RICHMOND VA : SB 1190-End Cockfighting :: 439 Signatures so far

[Guest guest]

UPDATE: 439 Signatures So Far! Sign or Forward! Signatures assembled and delivered in 1,000-Signature batches. Click http://tinyurl.com/368b7d to sign the Care2 online petition to stiffen cockfighting penalties in Virginia! Text fields are provided for signers to express their personal opinions to the Virginia House of Delegates in this matter. The petition is addressed to the sponsor of Bill No. 1190, seeking to make Cockfighting a Class 6 Felony (as amended in Senate: to make cockfighting a Class 1 misdemeanor): The Honorable William Roscoe Reynolds - Bill Co-Patron Virginia Senate P.O. Box 406 Richmond VA 23208 Email: district20 (district20 @ sov.state.va.us) District Office Phone: (276) 638-2315 Richmond Office Phone: (804) 698-7520 Help the Commonwealth of Virginia put an end to inhumanity against the innocent forever! Thanks, Dave O'ConnellModerator, http://Pets.Groups..comAmericanSeniorCats Moderator, http://Pets.Groups..comMarylandSeniorCats Moderator, http://Pets.Groups..comBlack_Cat_RescueUSA Montgomery Village, Maryland A BILL to amend and reenact § 3.1-796.125 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the fighting of cocks and other animals; penalty. View the complete text of Senate Bill 1190 here! (as amended by the Senate) Stop the cruel, bloodthirsty, and corrupt practice of cockfighting in the Commonwealth of Virginia! View horrifying streaming video of Humane Society of the United States enforcers raiding a sordid Virginia cockfighting pit here! Contact the Members of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Law where the Bill is scheduled for the Mon., Feb 12, 2007, docket! Email Chairman H. Morgan Griffith hereEmail Member David B. Albo hereEmail Member Robert B. Bell hereEmail Member Benjamin L. Cline hereEmail Member C. Todd Gilbert hereEmail Member Robert Hurt hereEmail Member Kenneth R. Melvin hereEmail Member Brian J. Moran hereEmail Member Katherine B. Wadell hereEmail Member Vivien E. Watts here Thank the Members of the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources for referring S.B. 1190 to the full General Assembly (1/29/2007)! Email Chairman Charles R. Hawkins hereEmail Member John H. Chichester

hereEmail Member Patricia S. Ticer hereEmail Member Mary Margaret Whipple hereEmail Member Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. hereEmail Member John

Watkins hereEmail Member and Bill Chief Patron William Roscoe Reynolds hereEmail Member Phillip P. Puckett hereEmail Member Frank M. Ruff, Jr. hereEmail Member Harry B. Blevins hereEmail Member R. Creigh Deeds hereEmail Member Ken Cuccinelli II hereEmail Member Mark D. Obenshain hereEmail Member Mamie E. Locke

hereEmail Member Ryan T. McDougle here

Email Governor Tim Kaine here Email Lt. Governor Bill Bolling here Contact the Members of the Virginia Senate here!Contact the Members of the Virginia House of Delegates here!Visit the Humane Society of the United States here! Cockfighting in VirginiaTuesday, February 6, 2007; Page A16Read online: http://tinyurl.com/yux7jfThe Jan. 28 Metro article "Raid Shines Harsh Light on Rural Va.," about cockfighting in Virginia, presented an appalling picture of how some

human beings amuse themselves at the expense of other creatures.It is a sad commentary that an advocate for Latino rights and a state delegate both seemed more concerned about the perception created by cockfighting legislation than its intended effects. The legislature should pass the bill making the crime a felony, and officers should enforce it without concern for who the perpetrators are.The gamecocks being tortured do not care whether the people around the pits are Hispanic, white, black or otherwise. Neither should the commonwealth.ARI M. SOLOW Brunswick Cockfighting Penalties Diluted in Senate BillBy Richmond NotebookFriday, February 2, 2007; Page B02Read online: http://tinyurl.com/3574mvThe Virginia Senate weakened a bill yesterday that would increase the penalties for betting on or charging admission to cockfighting events.The measure would have elevated the offense to a Class 6 felony and brought the possibility of jail time. Under current law, the offense is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a $500 fine.Changes made to the bill on the Senate floor yesterday would elevate the offense to a Class 1 misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of a year in jail. The bill still must pass the House of Delegates.-- Amy

