STUDENTS SAY NO TO GAMBLING; UNIVERSITY GROUP RALLIES OPPONENTS

Opponents of riverboat gambling Wednesday doled out hotdogs, lemonade and reasons to sink the floating casino measure on the November ballot.

The occasion was the "We Love Cape Rally" held on Academic Terraces at Southeast Missouri State University. It was sponsored by the newly formed Students Against Riverboat Gambling and an already active community group, Citizens Against Riverboat Gambling.

About 30 people turned out for the lunch-time rally, most of them faculty members, students and citizens opposed to riverboat gambling. Cape Girardeau City Council members Melvin Gateley and Mary Wulfers, both opponents of riverboat gambling, attended the gathering.

Gateley sees the university campus as one of the battlegrounds in the effort to win voter support. "Since the yes group placed such an emphasis on it, we would be careless not to balance the playing field," he said.

Chris Keck, a fifth-year philosophy major and president of Students Against Riverboat Gambling, said the group wants to inform students about the Nov. 2 ballot issue and encourage students to vote.

Those attending the rally had an opportunity to register to vote or transfer their registration. The registration was handled by a voter registration clerk and not by rally organizers.

"We think our side is right. We think the facts are stacked in our favor," said Keck, who opposes a proposed gambling venture here on both economic and moral grounds.

"Gambling by definition is to lose by chance," he said. Keck said he wouldn't gamble and feels it would be wrong to support an activity that he personally wouldn't engage in.

Proponents contend that a riverboat gambling venture would bring needed jobs to Cape Girardeau. But leaders of the anti-gambling student group disagree.

Alecia Fischer, a mass communications major at Southeast and vice president of Students Against Riverboat Gambling, maintained that any floating casino here would offer only low-paying jobs for students.

Typically, Southeast students have paid little attention to city elections. "Is there too much apathy for students to care about this?" said Keck. "We don't think so."

Keck believes students should be interested in the riverboat gambling issue. "This is our community," he said, sporting a yellow "Vote No 2" button a reference to the fact that this will be the second election on the gaming issue. Voters in June rejected riverboat gambling.

"We spend the greater part of five years here," said Keck. "Being in college does not mean you are ostracized from the community."

The June vote occurred when most Southeast students were on summer break. As a result, Keck says many students didn't pay much attention to the election issue. He thinks it may be different this time.

"There is a significant potential voter block here," said Andy Pratt, a minister with the Baptist Student Center and a part-time teacher at Southeast.

"We believe that a small group of people are going to profit from riverboat gambling, but the majority will not," he said.

Not only will it not provide quality jobs for students, it could prove a financial headache for those students who lose at the gaming tables, said Pratt.

"Students at this point in their lives are learning how to manage their money," he pointed out. "Students get into financial trouble anyway. This makes it more difficult."

Pratt said the anti-gambling group on campus is just now getting organized. He estimated the organization has about 20 to 30 member right now, with about half of them students, and the remainder university faculty and staff.

The faculty adviser for Students Against Riverboat Gambling is Hamner Hill, chairman of the philosophy and religion department at Southeast.

"As a logic teacher, I think the arguments that were presented the first time around (in support of riverboat gambling) were pathetically bad," said Hill.

Proponents say a floating casino would be an economic benefit to the area. But Hill said, "There are no free lunches."

He compared the gaming venture to that of a "pool hustler." While the gambling companies end up making money from such ventures, the community as a whole does not, he said.

"I hate to see our citizens suckered by the promise of a free lunch," said Hill.

Donald James, 23, of Cape Girardeau was one of the students who attended the rally.

A sophomore majoring in music, James is a registered voter. But he said he didn't vote in the June election because he didn't feel he knew enough about the issue.

As to the November election, James said, "I'll probably vote."

James said he attended the rally to find out more about the issue. But he said the flier handed out by opponents offered little real information. "It seems more opinion than actual fact."

Although only a small number of students attended the rally, Keck said he was not disappointed by the turnout. "At least it's a beginning, and that's what we are excited about."

Keck said the group wants to encourage students to be involved in the community and go to the polls. "If we accomplish that and lose, we still come out winners," he said.