Gambling: Just another addiction

Letters

April 9, 2008

Readers Views

Anonymous The Commonwealth Journal Wed Apr 09, 2008, 08:40 AM EDT

Dear Editor:

I have listened to the political discussions in amazement the last few months and I need some answers.

We are living in very difficult times and I know the answers are difficult and will probably hurt but I just don’t get what politicians are thinking.

When gas is so expensive, the average family is having to cut back just to get to work (if they still have jobs) and to get to the grocery store (where everything is going up weekly because of transportation costs).

Then medical costs and insurance costs take another large cut. People in Kentucky are dying daily simply because they have no insurance.

Then there is the housing debacle. People are losing their homes because they can’t pay their mortgage and mortgage companies all about to go under because they’ve lent to bad risks and encouraged people to go in debt beyond what they could pay.

What I don’t understand is the politicians’ solutions – gambling, taxing already struggling small businesses and then setting aside money to help gambling addicts.

What messages are we giving our children when we finance their education with gambling money, when we make deep cuts in our educational system and increase the money to keep our citizens in our jails? It sounds like a big gamble to me.

It seems to me improving our economy would come by improving our education so that companies will have a good selection of well-trained workers to staff their well-paying jobs in a state that makes a healthy environment for business and families to grow.

We already have major problems in our state with drug and alcohol addiction. It is responsible for many of our arrests and our crowded jails. It’s responsible for broken families and broken children. We have so many families dependent on the state for their living. There was a time we were promised they would be trained and returned to the work force. This hasn’t happened because so many are addicted to drugs of one kind or another and we aren’t addressing the problems.

There comes a time when we all need to be responsible for ourselves, to teach our children responsibility for their choices but we need to start by holding parents responsible for themselves. Then we need to hold our politicians responsible for making decisions (no matter how hard) that are right and based on sound principles.

We need to learn to live on what we have and learn to save. We need to learn the privilege of hard work and frugal living. We need to get our priorities right. We also need term limits so we can get fresh ideas and not career politicians who do and say what we want to hear in order to keep their jobs. We take good care of our politicians. Maybe that would be a good place to start cutting back.

The gambling issue scares me most because of the addictive nature of gambling and the other problems that go with gambling.

First, with gas prices so high, are people going to be able to go to casinos without taking money from the family’s budget?

Then who will be going to the casinos? Will it be the people who have worked hard to build wealth and provide for their futures or will it be the desperate person, about to lose his home that takes what he has and gambles it away, making his situation much worse? The ones who win at casinos are the ones who own them.

Why do we want to bring something into our state that will add one more addiction.

When will we wake up and return to some moral absolutes that say hard work is rewarded by fair wages, frugal living is rewarded with what you need and compassion means we protect and help people who need it with a hand up so they too can become independent and self-sufficient.

Madeline Duncan

Eubank, Ky.

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Letters

Group opposed to alcohol at Eagle’s Nest
Dear Editor:
K.I.D.S. (Keep It Dry and Safe) of Somerset and Pulaski County is opposed to the sale of alcohol at the Eagle’s Nest Golf Course in the Caney Fork Precinct of Pulaski County, Ky.

March 9, 2012
The Perils of Alcohol
Dear Editor:
The Feb. 1, 2012, front page news of the Commonwealth Journal, read in big, bold letters, ALCOHOL at Eagle’s Nest.

February 9, 2012
Reenactment Poorly Planned
Dear Editor:
In response to the article by staff writer Chris Harris concerning the Battle of Mill Springs recently held in your county. I have concerns over the objectivity of the content, particularly with Bill Neikirk’s comments.
I am a living historian and travel from Florida to Virginia taking part in approximately 30 events per year; thus, I do know something of which I speak.

February 9, 2012
Rockcastle Hospital responds to article
Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to the article printed January 31, 2012, in the Commonwealth Journal titled “Local Nursing Homes on par with rest of nation.” The article incorrectly noted that the only Kentucky nursing home with zero deficiencies was the Nursing Facility of Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown. I would kindly ask you to correct the information to include our facility.

February 6, 2012
Western Pulaski Water could communicate better
Dear Editor:
Last weekend, residents of Pulaski County who have “city water” were affected by the countywide boil water advisory. This was the first time I can remember the entire county being under such an advisory. When the accident occurred at the City Water plant last Thursday afternoon, print and broadcast media serving Pulaski County were advised.

