2007-07-09T07:13:00","slug":"officials-confident-cockfighting-ban-will-hold-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/07\/officials-confident-cockfighting-ban-will-hold-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Officials confident cockfighting ban will hold up"},"content":{"rendered":"

State officials are confident that the cockfighting ban that took effect June 15 will withstand a challenge from the New Mexico Gamefowl Breeders Association and six businessmen who filed a lawsuit Thursday in an attempt to overturn the new law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed in Lea<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, alleges that the ban violates 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo<\/a> and that legislators violated procedures mandated by the state constitution when approving the ban earlier this year, the Associated Press<\/a> is reporting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The move by the cockfighting industry was expected. State Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, who sponsored the legislation, said she\u2019s confident it will remain in place.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew they were going to, but that\u2019s fine,\u201d Garcia said of the lawsuit. \u201cThey\u2019ll have to do what they have to do. I\u2019ve already done what I had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Attorney General Gary King<\/a> said he\u2019s prepared to \u201caggressively\u201d defend the law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis issue has been debated for years and we believe the law was clear in its scope and intent,\u201d King said. \u201cI don\u2019t think any of their arguments hold water. We plan to file a motion to dismiss because we don\u2019t see any claims here that would support a lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a statement released by his office, Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> agreed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is regrettable that opponents to the ban have opted to engage in costly litigation. The legislative process provided an open and public forum for the issue to be thoroughly debated,\u201d he said. \u201cI am confident that the ban will survive this legal challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The law makes participating in cockfighting a petty misdemeanor on the first offense punishable by up to six months in prison and a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison on the second offense. Further offenses are fourth-degree felonies punishable by up to 18 months in prison.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The lawsuit, according to the Associated Press, alleges that the ban prohibits people from participating in a sport that\u2019s important to their culture, destroys peoples\u2019 livelihoods and lifestyles, makes those who keep the birds for reasons other than fighting afraid they\u2019ll be mistaken for cockfighters, and will drive cockfighting underground.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people upset,\u201d the news service quoted Ronald Barron, president of the gamefowl breeders association, as saying. \u201cIt\u2019s affecting their businesses, their livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The state, Richardson, King and the state police chief are named as defendants. Those suing along with the breeders association, according to the news service, are Charles Kent Bullock of Bullock\u2019s Feed in Artesia, Don Spearman of Animal Nutrition and Supply in Carlsbad, Tony T. Ortega of Mesilla Valley Feeds in Las Cruces, and Jal businessmen Johnny Unias Montoya of Johnny\u2019s Service Station, Raul Trevino of Lewallen Supply and Pradip D. Bhakata of the Hilltop Inn.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The plaintiffs say the treaty guarantees certain rights, including the protection of cockfighting as a long-standing tradition. The attorney general\u2019s office, according to the news service, issued an advisory opinion four years ago stating that the treaty doesn\u2019t mention cockfighting and doesn\u2019t protect it as a right of citizens.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The plaintiffs also accuse legislators of failing to follow the constitutionally required procedure that they read bills three times in each house, the third time in their entirety. Lawmakers regularly vote to have the record reflect that such action has been taken even though they never do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State officials are confident that the cockfighting ban that took effect June 15 will withstand a challenge from the New Mexico Gamefowl Breeders Association and six businessmen who filed a lawsuit Thursday in an attempt to overturn the new law. The lawsuit, filed in Lea County, alleges that the ban violates 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}