Re: Gamefowl News Thurs 30 Dec 2004
 
Abusing The Judicial System?
 
Clogging The Courts?
 
Higher Cost To Tax Payers?
 
PETA and H$U$ file so many suits, why is it that the attorneys defending them don't file a motion to make them a Vexatious Litigant?
Marge           
 
 
 
Vexatious litigant
In English law and legal systems derived from it, a vexatious litigant is someone who is debarred from bringing a case to court because they have previously abused the legal system.
 
 

........complaints of the opponents about the procedures used by elections supervisors to verify signatures were a matter for the executive branch of government, not the judicial branch.

"The doctrine of separation of powers dictates that (absent constitutional infirmities) courts should not interfere with the methods by which another branch of government chooses to do its business,"........

 

Judge dismisses lawsuit challenging slots petition drive

JACKIE HALLIFAX
Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A judge tossed out a lawsuit filed by gambling opponents alleging massive fraud in the petition drive that put a South Florida slot machine measure on the November ballot - and ultimately in the state constitution.

Circuit Judge Nikki Ann Clark sided with the sponsors of the petition drive and dismissed the lawsuit, which had been scheduled for trial later this month. The two sides learned of the ruling Tuesday, a day after it was filed with the clerk's office.

Clark wrote that courts can overturn the results of an election only when there is evidence of fraud in the election itself, not in events leading up to the election, like petition drives.

"To invalidate this amendment after the fact on the grounds asserted would thwart the will of the people who voted for it and would improperly inject this court into the political process," Clark wrote.

By a margin of 51-49 percent, Floridians voted to change the state constitution to open the door to slots in South Florida.

The amendment lets voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties decide in future referendums if they want to allow slots at five race tracks and two jai-alai frontons. Broward's commission Tuesday discussed whether to have its referendum in March but postponed a vote until next week. Miami-Dade is also expected to vote this year.

Floridians Against Expanded Gambling, the Humane Society of the United States and Grey2K USA, a greyhound advocacy group opposed to dog tracks, had alleged that thousands of signatures submitted by the slots campaign were forged - including signatures from at least three dozen dead people.

The campaign manager for the slots drive, Earl Bender, called Clark's decision a victory for "the voters whose will has been respected by the judge."

Bender also called the ruling a win for children, alluding to the fact that any taxes the state collects on slot machines must be dedicated to public schools statewide.

A Fort Lauderdale lawyer for the opponents said he was still confident of the legal arguments they made. An appeal will be filed.

"We knew ultimately that this very issue would be addressed by the appellate courts," Scott Marder said. "It will just be sooner rather than later."

In her opinion, Clark said "any improper signature gathering which may have occurred on the petitions was cured by the election in which the voters approved the slot machine amendment."

She added that the complaints of the opponents about the procedures used by elections supervisors to verify signatures were a matter for the executive branch of government, not the judicial branch.

"The doctrine of separation of powers dictates that (absent constitutional infirmities) courts should not interfere with the methods by which another branch of government chooses to do its business," she wrote.

 
 
 
 
Texas........
 
Race against the cluck
Bill O'Connell 12.JAN.05

Town officials mulling limits on ownership of livestock


FLORESVILLE — If some town officials here have their way, fewer residents will be able to keep chickens and livestock because of proposed changes to the local animal-control ordinance.

Currently, there are rules regulating the ownership of animals that are typically seen more often on a farm than within an incorporated area.

But town officials admit those rules routinely go unenforced, unless a complaint is lodged about a specific situation. And with Floresville in the midst of continued growth, some officials said the time has come to set a new policy and enforce it.

“I think we need to draw the line,” Alderman Tony Ximenez said.

Now the Floresville City Council will consider a revision to the regulations that would require larger lots for the ownership of livestock, and limiting the number of chickens that can be kept on private property.

The proposed changes — which are to be discussed and considered for adoption at a public meeting this week — have come under criticism from Floresville Alderman Gerard Jimenez.

A lifetime resident of Floresville who keeps about 150 chickens on his property in town, Jimenez chastised fellow council members during a Jan. 6 workshop on the proposed animal-control revisions.

