wfn.org | Minister Lauds Gambling Study Leader

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (115
notes).

Note 109 by UMNS on May 22, 1997 at 17:06 Eastern (2675 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                          297(10-71B){109}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722            May 22, 1997

Anti-gambling clergyman praises appointment
of head for gambling study commission

                 by United Methodist News Service

     A United Methodist minister who leads a coalition against
gambling applauded the May 20 appointment of Kay Coles James as
the chairwoman of the nine-member study commission on the issue
although he has not met the woman.
     "If they [the gambling industry leaders] react so negatively
to her, she has to be really good for the commission," said the
Rev. Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition
Against Legalized Gambling, by telephone the following day.
     Grey said he has never met James, dean of the school of
government at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., but since
American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf and others
in Las Vegas have objected strenuously to her appointment, Grey
concluded the commission will be in good hands.
     He praised her previous experience as excellent preparation.
She has been secretary of health and human resources for Virginia,
senior vice president of the Family Research Council, and
associate director for the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy and held other government offices. 
     James, a member of the Presbyterian Church in America, is the
only woman and only African-American on the study panel.  Robert
Loescher, a Native American who is vice president of the Alaska-
based Sealaska Corporation, is the only other ethnic minority
person on the panel.
     "We are just absolutely delighted that they moved so quickly
after prolonging the appointments," said Grey. The announcement
was made by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and House
Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), presumably with President Clinton's
approval. 
     Completion of the panel although originally slated for
October 1996 was delayed until President Clinton named the
remaining three members April 29. The study is to be completed
within two years.
     "Gambling, we believe, is out of control in the United
States, and the faster we get a read on what is happening ... the
better off America will be," Grey declared.
     He expressed hope that the commission will not confine its
work to the Washington area but will hold public hearings in
various parts of the nation to see and hear first hand about the
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