LETTERS: BOAT OPERATORS ARE LAUGHING AGAIN

To the editor:

Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote a letter concerning the gambling boats in moats and how their owners were not longer laughing. Well, now they are laughing again, thanks to Cole County Circuit Judge Byron Kinder.

It seems Judge Kinder does not want the Missouri Gaming Commission to do its job. He has prohibited the commission from meeting to even consider what should be done until he has decided how they should do their job.

Pardon me, did not the Supreme Court already tell them, or am I wrong in assuming that the Supreme Court is a higher authority than Judge Kinder?

I know I will probably step on some toes, but I think it is about time some of our elected representatives stopped thinking about hurting a few gambling-boat operators and started thinking about doing their jobs, namely representing the best interests of the citizens of Missouri. Allowing a circuit court judge and a few gambling-boat operators to thwart the will of the people, as expressed by the Supreme Court, for even one moment is unacceptable.

If the people of Missouri do not like the actions taken by the Supreme Court, they should protect to the Supreme Court or the governor, or they should change the Constitution. Until then the Supreme Court is still the final authority in this state, and it should not have its decisions stymied by a single judge without his being removed from office.

MARK K. SLINKARD

Cape Girardeau