RECENT progress has been made at the county and federal levels to put an end to the barbaric blood sport of cockfighting, but a single legislator is standing in the way of an important state measure. Beholden to or perhaps fearful of criminals in his Big Island district, House Judiciary Chairman Eric G. Hamakawa has bottled up a Senate-passed bill that would make cockfighting a felony. Members of his committee should pressure him to allow the legislative process to go forward. Hawaii should make
cockfighting a felonyThe issue: A bill to make cockfighting
a felony has passed the state Senate but
run up against a roadblock in the House.In November, Mayor Harris signed into law an ordinance that set a minimum fine of $250 and a maximum of $1,000 for possession of gaffs, the sharp metal spurs fitted to roosters commonly injected with steroids for these deadly matches. Meanwhile, Congress is nearing passage of an agriculture bill that will make it illegal to transport fighting birds between states. It will close a loophole in existing law allowing shipment of such birds to the only states where cockfighting is legal -- Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Defenders of cockfighting argue that it has cultural importance for those with roots in the Philippines, where it is legal. However, cockfighting has been popular elsewhere -- in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the United States -- until recognized in most areas as a savage activity that has no rightful place in civilized society.
Cockfighting is a felony in 27 states but a misdemeanor in only 20, including Hawaii. As a result, people convicted of engaging in cockfighting in Hawaii typically are fined $75, a paltry price to pay for participating in a cockfighting "derby" with illegal gambling stakes exceeding $250,000. Police don't often bother to make such arrests because of the mere wrist slaps that result.
The state Senate on March 8 approved a bill that would correct that problem by making cockfighting a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. The bill also would extend the provisions of the new Honolulu ordinance statewide. After the bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, members of the Hawaiian Humane Society sought Hamakawa's cooperation but met stiff resistance.
Hamakawa said he would refuse to bring the bill before his committee unless "petitioned" to do so by committee members. "I have a lot of cockfighting constituents," Humane Society representatives say he told them. By standing in the way of this legislation, Hamakawa is knowingly bowing to the wishes of constituents involved in criminal activity. To meet legislative deadlines, he should set those wishes aside and schedule a committee hearing by Tuesday within the following two days for the bill to be sent to the House floor.
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LEGISLATIVE measures that pit a community's need for a road against an endangered plant unnecessarily frames the situation as a conflict and disguises a move that would release the state from its legal obligation to preserve habitats on public lands. State is obligated to
protect rare speciesThe issue: Bills would permit state
agencies to harm endangered species
that are in the way of land use projects.The bills would further weaken the limited protection given to Hawaii's endangered species on private land by broadening its scope to include public property. The proposals would give state agencies free rein to remove and destroy rare plants if they are in the way of land use projects.
As it stands, the law permits private landowners to remove such habitats. In exchange, landowners may voluntarily establish conservation plans that protect, restore or enhance other habitats on their land.
The case being used as an argument for expanding the law to public lands has evolved in Ewa where the endangered red ilima has been found growing in the path of the proposed North-South Road. The site is the largest of four remaining populations in the Ewa region.
The road is much needed as more and more houses have been built without proper planning for the predictable increased traffic. However, contrary to characterizations by state officials and housing developers, the choices aren't either the road or the ilima. Many in the community don't see it that way. The Ewa Neighborhood Board, which has justly complained about traffic congestion for years, would like the habitat retained, perhaps by realigning the road, something the Department of Transportation should have weighed when a 1998 environmental assessment took note of the ilima habitat.
Rerouting would be a simple and fitting solution. Instead, what has been proposed is an inappropriate overhaul of the law.
It may well be that state agencies are exploiting the Ewa road situation to rid themselves of the requirements of Hawaii's endangered species provisions. In that vein, officials contend that the ilima site is an "incidental habitat" because it is growing on former sugar land. However, before sugar cultivation, ilima grew across the Ewa plain. With the cane gone, long-dormant seed banks have apparently re-established plants in a natural habitat.
The law under fire was established in 1997 to encourage private landowners toward conservation while giving them latitude to develop their property. However, government agencies have a higher obligation to protect public trusts. Fortunately, some lawmakers recognize this responsibility and have revised the Senate's version of the bill to ease the law for only three specific projects, including the North-South Road. Nevertheless, the measures chip away at protections in the state that lists the most endangered species in the nation.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comJohn Flanagan, contributing editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
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