To the editor:

Here’s an issue of morality that perhaps we may all agree upon: S.B. 168 is immoral.

It is one thing for Kansas to allow regulated gambling. But this bill would make Kansas the only state to own and operate casinos itself. What’s worse is the bill’s focus on the “livestock” racing industry, a.k.a. greyhound racing (K.S.A. 47-1701 corrects God’s mistake and defines greyhounds as livestock, not dogs).

This bill uses taxpayer money to subsidize the winning purse at races. I have no idea why legislators find it moral to steal money from one business and give it to another. Remember this subsidy when Topeka next claims it needs more of your money.

Finally, greyhound racing cannot be moral in practice. Unlike horses, for example, greyhounds as dogs have litters. Many litters must be produced to find a single good racer. Despite the good hearts of many persons dedicated to providing homes to the surplus animals as pets, there aren’t enough people in all of Kansas to keep up with the racing industry. Thus, any greyhound racing industry is forced into an immoral cycle of creating large numbers of animals merely to destroy virtually all with no valuable result. This wastefulness is a perversion of Gen. 1:26.

Please stop any local greyhound caretaker to chat and make up your mind as to who is right about the true nature of the greyhound (God or the Kansas Legislature?).

James Smith,

Lawrence