Dogfighting Bites

Robert Stevens, 64, of Pittsville, Virginia, will be spending 37 months in federal prison as a result of his conviction for selling mail-order videos of dogfights. Stevens violated the provisions of a federal animal cruelty law enacted after being signed by President Clinton in 1999. Maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist, but it seems that animal cruelty should be within the purview of state and local governments, not the feds. Holy moly, what's next? Federal leash laws?

Nevertheless, it's probably a good thing that Stevens was only taking videos of the dogfights and not holding them. Walter Tyrone Ware, 32, of Mobile, Alabama, was found guilty of six counts of dogfighting and sentenced to 20 years in prison on each count, to run concurrently. Ware was also convicted of possession of steroids and sentenced to 20 years to be served in addition to the dogfighting sentence. The total penalty of 40 years in prison was handed down by Circuit Court Judge Charles Graddick.

Readers of Interested-Participant are encouraged to remember Judge Graddick's name and are advised to stay the hell away from his court.

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