SJC allows dog race question on ballot
RAYNHAM - The Supreme Judicial Court dealt a severe blow to the owners of the state's two longtime greyhound racing tracks, allowing a question on the November ballot that could put their operations out of business by January 2010.
Supporters of the greyhound racing ban, who collected 150,000 voter signatures in the past several months to get the question on the November election ballot, praised the court decision.
"Now we don't have anything hanging," said Brian Adams, spokesman for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell. "We have a clear shot straight to November when we will hopefully put an end to the cruelty of greyhound racing."
The attorney general certified the greyhound ballot question late last year. George Carney, owner of Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park, filed an appeal in February, asserting that the ban would apply only to a few locations and would amount to an uncompensated "taking" of his property. Yesterday, he said he was "disappointed but not surprised" by the ruling.
The other track in Massachusetts is Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere.
Carney won a similar court appeal in 2006, blocking a proposed greyhound ban from being placed on the state ballot. That time, Carney asserted that the question was too broad: It included a number of amendments that were related to dog-fighting and police dogs.
This latest proposed ban focuses solely on dog racing.
"You just take every opportunity you can," Carney said of his attempt at blocking the question. "I felt I had an outside shot of winning the appeal, but it doesn't damage my enthusiasm one bit that I didn't. I think I'm right, and I think voters will figure that out on their own."
Carney added that the ban, if approved, will result in a loss of jobs; the two tracks employ about 650 part-time and full-time workers.
Taxes connected to his track will send the state about $5 million this year, "and it hasn't even been a good year," Carney said.
Supporters of the ban said Carney's employment figures are greatly inflated. "That number is closer to 250, according to the census," Adams said recently.
Christine Dorchak, cochairwoman of the Committee to Protect Dogs, said proponents of the ban will be out in force until November. "We intend to run a robust education campaign," Dorchak said.
She noted that a proposed ban on greyhound racing lost by a narrow margin in 2000. The public is now more aware of issues related to dog racing, she said. "There are two tracks in the state with nearly 2,000 dogs involved," Dorchak said. "They are kept in tiny cages between races, and when they race, there are many injuries."
Carney, who said the dogs at his track are treated well, plans his own vigorous campaign. "I'm going to run ads in newspapers and on TV," he said. "And I will campaign wherever I'm asked to speak."
