URI & Cox to host televised town meeting on proposed gambling casino PROVIDENCE, R.I. — May 9, 2000 — The University of Rhode Island and Cox Communications will host a statewide, televised town meeting to discuss the proposed Narragansett tribe-sponsored gambling casino project in West Warwick on Monday, May 22 from 7 to 8 p.m. The forum will be televised and aired live from the Paff Auditorium at URI’s Feinstein College of Continuing Education and broadcast over Cox Channel 3. Anyone wishing to attend the forum should arrive by 6 p.m. to be seated. The College is located at 80 Washington Street in Providence. No tickets are required, admission is free, and seating is available for several hundred people on a first come, first served basis. Sean Daly will moderate the forum. A former newscaster of ABC Channel 6, Daly will host a news program on local public television, Channel 36, this fall. A balanced panel of three experts on the subject – one pro, one con, and one neutral academic researcher – will open the meeting with informational background on the present proposal, its history, and data from previous studies. Invitations have been sent to about a hundred people who are directly involved in promoting or opposing the proposed casino in West Warwick, including the Narragansett Indian Tribe, Boyd Gambling, Rhode Island State Legislature, Rhode Island Council of Churches, CasiNO and others. The meeting will encourage all Rhode Islanders to voice their opinions on the proposed gambling casino in our state. The televised Town Meeting is the latest in a series of similar programs that URI has organized over the past three years in concert with Cox, the Providence Journal, Channel 36, Channel 10, and Public Radio WRNI. All meetings have been designed to provide a television forum for Rhode Islanders to think about, discuss, and watch a discussion about major public issues. The meeting’s subject has been selected at this time to encourage wider understanding of the issue of the West Warwick casino that is due to be voted on as a statewide referendum on November 7. The Research Center of URI is currently conducting a statewide telephone opinion poll seeking statistics about current attitudes and opinions related to this proposed West Warwick casino. The results of that poll will be available prior to the televised forum schedule for May 22. The University of Connecticut is also conducting a detailed study of the impact on the state made by gambling casinos in Southern Connecticut. The results of that study will be available at the May 22 town meeting and UCONN representatives will be present to answer questions at that time. -xxx- For Information: Bob Sauber, 277-5311, Jan Sawyer, 823-8331