Lincoln, Illinois

Public Hearing

February 22, 2011

The City of Lincoln Public Hearing met in the Council Chambers on Monday, February

22, 2011.

There were seven Aldermen present (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust,

Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and

Alderman Wilmert and three absent (Alderman Bacon, Alderman Busby, and Alderman

Hoinacki). Department Heads present were Fire Chief Miller, Police Chief Greenslate

and Safety and Building Officer Mr. Lebegue. Also present were City Attorney

Mr. Bates, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, Mayor Snyder, City Clerk Mrs. Martinek and

Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.

Mayor Snyder called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. on the Video Gambling.

Mayor Snyder said the purpose of this hearing is to accept testimony on the issue of

video gambling with the corporate limits of the City of Lincoln. The video gaming act

was enacted by the State of Illinois 2009 and allows video gambling machines to be

located on the premises of any licensed liquor establishment where liquor is served and

consumption is on premises. That any licensed fraternal organization, any licensed

veteran’s establishment any licensed truck stop establishment. The act also makes illegal

any coin operated machines that are played for amusement purposes. The video

gambling act sets forth two ways in which video gambling may be banned by a

community the corporate authority may pass an ordinance prohibiting it within its

boundaries or at least 25% of the registered voters in the community may file a petition

with the city asking for the question of the ban be placed with the voters at an election.

Title 3, Chapter 7, Section 24 of Lincoln City Code currently prohibits gambling or any

gambling device at any licensed liquor establishment. It has to be drafted to ban

gambling by specifically referencing the video gaming act and the authority the city has

pursuant to that act to ban such activity. That act in its legal status have grown murky in

recent weeks, the Illinois Appellate Court has declared the entire act that contained the

video gambling provisions unconstitutional. The Illinois Supreme Court has stayed that

ruling and it will itself rule on the constitutionality of the act at a later date. If you would

like to speak before the Council this evening we would ask that you fill out one of these

forms and get it up here to the City Clerk and you can pass it down the row through

Alderman Anderson if you would like. Because of the crowd and the interest we have

here tonight we will be limiting people to keep you comments to no more than 5 minutes

each. If others in the same position have made your point we would encourage you to

bring up other different points so that we can gather as much information as possible.

Our Regular City Council meeting is set for 7:00 and this video gambling measure is not

on our voting agenda tonight so voting on the ordinance will come at a later time. If we

fail to get everyone in prior to 7:00 tonight we will continue past that but we will have to

legally convene that meeting at 7:00 and we will take care of that business and keep

moving forward.

Lincoln, Illinois

Public Hearing

February 22, 2011; Page -2-

Mayor Snyder said for everyone’s information Alderman Bacon is absent tonight due to

the continuing serious illness of her mother-in-law, Alderman Busby is continuing his

recovery from open heart surgery and Alderman Hoinacki had another prior commitment

to this evening.

Larry Hartley of Normal, Illinois spoke about the capital works bill that video gambling

money will be put into.

Alderman Tibbs said she would vote in favor of video gambling.

Mike Thornton of Lincoln, Illinois said it should be left alone as it is. He read a comment

that this gambling creates an addition and people are going to gamble based on the

machines and you can gamble anywhere.

Gerald Carter of Lincoln, Illinois said he wanted to present a different picture that this

creates additions. For 27 years he has been going to Logan Correctional Center from the

religious department as a Counselor and teacher. He has seen all additions and has seen

it all. This can lead to other crimes.

Dale Ridgway of Lincoln, Illinois said 7 is a lucky number to most people but for him

it had a different meaning for him. He said 7 years ago he started playing machines and

lost $60,000.00. He said he through the characters away that his Mom and Dad had

taught him. He did this for two years and nobody knew him. He was afraid that is what

these machines would do. He asked if Lincoln and Logan County are that desperate for

money. It causes you to do things you normally wouldn’t do and destroys your character.

It took him 1600 hours of overtime to pay off his debt.

Dick Anderson of Bloomington, Illinois the Commander of Logan Post 263 of Lincoln,

Illinois and this is his fourth year as Commander. Their concern at the Post is that they

contribute quite a bit to school activities, scholarships, have a bar, provide sales tax to the

City of Lincoln and they are concerned if they opt out of the video gaming that the people

that come in will go somewhere else.

Anita Bedell of Springfield, Illinois who is the Executive Director of Illinois Church

Action for Alcohol and Addition problems and has been out into many communities.

There are 80 communities that have opted out (76 communities and 4 counties being

Cook, DuPage, Lake and McHenry). There are no restrictions on how many businesses

can have the machines but there is a 5 machine restriction per establishment. Nothing for

how many times you can gamble.

