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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
May 2001 |
|
"We don't feel our denomination's position on gambling is in any way compromised with this building project … " --SIC Headquarters Planning Task Force |
"We believe the proposed purchase of property by the Annual Conference seriously compromises the witness of the United Methodist Church … " --- Open Letter of Concern |
In our own back yard:
Gambling revenues would indirectly affect SIC building project
By Matthew Carlisle
Hoosier UM News Staff Writer
During the planning stages of construction for the new South Indiana United Methodist Conference office building in Bloomington, it has become apparent that funds from gambling proceeds will indirectly affect the project.
An open letter of concern has surfaced in recent weeks, asking members of the SIC to join together in hopes of "broadening the dialogue as we move toward a decision." The letter comes weeks before members will act upon a proposal to build the SIC office complex which will come before the Annual Conference session in early June.
The cause for conflict lies with grant monies supplied to the city of Bloomington by means of the Build Indiana Fund, the source of which is funded with gambling proceeds. As stated in the United Methodist Discipline, "Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, and destructive of good government." It has been the position of Indiana Area Bishop Woodie W. White, a strong opponent of legalized gambling since the 1980s, that "It (gambling) has to stop now . Every church in Indiana must begin to rally as never before."
The city of Bloomington received $125,000 in Build Indiana Fund monies. These funds are to be used to purchase material for the water and sewer lines that will service Gateway Park. After exhaustive efforts to locate an appropriate site for the SIC office building, an eight-acre site at Gateway Park was chosen. It is understood that water lines will be placed on a public easement that won't touch the land purchased by the SIC. According to the SIC Headquarters Planning Task Force, "The total infrastructure cost is $870,000, and the remaining $745,000 is funded by the city, developer, and state non-gambling funds."
Both sides of this issue understand, every citizen of Indiana benefits from the state's legalized gambling. Examples include: Indiana state parks and public schools are funded with proceeds from legalized gambling, half of our motor excise tax is paid with these funds, and a number of public improvements such as roads and state facilities are due to legalized gambling.
According to SIC Headquarters Planning Task Force, "It is unfortunate that the city (Bloomington) had to use Build Indiana Funds on this project, but we are not naive enough to think that we can live in Indiana without being somehow indirectly involved with some of the proceeds of gambling money."
The Build Indiana Fund issue has been presented to the SIC Executive Committee, Cabinet, and the Conference Corporation Board of Trustees. It is the shared opinion of each group that the United Methodist position on gambling will not be compromised due to the building project.
The authors of the Open Letter are Cyndi Alte, Kevin Armstrong, Charles Ballard, Michael Cartwright, Darren Cushamn-Wood, Richard Hamilton, Gregory McGarvey -- all UM clergy -- and Particia Miller, a state senator and lay member of South Conference, They feel, ". that these realities (involvement of gambling monies in the lives of citizens) only illustrate the growing dependence of our state upon gambling income. And we insist that the ethical question is substantially changed, when with advance knowledge and both freedom and responsibility to choose, the church elects to become a beneficiary of such funding."
The group believes this is an opportunity for the church to make a strong statement against the ills of legalized gambling. "Our purpose, therefore, is to broaden the dialogue as we move toward decision." At the time of publication, 94 other members of the SIC had signed the letter.
As way of distancing the building project from gambling revenue and public opposition, the SIC Corporation Board of Trustees voted on Mar. 9 "to reimburse the city/developer for the Build Indiana Funds that are used to provide our 8 acres with water and sewer utilities as a percentage of the total acres in the business park."