profesormental
Brown Belt
Greetings to all.
I request the help of the Martial Community in a somewhat urgent matter.
Here, in Puerto Rico, a U.S. Territory/Commonwealth, a government agency, the Department of Recreation and Sports, is trying to regulate the Functioning of Martial Arts Schools, and LICENSING Martial arts Teachers. We need you help to stop it, by sending a short message of support AGAINST the regulation.
Here is the situation.
They start by defining Martial Arts as a “High Risk Activity” in an ambiguous language, thus justifying undue government regulations on martial arts businesses and instructors. This with NO history of major injury incident or crime occurring during our tournaments or school practices in the Island.
Not only that, the “Regulation” proposed includes fees for licensing schools, which is done by handing all the usual business and building use permits (which require OSHA level safety standards), yet require accreditation by an Institute of the Department, that has no Martial Arts teachers or courses in it, and the requirements for accreditation by this Institute have not been stated.
They also require a release so they can do random drug testing, without any kind of probable cause. They require you to hand in your ORIGINAL certificates to be evaluated by a 13 member Council of Martial Arts teachers, appointed by the Secretary of the Dept. They shall be returned only AFTER being approved. The Council, until now, has members which are for the most part affiliated and DO NOT represent the general interests of the Martial School Teachers. Some are direct students of another council member.
They also license each assistant instructor, or any advanced student, $50 a pop. Plus if I bring a teacher from the U.S., or anywhere else from outside P.R., we have to pay a $150 licensing fee for the teacher, and they can DENY the license if they want. There is a clause that says that they can add ANY requirements they want at ANY time. That is dangerous.
Not only that, if you have a Martial Arts school, you can NOT use the space for ANYTHING else, even if you have the business permits for it.
The fines are in the range of $500 to $10,000, up to $25,000.
There is a lot more wrong with this Regulation, yet I'm sure you can all see the big injustice in this action. The justification is “to keep child molesters out of Martial arts schools and to have a safe training environment”. To get the building permits to use it as a Martial Arts School, you NEED to make sure it is safe, because the Health Department and the Fire Department inspects it! And there we have not found a case of child molestation in a martial arts school here.
Here is the regulation announcement link:
http://www.gobierno.pr/NR/rdonlyres/1B557F83-5D89-4385-8049-E97FF75EC6D7/0/Notice73297651.pdf
Thus I ask for help. All we need at this point is letters and short messages saying who you are, a few reasons why you're against any undue government regulation (any of the stated ones or all of them would suffice) and that you oppose this kind of regulation and support me and the Puerto Rico Martial Community in opposing this regulation.
This helps by showing national and international support against unjust laws and regulations. With the noise that we're making here, and your support, we can let them know we are not the thugs they think we are.
Also, if this regulation passes, it would create a precedent that can be followed by other States, as they're trying to do in New Jersey.
The letters can be emailed to me, so I can print them and forward it to them. They don't have an email account to receive the oppositions, and paper is heavier than email. Thus to save on postage, I'll print them and deliver them in person this week. The deadline for written opposition is January 3, 2010. Thus I will hand in everything as soon as possible.
My email is profesorcombate [at] gmail. Put the @ sign after the username and finish the gmail address. Or give me a PM. Or Reply to this message. Whichever is easier. I have a detailed letter with 22 arguments against the regulation, in Spanish. I will give the highlights as time permits.
I thank you deeply for your help. And remember that in helping me fight this, you're also helping yourselves against future undue regulation. Some are even talking about going “secret” as in the old times...
Sincerely,
Juan Mercado Robles
Co-Founder of the Academia de Artes Marciales de Carolina
Mercado Martial Academy
I request the help of the Martial Community in a somewhat urgent matter.
Here, in Puerto Rico, a U.S. Territory/Commonwealth, a government agency, the Department of Recreation and Sports, is trying to regulate the Functioning of Martial Arts Schools, and LICENSING Martial arts Teachers. We need you help to stop it, by sending a short message of support AGAINST the regulation.
Here is the situation.
They start by defining Martial Arts as a “High Risk Activity” in an ambiguous language, thus justifying undue government regulations on martial arts businesses and instructors. This with NO history of major injury incident or crime occurring during our tournaments or school practices in the Island.
Not only that, the “Regulation” proposed includes fees for licensing schools, which is done by handing all the usual business and building use permits (which require OSHA level safety standards), yet require accreditation by an Institute of the Department, that has no Martial Arts teachers or courses in it, and the requirements for accreditation by this Institute have not been stated.
They also require a release so they can do random drug testing, without any kind of probable cause. They require you to hand in your ORIGINAL certificates to be evaluated by a 13 member Council of Martial Arts teachers, appointed by the Secretary of the Dept. They shall be returned only AFTER being approved. The Council, until now, has members which are for the most part affiliated and DO NOT represent the general interests of the Martial School Teachers. Some are direct students of another council member.
They also license each assistant instructor, or any advanced student, $50 a pop. Plus if I bring a teacher from the U.S., or anywhere else from outside P.R., we have to pay a $150 licensing fee for the teacher, and they can DENY the license if they want. There is a clause that says that they can add ANY requirements they want at ANY time. That is dangerous.
Not only that, if you have a Martial Arts school, you can NOT use the space for ANYTHING else, even if you have the business permits for it.
The fines are in the range of $500 to $10,000, up to $25,000.
There is a lot more wrong with this Regulation, yet I'm sure you can all see the big injustice in this action. The justification is “to keep child molesters out of Martial arts schools and to have a safe training environment”. To get the building permits to use it as a Martial Arts School, you NEED to make sure it is safe, because the Health Department and the Fire Department inspects it! And there we have not found a case of child molestation in a martial arts school here.
Here is the regulation announcement link:
http://www.gobierno.pr/NR/rdonlyres/1B557F83-5D89-4385-8049-E97FF75EC6D7/0/Notice73297651.pdf
Thus I ask for help. All we need at this point is letters and short messages saying who you are, a few reasons why you're against any undue government regulation (any of the stated ones or all of them would suffice) and that you oppose this kind of regulation and support me and the Puerto Rico Martial Community in opposing this regulation.
This helps by showing national and international support against unjust laws and regulations. With the noise that we're making here, and your support, we can let them know we are not the thugs they think we are.
Also, if this regulation passes, it would create a precedent that can be followed by other States, as they're trying to do in New Jersey.
The letters can be emailed to me, so I can print them and forward it to them. They don't have an email account to receive the oppositions, and paper is heavier than email. Thus to save on postage, I'll print them and deliver them in person this week. The deadline for written opposition is January 3, 2010. Thus I will hand in everything as soon as possible.
My email is profesorcombate [at] gmail. Put the @ sign after the username and finish the gmail address. Or give me a PM. Or Reply to this message. Whichever is easier. I have a detailed letter with 22 arguments against the regulation, in Spanish. I will give the highlights as time permits.
I thank you deeply for your help. And remember that in helping me fight this, you're also helping yourselves against future undue regulation. Some are even talking about going “secret” as in the old times...
Sincerely,
Juan Mercado Robles
Co-Founder of the Academia de Artes Marciales de Carolina
Mercado Martial Academy
