Justices toss out anti-gambling appeal

Thursday, Oct. 22, 1998 | 11:03 a.m.

The decision, made public Wednesday, dealt with a procedural question not the substance of a lower court ruling that found the initiative flawed.

Eupora housewife Elizabeth Stoner asked the justices for a writ of mandamus. Justices said she should have filed a direct appeal, in which she should have asked the high court to overturn the Aug. 11 ruling by Hinds County Circuit Court Judge EJ Russell.

In asking for a writ, Stoner asked the Supreme Court order Russell to do a certain thing.

Therefore, the justices, in effect, stopped short of upholding the lower court ruling.

"They turned it back. They didn't turn it down," said Paul Jones, executive director of Mississippi Baptist Convention's Christian Action Commission, an active gambling foe.

Stoner has until Nov. 2 to file a request for a rehearing with the Supreme Court.

Stoner, an aide to state Rep. Charlie Smith, I-Eupora, is attempting to get on the ballot a constitutional amendment to outlaw casino and lottery gambling in Mississippi. The initiative requires the signatures of 98,336 registered voters from Mississippi's five congressional districts.

Russell ruled the wording of initiative was illegal because it did not contain an economic impact statement about the significant loss of state revenue a gambling ban would cause.

Jones said he hopes the high court finds merit in his contention that the requirement calling for the impact statement is vague and misleading.

Mississippi's 29 state-regulated casinos employ 34,000 people and generated $250 million in state taxes in 1997.

Opponents argue gambling addictions and other social costs outweigh the economic benefits.

Ernest Stebbins, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Association, said in a statement that his group has "always maintained that the anti-gaming ballot initiative was constitutionally flawed, and now that has been confirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court."