Beauty queen’s image focus of casino brochure debate

Charles Wolfe

Monday, Aug. 13, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A picture sometimes requires a thousand words.

In this case, it's two pictures -- both of former Miss America Heather French Henry in a brochure for a casino in Indiana.

Lt. Gov. Steve Henry last week asked that Argosy Casino and Hotel withdraw the photos, taken years ago when his wife was a professional model working her way through college.

"They've not used these photos in some 3 1/2 to four years," Steve Henry said. "It just seems odd timing and inappropriate that they would use them now that she's second lady of Kentucky."

An official at Argosy headquarters in Alton, Ill., said the brochure for the casino and hotel at Lawrenceburg, Ind., would not be withdrawn but would not be reprinted, either. Once the supply is gone, photos will be reshot at company expense, Dan Marshall, vice president and director of investor relations, said.

"We understand her personal life has changed, and we'll make changes to accommodate her," Marshall said.

But an official at the Indiana casino said the brochures have been around since 1999. "She's been on billboards before," said Fred McCarter, a spokesman for the casino.

The Henrys apparently had little or no recourse if Argosy ignored their request, as Steve Henry conceded.

"Once you're a model, they own those pictures, and they can use them when she's 105 years old, and there's not too much anyone can do about it," he said. "They could put her picture on a can of dog food."

The brochure shows Heather Henry smiling and embracing an unidentified male model. Another photo depicts her by a slot machine. She is not identified but is recognizable.

The photos are "not distasteful," but his wife is not a spokeswoman for a casino, Steve Henry said.

"We do not support widespread gambling in the state of Kentucky," he said.

That public perception, however, would put Heather Henry on the spot. She does promote the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, whose members have complained that Argosy's casino and others along Indiana's Ohio River shoreline are siphoning money from their race tracks.

On the other hand, casinos figure prominently in the Miss America Pageant, which is staged amid casinos in Atlantic City.

Steve Henry said other images of his wife can sometimes be seen -- in television commercials for a pool and spa company, for example. But the only organizations for which she is a spokeswoman are the thoroughbred association, American Legion and Paralyzed Veterans of America, he said.

"Any picture that's used for any other purpose is solely because they own the pictures," he said.