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Mississippi May Move its Casinos Ashore
Just a month after
Hurricane Katrina smashed Mississippi’s casino gambling boats, the state
Legislature opened a special session Tuesday devoted to how and whether
to salvage an industry that has been central to the economy of the Gulf
Coast.
Saying that placing such structures on the
water is no longer safe, Gov. Haley Barbour instantly generated
controversy by proposing that casinos, previously restricted to boats
moored along the state’s southern coast or the Mississippi River, be
allowed to move as much as 1,500 feet inland. The casinos had been built
on barges because, under Mississippi law, they had to float to keep them
physically separate from nearby communities.
Mr. Barbour called the moment an
opportunity to rebuild the coast into a world-class destination resort
made up of sprawling, state-of-the-art entertainment complexes rather
than simply rebuilding what was there. "In 30 years, when I’m dead and
gone, people will look at the south coast and look at what it has
become," Mr. Barbour said. "If it has become just another version of
what it had been, we will have failed."
But many of the state’s religious leaders,
who have opposed casino gambling from the beginning, were trying to
seize the moment to shut down the casinos. "It is unfortunate that with
all the human needs in Mississippi right now, the gambling-political
complex has chosen this unfortunate time to try to expand its
influence," said William Perkins, spokesman for the Mississippi Baptist
Convention Board. Read the
entire article at:
Gadsden Times
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