I never really thought about the impact Jerry Falwell had upon my life until he passed away recently. He was the kind of man you either loved or hated. His plain spoken manner and in-your-face style made him a lightening rod for controversy. I always suspected he liked it that way.

I came to faith in Christ in April 1979. Though I had been raised in church, it was not until my sophomore year in college that I truly encountered God and began to serve Him. One of my earliest memories of those days was listening to Jerry Falwell on The Old Time Gospel Hour.

His message resonated within me. He talked of patriotism and Christianity almost interchangeably. It was not until many years later that I realized how unusual it was for a member of the fundamentalist wing of our faith to be leading the charge into politics.

Everything Jerry Falwell said made sense to me in those early days. I watched as the Moral Majority was formed and saw it influence the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. That led directly to the presidential bid of Pat Robertson in 1988.

As it happened, that was the same year I moved to Virginia Beach to attend graduate school at Regent University , founded by Pat Robertson. At Regent, there was a bit of a love-hate relationship with Jerry Falwell and Liberty University .

We agreed politically on most issues and I recall at least one classmate who graduated from Liberty and came to Regent for post-graduate work. But Regent University was part of the charismatic arm of Christianity, thus Dr. Falwell and Dr. Robertson had to agree to disagree on some areas of theology. Jerry Falwell wasn’t very good at disagreeing agreeably, but it seemed things had improved in recent years.

The Moral Majority was officially disbanded in 1989 and replaced by Pat Robertson’s organization the Christian Coalition. As it happened, the state leaders of the Christian Coalition were the subject of my master’s thesis in 1992. During the course of the thesis research, I talked personally with several dozen of the leaders of that group. One of my discoveries from those interviews was that many of them had been involved with conservative Christian causes in the 1980s. By inference, they too had been influenced and led by Jerry Falwell.

Though I admire Dr. Falwell and agreed with most of his public stands on the issues, I found his rhetoric and some of his statements difficult to swallow. His very public battle with Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine was never a good thing. And when he accused the Teletubbies cartoon characters of promoting a gay agenda I wished he had just stayed in bed that day.

As I watched the cable news interviews the day of Dr. Falwell’s death, one theme emerged. Those who admired him and those who opposed him all saw him as a man of integrity. They said he fought for what he believed and was always honest.

That’s a great eulogy for all of us to strive toward.

Nearly 200 people packed the Grove Community Center last week for the organizational meeting of No Casino In Grove. This is a newly formed citizens group opposed to the Seneca Cayuga Tribe’s plan to build a large gambling facility within the city limits.The most dramatic part of the evening was a courageous lady wearing sunglasses who testified of the destruction casino gambling had brought to her and her family. She spoke of gambling with the rent and food money in the belief that she would “win big” and be able to pay her bills with the winnings. But the big win never came and she lost everything.

Someone else told of a seven year old boy riding his bicycle to the casino looking for his mother.

One of the speakers pointed out that gambling is just as addictive as drugs or pornography. Almost everyone knows someone whose life has been damaged or destroyed by gambling addiction.

The proposal to build a huge casino in Grove, similar in size and scope to the Cherokee Casino near Catoosa, would forever change the atmosphere of our city. For decades Grove has been known as a family-oriented recreation and retirement community. For many years we have been listed as one of the most desirable communities in America in which to retire.

All of that will dramatically change if this casino is allowed to be built. Many people have the mistaken belief that Indian tribes in America can do whatever they want. But that’s not true. Everything they do is regulated and controlled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Every casino proposal must go through a highly regulated process that includes Environmental Impact Studies, Army Corp of Engineers approval, economic impact studies and host of other requirements. The proposal must be submitted to the regional BIA office, and if approved is then submitted to the Secretary of the Interior for final approval. If approved by the secretary, the tribe must then sign a contract with the governor of the state.

This casino could be stopped at any of these stages in the process. At the meeting last week, attendees were asked to write letters to U.S. Senators Inhofe and Coburn requesting their help in this matter. Letters have also been written to Governor Brad Henry asking him to instruct the attorney general to investigate potential violations of the state gaming laws.

The Seneca Cayuga Tribe has been mired in a similar fight in New York for years. A well organized citizens group in Oregon has successfully stopped an Indian casino from being built in the Columbia River Gorge. We can say no!

Information on writing our U.S. Senators and links to other citizens groups fighting gambling expansion can be found on the new website; www.nogrovecasino.com.