|
STATE-BY-STATE NEWS UPDATE: Summer 2002 COLORADO According to Howard, the track has been working on the task of relocating the dogs for several months, teaming up with local and other adoption groups. He vowed the company would operate the track's kennels "until all of the animals have a new home." Approximately 180 of the 600 dogs racing at Pueblo needed to be placed; 420 dogs went to other tracks. Eighty of the dogs were adopted locally; most of those were placed through Colorado Greyhound Adoption, based in Littleton. Louisiana-based volunteer adoption coordinator Cynthia Cash arranged to transport 58 dogs to Northern California. An additional 20 dogs were sent to an Idaho adoption group in a haul arranged by track management. Cash said that thanks to Steve Rose, Pueblo's general manager, the dogs traveled with health certificates, vaccination records, and registration papers. According to Cash, 22 dogs remain on site with a reputable trainer and will be placed into adoption programs. According to The Pueblo Chieftain,
live racing is not expected to return to the track until 2004. IOWA According to the commission's investigative report of the March 8 incident, several witnesses accused Rangel of using a whip on Primco Glasco, a 2-year-old greyhound owned by the Haynes Kennel, and striking the dog with a closed fist. One witness said Rangel grabbed the dog by the collar, pulling it 4 feet into the air, and then threw the dog into its cage and struck it twice with a closed fist. "The dog was screaming," said assistant trainer Douglas Hammond, who testified that Rangel fired him after he witnessed the incident. "I didn't want to look anymore. It sounded like he hit the dog two or three more times, [then] he closed the dog's door and walked away." Patrick Barnett, another Bluffs Run trainer, said he saw Rangel repeatedly whip the greyhound, which was "standing still, taking the beating and scared." Barnett said the incident "clearly crossed the line into animal cruelty." Carey Theil, president of GREY2K USA, a national greyhound advocacy organization based in Boston, Mass., said he was appalled at the commission's handling of the case. Theil had obtained a copy of the investigative report under a public records request. Racing Commission Administrator Jack Ketterer defended the ruling and said that track stewards had investigated the allegations extensively and had determined that witnesses made inconsistent and conflicting statements. According to Ketterer, a state veterinarian examined Primco Glasco after the incident and found the dog to be "in excellent condition with a friendly demeanor." Primco Glasco has since suffered a career-ending injury and has been retired, according to track stewards. According to the report, Rangel, 33, told the stewards that after breaking up a dog fight in the turnout pen, he had slapped the dog on its head to discipline it after he had control of the animal. Rangel, who swore he would never abuse a greyhound, called the allegations against him ludicrous. The commission allowed Rangel
to return to his job at Bluffs Run. However, on May 6, Rangel's license
was revoked after state officials found he had falsified his license application
in 1998 and subsequent license applications by failing to disclose a felony
theft conviction in Colorado. Rangel has appealed the license revocation. Des Moines: The Iowa Attorney General's Office has asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision striking down a system that taxed racetrack casinos at a higher rate than riverboat casinos. On June 12 the high court ruled that it could find "no rational basis" for Iowa's two dog tracks and one horse track to pay a higher state tax on slot machines than riverboat casinos. In a strongly worded petition, the attorney general essentially said the court second-guessed the Iowa Legislature. "This policy choice is simply out of judicial reach," state lawyers wrote. Riverboat casinos pay a casino tax of 20 percent while the horse and dog tracks are taxed at a 32 percent rate. The original lawsuit was filed by the organizations that hold the licenses for the Bluffs Run and Dubuque greyhound tracks and the Prairie Meadows horse track. If the high court's decision
is upheld, the state may be forced to pay out $121 million in tax refunds
to the racetracks. KANSAS Masciotra is asking to be reinstated, alleging that the corporation violated his rights under the federal Family Medical Leave Act. Masciotra was one of six employees
fired from The Woodlands in January and February after the discovery that
as much as $200,000 was missing from the track. Four of those employees
have connections to Masciotra. [See GNN Spring 2002 - Ed.] The Kansas
Racing and Gaming Commission continues to investigate the missing funds. Kansas City Area: A hauler transporting 70 greyhounds bound for the East Coast was involved in an accident on the Lewis and Clark Viaduct at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, May 25. The dogs were uninjured but were trapped in the hauler until help arrived. The driver was taken to a local hospital. Ten trainers and workers from the nearby Woodlands dog track arrived on the scene. "It was a real tight fit to get to the dogs and [trainer] Craig Shelden was the only one skinny enough to get in," said Ann Waitley, one of two women from the track's adoption kennel at the scene. The dogs were kenneled at The Woodlands overnight and were cared for by State Veterinarian D. A. Hogan of the Kansas Racing Commission. Hogan, who remained at the track until midnight, also tracked down and notified owners that their greyhounds were safe and uninjured. "A lot of people really
