Casino protesters acquitted

Rev. Robin Hynicka (center, black jacket) participates in sitdown protest of Sugar House casino in Philadelphia. (Photo courtesy of CasinoFreePhila.org)

PHILADELPHIA — A Municipal Court judge dismissed all charges against 13 anti-casino activists, including a United Methodist pastor, arrested last fall. The activists were charged with failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and criminal conspiracy for lining the entrance to the SugarHouse casino construction site along the Delaware River Sept. 29.

"This verdict is a victory, not just for the defendants, but for the entire city of Philadelphia, and for citizens all over the nation that are fighting casinos," said Dan Hajdo, spokesperson for Casino-Free Philadelphia. "These defendants put their bodies and their liberty on the line for their city."

These defendants put their bodies and their liberty on the line for their city.

About 200 anti-casino activists filled a courtroom at the Criminal Justice Center for the two-hour trial. All wore stickers proclaiming "We the People Reject Casinos."

The protesters included two pastors, a grandmother, a great-grandfather, two retired teachers, and two professors. All Philadelphia residents, the Sugarhouse 13 range in age from 25 to 72. Each faced up to five years in prison and fines as high as $12,500.

Shortly after 6 a.m., the men and women sat down in front of the SugarHouse main gate, linked arms, and chanted "No casinos, no slots" and other slogans for about a quarter of an hour. They offered no resistance when police decided to handcuff and arrest them. The Rev. Robin Hynicka, pastor of Arch Street United Methodist Church, was the first arrested.

Prayer before trial

In what may have been unprecedented for a Philadelphia criminal trial, Hynica and co-defendant, the Rev. Jesse Brown, pastor of the Lutheran Church in Nicetown, led the audience in prayer before the judge and prosecutors arrived in the courtroom.

All 13 defendants testified on their own behalf. A 14th defendant had accepted the district attorney's offer of "accelerated rehabilitative disposition" for first-time offenders to avoid prosecution and maintain a clean record.

Our intent was to get the message out that casinos are bad for Philadelphia.

The Sept. 29 protest was an attempt to steal some thunder from SugarHouse's official groundbreaking a week later, said defendant Jethro Heiko, leader of the anti-gaming group Casino-Free Philadelphia. "Our intent was not to upset police. Our intent was to get the message out that casinos are bad for Philadelphia."

Hajdo said they put casino supporters and investors on notice. “The fight against casinos is just getting started,” he said. “Save yourselves some money and save the taxpayers some money. Get out now."

Predatory industry

The trial helps put names and faces to a growing movement in Philadelphia and across the country, and highlights the reasons for this movement, according to Les Bernal, executive director of the national group, Stop Predatory Gambling.

Opposing casinos "is not about gambling,” Bernal said. “It's about stopping a predatory industry: the most predatory industry in America." He said casinos cultivate addiction because they depend on addicts for their profits.

Bernal traveled to Philadelphia to support the 13 defendants as well as the many others who helped them. He spoke at a rally held just before the trial began. “I let them know that there are thousands of citizens across the country just like them who are challenging the government program of predatory gambling in their own states,” he said.

"We showed the level of commitment of the opposition," said Richard Garella, a defendant and self-employed documentary filmmaker.

The Sept. 29 protest was an attempt to steal some thunder from SugarHouse's official groundbreaking a week later, said another defendant, Jethro Heiko, leader of the anti-gaming group Casino-Free Philadelphia.

"Our intent was not to upset police," Heiko said. "Our intent was to get the message out that casinos are bad for Philadelphia."

United Methodist Social Principles on Gambling

“Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, destructive of good government and good stewardship. …

“The Church’s prophetic call is to promote standards of justice and advocacy that would make it unnecessary and undesirable to resort to commercial gambling — including public lotteries, casinos, raffles, Internet gambling, gambling with an emerging wireless technology and other games of chance — as a recreation, as an escape or as a means of producing public revenue or funds for support of charities or government.
(United Methodist Book of Discipline, ¶163G, “The Economic Community: Gambling”)

Alcohol and Other Addictions

For more on alcohol and other addictions, visit the Alcohol & Other Addictions page on the General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) Web site: Alcohol & Other Addictions.

Action Network

The Rev. Cynthia Abrams, United Methodist General Board of Church & Society director of the Alcohol, Other Addictions & Health Care, supervises an “Action Network” that provides legislative updates, educational resources and identifies opportunities to act on issues involving alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, gambling and pornography. Information focuses on addiction recovery, prevention and regulation. She issues “action alerts” periodically through e-mail.

Joining the Alcohol & Other Addictions Action Network is free: go to umpower.org. You can also contact Donna Brandyberry, (202) 488-5641.

Cynthia Abrams can be reached at (202) 488-5636.