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Casino backers pitch benefits to Ohio
By JOHN McCARTHY
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Backers of the latest attempt to bring a casino to Ohio are trying a new marketing approach: glitz, local government payouts and inevitability.
Two ads for the $600 million casino proposed for the November ballot have been running. One shows a map with a blackened Ohio surrounded by colorful states that either have casinos or are considering legislation authorizing them.
The other shows actress Vicki Lawrence in her "Mama's Family" garb pointing to an Ohio map and saying, "What's missing? A casino."
The ads are designed to help a campaign to collect 402,275 valid signatures of Ohio voters to get the issue on the ballot. If successful, the issue would allow the construction of the casino in Clinton County about 45 miles north of Cincinnati.
The pitch is designed to educate voters that Ohio tax dollars are "leaving the state at 65 mph" for places such as southeast Indiana, Detroit and Wheeling, W.Va. The casino backers are touting the idea as a destination site for tourists "complete with a five star hotel, golf course, spa, local gourmet restaurants, a full scale convention center, live entertainment and music," in addition, of course, to slot machines, blackjack and craps.
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Two found dead
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) - Athens police have released the names of two students found dead early Saturday at an apartment near Ohio University.
Police say the bodies of Kelly Armbruster of Powell and Christopher Theil of Athens were found inside an off-campus apartment. Both were 22 years old.
Arbruster was a student at Ohio University in Athens. Theil was a student at Hocking College.
in nearby Nelsonville.
Athens police say they were called to the complex at 6:18 a.m. on Saturday. They are not releasing other details of their investigation.
The Montgomery County Medical Examiner's office is conducting autopsies. |
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| FRIDAY MAY 3, 2008 |
Man finds father on death row
MANSFIELD, Ohio (AP) - A man who was adopted as a child and spent the past year researching his ancestry discovered that his biological father is on Ohio's death row for killing a corrections officer and two others in the state's worst prison riot.
Sean Baker, 41, met his father, George Skatzes, 62, for the first time in March at the Mansfield Correctional Institution, where Skatzes is being held while he appeals his death sentence.
Baker, a truck driver who lives in Henderson, Ky., said he was initially disturbed to learn that his father is a convicted murderer but now believes in his innocence.
"Dad's totally different than what people see of him," Baker said. "There's still a lot of good in Dad and people need to see that."
Prosecutors considered Skatzes a leader in the 11-day riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville in 1993, in which nine inmates were killed along with corrections officer Robert Vallandingham.
Skatzes, who was already serving a life sentence for a 1983 aggravated murder conviction, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Vallandingham and to death for the killings of inmates Earl Elder and David Sommers. He also was convicted of kidnapping the three.
(Refer to page 2 of the Kenton Times) |
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