December 16, 2002
LAKE OF THE OZARKS — Southern Baptist churches here are searching for ways to oppose and hopefully stymie the construction of a land-based casino in the Mid-Missouri resort area.
The Pathway has learned that a major effort is underway by an Oklahoma-based Indian group to locate a casino at the lake. Initial meetings involving representatives from the Osage Indian tribe and Lake-area business interests have been conducted, and backers of the casino are now working on scheduling a meeting with Gov. Bob Holden to lobby for his support of the gambling venture.
Initial plans call for the proposed casino to be located on an unnamed 300-acre site.
Chuck Phillips, pastor of Riverview Baptist Church for more than two years, said he is very strongly opposed to the idea of bringing legalized gambling to Lake of the Ozarks.
"In fact, I talked with the church some time before we knew this Indian casino proposal was coming up. I told the people that we’ve got to be prepared because, at some point, that gambling would be an issue again," Phillips said.
Several attempts have been made in the state legislature to make changes in state law that would allow a riverboat to be located on Lake of the Ozarks. All attempts, to date, have been defeated. Present law only permits riverboat gambling operations on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
Phillips said he is opposed to a casino on several fronts.
"First and foremost," he said, "I’m opposed because God is our provider."
"In addition, crime increases when gambling comes in. It brings no new money into the area; the enterprise that brings a casino into the area takes the proceeds away from the area. It’s just not a good long-term investment for an area.
"I know the state has had to create some office to deal with new gambling addiction. And that’s why I can’t see creating something you know in advance that will have to be treated as a problem."
Herb Baker, pastor at Osage Hills Baptist Church the last 15 years, said he will also be encouraging his congregation to campaign actively against a casino at the Lake.
Carrie Messer, chairman of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Christian Life Commission, said he is not surprised by the latest attempt to establish legalized gambling at Lake of the Ozarks.
"The Lake of the Ozarks has always been a family area. The last thing we need is to lose Branson or Lake of the Ozarks. It’s important that we work to keep them from turning those areas into something seedy," Messer said.
Phillips has already told his congregation to contact the Holden’s office, the county commissioners in Miller and Camden counties and their state representatives and senators.
"Another big concern of ours is that we want the Lake of the Ozarks to remain a family-oriented place, and we see that (reputation) fading fast with such things as the party cove," Phillips said. "What a casino would do is accelerate the loss of the family atmosphere."
The churches are getting some help in their opposition to the casino. Joe Roeger, a member of Calvary Chapel at the Lake and an anti-gambling activist, said the emphasis now is trying to discourage the Indian group from proceeding at Lake of the Ozarks. "We’re encouraging everybody to send emails and letters and make phone calls to the Governor’s office, telling him we don’t want gambling at Lake of the Ozarks," Roeger said.
"If the Indian group can’t get some sense from the governor that he would approve it, we think they will drop their plans because getting the governor’s approval is a prerequisite. That’s why we want to inundate his office with messages that we don’t want it here."
If the gambling proposal would get the governor’s blessing, Roeger said plans have already been made to launch a petition effort.
Tom Wright, newly elected presiding commissioner in Miller County, is also mounting a campaign against a casino. A member of the Nazarene church at Eldon, Wright says he is opposed from a moral standpoint.
"The addiction goes up, divorce rates go up. All this follows casinos," Wright said. "Each new person that gets addicted (to gambling) costs the county $13,000 to treat, and it doesn’t just stop at that. It carries to the whole family.
"And I’m surprised that banks aren’t fighting it because it’s a proven fact that bankruptcies increase when a casino comes to town."
From an economic standpoint, Wright says a casino has nothing to offer for the Lake of the Ozarks.
"A casino gets 85 percent of its revenue from a 55 mile-radius," he commented. "That money will leave the area. I can see the downside economically. Of course, there will be some money generated by a casino, but the downside far outweighs the enticement we would get."
The anti-casino movement is getting a late start, Wright said.
"The problem is that nobody has known about it," he explained. "We’ve got gobs of good people in this area if they’ll just stand up and say we don’t want it. The governor has the complete power to stop it, but he doesn’t have a very good record of doing the logical thing.
"Casinos appear to be so nice. They feed you and provide a nice place to stay, but it’s just an enticement," Wright said. "People get swallowed up by the gambling before the know it, and they can’t get out. I don’t have the extra money to spend on something like this, and the majority of other people don’t either."