“I don’t like to be putting rules on a bunch of people,” Jimenez said. “That’s not my thing.”

The council is scheduled to consider the proposed changes when it meets at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

Feelings across town are mixed on the regulation of chickens and livestock in a town where they are commonly seen, Floresville Mayor Raymond Ramirez said.

“I’ve heard from different people, and some people have indicated we should leave what [ordinance] we’ve got and implement it across the board,” Ramirez said.

In its current form, Flores-ville’s animal-control ordinance prohibits livestock from being kept within 150 feet of a neighboring residence or business.

The fact that the 150-feet rule — along with the ordinance as a whole — has been virtually ignored since its passage in 1994 presents a greater challenge to a council now interested in clamping down on animal ownership, some aldermen said.

A counterargument would be that the lack of enforcement in the past does not prevent town officials from taking action now or in the near future. And, some say the presence of chickens and livestock in residential areas raises concerns about public health issues, noise, and odor.

“I wouldn’t like to live in a situation like that,” Ximenez said.

Town officials are considering replacing the current 150-feet rule with a provision requiring property owners to own at least one acre in order to keep livestock on their land.

Also, chickens would be limited to 25 per lot, and they would have to be kept in a fenced or penned area at least 50 feet from the nearest neighboring home or building.

Considering the town’s history of relative non-enforcement, the proposed changes would have to be applied “better than we have [in the past],” Floresville City Manager Gary Pelech said.

Tighter restrictions on animal ownership would infringe upon the rights of many people in Floresville who have kept farm animals on their properties for years, Jimenez said. That group included Jimenez, since the limitations on keeping chickens could affect him directly.

Future annexation of outlying property into Floresville could bring people living in rural areas face-to-face with a similar dilemma if they could not keep their animals, Jimenez argued.

“You think it’s right for me to force you out?” Jimenez said. “Who am I, or who are we, to dictate?”

boconnell@wcn-online.com
__________________________

Feel free to contact the Wilson County News regarding content or any other questions/concerns.

E-mail reader@wcn-online.com,
1012 C Street, Floresville, Texas 78114
830-216-4519, fax 830-393-3219

Publisher’s Note: Opinions posted below DO NOT necessarily reflect the opinions of the Wilson County News, its staff, or its advertisers.

 
 
Source: http://www.wilsoncountynews.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=19&twindow=&mad=No&sdetail=6910&wpage=&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=
 
 
 
Chicken Cruelty Workers Won't Be Charged
 
By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press Writer

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Former workers at a chicken processing plant who were caught on tape allegedly kicking, stomping and slamming chickens against the wall will not face criminal charges, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Ginny Conley, head of a state prosecutors' organization, said that while the incident at the Pilgrims Pride plant in Moorefield was disturbing, it does not warrant criminal charges because "these were chickens in a slaughterhouse." The plant serves as a supplier to KFC restaurants.

"It needs to be handled more on a regulatory end than prosecuting someone criminally," she said.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which secretly recorded the alleged torture in July and pressed for the case to be prosecuted, condemned the decision Tuesday and vowed to keep fighting.

"What we documented at this West Virginia KFC supplier is nothing short of sadistic cruelty that warrants the strongest possible condemnation and prosecution," said Bruce Friedrich, director of vegan campaigns for PETA. "Our complaint documents hundreds of instances of felonious cruelty to animals."

Misdemeanor animal cruelty is punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and six months in jail. Conviction of felony animal cruelty can be punished by one to three years in prison and as much as $5,000 in fines.

Earlier Tuesday, PETA sent letters to West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise and Attorney General Darrell McGraw asking them to help find a prosecutor before the time to file charges has expired.

Fran Hughes, chief deputy attorney general, said her agency lacks the jurisdiction to get involved. A call to Wise's spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride fired 11 employees following the release of the video by PETA last summer and provided animal cruelty training to its work force at its 24 North American plants.

The fired workers told Hardy County prosecutor Lucas See in August that they were expected to hang 28 to 33 live birds per minute and it was faster to toss some of them aside than to wring their necks the proper way.

