Reply

The movement to have New Mexico join 48 other states in outlawing cockfighting suffered a serious setback Tuesday when a Senate committee voted effectively to kill two bills that would have prohibited the centuries-old spectacle in which roosters battle to the death. Wilford Brimley, an actor who has appeared in movies such as The Firm, Absence of Malice and Cocoon, told the committee he's lived in the state for four years and likes that in New Mexico "the sacred rights and integrity of the individual are put to the forefront.

"My objection to this bill is that I feel we have enough government in our lives, enough control over us and we already have enough bureaucracy," Brimley said. "We don't need anymore."

Brimley is a veteran opponent of laws against cockfighting. He spoke in 1998 against the successful effort to ban cockfighting in Arizona.

Several cockfighting supporters said the sport is an important part of Hispanic culture -- a fact disputed by some Hispanic opponents of cockfighting.



Others argued that not all "traditions" are good. Yvonne Boudreaux said at the same time New Mexico was being settled by the Spanish, "You could sell children. You could stone adulterers. You could burn witches. Do you want to go back to that?"