Ken Schram: Burdensome bureaucracy at its finest
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Hard-nosed and hard hearted.
When it comes to gambling, I'll wager they've contrived the issue over kids prizes.
So if the Lynnwood mayor and his city council would step away from the "whack a mole" machine, I'd like them to come on down.
Last month Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough vetoed a proposed ordinance that would have given kids a better shot at winning prizes after playing amusement games.
Lynnwood has a decades-old ban against all forms of gambling, and Mr. Mayor thought more time was needed to decide if kids being awarded prize tickets for playing something like Skee ball would be the downfall of civilization.
The Lynnwood city council couldn't muster the fortitude, or the votes, to overturn Mr. mayor's veto.
We're not talking World Series of Poker here.
We're talking about kids going to Chuck E. Cheese and plunking some coin into a game to win a pink bunny or something.
This is burdensome bureaucracy at its finest.
I'm sure that elected Lynnwood city officials are embracing a sense of moral superiority by capping the number of redeemable tickets that kids can win playing "Whac-A-Mole."
The mayor and his cohorts should also embrace the notion that they're just plain cranky.
So they should all take a bow, because this "Schrammie" is for them.
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Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com. You can also connect with Ken on Facebook.
When it comes to gambling, I'll wager they've contrived the issue over kids prizes.
So if the Lynnwood mayor and his city council would step away from the "whack a mole" machine, I'd like them to come on down.
Last month Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough vetoed a proposed ordinance that would have given kids a better shot at winning prizes after playing amusement games.
Lynnwood has a decades-old ban against all forms of gambling, and Mr. Mayor thought more time was needed to decide if kids being awarded prize tickets for playing something like Skee ball would be the downfall of civilization.
The Lynnwood city council couldn't muster the fortitude, or the votes, to overturn Mr. mayor's veto.
We're not talking World Series of Poker here.
We're talking about kids going to Chuck E. Cheese and plunking some coin into a game to win a pink bunny or something.
This is burdensome bureaucracy at its finest.
I'm sure that elected Lynnwood city officials are embracing a sense of moral superiority by capping the number of redeemable tickets that kids can win playing "Whac-A-Mole."
The mayor and his cohorts should also embrace the notion that they're just plain cranky.
So they should all take a bow, because this "Schrammie" is for them.
---
Have something to say to Ken? Login or signup below to post a comment. Just be sure to read the rules and keep things civil. You can also e-mail him at kenschram@komo4news.com. You can also connect with Ken on Facebook.
Dang Ken. This is like twice in the last month or two that I've agreed with you on something. The miracles never cease.
Just another reason to avoid Lynnwood
 @Scrappy One of many on the list...
Its a great lesson for our youth in the statist overreach of government. It should be required that all parents explain to their youth that the reason they cannot get the better prizes at Chuck E Cheese is that the government has limited their ability to win tickets, much they same way that the government has limited their caloric intake at school lunch (and probably soon at Chuck E Cheese; watch for it).
There is a reason why Lynnwood is considered the armpit of south Snohomish county.
At least you still get great pizza(wink wink).
Speechless.
this is simply a jaw dropper some people r just mean folk, and this is just being mean to these kids. thats way to much control
Maybe my stupid Mayor doesn't know what an "amusement game" is and thinks it is one of those slot machines found in casino's...Â
I feel that gambling should be legal...as adults, we should be responsible, and know our limits. At the same time, (this is where the government is involved) the games cannot be 'rigged' to take your money and not allow one to win, within the posted odds. (thinking about slot machines)
As far as the amusement games, without reading what he was looking at, there may not have been a very good definition of what exactly is an amusement game..
Other stupid laws that Lynnwood has is a body painting law... can't paint bodies... but, which would seem to include face painting... because the face is part of one's body... last I knew..  but what about the spray on tan? It is a kind of paint...LOLÂ
Isn't the Lottery a form of gambling? I'm pretty sure you can buy lottery tickets in Lynnwood. Does that mean that Lynnwood will no longer allow the sale of tickets?
Mothers of River City, heed that warning before it's too late! Watch for the telltale signs of corruption! The minute your son leaves the house, does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime-novel hidden in the corncrib? Is he starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like 'swell' and "so's your old man"? If so my friends, ya got trouble!
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Ladies and gentlemen, either you are closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated by the presence of a pool table in your community!
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@A.V. Love your comment... that's a great movie!!
@RJ1981 Wasn't it a stage production first?
 @katiemcc Yes, long before the movie version.
Who cares? Seriously. This is not an issue worth talking about. Ken should get the Schrammie for construing this issue as a failing of government. f this is annoying.
Never thought I'd see the day where the games at Chuck E Cheese were considered gambling and a hot button political issue. Nice to see where our priorities are.
I only agree with you about 50% of the time. This is one of those times that I agree.
I don't like the ordinance but since they cap each "win" at 4 tickets per coin, couldn't they just make the value of the tickets greater? So instead of taking 40 tickets to buy that silly thing that goes on the end of the pencil that I will lose, they could make it 4 tickets. Â
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Why can't Chuck E Cheese in Lynnwood adjust? Â Â
 @caphillkid Kids will go to the Redmond CC, rack up tickets, then drive up to Lynnwood to redeem them for the inflated value. Just a few minutes of Redmond play will clean out the Lynnwood prize counter leading to an entire collapse of the Ticket based economy.  This could of course be solved by imposing a Ticket-Tarrif at the Lynnwood/Edmonds border to make it 'fair' for Lynnwood based kids, making the playing field level, but then we would need to be on alert from Chuck-e-cheese tikets from other markets such as Renton and tacoma.  Overall, market based forces have already been knocked a-kilter by government regulation.Â
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Another way to save the ticket economy in Lynnwood would be via heafty Redistribution of tickets from other kids, in other locations. Kids across America could have a 1% ticket tax that would go into a pool of tickets that could be disrtibuted to Lynnwood based children on a Need basis. Kids that suck at Ski-bowl, and only "Earn" a few tickets, would have their tickets augmented via a Subsidy from the pool of taxed tickets.
