(The Providence Journal, April 30, 1999). ONCE AGAIN, gambling promoters have overruled the voters and acted to increase addictive gambling. On Monday the Rhode Island Lottery Commission approved a 52 percent increase in the number of video lottery terminals or "video slots" at the Lincoln dog track and Newport Jai Alai.

(The Providence Journal, June 05, 1999). Residents of West Warwick are being urged to vote for a gambling casino "to cut their property taxes in half." This irresponsible sales pitch is based on the assumption that the General Assembly will dedicate 30 percent of the casino tax revenues to the town of West Warwick.

(The Providence Journal, November 24, 1999.) The damage smoking does to living creatures had been studied for 25 years before the U.S. surgeon general released his first report on "Smoking and Health" in 1964. Of course the tobacco industry denied the evidence, and it lobbied hard against regulatory action. So more years passed before government agencies gradually initiated steps to warn smokers, to protect nonsmokers, to try to stop ads targeting young people and to recover damages from the tobacco industry.