February 3, 2012
Reader not so happy ban
Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter in response to the recent Somerset city limits Smoking Ban.
I would like to know WHY the city council can stop smoking in nursing homes. The nursing homes are OUR HOME! This is the only home that many nursing home residents have had for many, many years.

January 31, 2012
Thank you, city council
Dear Editor:
To say that I had come to believe that I would never see happen in Somerset what came to pass at the most recent Somerset City Council meeting would be an understatement.

January 31, 2012
Kentucky children need expanded preschool
To understand why my proposed budget expands access to preschool to 4,000 more Kentucky 4 year olds, it helps to imagine two kindergarten classes arriving for the first day of school.
In one class, the kids are bright-eyed and healthy. They know the alphabet, their numbers, and a little rudimentary math (think basic addition and subtraction). They can even read a little bit, and are able hold a conversation with adults. In short, they’re confident, curious, creative and energetic. They want to learn.
In the other class, the kids are just the opposite. Several have health problems, like tooth aches, asthma and lingering sickness caused by poor nutrition. They’ve never been read to, don’t know either their letters or numbers and can’t spell their names. They’re too timid to interact with their teachers and classmates, show little interest in anything around them and—to summarize—are completely unengaged.
You don’t have to be a kindergarten teacher to predict the outcome of the year: One class will learn, the other will struggle.
When the students enter first grade the following year, the same gap will exist, only it’ll be larger. In later grades, the gap will be larger still.
Barring aggressive intervention, the kids who began their school careers behind are likely to remain behind the rest of their lives.
That’s why getting our youngest children off to a good start—by laying a foundation of good health and cognitive development that enables them to hit the ground running in kindergarten—has been one of my top priorities as governor.
The seeds of learning are planted early in life. Earlier, even, than kindergarten. Scientists say that some 90 percent of physical brain development occurs from birth to age 3.
That’s why we’ve brought health care coverage to nearly 60,000 children whose families didn’t have any.
We’ve improved dental care for tens of thousands of children by increasing the number of dentists who treat children and bringing treatment straight to our classrooms.
We’re aligning our preschool and early care programs around a common definition of kindergarten readiness, one that guides our care workers in preparing our children mentally, physically, emotionally and socially to do the work involved in kindergarten.
And we’re seeking to expand access to preschool to 4,430 of our at-risk 4-year-olds.
My proposed budget for the 2013-2014 biennium—which I presented to the General Assembly on Jan. 17—includes $15 million to expand eligibility to families whose incomes are 160 percent or less of the federal poverty level, up from the current cut-off of 150 percent.
Bu the end of my term, I intend to set eligibility levels at 200 percent or below, which would help us add 3,920 additional children on top of this year’s gain.
Anecdotally, this makes sense.
Statistically, it’s a wise investment.
The Committee for Economic Development -- a national nonprofit, nonpartisan business-led public policy organization -- produced a report funded by the Pew Charitable Trust that studied the benefits of early childhood education. The report found that kids who had access to high-quality preschool were less likely to drop out of school, less likely to commit crimes, earned higher incomes and were healthier.
Consequently, experts say that every dollar spent on preschool programs carries a return on investment that ranges from $2 to $17.
The formula is simple—we can invest in our children early, or we can pay substantially higher costs later for things like remedial school work, basic job training, expanded welfare and prison costs.
If we don’t give kids the best possible start to their education, the bill comes due again, again and again.
Our people—especially our children—are Kentucky’s greatest resource.
To bring transformational change to our state, we must cultivate that resource by making substantial investments in our intellectual infrastructure.
Even in the most wretched financial times, there are certain investments that we cannot ignore.
But this is more than a financial argument. It’s also a moral one.
We owe all of our children—whether they live in our inner cities or our mountain hollows, our suburbs or our farms -- a chance at a promising and productive life.
And that process starts early.

January 26, 2012 1 Photo
Act of Kindness Appreciated
Dear Editor:
Santa Claus does not always wear a red suit and a red hat with white fur, neither does he have soot on his clothes from the chimney.

January 25, 2012
Subsidies and Socialism
Dear Editor:
Robert Moore is totally wrong about the Black Lung Program. I worked as a disability examiner when Black Lung was enacted. Black Lung was a political boondoggle for buying votes.

January 24, 2012
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