EDITORIAL : NOTHING TO CROW ABOUT.AS government spending Government spending or government expenditure consists of government purchases, which can be financed by seigniorage, taxes, or government borrowing. It is considered to be one of the major components of gross domestic product. goes, it's chicken feed. Just the same, we are appalled by a report that it costs Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County taxpayers an estimated $30,000 to $50,000 a year to care for fighting roosters that are confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. during gambling raids at illegal cockfights. (We are even more appalled by the fact that this barbaric sport is still practiced in a supposedly civilized country, but that's another matter.) Each year, from 200 to 300 of the birds are sent to a county animal shelter "Dog Pound" redirects here. For the rap group, see Tha Dogg Pound. An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats. in Baldwin Park Baldwin Park, city (1990 pop. 69,330), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, in the fertile San Gabriel valley; settled 1870, inc. 1956. Its industries include metal fabrication, printing, and plastics manufacturing. . The cost of board and care for each cock is about $2 a day. This problem - no surprise - can be traced to existing law. Confiscated birds cannot be destroyed until their owners are convicted of cockfighting cockfighting, sport of pitting gamecocks against one other. Though popular in ancient Greece, Persia, and Rome, cockfighting has been long opposed by clergy and humane groups. . This means that the county may be stuck with the birds - they must be kept in separate cages to prevent them from fighting - for months at a time while the cases go through the courts. (Officials reported that 125 birds from a 1995 raid in Azusa were kept at the shelter for more than a year because the misdemeanor case against the owner took second priority to a federal drug charge against the suspect.) Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block wants to stop this costly charade. State Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, R-Palmdale, has taken up his cause by introducing a bill that would allow the birds to be destroyed by lethal injection (providing a court order is obtained) after two months. That seems like a reasonable response to the problem. It might seem as if Knight is going to a lot of effort to save chicken feed. But only birdbrains could favor the alternative: keeping stupid laws on the books on the theory that it's too much trouble to change or repeal them. |
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