The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 8, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 11, 2009 Page: 3 of 6
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March 11, 2009
Opinions
The Rambler 3
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What happens in Fort Worth...
Gambling cash flow not sufficient cause to plant casino in arrant County
Ryan
Al TIIIER
. esperate times call for
desperate measures, and,
honestly, these are desperate
times. Not to slay the slain,
but the economy is in turmoil
and no legislation thus far has
done much to help. That is
until now, says a spearhead of
Texas politicians.
Their proposed plan
doesn't involve cutting
corporate income taxes or
giving more incentives to college students. No,
those are too simple and, honestly, don't
involve enough neon and debauchery
Texas State Sens. Rodney Ellis
(D-Houston) and John Carona
(R-Dallas) alongside representatives
Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) and Jose
Menendez (D-San Antonio) are
sponsoring a bill that would legalize
gambling in the state of Texas, bringing
12 Vegas-style casinos to the state and
slot machines to hundreds of other
venues.
"Texans are already gaming. They're going to
continue to do so. I say let's regulate it and let's
tax it and let's use the money to pay for public
schools and highways and other needy programs
in the great state of Texas," Ellis said.
I don't know about you, but public schools
and highways aren't exactly the first thing to
come to mind when I think of the city of sin.
The men have pl enty of figures to back up
their bid, though. They estimate that gambling in
Texas would generate around $54 billion yearly,
$3-$5 billion in state tax revenue and create up
to 120,000 new jobs immediately. In addition,
$1 billion would be set aside for Texas students'
college tuition and another $1 billion for Texas
highway repairs. Not bad, but is the money really
worth it?
The Baptist Church says no (shocker).
Rob Kohler, consultant for the Christian Life
Commission of the Baptist General Convention
of Texas, gave a Van Damme-esque warning to
legislators, saying, "It's not smart public policy
for the state to get into. We're going to make sure
they don't." Though that statement instills a fear
that only the Baptist church can impart, sponsors
of the bill aren't showing signs of slowing down.
What might intrigue the Wesleyan community
is that one of the proposed locations for one of
the resort-style casinos is in our very own Tarrant
County.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
"Gaming advocates have suggested that Arlington
could be a likely site for the Tarrant County
casino because of its stature as one of the state's
leading entertainment destinations."
Arlington currently is the location of Six
Flags Over Texas, Hurricane Harbor, The
Ballpark in Arlington and the new Dallas
Cowboys Stadium; and that's all within a few
blocks of each other. Why not add a multi-million
dollar Vegas-style casino to Texas' own province
of play?
Locals wouldn't seem to mind the addition. In
a survey done by the Texas Gaming Association,
70 percent of Metroplex residents feel that a
casino in Tarrant County (and another in Dallas)
would be beneficial economically.
Despite the benefits, there are still naysayers,
including Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck as well
as Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief who told the
Star-Telegram he's "not overly enthusiastic about
casino gambling in [Fort Worth]," but would
consider it if the measure gets the votes.
It's easy to see that the casino has very
obvious ups and downs. On one hand, gambling
does bring in heaps of cash flow to the economy.
On the other, that money is still coming from
the consumer, and, like state lotteries, serves
as a somewhat regressive tax, hurting the
poor even more. As Tarrant County Judge
Glen Whitley puts it, many casino patrons
would waste money at the tables that
"would have been used to buy milk and
bread."
This last ditch effort is too little,
too late. Though it is refreshing to see
Democrats and Republicans working together so
diligently, it is generally a sign of frenzy.
Yes, I do find it ironic that the closest place
to play a legal game of Texas Hold 'Em is in
Oklahoma. And, yes, if there was a casino 10
miles east on Interstate 30,1 would certainly take
advantage of it. But this rash proposal of a bill
is not going to fix our nation, only serve as yet
another distraction from the real world.
After all, "What happens in Fort Worth" just
doesn't flow like Vegas.
Ryan Authier is a senior psychology major and is the
entertainment editor for The Rambler.
Hit it or quit it:'exas sex education suffers
T
Chuck
Fain
"exas is frequently thought of as "backwards" by
the rest of the nation . Whenever the word "Texas"
comes up, most who aren't from here think of a guy in
a 10-gallon hat firing off six-shooter behind a head of
cattle. And though Texas has progressed a lot since the
1800s (shootouts in saloons are at an all time low), it
would seem we still have some growing up to do
For instance, Texas had a ban on selling sex toys
until as early as last year, it is still legal to hang a man
for stealing your horse and our execution rate is four
times that of any other state - 432 since 1976. (The state
with the second highest execution rate, Virginia, doesn't
even touch us at a mere 103, according to deathpenaltyinfo.org.)
Given all this, it should come as no surprise that Texas has come in
lacking in another socially important area: sex education.