See stepped down from the case last year because of a possible conflict of interest.

Pilgrim's Pride is among the largest poultry producers in the United States and Mexico, and is a major supplier to KFC, which PETA has targeted in an ongoing animal cruelty campaign.

The Moorefield plant employs 2,300 and supports about 200 poultry farms in West Virginia.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050112/ap_on_re_us/chicken_cruelty_1

Chicken Cruelty
WTAP News
Denise Alex

An animal-rights group concerned about the alleged torture of chickens at a Hardy County, West Virginia slaughterhouse is taking its case to higher powers.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Gov. Wise or the Attorney General's Office to help find someone to prosecute the case before it's too late to file misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty.

PETA says the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute is dragging its feet on the case which involves a Pilgrim's Pride processing plant in Moorefield.

The institute's acting director, Wood County Prosecutor Ginny Conley, was in court Tuesday and tells WTAP News that's simply not the case.

In July, PETA released secretly recorded video of plant workers stomping, kicking and slamming chickens against walls.

Hardy County Prosecutor Lucas See stepped down from the case in September, citing a potential conflict of interest.

The Prosecuting Attorneys Institute has yet to recommend a replacement.
 
Source: http://www.wtap.com/news/headlines/1188277.html
 
 
Teen gets 2 1/2 years for setting BYU eco-terror fire

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY -- A teenager who admitted setting fire to an animal husbandry building at Brigham Young University on behalf of an animal rights group has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.

Harrison David Burrows, 18, was sentenced Monday but will be allowed to turn himself in Jan. 28 to an institution chosen by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

He could have been sentenced up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to destruction of property by fire for the July 8 blaze at BYU's Ellsworth Farm on the Provo campus.

Damage was estimated at $30,000.

In an earlier statement to the court, Burrows stated, "We started the fires to make a political statement on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front," an animal-rights group that has been linked in the past to other crimes.

<snip>

Source: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?tl=1&display=rednews/2005/01/11/build/nation/73-ecoterror.inc

What's Been Going On In San Francisco......

Alerts

By Deborah Giattina

McGovern discusses terrorism

Thursday, Jan. 6, George McGovern, former senator, 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, and advocate for the poor, discusses the causes of terrorism and proposes alternatives to current U.S. government policies in the Middle East and in fighting the war on terror. Check-in 5:30 p.m., program 6 p.m., World Affairs Council Center, second-floor conference room, 312 Sutter, S.F. $15, $7 cosponsors, $5 students, free for members. (415) 493-4600, www.itsyourworld.org.

 

Advocate vegetarianism

Tuesday, Jan. 11, join members of Animal Liberation in handing out pamphlets on vegetarianism to commuters at the Rockridge BART station. 6:30 p.m., Rockridge BART station, 5660 College, Oakl. (925) 487-4419.

 
Source: http://www.sfbg.com/39/15/x_alerts.html
 
 
Almost Like Supporting Terrorism And Denouncing Christianity All In One Swipe, Isn't It?
 
 

McCARTNEY LENDS PETA SUPPORT

SIR PAUL McCARTNEY has contributed to a new anti-animal cruelty book by INGRID NEWKIRK, president of campaign group PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA).

The tome MAKING KIND CHOICES falls in line with the BEATLES legend's own views regarding the humane treatment of animals and his staunch vegetarianism.

And the YESTERDAY star was so determined to lend his support to the book, he wrote the introductory foreword section for Newkirk.

McCartney writes of the turning point in his attitude towards food, "I was sitting with LINDA eating a dinner of roast lamb and watching the sheep that lived in the field outside our window.

"Seeing the lambs running up and down the field with such joy made us question the wisdom of eating such beautiful creatures."

Source: http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/mccartney%20lends%20peta%20support

 

Cowell Shows His Soft Side

He's made his name being a brutally nasty chap - but in his latest move, Simon Cowell proves that actually he's a big softie at heart. The X Factor judge has joined the celeb anti-fur posse by posing for a Peta poster.Smiling in an uncomfortably genuine style, Simon is pictured hugging a dog with the quote: "If you wouldn't wear your dog, please don't wear fur."