Lincoln, Illinois

Public Hearing

February 22, 2011; Page -3-

Shawn Taylor of Lincoln, Illinois said in 2000 he bought the bowling alley and when

they bought it they had 8 employees. They now have 20 employees but over the last

three years he is basically bleeding. The reason they are bleeding is costs. They took

a 15% loss when no smoking hit us. They took another loss when the State Liquor tax

increase hit 9/1/2009. They got hit again this year by their cable bill and they didn’t

change any channels whatsoever and their cable bill went up $100.00 per month. He has

always tried to the do the right thing. Sysco came to town and they switched right over

and went to Sysco and why did he go with Sysco because he wanted to support the local

community. Their prices are higher but he sticks with them because they are creating

jobs in town. New corporate business tax just passed went from 4.8% to 7% and hit with

minimum wage increases for three years in a row. He realized they were only going to

get 5% of the money but the businesses are going to get 35%. Out of 270 communities

only 80 have opted out. He doesn’t want to have to layoff people.

Larry Crawford from Atlanta, minister of Open Arms Christian Fellowship in Lincoln

and are committed to meeting the needs of people. They get calls daily and weekly

basis in this tough economy and have been able to pass out loaves of bread and can

goods. They have been able to host the annual family day in Scully Park which is a free

opportunity to reach out to the community during difficult times and have family fun

where they perhaps would not be able to afford. Some of the statistics that they haven’t

talked about is all the revenue that comes in and it costs the society 7 times as much to

reach out to those people whose lives are torn apart. One of the statistics that they haven’t

talked about is the many people that end up gambling are the people that can least afford

to gamble. The majority of the people that gamble make less than $10,000.00 in income

and that is the highest percentage of those that gamble and they cannot afford to lose

any money. The reality of what is happening is people are going into these gambling

machines which are very addictive and they are going in just to play a little bit or going

in with the hopes of hitting it big and they are walking out and their paycheck is gone.

Their family suffers and their kids don’t have any food and their kids don’t have the

clothes they need and the kids can’t be involved in the activities they would like to be

involved in and then they get the call and throughout the community the different groups

that are here to minister and meet the needs for food and clothes and are there to help.

He said the need was great right now and it is only going to make it worse. It’s not

worth what is going to come in and take to heal the lives and the families that are broken

through this addiction and he was asking and pleading to ban video gambling in this city

and in this area. He appreciated their support.

Mr. Mike Robbins, Youth Pastor also at Open Arms Christian Fellowship and he deals

directly with the junior high students mostly and any time they have food at our youth

events you can see these kids are just lacking so much. He would just hate to see families

that are already hurting become addicted to these machines and be worse off than they

already are.

Lincoln, Illinois

Public Hearing

February 22, 2011; Page -4-

Mr. Robbins said sometimes when they deliver bread to people it brings tears to just

bring them bread and they confess they haven’t had it for weeks at a time. What happens

if someone in that family becomes addicted to these machines? He encouraged them to

ban the gambling here in town and Logan County and to find other ways to bring jobs

to Lincoln. He works out at Wal-Mart as a full-time associate and they are always hiring

people and it is an opportunity to go out there and for jobs as well.

Ms. Amy Wubben of Hartsburg said she was a social worker for 9 years and she worked

with families where children had been put in foster care and the hope was to get them

home. She worked with 100’s of families and maybe only 1 or 2 were not on state

assistance for food stamps, cash assistance, child care, and you name it. She watched

families not only struggle because parents didn’t spend their money correctly but some of

those children never went home because parents were not spending their money correctly

on the things that they needed to spend money on and instead they were buying lottery

tickets because they thought they would hit it big. She also encouraged them to ban

gambling machines and she had friends that their marriage fell apart because he drained

their savings on more than one occasion. He racked up $40,000.00 of debt that she ended

up paying for because he couldn’t and they are divorced. He stole from his jobs and

churches because of this addiction and needed more money to play these games.

Rev. Dustin Fulton of Jefferson Street Christian Church said both Morton and Rochester

have banned video gambling in their communities. He met his wife when she was

living in Las Vegas which he understands it not the way most pastors meet their wives.

During multiple trips that he made out there while they were dating and after they were

married he stayed with one of the local pastors and we all see and hear about the strip

in downtown Las Vegas. We’ve all heard stories about people who go out there and

spend money and have a good time. That is a completely separate issue than what we

are dealing with in Logan County. He didn’t think any of you believed their was going

to be a Bellagio Hotel with fountains built out on Woodlawn Road or anything like that.

There is a dirty little secret of what goes on in Las Vegas. They would be foolish to think

that people would be coming from out of town to Lincoln to gamble and that it was going

to be people right here from our community that are going to be gambling. If it is legal

throughout the state they are going to go wherever it is closest. What we saw in Las

Vegas the local casinos were an absolute drain in Las Vegas and cause millions of dollars

in social costs per years and the only reason that is not a big issue is because they have

all the people that come from out of town that makes that up. We will not have any one

in Lincoln that will make that up. There are really two things that are at issue here 1) is

money and 2) is morality and lets be very clear this is a moral issue. He believes people

who are in positions such as you are called upon to be watchmen in our community.

