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American Morning

Backyard Wrestling Stirs Up Controversy

Aired May 08, 2002 - 07:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: If you thought that WWF was out of control, check out these guys. This is called backyard wrestling. And while it is extreme, it is also, as an official of one league calls it, an international cultural phenomenon. Pretty scary, don't you think?

Anyway, in the suburban town of Babylon, New York, an outdoor wrestling ring is at the center of one family's fight with neighbors and town officials who are saying, not in your backyard. Here is Maria Hinojosa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seventeen-year- old John Minutillo has his wrestling falls down to a science. For him, wrestling is everything, his future, his career.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people dream of being a wrestler. How many people get the chance to actually go up in a ring in their backyard? Like I already have the taste of being in a pro ring. Not many people have that chance.

HINOJOSA: So into this quiet, suburban, tree-lined street on Long Island, arrived a full-sized professional wrestling ring.

MARIE MINUTILLO, MOTHER: It's not so strange to become a wrestler, and it's something that he wants to be. And he wants to pursue his career and I'm going to help him do it. And that's why I bought him the ring. Let him do it the right way.

HINOJOSA: The problem is that Patricia Rodriguez can see John's backyard from her bedroom window, and she doesn't like what she sees or hears.

PATRICIA RODRIGUEZ, NEIGHBOR: And you see the ropes dangle around there. They body slam. They jump off that. They are on the wrestling ring, and it's a constant body, body slamming. All you hear is the boom, bam, boom, body slamming. They would start here around 3:00 in the afternoon, and this would go on to 8:00 at night.

HINOJOSA: It upset her so much that Rodriguez videotaped an afternoon match last December and sent it to her councilman.

WAYNE HORSELY, COUNCILMAN, BABYLON, NEW YORK: That's a prime example of how the noise impacts a neighborhood.

HINOJOSA: And when Wayne Horsley saw the worst of it, he drafted a local law banning backyard wrestling and boxing rings.

(on camera): What is the central issue you think around this?

HORSLEY: My central issue is that this is a magnet for young people to come to one yard and create havoc to a neighborhood, and it's a quality of life issue.

HINOJOSA (voice-over): Which should have been an issue quietly resolved among neighbors, instead ended up a town hall meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we do not feel that we should have to live with this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just sad that everything has to come to this. All they are doing is trying to have a good time.

HINOJOSA: In the end, the board unanimously voted to ban the ring, but the wrestlers plan to keep on fighting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to fight this, and we are going to carry on. We are not going to stop.

HINOJOSA: But his next match might just be in court.

Marie Hinojosa, CNN, Babylon, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, joining us this morning here in our studies, Steve Bellone, the Babylon town supervisor, and Eric Prusan, attorney for the family whose backyard wrestling ring was banned by town officials. It's nice that you guys can meet, you know, without coming to blows here.

STEVE BELLONE, BABYLON, N.Y. TOWN SUPERVISOR: Right, in the wrestling ring. We are very happy to be here.

COOPER: Exactly. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) public opinion, we are glad you are here. Now, Steve, you know, you had tabled this ban twice before. What finally made you and the board take action last night?

BELLONE: Well, it's a tough choice. We have been listening to the community, listening to the kids, and also the residents in the neighborhood. And what this is really about is protecting the quality of life of a suburban community. You know, the neighbors have a certain expectation living in this residential community of their quality of life, and a backyard wrestling ring with WWF-style wrestling shows with kids hitting each other over the head with aluminum garbage cans isn't what they have come to expect in the neighborhood.

COOPER: But is it really the government's responsibility to be banning what people are doing in their own backyards? BELLONE: Well, one, it's our responsibility to try to protect the quality of life of the community. But it's a balance. There's always a balance, because it does -- the balance is between protecting the neighborhood's quality of life and a property owner's right to do what they want. And certainly, you can do what you want with your property, but when it starts to impact your neighbors and your surrounding community, then it becomes an issue that we have to deal with.

COOPER: Eric, you represent the family who built this ring. Has the government gone too far?

ERIC PRUSAN, ATTORNEY: We believe the government has gone way too far. It's big government against little people doing what they want to do, pursuing their dream, and they are being prevented from pursuing their dream. It is a safe ring. It's a lot safer than just wrestling on the ground. We have asked the family to buy a decibel level meter, so that they can make sure they don't violate town noise ordinances.

COOPER: But, you know, if you lived next door to this family, would you really be all that pleased that this ring is in the backyard and you are hearing people thumping all day long and kids yelling? I mean, you know, this does attract a large number of people yelling and hooting and hollering.

PRUSAN: Well, there is no argument there, but the town could have done other things. They could have set time limits, day limits, when they could have done it. The kids are not wrestling at night. They are not wrestling every day. So if I lived next door, I would just ask them to be courteous and not wrestle at night, not every day, and to expect the town to be more reasonable in its regulations.

COOPER: Well, you said be courteous. I mean, some of the video showed these kids, you know, here they are hitting each other with a chair. I think that sometimes they were hitting each other with fluorescent lights. Steve, what about that? Could the town have just set some limits?

BELLONE: Well, we had some discussions, and we tried to do that, but the same types of things and hours and non-stop activity occurred. And this isn't about restricting kids playing in their backyards.

COOPER: Oh, that's nice.

BELLONE: We support that -- that's a good shot...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: I would really love waking up with that every morning.

BELLONE: You know, we encourage kids playing in their backyard. We think it's a good thing. Wrestling, I used to do it, but...

PRUSEN: But that's acting.

COOPER: OK. Eric.

PRUSAN: But that's acting. That's props. These kids are trained. They are going to school for that. They are not hitting each other.

COOPER: These kids are trained?

PRUSAN: These kids have got...

COOPER: These are highly-trained...

PRUSUN: John goes to school for this.

COOPER: Really?

PRUSAN: He goes to a WWF wrestling school teaching him how to do this. So I think it's unfair to label them as being -- people see wrestling, they think of the guys you see on other programs where they are using nails, wooden nails and stuff like that. They are not doing that. They are just using props and acting.

COOPER: All right, Steve, you know, the mother who built this ring says, but look...

BELLONE: Right.

COOPER: ... this keeps my kid out of trouble, and this is actually good for the kids in the neighborhood. It keeps them off the streets. They are not doing drugs. They are -- you know, we know where they are. They are in my backyard fighting each other.

BELLONE: Sure. We don't have any problem with the activity. If the WWF wanted to sponsor a program like this in the town of Babylon, we would be happy to work with them to find a proper, suitable location. We don't restrict it everywhere in the town. It's certainly appropriate in commercial or industrial areas. It's just -- it's not an appropriate place in a residential neighborhood in somebody's backyard. These neighbors have a quality of life that they deserve to have.

COOPER: So, Eric, you lost round one. Is there going to be a round two?

PRUSAN: Yes, there will be a round two. I will say that I appreciate what the town did allowing the kids to have their say. They allowed the democratic process to work. The kids know and understand the democratic process. And when they are 18 able to vote, I am sure they will exercise their right to get in on democratic process. But we will fight this once they get their ticket, if they get a ticket for violating the law, and we will go on and appeal.

COOPER: All right. Well, Steve Bellone, Eric Prusan, thanks very much for being with us. I want to see you guys, you know, head to head still caged up in action.

BELLONE: That would be an interesting way to settle. COOPER: Thanks a lot for joining us.

BELLONE: Thanks.

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