The 45-year-old music man follows in the footsteps of actors Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron, as well as Pink, who have all appeared in adverts against fur-wearing.

Dawn Carr, a spokeswoman for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said: "We're thrilled to have Simon on board and this advert brings home the reality that while people very often love to have their dogs and cats around, the fur trade means animals have been cruelly trapped or beaten to death."

The poster of Simon-with-dog will appear both in the US and in Britain.

Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050111/140/fa2z9.html

 

FOWL PLAY IN BX. BASEMENT

Firefighters investigating a water leak in a Bronx building discovered a breeding center for illegal cockfights in the basement, authorities said yesterday.

Firefighters from Ladder Co. 46 found 10 cages containing roosters and breeding paraphernalia at 3140-3150 Kingsbridge Ave. on Sunday night.

"These birds cannot be rehabilitated and had to be euthanized," said Mike Pastore, of the Center for Animal Care and Control.

No arrests were made as there were no people in the basement, authorities said.

Bridget Harrison

Source: http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/38331.htm

 

Kill First, Ask Questions Later
Or
Judge, Jury, And Executioner
 

Fighting cocks' owner hunted

BY TONY SCLAFANI
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU

Ten caged roosters discovered ready for cockfighting in a Bronx basement had investigators hunting yesterday for their caretaker.

The illegal bird dungeon was found Sunday night by firefighters responding to a Kingsbridge apartment building for a water leak, officials said.

When they got to the concrete-lined basement at 3150 Kingsbridge Ave. to shut off the water, they spotted the crowing, surgically altered roosters trapped inside small cages.

"It's inhumane because these animals fight to the death," said ASPCA Special Agent Joseph Pentangelo. "It's barbaric."

ASPCA investigators have launched a probe into who locked up the helpless birds, eight in wooden-framed boxes with metal fencing and two in cylinder traps of metal wire.

The roosters had their chests shaved - the better to display injuries during a cockfight - and the red flappy skin above and below their heads removed to lessen an opponent's bloody attack.

A weighing scale, antibiotics typically used for birds, and vitamins also were seized, but no fighting ring was found.

Some neighbors who have heard the roosters crowing since last summer were shocked to learn of their illegal purpose.

"You could hear them in the morning doing their thing - cock-a-doodle-doo," said one tenant, who declined to give his name. "I didn't think anything of it."

The roosters were carried away by Animal Care & Control field workers and later euthanized at the AC&C Brooklyn shelter.

Pentangelo pleaded for the public's help in solving the case, one of the many ongoing city investigations of cockfighting activity.

In April 2003, 77 people were busted at a cockfighting den in a former South Bronx church after a three-month investigation.

"Rooster fighting is definitely a priority," Pentangelo told the Daily News. "Anyone who is aware of or suspects animal abuse, call the ASPCA."

Tipsters can call (212) 876-7700. All calls are kept confidential.

With Tamer El-Ghobashy

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/269886p-231164c.html

.......attending a cockfight would be illegal......

Could That Be The Beginning Of A Long List Of "Attending Would Be Illegal"?

 

Council targets vicious dogs and cockfighting fans

ALBUQUERQUE Owners of vicious dogs and fans of cockfights beware. You're on the radar of the Albuquerque City Council.

City councilors are considering a pair of proposals that target the owners of dangerous dogs and those who attend cockfights. Cockfights are illegal within in Albuquerque.

One proposal would encourage people to turn in neighbors who have dangerous dogs. Animal control officers could then require the owner to take steps to safeguard the public. That could include things such as fixing a fence or sending their dog to obedience training.

Dog owners who failed to comply with the order could be fined up to 500-dollars and might end up going to jail for up to 90 days.

Councilor Sally Mayer is the sponsor of a measure that would revise the city's current cockfighting ordinance. Under the proposed revision attending a cockfight would be illegal. Again the penalty would be as much as a 500-dollar fine and up to 90 days in jail.

Source: http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=2797289