GROUPS FORM TO FIGHT SLOTS MACHINE ON BOATS IN MOATS

Armed solely with notebooks and pens, they don't appear to be a fierce group of soldiers. They sit on pews inside a chapel at First United Methodist Church in Sikeston learning how to prepare for battle.

They don't have many weapons -- a list of telephone numbers, information packets and possibly a list of registered voters -- in their arsenal. Yet, members of Southeast Missouri's religious community are getting ready for a battle with the state's gambling industry.

Missouri voters will decide in November whether to allow slot machines on boats in moats. Currently, slot machines are allowed on riverboats in the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

Members of area churches, especially United Methodist churches, hope to defeat the issue with a grass-roots campaign.

Their numbers may be small compared to the forces backed by the gambling industry, but their dedication is fierce, organizers say.

The campaign is designed from the bottom up, not the top down, said the Rev. Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. It's not a fight against gambling but a fight against changing Missouri's constitution to benefit the gambling industry.

Grey, a United Methodist minister from Hanover, Ill., said the campaign began among churches because "these are troopships. They meet every Sunday."

But Grey doesn't believe the issue crosses the line between church and state. Churches aren't taking on the battle as a moral issue alone, it's also a civic duty.

"It's not dirty work for a Christian to be a citizen, is it?" Grey asks.

He thinks Christians, armed with information about the illegality of slot machines, will make informed decisions at the polls. Providing that information has been his job.

Grey met with Methodist congregations around the state last week to teach them how to fight the proposed constitutional amendment to allow slot machines on boats in moats. He met with church members in St. Joseph, Kansas City, Springfield, St. Louis and Sikeston.

But supporters of the gambling industry say Grey provides voters with more wrong information than right.

"Tom Grey wants to force his morals upon all of Missouri and he doesn't care what misinformation and distortions he uses," said Frank Oppenheim, president of AFFIRM, an organization of casino employees. Oppenheim also is supervisor at Player's Island Casino in Maryland Heights.

Because there are nearly 18,000 employees dependent on jobs in the casino industry, "we are not going to sit idly by while out-of-state interests spread lies and innuendo about the gaming industry," Oppenheim said.

But Grey and the Methodists aren't the only group AFFIRM opposes. Other denominations and groups like Show Me the River, a coalition based in Ballwin, are beginning opposition campaigns.

Their plan is simple. It includes three steps -- deliberating, debating and deciding.

During the summer, Show Me the River will hold informational meetings, like those at Methodist churches, to educate voters and set up field offices. In the early fall, local groups will hold debates with supporters of the "boats in moats" amendment to discuss the pros and cons of the issue. Grey suggests such debates be held in conjunction with candidate forums.

Finally, voters will decide the issue at the polls.

Even though churches are gearing up for the battle, it still may be too early to start fighting the issue. No formal groups have been organized in Cape Girardeau to oppose the amendment.

However, Kay Blanchard of Grace United Methodist Church said getting started early is the key. "We'll be organized and ready," she said. "It will be Christians getting together and saying 'enough is enough.'"

What the ballot will say:

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to authorize the general assembly to permit upon the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers only, including artifical spaces containing wather that are within 1000 feet of the closest edge of the main channel of either of those rivers, lotteries, gift enterprises and games of chance to be conducted on excursion gambling boats and floating facilities and to provide that any license issued before or after the adoption of this amendment for any such boat or facility located in any such artificial space shall be deemed authorized by the general assembly and compliant with this section?