Here's something you might be interested in.
On March 9, the Escondido City Council made an unfortunate decision by allowing Los Charros to continue performing outdated acts of animal cruelty on city-owned land. Despite the fact that no animal welfare laws exist in Mexico and that animals are routinely treated with violence, our council members are perfectly willing to allow charreadas or Mexican Rodeos to take place in our country without oversite as recommended by Eric Mills of Action for Animals.
Dog fights. Cock fights. Mexican Rodeos. Caesar Chavez spoke out against all of these events, and yet his people continue to participate in them, not only in their own country, but in ours. They do this privately and with few consequences if caught. It seems as if in every way possible, our authorities are giving immigrants a free pass to break the law and set the standards for our own country.
In 2010, Mr. Raul Leyvas of Ramona, pleaded guilty to five counts of animal cruelty after animal control officers seized ten pit bulls, supplements, a treadmill, and a 16 by 16 foot bloody carpet used for dog fighting from his home. All ten dogs were destroyed. The penalty for his crimes? Work furlough.
Last month, a man in Kern County was killed by a knife tied to a bird's leg during a cock fight. No one at the event was arrested. In California, cock fighting is a misdeameanor. In Arizona, where the events are a felony, cock fighting is almost nonexistent.
In CITY BEAT (Dust in the Wind, September 29) an animal control officer called the charreada, "torture." She said the San Diego Humane Society receives few complaints because charreadas, like cock fights and dog fights, are private and cultural. By allowing Los Charros to continue to abuse animals on public land, the city council has set animal welfare back by decades. It's a sad day when council members would rather pander to special interest groups than stand up for the innocent horses and steers who can't speak for themselves.
In the end, the joke will be on the city council. My friends and family have fled Escondido, because their hometown no longer reflects the American culture. They don't mind living among people of various ethnicities, but they do want to be near those who assimilate and not force their ways on us. Swap meets, charreadas, and Mexican mercados attract people with little money, no matter how many fancy car dealerships are built around them. The mayor often mentions that the poverty rate in Escondido is 20 percent. He's getting what he's asking for.
We are a civilized society who has moved beyond the ways of the rodeo. The Escondido City Council has wasted millions of dollars on the arts center that has never been self-supporting, and was willing to toss away millions more on a ballpark in order to "enhance the image of the city." Taking a stand against what Peta calls "bone-breaking cruelty" would cost a lot less and would attract the kind of consumer Sam Abed is looking for to rebuild Escondido's economy.
On March 9, the Escondido City Council made an unfortunate decision by allowing Los Charros to continue performing outdated acts of animal cruelty on city-owned land. Despite the fact that no animal welfare laws exist in Mexico and that animals are routinely treated with violence, our council members are perfectly willing to allow charreadas or Mexican Rodeos to take place in our country without oversite as recommended by Eric Mills of Action for Animals.
Dog fights. Cock fights. Mexican Rodeos. Caesar Chavez spoke out against all of these events, and yet his people continue to participate in them, not only in their own country, but in ours. They do this privately and with few consequences if caught. It seems as if in every way possible, our authorities are giving immigrants a free pass to break the law and set the standards for our own country.
In 2010, Mr. Raul Leyvas of Ramona, pleaded guilty to five counts of animal cruelty after animal control officers seized ten pit bulls, supplements, a treadmill, and a 16 by 16 foot bloody carpet used for dog fighting from his home. All ten dogs were destroyed. The penalty for his crimes? Work furlough.
Last month, a man in Kern County was killed by a knife tied to a bird's leg during a cock fight. No one at the event was arrested. In California, cock fighting is a misdeameanor. In Arizona, where the events are a felony, cock fighting is almost nonexistent.
In CITY BEAT (Dust in the Wind, September 29) an animal control officer called the charreada, "torture." She said the San Diego Humane Society receives few complaints because charreadas, like cock fights and dog fights, are private and cultural. By allowing Los Charros to continue to abuse animals on public land, the city council has set animal welfare back by decades. It's a sad day when council members would rather pander to special interest groups than stand up for the innocent horses and steers who can't speak for themselves.
In the end, the joke will be on the city council. My friends and family have fled Escondido, because their hometown no longer reflects the American culture. They don't mind living among people of various ethnicities, but they do want to be near those who assimilate and not force their ways on us. Swap meets, charreadas, and Mexican mercados attract people with little money, no matter how many fancy car dealerships are built around them. The mayor often mentions that the poverty rate in Escondido is 20 percent. He's getting what he's asking for.
We are a civilized society who has moved beyond the ways of the rodeo. The Escondido City Council has wasted millions of dollars on the arts center that has never been self-supporting, and was willing to toss away millions more on a ballpark in order to "enhance the image of the city." Taking a stand against what Peta calls "bone-breaking cruelty" would cost a lot less and would attract the kind of consumer Sam Abed is looking for to rebuild Escondido's economy.