I couldn't help myself. I had heard about this outrageous article and I had to track it down to pass on to you pilgrims. Originally reported in Wisconsin's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the article which follows, while not strictly quoted here, was and re-reported by Scott Williams in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where I found it in one of their back issues.

A college music teacher's plan to intro-duce students to one of his fa-vorite casino games has anti-gambling activists saying the professor should stick to Vivaldi instead of "Viva Las Vegas!" Craig Hurst, a faculty mem-ber at the University of Wisconsin, Waukesha, hopes to spice up a lecture series high-lighting teachers' personal hobbies with a how-to pro-gram on his favorite pastime: The dice game known as craps.

"I thought maybe that would be kind of a fun alternative," he said. "It's a way to inject a little fun and light heartedness into our campus."

But gambling opponents who learned about the planned lecture were not amused, especially with studies showing that teen-agers and young adults are twice as likely as others to become addicted to gambling. College-age students are "at an age where risk-taking and excitement are things they en-joy. You have to be real care-ful with that kind of thing," said Rose Gruber, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling. Recent studies have shown that the addiction rate nation-ally is 5 percent to 7 percent, but it is10 percent to 14 per-cent for young gamblers, said Gruber, whose agency gets state funds to combat problem gambling. She said that the university lecture should at least include a warning about the risks of craps and other casino games.

Lee C., who organizes regu-lar Gamblers Anonymous meetings in Oconomowoc, said he has seen young people whose addictions to games such as craps became so strong that they lost their sav-ings and built up huge debts. Asking that his last name be withheld in keeping with Gamblers Anonymous traditions, Lee has also said, "A casino dice game is the wrong sub-ject for any professor to intro-duce to students at a state university."

Originally scheduled for earlier this week, the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. postponed the controversial lecture. As of now, there is no new date for the program. But no need to worry assured college officials as " we are commit-ted to seeing this presentation go forward."

UW, Waukesha Dean Brad Stewart said he initially tried to persuade Hurst to give the lecture a more academic tone, possibly by focusing on math-ematical equations involved in calculating the odds. But when the professor re-sisted, Stewart said, he agreed to give the lecturer free rein.

"We're open to a lot of diverse ideas and points of view," the dean said. "We like to do some things around here that are just for fun." The lecture will be free and open to the public in the game room of the university commons. (They have a gaming room?) The Waukesha campus, which offers only two-year de-grees, has more than 2,000 freshmen and sophomores.

Hurst, a 46-year-old professor, said he regularly vis-its casinos in Nevada, where he indulges his love of gambling, especially at the craps tables. An invitation from the university, which would allow him to take on a more relaxed philosophy with his lecture series, induced him to take a break from Beethov-en and teach a little Caesars Palace instead. When asked about backlash from gambling opponents, Hurst pointed out that Wisconsin al-ready sanctions gambling in racetracks, casinos and the lottery.

"I'm not advocating, gam-bling as much as I am relaying my experiences with it," he said.
His presentation is being promoted, with the tongue-in-cheek title "Life Skills 101: Enjoying the Game of Craps."

Hurst said he would bring a makeshift craps table and set it on top of a pool table in the game room.

In publicizing the event, UW Waukesha officials also are calling Hurst a "professor of fun" and promising that those who attend will pick up such tips as "strategies to succeed" and "how to manage your gambling money."

But there is another active faction who is opposed to gambling. They are opposed to a state university getting involved in promoting dice games as recreation.

Pastor Marianne Cotter, whose Brookfield church hosts regular Gamblers Anonymous meetings, said gam-bling lures people into a "culture of greed," instead of teaching such values as friendship and community.

So there you are pilgrims. Soon anyone can get a degree as "Gambler Extraordinaire".