Recently, researchers at Texas State University conducted a survey
of sex education in Texas public schools. According to straitstimes.
com, 990 school districts were surveyed, which is 96 percent of all Texas
school districts. The results were that "94 percent of Texas school districts
teach that abstaining from sex is the only healthy option for unmarried
couples, and, in many cases, students are given misleading and inaccurate
information about the risks associated with sex."
This is result of then Gov. Bush (his legacy live on), who put the
program into place for Texas schools during the mid 90s. Just to reiterate,
that's 94 percent of Texas's schoolchildren who are given a "Just Say No"
pep talk about sex, if their school even addresses the issue at all.
I must say though, growing up in a small town Texas school, I'm
disappointed, but not surprised. Sex ed at my school was one day in gym
class. All the boys went to their locker room, and the girls to theirs, and
we were shown a video about hair growing in strange places, our voices
sounding funny and our inability to control erections - as if we didn't know
any of that before!
The only instruction we got from our coach was, "Stop laughing."
God only knows what sort of poorly-produced video filled with obvious
information the girls had to sit through (but if it was anything like ours, it
was at least pretty funny).
The "sex can wait" method of sex ed in schools may be about to change,
however.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Democratic lawmakers in
the Texas legislature proposed a bill on March 2 that would require Texas
schools to "include more medical information about contraception and
disease prevention" in their sexual education curriculum.
Democratic proponents for the bill, Sen. Rodney Ellis and Rep. Joaquin
Castro, say that the new law would not force schools to teach sex education,
"but if they do, they would have to provide complete and accurate
information."
There are, of course, those who oppose the new measure. Opponents
of the bill say that all matters of a sexual nature should be taught at home.
That's an excellent idea. Children should be taught about sex by their
parents.
The unfortunate truth of the matter is that talking to one's kids about sex
is a difficult task, and many parents either are unwilling to do so, uneducated
themselves on the subject or simply don't know how to go about it
I'm not saying that sex ed should be thrust upon everyone, either.
Parents should have fair warning about their children's educational
curriculum and should have every right to impose their own views and
beliefs onto their children - but not onto other people's children. It is one
thing to deny your own child sex education, but quite another to take it away
from others.
Other arguments exist, such as "abstinence is the only 100 percent safe
method." While this is true, it also raises the question: Are we not to do
anything unless it's 100 percent safe? If so, then driving is out the window
(you should see the statistical data on that), so is swimming, going to the
park, eating out and pretty much doing anything aside from laying in bed.
One opponent likened informed sex education to telling kids not to do
heroin, then showing them where to get it and how to shoot it. This is a
ridiculous comparison, and in order for it to be apt, it would require the use
of a prostitute in the classroom .
Besides, sex is a natural, beautiful part of life - doing heroin is a
depraved, vicious attack on your person. The fact that the two were
compared makes me feel sorry for those who see sex in such a distasteful,
unflattering light.
Providing our youth with information about responsible sexual practices
is not a green flag for fornication. Discussing proper condom use and the
dangers of having multiple partners will not result in a classroom orgy,
despite what the Christian right seems to think.
Just because some savage, sex crazed animals are bursting at the seams
to copulate with anything that moves, their ravenous desires held back only
by their fear of their god, doesn't mean the rest of us are. And while I don't
think people should be forced into taking sex ed, I do think that it should be
available to educate the ones who do want to know.
Obviously, the abstinence only program is not working so well.
According to m snbc.com, Texas has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates
in the country. Why not give the next generation the tools they need to make
informed decisions? Instead, we have resolved to just tell them "no," then sit
back and hope they don't make a fatal mistake.
Chuck Fain is a senior English major and is a staff writer for The Rambler.
Kelli Lamers, adviser
Tiara Nugent, editor-in-chief
Ryan Authier, entertainment editor
Gasten Schoonover, photo editor
The Rambler
Founded in 1917 as The Handout
Harold G. Jeffcoat, Publisher
Martin Garcia, news editor
Brvce Witks\ sports editor
Ashely Oldham, advertising manager
Rachel Horton, Web editor
Member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.
Opinions expressed in The Rambler are those of the individual author only
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Texas Wesleyan community as a whole.
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While every consideration is made to publish letters, publication is limited by time and space.
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Address all correspondence to:
Texas Wesleyan University, The Rambler, 1201 Wesleyan St., Fort Worth, TX 76105.
Newsroom: 531-7552 Advertising: 531-7582
E-mail: twurambler§§yahoo.com
Rambler Ratings
Thumbs up to the coming of
spring break.
Thumbs down to the huge
amount of litter along
Interstate 30 west of Beach
Street.
Thumbs down to the SUB
for being out of chicken salad
sandwiches.
Thumbs up to the
basketball team lineup and
coach who were
recognized by the RRAC.
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Nugent, Tiara. The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 8, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 11, 2009, newspaper, March 11, 2009; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201276/m1/3/: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas Wesleyan University.