When it comes down to money is this going to bring in some badly needed revenue to

some small businesses in Lincoln, yes it will there is no question about it.

Lincoln, Illinois

Public Hearing

February 22, 2011; Page -5-

Rev. Fulton said but is that going to be worth the moral price tag when we have people in

our communities that become addicted. We have children seeing their parents spend all

their money on these machines as opposed to be putting clothes on their backs and food

on their table and a parent in their homes. When he grew up in Ashland, Illinois there

was a small establishment just a block up the road from him that had four amusement

only machines on it which meant when people weren’t looking they would offer payouts.

He would often go there when he was a teenager to get a candy bar or soda and what

they saw in there that every Friday there were a lot more people in there. He saw friends

parents go in every Friday and literally sign over their paycheck to the owner of the

establishment and within hours had spent their entire paycheck for video gambling. We

have to remember that the cost is not going to be measured merely in dollars but the cost

is going to be measured in the integrity and the morality of our community.

Mr. Lynn Laughlin said having listened to statistics and now some personal testimonies

from some of those who are opposed to video gambling. He wanted to make one

comment. It is somewhat amazing to him when we have a problem with alcohol and with

alcohol we have the person who stands behind the bar or who is serving the liquor who

can finally say no I will not serve you any more because you are too drunk and there will

not be anyone there to say to someone no we are not going to accept any more money

from you and you have already spent every dime that you have and they will continue to

come and come and there will be no one to stop them. It is amazing in alcohol we have

someone who is there and willing to step up and say no we are not going to serve you

any more alcohol at this establishment but there will be no one there to stop anyone from

using all of the money or spending the money which they have or borrow or somehow

procure so they can play those games.

Ms. Julie Zanoza said she is a resident of Lincoln but she has the Chicago accent but

this is home. For all the people that are against the ban, amen. She hopes to God, meant

it sincerely that you will vote to ban this. Betty Maltese was the Mayor of Cicero and

she was going to court for embezzling money and while she was on trial she was still

gambling. A friend of hers ended up spending everything he had in his pocket. There are

many addictions.

Mr. Irv Gesner, owner of Glass House Tavern and he employs about 4-5 people and

the smoking ban has hurt the taverns real bad. This gaming thing is something that the

people of Lincoln are going to gamble and if they don’t gamble here they are going to

Paradise or Chicago or wherever. We contribute a lot of money to this town and all these

church groups and everything else that says it’s an addiction well we donate a lot of

money to those groups.

City Clerk Mrs. Martinek left the Council Chambers to make more copies of the “to

speak form” at 6:53 p.m.

Lincoln, Illinois

Public Hearing

February 22, 2011; Page -6-

Ms. Elaine Woolard said she lives out on Forrest Hills Road. She said her father was a

gambler in his early days. Growing up there were many fights over money he had lost,

his absence from the home much of which was due to the gambling. Later in his life

he turned that around but it was a very difficult situation at home. The social services

people it is true that it creates a lot of stress and tension and she was sure that many lesser

women would have divorced him long ago.

Mr. Ed Carter said as a concerned citizen he wanted to recap what he has heard. There

is obviously a lot of economic pressure going on in this community. We have state

things going on to all of us, all of our personal income tax increases and all the activities

going on with unemployment as the result of economic problems that we all face. Local

businesses are facing outside companies coming into town and pumping money in and

taking away local business such as Wal-Mart and other local organizations. When you

look at the community as a whole he thought everyone in the room was there because

they care about the community. He encouraged everyone to support the local businesses.

The bigger communities are looking at dragging the money out of the rural pockets to

go subsidize work. He was worried about the guy that can’t get to Peoria but is going to

wherever and drop that money in the machine because it is here in town where he can get

to it.

City Clerk Mrs. Martinek returned at 7:56 p.m.

Mr. Joe Papesch said he is a bar owner for about 27 years now and somebody said there

is no one in there to stop you from gambling. He knew a couple places where they were.

He has never seen anyone that wanted to come in and give their money away at his place.

Mayor Snyder said he thought they had run through their list of folks who wanted to

speak. He wanted to commend each side and it was mentioned about having a good

discussion and he thought they did. It is difficult and it is a contentious issue and he

thought each side discussed their point of view civilly and thoughtfully and on behalf of

the council he wanted to thank them for doing that. It was obvious that you had done

your homework and you put great thought in your comments and we appreciate that. We

appreciate too your passion about the issue and it did not go unnoticed. The Council will

take this up at a future and it is not on their agenda for their 7:00 p.m. meeting that they

were about to go into. They were invited to get any other thoughts to the Council, Mayor

or City Clerk.

The hearing was closed at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Risa Riggs

Recording Secretary