Calling the bet in Swansea

Despite the peer pressure, there were always those kids in high school who didn’t buckle and partake in the sins and vices. Sometimes they were driven by faith, sometimes by fear and sometimes by character.

We may have seen them as weirdos then, but now we admire what most often was their strength.

So we were fans of the Swansea trustees who we thought were living and leading with their values by holding out on video gambling. Alas, their will crumbled Monday night and they joined the rest of the fallen: Trustees voted 4-2 to allow video gambling in the bars and fraternal halls.

Longtime Swansea resident Jack Wottowa was in favor, saying the village was losing money and needed to catch up to other cities. “If we don’t, we might as well all go and sit in our rocking chair.”

Yup, gambling is for the hip kids. Restraint is for old fogies and nerds.

We’ll be sitting here in our rocking chair thinking it is too bad the temptation of more silver outshines the value of a community with values. And, hmm: Maybe there’s a buck to be made with strippers and medical marijuana.

This story was originally published June 19, 2015 at 7:01 AM with the headline "Calling the bet in Swansea."