7/29/2019 Countryside, Chapter One

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W e will soon have a newcasino in Cincinnati sothat we wont have towaste as much gas by going toLawrenceburg, Columbus, Toledo or Cleveland or struggling with air travel to Las Vegas or Atlantic City.We should be happy, except...

Well, there are some questions

besides the moral ones that once pro-duced thunderous pronouncements of doom from quite a few pulpits.Gambling is a big par t of the enter-tainment industry.

Many people enjoy spending their money while dreaming of hitting it

big. So Ohio has said, okay, lets jointhe crowd. Its strictly adult fun, of course, not for families like the ball-

parks , theate rs, theme parks , zoos,aquariums and such. Its like liquor you have tog row up to it , but more onthat analogy a little later.

Dayton is in l ine to get a racino,maybe two. Thats a racetrack withslot machines, as many as 3,300. Howyou can play the slots and watch a

race is beyond me. The racinos (and Ohio might have as many as six nextyear) use what are called video lotteryterminals, or VLTs, actually just slots

by anothe r name. By 2015 we could have 22,000 slots calling us to play.

Will all this take dollars away fromthe states array of lottery fun? Dontworry, the sta te wil l get i ts cut of thewhole pie . The quest ion is how big the

pie will get, i.e. how big is the pub-lics appetite for gambling. The racinofolks believe that combining slots and gambling on the ponies will increaseattendance and keep top horses fromleaving the state along with collegegraduates seeking better jobs.

There is an element of hypocrisy inall this wonderful news. Unlike base-

ball, footba ll or theme park enter tain-ment, gambling plays to human some-thing-for-nothing weakness. The state

lotteries tap into this. We have sci-entific evidence that for some peoplegambling is a disease, just like alco-holism.

The casinos will bar known gamble-holics, but thats mostly a public rela-tions gesture to the anti-gambling

bluenoses. A cultur e that celebr atesgambling will produce more gamblers.

Pete Rose ruined his career gam- bling. Maybe hes a good example of how family entertainment and gam-

bling are basically incompatible.Prohibition isnt the answer. Educationis. And kids soak up the cul turearound them. If theyl ive in a worldo f

gambling, alcoholism and anythinggoes, we will produce a generationwith little understanding of their ownweaknesses and little appreciation of their innate abilities.

Gambling doesnt produce anything.It transfers wealth produced elsewhere

by hard work that brings food to thetable, creates the machinery for our

comfortable lifestyle, budgets for thefuture and finances innovation for stillmore products. I t a lso may soak upwealth meant to relieve poverty and feed hungry families.

There used to be a kind of cul turalrevulsion, or perhaps just deep suspi-cion, of gambling. Lotteries were big

business in our early histor y. Theywere banned as simply wasteful (aswell as s inful and more than a bit dis-honest). Then after World War II therewas a great crusade against crime-rungambling. Ohio had some interestingcasinos long before they were legal.

Maybe education in the class-room, family room, media, churches,service clubs and just plain bull ses-

s ions can help us put gambling in perspective. How does it fi t in to whatwe believe is important in life?Indeed, what do we believe? Is curlingup with a good book a thing o f the

past? Explor ing philosophy? Studyingthe Bible?

You decide. What are the odds?

OPINION Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or aspeech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a re- The First Amendment to the United States Constitution4 Thursday, January 31, 2013 Springboro Sun

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Growing up in the city of Detroit and later in my mid teens in Miami, Fla. gave

me great adoration for big cities.Loved automobiles and the urban cul-ture. The closest I ever came to cows,

pigs or chicke ns was through a fenceat the state fair every summer.

