awyers for Charles Sarkis, owner of Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, were unable to convince a judge yesterday to stop a group trying to ban dog racing in Massachusetts from broadcasting ads that Sarkis contends defame him and the track.
Superior Court Judge Margot Botsford refused to grant an injunction blocking Grey2K from airing the ads, which depict dead, abused, and emaciated dogs.
Question 3, which seeks to ban dog racing in the state, goes before voters today.
Lawyers for Grey2K have filed a special motion asking Botsford to dismiss the defamation lawsuit Sarkis filed against the group last week. They argued that the suit should be dismissed under the state's anti-SLAPP statute, which prohibits the use of frivolous litigation or intimidation tactics against people trying to exercise their constitutional rights.
Meanwhile, two teenagers were arrested early yesterday morning on charges of vandalizing a blimp emblazoned ''Vote No on Three'' that hung outside Joe's American Bar and Grill in Woburn. Sarkis is an owner of Back Bay Restaurant Group, which includes Joe's American Bar and Grill.
One of the teenagers arrested, a 16-year-old girl, is a student at Billerica High School. The other, Timothy A. Banghart Jr., 18, is unemployed.
