The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 18

4H PES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER April 8. 1990 WARREN TAVLORTM RwMMr Branstad vows to block proposal for Nevada-style casino in Bluffs 3 if 7 ft .4 4i 7 would think that there would be a precedent set for him to have to say, Ramsey conceded. Nelson Rose, a law professor at Whittier College in Los Angeles and a recognized authority on gambling law, agreed. "It would be pretty tough to prevent any other well-planned casino from opening anywhere else in the state," he said. Rose said Iowa already has legalized more forms of gambling than any other state, including Nevada and New Jersey.

Branstad said a majority of Iowans want to call a halt to the proliferation of gaming. "I believe that the people of Iowa feel that we have legalized enough gambling in Iowa," the governor said. "I've said very emphatically that we don't want to see high-stakes casino gambling in Iowa, and I think that is certainly consistent with the viewpoint of the people of this state." Furthermore, Branstad said high-stakes, Las Vegas-style casinos would threaten Iowa's pari-mutuel race tracks and its low-stakes gambling boats, which are scheduled to start navigating the Mississippi and Missouri rivers next April 1. "Death Knell" "The people in the racing Industry The Santee Sioux have an option to buy the land, but they must have Interior Secretary Lujan'i permission before it can be used for gaming. The federal statute says permission can be granted "only if the governor of the state In which the gaming activity is to be conducted concurs in the secretary's determination." Branstad, in last week's interview, left no doubt about his intentions.

"I'm not going to approve Indians going out and buying property away from their reservations or settlements for gambling," the governor said. Allowing an Indian tribe to purchase land solely for gaming would set a dangerous precedent, Branstad warned. "If it's permitted in Council Bluffs, there's no reason why it couldn't be permitted anywhere else in the state of Iowa," he said. Could Iowa become another Nevada? "I think it would," the governor replied. "If we authorize one high-stakes casino, how are we going to say that we're going to deny one someplace else? So basically it would open the state wide open." Ramsey, the Harvey's spokesman, acknowledged that Indian casinos could be built elsewhere in Iowa if Branstad approved the Council Bluffs casino.

"If the folks in Davenport want it, I Continued from Page IB Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals, which oversees gambling regulation, said he thinks Harvey's is preparing for a long fight. "What we're going to have here is a public relations blitz," he said. "It's pure salesmanship. Everybody involved in this is a pro at selling their wares, and their wares are the idea of a casino with all of the glitz and the jobs and the money and the construction and all the ancillary benefits. "Most extremely successful salesmen I know do not understand the word You can't sell anything if you take no for an answer, and they're following that old formula." Changes in Law Harvey's and the Santee Sioux Indi- an tribe of northeastern Nebraska contend that Iowa's riverboat gambling law, which legalized low-stakes, casino-style gambling on excursion boats, and the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, which allows Indian tribes to conduct any gam- bling permitted by state law, give them the authority to build a high-stakes casino in Council Bluffs.

Legal experts agree that the two laws dovetail to empower an Indian tribe to build a Las Vegas-style casino on Indian-owned land. But the site picked by Harvey's and the Santee Sioux is not part of an Indian reservation or settlement. 'A ll III llllt' 'j Shenandoah, now works three part-time jobs. for work in Eldora, where they live. Robert and John Borton are putting their lives back together after Cynthia Borton's murder.

Robert, once a Six-month nightmare has ended for man suspected in wife's murder limits WW A uu Hi? uT' 1 "ri s. r.r It tfas Retail $1699 1 1 ili-ti) MQH im wmmm iillllCvE i A. sults of the test, but another long interrogation followed. After the test, Borton said, one agent "sat right in front of me and called me a fiend and told me my ministry was nothing but a sham, that I lied to people and that anyone who did what I did had no right to call himself a Christian. It was quite a tirade and went on for some time." While DCI agents were driving Borton back to Shenandoah after the test, he said Agent Wright Smith told him, "You know Bob, when this is all over and you have been arrested, charged, tried and convicted, I would be honored if you confessed to me." Borton, born at Marshalltown and a graduate of SEMCO High School at Gilman, served in the U.S.

Navy HI felt if the Lord wants me to go to jail, I'll go to jail evenif I didn't do it. Cindy knows I didn't do it; I know I didn't do it; my God knows I didn't do it. Robert Borton before entering the ministry in 1977. He married Cynthia Dahms of Garwin in 1969. He graduated from Garrett Seminary at Evanston, 111., in 1981 and served at Shenandoah from 1982 until 1984, when he left the church.

He worked at Select Motors in Shenandoah for 5Va years. Borton said his ministerial training helped him survive the months of living as a suspect. "I felt if the Lord wants me to go to jail, I'll go to jail even if I didn't do it," Borton said. "Cindy knows I didn't do it; I know I didn't do it; my God knows I didn't do it." Borton moved to Gladbrook in November 1988, and DCI agents continued to question him once or twice a week. Then, early in February 1989, an agent went to see Borton and said "he had good news for me," Borton recalled.

"He told me that they had made an arrest, and I answered, 'Praise the Lord. "When he told me, 'Jim I Elsewhere: Warren A. Griepenstroh, 43, of Nebraska City, was killed west of Sidney, shortly before 2:30 a.m. Saturday when he lost control of his car on a sharp curve. Griepenstroh's car went into a ditch, struck a utility pole, rolled once and came to rest on its wheels, officials said.

