By Rusty Pugh and Jody Brown
March 11, 2002

Louisiana Governor Mike Foster has inked a deal with the Jena tribe of Choctaw Indians that could bring the fourth casino to that state in the Lake Charles area. But reports on Friday indicate the Louisiana Department of Interior has rejected Vinton, near the Texas border in the southwest part of the state, as the site for that casino. An attorney for the Jena tribe is vowing not to give up, saying it would be unfair to deny the tribe a casino because the other three federally recognized tribes in the state already have their own.

American Family Association of New Orleans Director Kathleen Benefield says Louisiana already has a problem with casinos and does not need another gambling outlet. "Louisiana is addicted to gambling," Benefield says. "This is just one more example of a way to increase our dependence on gambling income."

Benefield says gambling proponents have sold the state officials on the fact the gambling revenue could help education. She says that is a bad idea. "Tying a good thing [education] to a bad thing [gambling] is wrong and cannot work -- it's inherently evil," she says. "And we cannot fund education with gambling funds. It simply teaches children the wrong message."

In neighboring Mississippi, the state education system was also promised huge gambling windfalls. Yet that state is experiencing a budget shortfall of more than $114 million, which is going to result in serious education cutbacks, including teacher and staff layoffs.

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