The f ir st 1 3 year s in Detro it we respent in a very diversi f ied neighbor-h oo d. My e le me nta ry s ch oo l c la ss -mates were Hungarian, German, Irish,S co tc h, A fr ic an Am er ic an , Cz ec hRepublic, Polish and good old southernhillbillys. Many were first generationand the rest l ike brother and I , second generation. The heavily industrialized neighborhood appears on Google Earthtoday as nothing but endless fields. Allthe f ac tor ies Linc oln Merc ur y,Holly Carburetor, American Steel and many o ther s are complet ely gone,

just blocks of gras s and dirt.We had a s tr eet c ar stop in fr ont of

our house that later became a bus stop.We rode the public transportation sys-t em everywhere we went . A n icke l togo downtown and a nickel home was agood dea l. Grandma had a 1949 Nash360 that we drove occasionally to the

parks or on vacation every summer toSarnia, Canada. Our maternal grand-

paren ts that raised us loved the Tigers,L ions and the Redwings, i ce shows,concerts, theater, movies and more. Wewer e we ll r ound ed in spor ts a nd thearts.

At age 2 1, I left the big city to ta ke

my f ir st r adio job in Br yan , Ohio atWBNO, a 500-watt day t imer, (on thea ir fr om su nup to s uns et only). Thetwo-hour drive in my new 1966Mustang 3 speed on the f loor withoutGPS (how did weeverf ind our destina-tions back then) went f lawles sly.Arr iving at the sta tion the next morn-ing at 5:30 a.m., I me t th e GM, LukeTha man , who hired me ba sed on myaudit ion tape Id sent a month ear lier.Wow, my f ir st impress ion was notgood. He s lu rr ed h is words, jumped a round when ta lk ing to me, cou ldnts tay on subject and was speed talking.

He d id h ave somewhat of a con stantcrazy smile that was kind of friendly.At 8:00 a.m., he drove me over toMontpel ier to meet the pol ice depar t-ment, where I would visit every morn-ing fortheir localnews. It was about 12miles away on winding back roads and h e dr ove 90 mp h a ll the way. I n ever

drove with him again.We beca me fr ie nds and I b egan tounderstand a little more about him. Hehad a business failure, grain elevator, (Ih ad n o idea what that was ), th en theradio deal fell in his lap. His back-g roun d was in f ar ming , no t spe ech,English or communications. That gaveme a better handle on his ability todelive r the farm repor t, but nothinge ls e. He was a good ma n with a g re atfamily, just kind of country in my

book, which didnt have any countr yc hapter s yet. I was writin g the f ir stone.

Two days later, he ha d me out o n aremote at a dairy farm, sitting on astoolmilking a cow. It was myf irst and

last cow milking. It wasnt long, abouts ix months, whe n the b ig s tation inDefiance, Ohio, 1,000 watts full time,asked me to be their mor ning man.

Now, Def iance had a popula tion of 18,000, which was a few more than the7,000 in Bryan. Plus the GM/owner of the station impressed me with his com-munication and radio skills.

I never did hear the back stor y onLuke until a few weeks ago. It made mesadwhen I read his obituary, really sad,

becau se under neath that silly grin and jiggly stance and farm boy perso na wasa WorldWar II hero. Lukehad flown in

the European Theate r with the ArmyAir Corp, 647 Bomb Squadron, wherehe was awarded four Bronze Stars and the Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters for his service. He later grad-uat ed f rom Purdue Unive rs it y with adegree in agricultural economics. Hisvolun teer ism in the communi ty and c ounty wer e lif e long in eve ry a rea ,f rom president o f the Rotary Club to

pres ident of the school board, WilliamsCounty United Way, 4H clubs, Junior Achievement and many others. Lucysmom had cut the obit out o f the paper

back in December of 2007 to save for me. I just saw it for the f irst time.Dont ever judge someone l ike I did . Iknow I was young and immature at 21,we all are to different degrees . Never

judge a book by its cover I have uttere d over and ove r throughou t my li fe and here was a book I judged by i ts cove r

back in 1966. Felt so bad, Luke. I knowyoure up there. Forgive me, my friend.

