End of an era – Greyhound racing hits finish line in Florida

As the ball dropped in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, at  the stroke of midnight on Dec. 31, 2020, in addition to being the end of a very turbulent year, the practice of greyhound racing in the state of Florida came to an end thanks to Amendment 13,  when the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach ran its last race.

All the more reason to celebrate, according to those who worked tirelessly for more than a decade — including advocacy groups such as The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Grey2KUSA Worldwide and even the Doris Day Foundation, to end this century-old “sport,” which its opponents characterize as antiquated, out of touch, inhumane, and down-right cruel.

A fixture in Florida since 1931, the state was the largest state to have greyhound racing, with 13 tracks at its peak in the 1980s. Currently, tracks remain for now only in three states – West Virginia, Arkansas, and Iowa.

Kate MacFall, Florida state director for the HSUS, says, “The issue of greyhound racing has been put to rest in the state of Florida. We’re very pleased that the amendment was created, placed on the ballot, and passed by almost 70 percent of the voters in Florida.”

MacFall notes that her group, along with other animal rights organizations, worked tirelessly and diligently on this issue to raise awareness for more than 10 years. She says greyhound racing fell out of favor with constituents and attendance dropped at the venues.

“We brought this issue front and center to the public,” she says,
“and they responded.”

“When voters heard that these dogs were dying and spent their days confined in small cages, got frequent injuries, and were living sad lives, it was a no brainer,” MacFall said from her office in Tallahassee.

Now that this issue has been put to rest, MacFall is focusing her agency’s efforts on retail stores in Florida selling puppies from out-of-state puppy mills.

It is estimated there are more than 10,000 puppy mills operating in the U.S. and two million puppies are sold each year from these mills. Noting that the HSUS is not going after responsible breeders, MacFall says, “We’re working to create a more humane model and moving away from retail and storefront sales of these puppies.”

The non-profit, Grey2KUSA Worldwide, and the chief sponsor of Amendment 13, which passed 69 percent to 31 percent on Nov. 6, 2018 and was designed to prohibit dog racing and close down the twelve remaining tracks in Florida.

Flagler Greyhound Park in Miami closed before the vote, seeing the writing on the wall.

Carey Theil, executive director of Grey2KUSA Worldwide, which is based in Arlington, MA, said there were systemic problems within the racing industry and called them out for their treatment of the animals.

He says the racing dogs were kept confi ned in small, stacked cages for 20-23 hours a day and fed a diet of raw 4-D meat, (meat derived from dying, diseased, disabled, and dead livestock). He says that over the past decade, over 400 greyhounds tested positive for a variety of drugs and when let out of their cages to race, many were injured or even died.

In 2018, when 11 tracks were operating in the state, a Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) report revealed that a greyhound died every three days.

At the sport’s peak in 1991, according to a report in the Tampa Bay Times, Americans wagered $3.5 billion at tracks across 19states. By 2018, the amount had fallen below $500 million. , not everyone agreed with the impetus to shut down the tracks and the industry, including the American Kennel Club, the NRA, and the Farm Bureau. Many racing families had been in the business for generations and lost their livelihood.

Boynton Beach resident, Barbara Masi, was not in favor of shutting down the industry and blames out of state lobbying interests for closing down the tracks.

President and founder of Awesome Greyhound Adoptions, a volunteer-run, nonprofi t agency dedicated to fi nding homes for retired racing greyhounds, Masi also runs a program called Hounds & Heroes which provides retired racing greyhounds to veterans as full service dogs.

“These are not emotional support animals or therapy dogs, but fully trained service dogs,” she says. “They can help veterans with mobility issues, or those with MS, brain injury, PTSD, and Parkinson’s Disease. We call them “battle buddies,” and they are allowed full access to restaurants, buildings, and airplanes. They cannot be refused.”

She has been placing trained greyhound service dogs with veterans since 2011 and says, “Greyhounds sleep a lot and make the most awesome pets.”

Each dog trains for approximately 6-8 months to become a full-service dog and Masi says she currently has 11 dogs in training.

All the racing dogs here in Florida have been placed, Masi says, or are with adoption approved groups across the U.S. waiting to find homes. Others have gone on to race in other states.

And while Thiel and Masi are on opposite sides of the racing issue, Thiel credits Masi with helping the dogs and says “she does great work.”

Theil says that in Florida, both sides made their cases known, and disparate political interests joined together, even former governor and senator Rick Scott (R) and former mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum (D) were united in their opposition to the tracks.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” he says about the outcome of the vote. “Floridians love dogs.”

“This is a victory for Florida and a victory for everyone who cares about the dogs,” says Theil. “We are working to put ourselves out of business – that would be a good day.”

Young Coral Springs golfer already a veteran

A veteran player on South Florida’s golf courses and winner of an impressive array of trophies and honors, including Gold Coast Golf Association’s 2020 Player of the Year award, Elijah Ritchie says the game still has a lot to teach him.

And at just 11 years old, the Coral Springs sixth-grader already has the skills, focus, and work ethic to meet the challenges.

Among his most recent tests? On a recent weekend outing at Crandon Golf Course, competing in a U.S. Kids Golf tournament in what was only his fourth time playing a full 18 holes, Ritchie had to come to grips with what to do about lunch.

“I was hungry, but mostly I was thirsty,” Ritchie said after that Saturday’s brutally hot and humid round in Key Biscayne, where hesat in fifth place after Round 1.

His dad, Jeremiah Ritchie, said he keeps Pedialyte handy for Elijah during tournament play. Over a 9-hole round, that’s enough to keep his son hydrated and strong both physically and mentally.

