REWARDING JOS OPPORTUNITIES
Keystone Residence is an agency dedicated to supporting
individuals with developmental disabilities. We provide
supportive counseling, role modeling and opportunities for
participation in community activities.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT ASSOCIATE:
Locations: Chambersburg, Harrisburg and
Mechanicsburg.
Flexible work schedule to include afternoon,
evening, weekends and overnights.
Hourly rate: $11.50-9.00(hr in Chambersburg.
$8.50410.00 Harrisburg/Mechanicsburg
Internships available
For more information stop by, call or write:
Keystone Residence/17
940 East Park Drive
Harrisburg, PA 17111
► Phone: 717-541-8322
E-mail: wdeibertOkss.or 6 .
Website: www.keystonehumanservices.org
Keystone Residence/17
170 Mill Road
Chambersburg, PA
Phone: 717-267-0442
Approving slot machines
not worth the gamble
May bring increased crime and lost business in long run
Pennsylvania looks to be on the verge of taking a gamble,
rolling the dice for more revenue. Governor Ed Rendell, as well as legis
lators before him, has talked of putting slot machines in Pennsylvania
horse race tracks. There are, in fact, four bills pending in the State
Legislature that would legalize slot machines.
The hope of this is to increase state revenue. The prospects for
this look good. According to a study by gambling company Harrah's
Entertainment, over 25,000 Pennsylvanians travel to New York,
Delaware, New Jersey, and Canada to gamble. The study also found that
they-spend over $2 billion on slot machines.
Putting slot machines in racetracks in Pennsylvania would keep
most of those people's business in the state. The money would go prima
rily to college scholarships and also to Head Start education programs.
If this is successful, there might be casinos popping up in
Pennsylvania. That would potentially bring more revenue to the state.
But what else would it bring?
According to research done by the National Coalition Against
Legalized Gambling (NCALG), other businesses could decline as fast as
people can pull those slots. Casinos first opened in Atlantic City in 1979.
Within four years, one-third of retail businesses in the city closed. Also,
more than 70 percent of businesses in Natchez, Mississippi reported
declining sales after the opening of a riverboat casino.
Nationally syndicated columnist George F. Will, whose columns
periodically appear in the Patriot-News, wrote, "Gambling is debased
speculation, a lust for sudden wealth that is not connected with the
process of making society more productive of goods and services.
Government support of gambling gives a (justification) to the pursuit of
wealth without work."
To paraphrase, think of the old proverb, "Give a man a fish, and
he will eat for a day. Teach a man a fish and he will eat for a lifetime."
But in the case of gambling, it sounds something like this: "Give a man
an opportunity to cast away a lot of his bait for the one-in-5 million
chance that he can end up with a whole sea of fish."
The problem is, when the man sets his sights on that whole sea
of fish, he may end up throwing all of his bait away, or even worse steal
ing someone else's bait. When the man realizes that those fish are
nowhere to be found, he may even long for some wormy bait to eat.
Former Utah State Supreme Court Justice Dallin H. Oaks said
that compulsive gambling brings a heavy cost in law enforcement. He
wrote, "more than 80 percent of the compulsive gamblers who eventually
sought help admitted that in pursuing their addiction they had committed
felony crimes, usually against banks or other businesses."
Nevada, the gambling capital of the United States, has also
become the crime capital. Between 1991 and 1996, the crime rate in
Nevada rose 40 percent. In 1995 and 1996, the state had the number one
crime rate in the nation, according to the NCALG.
There is also a link between gambling and bankruptcy. Tahira
Hira, a family studies professor at lowa State University, said, "When
(people) gamble, they end up charging a lot more on their credit cards,"
which will drive them into debt. Hira also said, "If we continue the way
things are, with availability and access increasing, that connection will be
stronger."
Aside from the negative effects of gambling, it should be noted
that there are lucrative alternatives. In his final speech as Pennsylvania
governor, Tom Ridge advised the General Assembly to "be careful" in
regards to expansion of gambling. He also pointed to another route, sell
ing the state liquor stores. "Selling the state stores would generate hun
dreds of millions of dollars for important programs such as education or
new water-and-sewer infrastructure," he said.
Gambling expansion is a potent threat to businesses, a catalyst
for crime, a loophole to laziness, and drags people towards debt. It is not
by any means a sure answer to revenue problems in Pennsylvania. Odds
are it's just not worth it.
Look for Foreign Correspondent marko.Primorae's
responee i n the next twee ef The capital Timex.
By ROBERT TRISHMAN
Copy Editor