CC Minutes - 09/11/06 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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additional rules in bouts that he promoted that sought to protect the fighters. He said he made sure insurance was provided for fighters. He supported regulation of the fights but opposed banning them. Beth Aydelott , 3690 University Street, supported a ban on cage fighting. She assumed that most of the councilors were “personally disgusted” by the activity and the crowds “yelling for blood.” She asked councilors to vote their consciences and to vote against cage fighting. She acknowledged the argument that there should be freedom of expression and the freedom for people to do what they want to do, but she pointed out that this same argument was used to support prostitution. She said that as a college teacher, she taught the young people who were “the victims of this.” It hurt her to think that any of them would find themselves in a cage fight. She questioned the notion that “every civilization has its gladiators.” She thought gladiators were the lowest part of Roman civilization. With regard to local regulation, she was uncertain who would take charge of enforcing them. Cage fighting was something she did not want to see in the City. She asked councilors if they really wanted cage fighting to go on in Eugene. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. Councilor Ortiz thanked the young men who came forward and shared their expertise in this area. She noted she raised three sons and had always discouraged them from fighting, just as she tried to discourage them from playing football. Nonetheless, she was grateful for the coaching her sons had received over the years. She had similar feelings about cage fighting. She believed fighting was an art and said that she had grown up watching boxing. She sometimes wished there was a venue for boxing for young people. She said that the Latino community admired boxing. She underscored that the community was diverse and, while she would prefer not to have such fighting in the community, she also would not want to ban it. She supported fighting under the auspices of rules that keep the fighters safe as opposed to back alley fighting. Additionally, Councilor Ortiz stated that she saw many horrible things in her capacity as an emergency room registered nurse. She could not categorize this particular issue as horrible. She encouraged the Council Committee on Intergovernmental Relations to work at the State level for regulations. She said she wanted fighters to be adequately insured so that they would not become a burden to the State as a result of injuries incurred in a fight. Councilor Bettman thanked those who testified. She expressed disappointment that there were not more people interested in the issue. She requested more data on the actual ratio of how many deaths there were in MMA versus other types of fighting. She questioned the assertion that football was more dangerous and wondered if anyone had really done research to back that up. She felt that regulated sports such as boxing and football at least encouraged good sportsmanship. She did not feel that the MMA fighting was in the same category. Councilor Bettman asked if minors were allowed on the premises during a cage fight event. She also wondered how “amateur” was defined. Regarding the regulations that had been provided, Councilor Bettman asked what the cost to the City would be for enforcement of those regulations. Councilor Solomon thanked Mr. Georgianna for his letter. She noted that it was articulate and contained a lot of information on the subject. She was pleased to see that the State was considering legislation in the next session to bring amateur MMA under similar regulations to professional MMA. She stated that she was not interested in regulating or banning MMA in the City of Eugene. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 11, 2006 Page 4 Regular Meeting