ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 5, 1997 TAG: 9704070086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, W.VA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The issue pitted the churches against the labor unions and the House against the Senate. In the end, "It just didn't happen."
A bill to allow a casino at The Greenbrier resort died Friday because the House of Delegates was not prepared to allow slot machines the Senate wanted, House Speaker Bob Kiss said.
Kiss, D-Raleigh County, also said House and Senate leaders had long ago agreed to vote on their respective versions of the bill simultaneously. But Friday, he said Senate leaders told him they wanted the House to vote first.
Greenbrier President Ted Kleisner was traveling and not immediately available for comment.
The bill would have allowed the resort to open a table-games casino for overnight hotel guests if voters in Greenbrier County approved.
The Senate version would have permitted slot machines as well.
Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan County, said slots would bring in more money and most of that money would go to the state.
The Senate had enough votes to pass the bill, he said.
Kiss said the House might have had the votes to pass its own version of the bill, but would have defeated a measure that included slots. He and Senate leaders discussed several ways to reach a compromise, but none seemed realistic, Kiss said.
``It's really nobody's fault,'' he said. ``Sometimes things just don't happen. There was no acrimony. It just didn't happen.''
Del. Paul Prunty, D-Marion County, said churches throughout West Virginia stood united against the Greenbrier bill. ``People say you can't legislate morals, but, yes, ladies and gentlemen, you can,'' he said.
People cannot walk down the street without clothing even though they may want to, Prunty said.
``I will not violate my basic convictions regardless of what labor says, or any other politically active group,'' he said.
Labor unions were among those who supported the bill.
Del. Eustace Frederick, D-Mercer County, said supporters wrongly tried to appeal to the fact that 88 percent of The Greenbrier's guests are out-of-state residents. That does not make gambling all right, he said.
``It's not OK. These people are human beings just like you and I, even if they are from out of state,'' he said.
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