pitched in and helped," said Jim Gartland, The Woodlands general
manager. By Sunday afternoon, the driver had been released from the hospital
and the greyhounds had resumed their journey. Wichita: Richard J. Boushka, one of the original owers of The Woodlands racetrack, has been indicted on 61 felony fraud counts, many of which allege that he falsified loan documents to obtain about $14 million from a Wichita bank. The indictment, returned May 8 by a federal grand jury in Wichita, does not say how much money the American Bank lost on loans to Boushka. Boushka, 67, of Wichita, is charged with 48 counts of bank fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, and one count of criminal forfeiture. In addition to any prison sentence, the U.S. attorney's office is seeking forfeiture of up to $6.6 million in assets from Boushka. Boushka owned 40 percent of the Kansas City track from the time it was built in the late 1980s until 1994, when Hollywood Park, Inc., a California firm, bought it. According to a 1995 state audit, Boushka made more than $12 million in salary, consulting fees, and stock dividends during the years he was a partner in the track. The Woodlands sought bankruptcy
protection in 1996 and was later sold at auction to St. Joseph casino
owner Bill Grace, who had acquired most of the track's mortgage debt. MASSACHUSETTS Lawmakers ordered the commission to enforce strict new rules to protect the health and welfare of the dogs and ensure that the dogs are placed in good homes after they can no longer race. The commission was also ordered to form a special panel to investigate the effects of extreme heat or cold on greyhounds and report back to lawmakers on its progress earlier this spring. The commission never formed the panel and sent a letter to the Joint Committee on Government Regulations defending current safety measures in place at the tracks. "The letter is clearly inadequate," said state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, co-chairman of the joint committee. "We are very serious about seeing that the commission complies with the whole package, even pieces that the racetracks don't like," Bosley said. The tax break package had also called for an adoption trust fund to be set up for retired greyhounds to help finance veterinary care. The commission only began work on the fund in late June. Lawmakers said they are running out of patience with the racing commission and may have to po-lice the regulatory body more aggressively . "There has been absolutely
no progress on these measures, said Carey Theil, president of GREY2K USA.
"It's the racing commission, yet again, protecting the wealthy track
owners instead of the greyhounds." GREY2K has submitted numerous
public records requests to the commission for injury and disposition reports,
but has yet to receive a response. OREGON A veterinarian determined that the rabbit was a "canine" kill and may have been used as a live lure, a training practice prohibited by the commission. According to commission records, 26 greyhounds are housed on Floyd's Eagle Creek property. Steve Barham, executive director of the ORC, said the commission does not have enough evidence to prove that Floyd was training greyhounds with live lures. Barham said it is the first time in his 17 years on the commission he can recall someone refusing to have his property searched. "It's the kind of thing that's not tolerated," he said. Floyd refused to allow the investigator to inspect several buildings alleging they were being rented to someone else. In December 1999, the commission revoked Floyd's training license for two years and fined him $3,000 after six racing greyhounds died from heat and lack of food and water during a long-distance haul from Oregon to Florida. Sixty greyhounds had been confined in a Ryder rental truck and a dilapidated aluminum trailer for the entire 3,000-mile, non-stop 58-hour journey. The racing commission planned to review in July Floyd's application to reinstate his training license. Connie Theil, founder of Oregon Defenders of Greyhounds, expressed outrage that the commission would even consider reinstating Floyd's training license. "He should have been banned for the first incident two years ago," she said, referring to the hauler fatalities. Update: After yet another incident, the ORC on June 21 revoked Floyd's licenses to race, train, or board greyhounds at his Eagle Creek kennel, effectively ending his dog racing operation in Oregon. The revocation was ordered after a greyhound in his care was found dead in a kennel May 13. The dead dog was discovered in it's blood-soaked pen by Floyd's son after he returned home from school. His father had left for Seattle the night before. A necropsy found that VIP Kotis Angel, due to deliver puppies within two weeks, died of massive traumatic injury to her neck consistent with an attack by a large dog. Diane Watkins, owner of the dead dog, told the commission that she was uncomfortable when Floyd's large dogs, a bullmastiff and a retriever, were allowed in a fenced-in area when she visited. She also expressed concern about a hole in a gate leading to the kennel that was blocked with a piece of firewood. "I wouldn't be looking
for Mr. Floyd to be reinstated for any licenses while these commissioners
are on the board," Barham said. "It's a strange case . . . and
his problems kept mounting as time went on."
|