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This Is Change We Can Believe In!!!
Seems to me like there is always someone out there that has to make an issue out of everything. I really feel sorry for the kids growing up with this kind of mentality. No wonder they are so intolerant of anything that doesn't fit the tunnel vision being imposed on them by parts of our society. Childhood is so fleeting at least give them a chance to have some fun before they become adults. This is so petty.
Conveniently not Ken nor any of you commentors say anything about where to draw the line or are all of you suggesting unlimited gambling?
@My_Thoughts - Yes, that is exactly what should be legal. Seriously. It's called liberty. We don't need a nanny state telling us what we can or can't, should or shouldn't be doing with our money. The morality police can go and F themselves.
 @Superman_1967 Glad to know you won't have a problem with me on the sidewalk in front of an elementary school selling raffle tickets with a one in 1,000,000,000,000 chance of winning an old X box.  It's a gamble but there is a chance they could win so it's fair right?Â
 @My_Thoughts And it would be a fantastically great teaching moment.
More government waste caused by government wastes.
Ridiculous. With all the issues that really need to be addressed, they waste their time, effort, (and money) on an issue as stupid as this? Its friggin Chuck E Cheese and the kids win goofy little toys. Trust me, as a parent, you will never make back in toy value what you spend to eat their cardboard pizza and play they games.Â
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The only "gambling" involved here is risking a sour stomach after eating that pizza!
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@ulquiorra - My daughter kicks my butt at most of the games there.Â
Not related to this story but again, this new commenting system has got to go.
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It is terrible. What was KOMO thinking? Half the time it doesn't work, comments don't load, there is no edit function, the "like" functionality is not valuable as there is no "dislike" capture so there is no basis to judge how a comment is received.
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It's time to admit the mistake KOMO. This is dumb!
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All of those technical things aren't problems with Komo, it's a commenting platform made by Livefyre, Komo just adds the script to the webpage. It's Komo's choice to use it though, so partial fault I suppose. Quite honestly the hostility level here seems to have gone down just a bit since they took away the "dislike" option, it's better to just ignore rude or negative comments anyway. I agree that the broken platform is annoying though, the live update function doesn't seem to, well, work.
 @rattles I disagree about the "hostility level" going down. I've noticed a lot more blatantly insulting comments now than before.Â
@TheTruncheon hmm I could see that too, I suppose people feel they have to pipe up in place of just hitting the td button. Maybe I just saw a little break in anger levels but it seems to be back in full force today.
 @JCCBlvu I dislike the new system and have cut my use of the KOMO site by around 80%.
maybe Ken should issue a schrammie to Komo?
@JCCBlvu You are so correct.
I cannot believe this is even on the news, or in the paper. Chuck e Cheese just needs to change how they give stuff away. If the kids can only get 4 tickets for each play instead of 25 change the value of the prises from 150 to 10 simple. Stop wasting time and money. This is an example of one person trying to change a rule that was made to protect the masses.Â
 @AS400GURU So the entire Chuck e Cheese franchise should change the value of their tickets because Lynwood's mayor thinks going to an arcade is the same thing as going to a casino?  Someone else mentioned, that one single franchise can't change the value of their tickets because there will always be kids who go to another Chuck e Cheese, earn 150 tickets, and then take them to Lynwood where they can get tons and tons and tons of toys for that 150.
So glad to hear that Lynnwood is so crime free that this is all the City Council has to worry about.
I don't feel like this is even gambling. If they get at least one ticket per game, then it's not really a gamble....
So called servants of the public are the kids nobody wanted to play with, socially inept and incapable of making decisions pertaining to budgets, laws and "we the people's" wishes....
Children need to be protected from any form of gambling. Otherwise when they grow up they will play the state lottery.Â
 @Komo TV Form of gambling? When I was young, the thought that playing those games was gambling never ever crossed my mind. Did you? (honest question) But wait.. we need these people to gamble. What about these folks that require the lottery to retire? Call it profiling but... the only people I have ever seen buy scratch tickets look as if they cannot afford to do so. The answer is.. educate your children about gambling. The odds etc. Save 15% of your income. Don't rely on one in a million odds to retire. Playing Skee Ball is not a gateway game to full blown gambling. I'm sure there's more important things to do at City Hall than dialogue on kids' amusement tickets. Waste of time.Â
Ken this is what all you big govt guy want more govt and personal decisions
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Slow week Ken?
I agree with you Ken. Seems like the further our society evolves from the 20th century, the more and more politically correct we become, and the less we are able to enjoy simple things. I'm glad I grew up in the 80s and 90s. Generation X was a good time.
 @northwestsurfer Growing up in the fifties, sixties and seventies was even better!
Is everything else in Lynnwood so absolutely tickety-boo that this is the best thing their city government can find to do?
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REALLY?!?!?
 @Fooey Patooey! With summer drawing to a close there aren't enough lemonade stands to harass over whether or not they have a food handling license so I suppose this was the logical next step.