Griepenstroh, the only occupant in the car, was not believed to have been wearing a seat belt minister in Son John is looking Continued from Page IB find out it's time to go to work." It wasn't a dream; it was a night mare that didn't stop for six months. Borton said the investigation of his wife's slaying raises troubling questions about the techniques used by agents of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Until a family friend was arrested and later convicted of killing his wife, Borton, a former pastor at the Church of God at Shenandoah, was grilled repeatedly by state agents and was told they thought he was responsible for her death. State officials defended their handling of the investigation and said the investigative techniques they used were necessary if the death of Cynthia Borton was to be solved. Borton, feeling hounded by rumors, has moved twice to escape chilly treatment at work and away.

Today, he said, he is trying to get on with life. He now lives in Eldora and works for a plastic recycling firm, and he plans to marry Elaine Huen, 38, of Eldora on Saturday. Borton, 44, realized before his wife's funeral that he was a suspect in the death. DCI agents refused to let him in the house to get clothing for the funeral for himself, his son, John, 18, or his wife. "That was the first time I had any idea it was a homicide," Borton said.

"I had figured that Cindy had tripped and fallen, that it was an accident and she had fallen on a meat fork next to her." About a week after the killing, Borton was taken to the basement of the Shenandoah police station to talk with state agent Robert Pontious. "I sat down and Pontious took a chair real close to me," Borton said. "I'll never forget. Pontious looked at me and said, 'Bob, let's quit playing games. We both know Cindy was dead when you went back to A three-hour interrogation followed.

"Every time I would answer, 'I don't know' or 'I didn't do it' he would get angrier," Borton said of Pontious. "Finally, he took his jacket, rolled it up, threw it on the desk and doubled up his fist, swore at me and told me, 'We're going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to take you to Des Moines and give you a lie-detector test. We'll find out if you're telling the truth." The next day, Borton took a lie-detector test at DCI headquarters in Des Moines. He never was told the re have told me that they think this would be the death knell for their industry," he said.

"I think the river-boats also have concerns that this would be very damaging to their ability to succeed." Bluffs Run dog track officials have been among the most vocal opponents of the proposed casino. "We're convinced, and we have a lot of reason to be convinced, that a casino in Council Bluffs is going to put us out of business," track spokesman George Beno said. "We've conferred with 13 pari-mutuel organizations in five states that have been in competition with casinos. Whenever that happens, the pari-mutuel organization takes it on the chin and just can't survive or is terribly damaged." But Ramsey said the casino could help, rather than hurt, the greyhound track by luring additional gamblers to Council Bluffs. "The clustering effect is a proven fact," he said.

"That's why Burger King is next to McDonald's, because you get more people to the area." Ramsey said Council Bluffs residents do not understand Branstad's opposition because the casino would employ 850 to 1,000 people and would provide an annual payroll of 111 million to $13 million. Optional Twin Bagger Kit $89.95 Savings S-apeed gear-drive transmission proven for reliability HHP Model Re lZe Also Available Retail 1899.95 Sale 1499.95 Save 1 400.00 liked to have fallen over," Borton said. "I couldn't believe it. "He was a friend of our son and of our family. Cindy loved him almost as much as our own son.

He was always at our house. He even stayed at our house after Cindy was killed." On Feb. 2, 1989, James Bettis, 18, of Shenandoah was charged with murder in the death of Cynthia Borton. Bettis had told a friend, John Jackson, 18, that he had killed Borton. A Page County District Court jury found Bettis, now 19, guilty of first-degree murder last October.

He is serving a life term in prison without the possibility of parole, as required by Iowa law. For months, agents had stayed on Robert Borton's trail, as it turned out, erroneously. But Miller, the prosecu- tor, and DCI Director Chapman de- fended the aggressive investigation of Borton. "You have to remember he was the only person known to have been with the victim," Miller said. "A person may be innocent, but the agents didn't know that at the start.

If he didn't kill her, he almost had to have bumped into the killer when he left for work. It's real bizarre." Miller said the investigators were under a lot of pressure from Shenandoah officials and residents to arrest Borton. "The results speak well for their techniques," be said. Chapman also defended his agents and lauded their work in the Borton case. He would not allow the agents to be interviewed, however.

"There was immense pressure to make an arrest and we held off because we were not convinced Borton was the right subject," he said. "Overall," Chapman said, "it seems to me like a fairly regular or i routine homicide investigation. Due to the terrible nature of the crime, very intensive investigative methods were used. "Mr. Borton was the last known person to have seen his wife alive," Chapman said.

"It was extremely important to establish without doubt his innocence or presumption of guilt." Said Chapman, "We try to determine whether or not a person didn't commit a crime, and we have to be just as intense to establish innocence as we do in attempting to establish guilt." Borton said of his ordeal during the investigation, "There were times when I would lie awake in bed, won- I dering what would happen to me and my son if there was a rap on the door and they arrested me." A head-on collision south of Marshalltown late Friday killed a Grin-nell man and hospitalized a Marshall-town man. Marshall County sheriff's officials said Timothy Brown, 19, of Grinnell was killed when his car and one driven by Harvey Luckow of Marshalltown collided just before midnight Friday. Luckow was in fair condition at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. CORRECTION NOTICE Due to a manufacturer's shipping delay, the Shark Attack and Chamber Of The Sci-Mutant Priestess computer software packages in our 4890 advertising insert will not be available. Rainchecks will be issued, which we hope to fill by the end of April.

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