Comin g up on Thu rs day, May 2 isthe Newport Gangster Tour. The eventis focused through the Warren CountyCareer Center in Clearcreek Townshipa nd will de pa rt f ro m th e Otte rb einSenior Lifestyle Community inLebanon at 9 a.m., returning at 3 p.m.Before Vegas, there was Newport, Ky.Exp lo re the s tr ee ts where gangs te rsmade their millions, gamblers lost their fortunes and ladies of the night earned the ir r eputat ions . The cos t is $49 for transportation and the tour, lunch and shopping at the his toric Main Strasse

Village in Covington is extra . I t doesinc lud e in the tour a rauc ous , high-energy presentation inside an old casi-no, then onto the streets of s in city for a 90-minute walking tour. Reservationsare available by calling 513-932-8145.Lucy and I have to do this tou r, we veheard so many stories through the yearsthis would be super cool.

Dont wai t, the Valent ines Dinner Dance at Heatherwoode on Saturday,Feb. 16 will be here beforeyou knowit.Ca ll now for r eserva tions . 937 -748-3222. Tell em Merge sent ya.

mergewright@yahoo.com

Countryside, Chapter OneMERGE WRIGHT

B

y Don Wr

ight

TimesColumnist

Editorial

School boardmeeting changeis correct moveT he Springboro Board of Education announced last week that it is changing the formats of itsmeetings.Beginning in February, the board will first hold a busi-

ness session in the high school large instruction room, thena work session in the library.

For about the past year, the board had held work sessionsfirst, then the business sessions.

District officials said they decided to make the change because board meetings have been lasting until midnight.It turns out there is far too much business to do that and timing was not working out for one of each type of meet-ing so meetings went long due to needing both work and

business meetings every night , board pres ident KellyKohls said. We are back to a goal of having both a work session and a board meeting at each meeting, both open tothe public and both invite public input. I have attended other boards of education meetings and some do not havea work session at all. I dont believe that is helpful to thecitizens that elected them but understand that the timecommitment is of concern. Some, if not most, of our meet-ings were lasting until midnight. Both board members and the attendees were too tired to conduct business and areseeking alternatives. We will try going back to the old wayand see if we can move through business in a more timelymanner.

We praise the move. Any attempt to shorten the meetingshas to b e viewed positively.

A s far as Im concerned theres a crime equalto, or possibly worse than, drunk driving. Itstexting while driving. Ill tell you why I said itmight even be worse. When youre drunk your senses areimpaired and, while it isnt a defense for getting behind the wheel smashed, the texting driver is in touch withtheir sense of right and wrong and should know

better.This area of crime is

still in its infancy butmore and more folkswill, unfortunately, fallvictim to these idiots try-ing to type and drive atthe same time. Yes, I said idiot and I stand by thatremark. If the shoe fits, wear it!

I see it more and more while passing cars on sidestreets, in parking lots and on the Interstate where I cansee the person looking at their phone and glancing uponce in a while to make sure theyre still on the road.

More and more organizations are taking up the causeof voluntarily leaving your phone out of reach while

youre behind the wheel but it will take much more thanjust say no to get these fools to stop texting. You see,the guilty parties feel like theyre under control. Theycan do both and do it successfully. They believe textingand driving for just a few words here and there is no real

problem.Hopefully lawmakers will realize the weak laws in

Ohio and other states are not doing nearly enough.Perhaps it will take them, God forbid being rammed head-on by one of these geniuses to wake up. I dontknow what its going to take, or if there is a fix. We allhave the equipment these days and that wont change.

Its great to have the capability to reach family, friendsor clients from anywhere. Lets not be force that commu-nication to be from a hospital bed, or a friend or loved ones fune ral.

Whatever it is you have to say, or is being said to you,CAN WAIT!

Mike Scinto is a 37-year veteran talk show host serv-ing locally, statewide and nationally behind the micro-

phone. For the past dozen years he has authored thi saward-winning column. You may have also seen himoffering his unique insights of Fox News Channel. Friend Mike at ht tp://www.facebook .com/mikesc in-toshow or visit http://mikescintocolumns.blogspot.comand with your morning Java or evening reading check out, comment on and subscribe to the best 60 seconds of

your day http://www.youtube.com/ InaScintoMinu te.

Texting and drivingequal to drunk driving in my book

MikeScinto

Guest Columnist

Questions about gamblingremain amid all the hoopla

WilliamH. Wild

Guest Columnist