Gardner Senate Committee Backs Higher Fine for Cockfight GamblersBy Richmond NotebookTuesday, January 30, 2007; Page B04Read online: http://tinyurl.com/2xgccuAVirginia Senate committee agreed yesterday to raise the penalty for cockfighting to a Class 6 felony.But the panel stopped short of expanding the penalty to all participants of cockfighting events and those who raise gamecocks. Instead, as is the case now, only gambling on or charging admission to cockfighting would be illegal, with a maximum fine of $2,500 and five years in jail. Under current law, the penalty is a Class 3 misdemeanor, with a maximum fine of $500 but no

jail time.The measure, approved 7 to 5 by the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee yesterday, now heads to the full Senate.-- Amy Gardner Bill to make cockfighting a felony wins Va. panel's OKBy Bob LewisAP Political WriterJanuary 29, 2007Read online: http://tinyurl.com/2qvulqRICHMOND, Va. -- The stealthy bloodsport of cockfighting, a misdemeanor now in Virginia, would become a felony under a bill that won narrow approval Monday from a Senate committee. On a 7-5 vote, the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources advanced Sen. Roscoe Reynolds' bill to a Senate floor vote after several provisions broadening its

scope were deleted. On a voice vote, the same panel overwhelmingly rejected legislation that would have required veterinarians to report to state authorities dogs with injuries consistent with illegal dogfighting rings. The cockfighting bill targets people who stage all-day tournaments that pit roosters bred and trained to fight and outfitted with razor-edged steel talons on their legs. "It's brutal, it's bloodthirsty and it's the sort of behavior that serves only to increase the violence and the coarseness of our world today," said Robin Starr, executive director of the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Virginia's lax punishment for cockfighting makes it a magnet for cockfighters from nearby states that punish it more severely, the bill's supporters told the committee. Cockfighting in Virginia is illegal now only if admission is charged to watch the fights or if prizes are awarded for the animals that

survive. The committee eliminated provisions that would have made possessing and training fighting chickens a crime, but made existing offenses felonies. A Jan. 21 raid in Mecklenburg County, on the North Carolina border, resulted in the arrests of 122 people, about 75 percent of them from other states, mostly North Carolina, said Danny Fox, the county's sheriff. Twenty-two of those arrested were illegal aliens whom the Department of Homeland Security is deporting, and many of them were members of alien gangs such as the Mexican Mafia and MS-13, Fox said. Authorities also seized 127 birds in the raid, said Nora Miller, the Mecklenburg commonwealth's attorney. Six birds had died and four more had to be euthanized from horrific wounds--their windpipes ripped open or their entrails exposed through gashed thoraxes, Reynolds said. Kathy Strouse, a lobbyist for a statewide organization of local animal control officers, said cockfighting is always

involved with more serious offenses. "I have never read of a cockfighting arrest that did not involve a host of collateral crimes: gambling, drugs, alcohol, firearms, child endangerment, assault up to and including homicide," Strouse said. Children were present at the Mecklenburg fight, staged in a remote outbuilding, Miller said. Local, state and federal officials who conducted the raid also found powder and crack cocaine. No witnesses spoke against the measure, but several senators on the panel voiced reservations about it. Sen. John Watkins said Reynolds' bill would criminalize the sort of frolic he pursued as a child growing up on a farm. "Every now and then I would throw two anxious roosters in the same vicinity, particularly when there were a bunch of hens around, just to see what would happen and nine times out of 10, they would fight," said Watkins, R-Powhatan. "Would I not be, at that point, in the commission of a felony?"

Sen. John H. Chichester questioned how authorities could discern fighting fowl from other roosters. "How do you know that the game chicken wandering around my house there, whether I'm training it or not training it or is there as an ornament or it's just chasing people up and down the sidewalk," said Chichester, R-Stafford. Cockfighting is legal in only two states, New Mexico and Louisiana, said John P. Goodwin, who oversees animal-fighting issues for the Humane Society of the United States. Strong efforts are backing legislation in both states this year to outlaw it, Goodwin said. Reynolds said that among states with laws against cockfighting, only Mississippi's are more lenient than Virginia's. Sen. Benjamin Lambert's dogfighting bill died after Democrats and Republicans on the panel questioned the fairness of subjecting veterinarians not involved in dogfighting to civil fines. They also questioned how reliably injuries from

ordinary dogfights could be distinguished from those caused by criminally staged dogfights. Supporters of the bill said it would isolate people who breed and train fighting dogs and organize the lucrative and secretive canine death matches.

Be a PS3 game guru.Get your game face on with the latest PS3 news and previews at Games.