The following article appeared in the Alexandria Daily Town Talk, Alexandria, Louisiana, Tuesday, May 12, 1998..... I thought it might be interesting for those of you who cut and keep things for the DYESS family.... DYESS Explains Reversal on Bill Wasn't aware gambling involved By Melissa Gregory Staff reporter A debate was waged Monday night over a bill facing the Louisiana Senate---is it a gambling bill or a tax bill that would fund the state's boll weevil eradication program and the sugar cane industry???? About 50 people gathered at Tunk's Cypress Inn to listen to area senators give their reasons for supporting or not supporting the bill, which passed the House a few weeks ago. The meeting was arranged by state Sen. B. G. Dyess, D-Alexandria. A few weeks ago, Dyess had pledged his support for the bill to local cotton producers. However, he said he was unaware that the bill involved gambling. A staunch foe of gambling, Dyess changed his mind and wanted the meeting so he could explain his reversal to the farmers face to face. Also attending the meeting were Senate President Randy Ewing, D-Quitman; Sen. Noble Ellington, D-Winnsboro; Sen. Mike Smith, D-Winnfield; and Bob Odom commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Forestry. The bill would place a 15 percent tax on slot machines at tracks in Bossier and St. Landry parishes. The tax revenue would be funneled to the boll weevil eradication program, lowering producers' cost per acre for eliminating the pest. Now, producers pay approximately $30 per acre. If passed, the bill would lower their costs to about $15 per acre. Money generated also would help build railroad spurs from central and western Louisiana to sugarcane mills in the south. Supporters of the bill say this would take up to 200 trucks off the state's highways, as well as reduce the cost of production to the farmers. Ewing called the bill a "peculiar concoction." Regardless, Dyess siad he could not support the bill because gambling is "immoral, it's wrong and it's a sin." He said gambling is the culprit behind a rise in divorces and personal bankruptcies. "The last people in the world that I want to see get hurt are the farmers," Said, Dyess. However, he said that he still will oppose the bill, even if it costs him votes. He said he talks to people in his office ruined by gambling every week. Grady Coburn, a consultant to several cotton farmers in the area, said the bill could make or break the industry in central Louisiana. "in the next three years or so, we're fixing to lose all the government support we have for cotton and sugar can," Said Coburn. "If this bill does not pass, we'll quit growing cotton in central Louisiana." Coburn also pointed out that by ridding the area of the boll weevil, farmers would lnot have to use so much pesticide. He said the bill "far surpases" the gambling issue. Odom said he does not consider the bill a gambling bill. Before the Legislature could consider the tax issue, residents near the horse race tracks had to vote on whether or not to allow the slot machines. Of the three elections held for the three tracks in the state, Bossier................ NOTE: the rest of the article does NOT include anything from DYESS in there.... Note: B. G. Dyess is the son of J. B. Dyess, the grandson of Edmund Dyess, the great grandson of Thomas D. Dyess, the great great grandson of George W. Dyess....and...the GGG grandson of John Dyess. Thanks!!! kaite...