Don't gamble on gambling

The public vote to legalize table games here in Kanawha County, W.Va., was originally scheduled for this Saturday. Thankfully, it was pushed back due to a clerical error ... now, there's a better chance opponents (like me, and like you, hopefully) can take steps to fight it.

The West Virginia Council of Churches is involved, as is the West Virginia Family Foundation. Both are facing an uphill battle. Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center (read: the Cross Lanes casino) is bankrolling a massive public relations effort, and local officials are on board. Some police officers are actually appearing in ads in their uniforms. Which is probably illegal or, at the very least, unethical.

(Quick sidebar: I'm not issuing a blanket endorsement of any and everything the Council of Churches of the Family Foundation stand for. I haven't read all their materials, so I can't unequivocally lend my support to all that they do, even if I were to agree once I became more familiar. It's on the to-do list. At any rate, they happen to be right on this issue.)

Anyway, the annual West Virginia Methodist Convention is, during their annual meetings in Buckhannon, taking a stand on the issue. Kudos to them for realinzing "Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic and spiritual life, and destructive of good government." Here, here. (Check out the full story here.)

So, those of you in Kanawha County, W.Va. -- where polls show we actually have a chance of beating this thing -- get out and get active.