Elijah Ritchie, at five years old, carries his bag at City of Lauderhill Golf Course, where he was part of the city’s Fore Life youth golf program.

Ritchie started playing golf at four years old. His dad, a veteran coach who has worked with many area youth teams, said he got Elijah some lessons “so we could have something to do as a family, something to do when I get older.”

Elijah, it turned out, had something of a knack for golf.

“He’s so resilient and very focused,” Jeremiah Ritchie said.

Ritchie enrolled Elijah in a local youth golf program in Lauderhill, Fore Life, founded and run by Paula Pearson-Tucker, the city’s lead golf pro and an LPGA Teaching and Club Professional.

“I think I learned as much about the game from Coach Tucker as Elijah did,” Jeremiah Ritchie said.

Youth golf in South Florida can be a dizzying sprint across three counties as kids play as part of numerous leagues and loosely affiliated teams. Elijah currently is among the 18 11-year-olds playing for a Boca Raton Local Tour team that also features Charlie Woods, Tiger Woods’ son.

Boca Local, affiliated with U.S. Kids Golf, plays a six-tournament schedule from Sept. 19 through Oct. 25. Elijah also plays Junior Golf Association of Broward County tournaments, competing against kids as old as 14. He captured his first JGA tourney win at age 10 and since then has finished in the top three six times, with two victories — one of them in the three-day JGA Championship. He finished the JGA’s most recent season, from June 22 through July 27, atop the Boys B division, making him eligible to move up to Division A next season.

Of Gold Coast Golf Association’s nine- tournament schedule, which opens in September and runs through the next August, Elijah came away with three wins, four runner-up finishes, and one third-place finish in the Boys 9-10 division.

Elijah Ritchie, at age six, asleep after winning third place at the 2015 Junior Golf Association of Broward County tournament.

“It was a long season,” Elijah told the Sun Sentinel’s Gary Curreri after winning Player of the Year. The honor, he said, “didn’t really surprise me because I trained for it. I had it in my head when I was practicing.”

Elijah practices at least two hours a day, whether at Coral Springs Country Club’s course, Osprey Point Golf Course in Boca, or at home, in the backyard.

“He’s surprisingly disciplined, and already has a good work ethic,” his dad says, explaining Elijah gets in strength training in the morning before school, then is ready to hit the links after his classwork is done in the afternoon.

What Elijah loves most about the game is shaping his shots, and drawing and fading his shots. But after the rainout in Key Biscayne, he was perfectly zeroed in and content to get right with putting, getting to Coral Springs CC’s practice green in the afternoon that Sunday and playing the greens on the first few holes until the skies began to purple and the groundskeeper rousted everyone still on the course out.

“We don’t know how far he’ll go (with golf),” his dad said. “But for right now, he loves the game. He’s pretty good, and is still hungry to learn more.”

Diwali

With the arrival of the season of fall comes the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali. Diwali, one of the biggest Hindu celebrations, is a five-day festival that usually occurs in mid-October or mid-November, and it celebrates the victory of good/light over evil/darkness in different forms and has many legends behind its origin. Lord Rama’s return from his 14-year exile after defeating King Ravana, Lord Krishna’s triumph over the demon Narakasura, and Lord Vishnu’s defeat of King Bali. During Diwali, Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity, is honored. Diyas and clay lamps are lit inside and outside of homes.

The lighting of Diyas signifi es the destruction through knowledge of all negative qualities, violence, anger, jealousy, greed, and fear; thus celebrating the victory of good over evil. This year, Diwali (the third day) is on November 14. The first day is known as Dhanatrayodashi, and it represents when Lord Dhanvantari, the Hindu god of medicine, brought Ayurveda, the science of medicine, to mankind.

It also marks the day whenGoddess Lakshmi was born from the churning of the ocean. On Dhantrayodashi, people usually buy gold, silver, utensils, and clothes. The second day of Diwali is Naraka Chaturdasi. On this day, Lord Krishna destroyed the demon Narakasura. People often take a holy bath and relax.

The third day of Diwali, often called Diwali itself, Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped during Lakshmi Puja in the evening. It is also the darkest day of the month, Amavasya, so Diyas are lit and placed outside the home to keep darkness from entering. The fourth day is celebrated for various reasons in different parts of India. For example, in Gujarat, this day is celebrated as the New Year. The fourth day is also known as Annakut, which means “mountain of food.” Large offerings of vegetarian food are given to Lord Krishna for his defeat over Lord Indra. The fifth and final day is called Bhai Duj, and it celebrates a sister’s love for her brother.

During Diwali celebrations, you will find homes lit with Diyas, doorsteps decorated with rangolis to welcome guests with great honor, fireworks to celebrate the new year, and amazing sweets and delicacies to share with friends and families. Most importantly, Hindu families give thanks. Hindu families give thanks for all they have been blessed with and share their blessings with others and the community at large. During Diwali many of our local temples have food drives to share their blessings.

From Hinduism Today

FACT: Believing that the Divine resides in all things, Hindus practice non-injury and hold a deep respect, bordering on reverence, for all living beings. This embracing attitude is reflected in India’s history of welcoming refugees from all cultures and faiths. By following dharma, Hindus eschew violence and terror. Secure in their faith, they interact harmoniously with their neighbors, regardless of religious affiliation.

FICTION: Many people wrongly believe that Hindus, being proud of their religion, may disdain other cultures. In fact, Hindus fully accept the spiritual efficacy of other paths and never proselytize.