Gov. Rell Rethinking 24-Hour Casino Drinking

Gov. Rell Rethinking 24-Hour Casino Drinking

By  DIANA PEREZ
Mar 8, 2009

Conn. College

Online Casinos

Pictured here on a past mission trip to Africa, Elizabeth Durante was killed in a crash on I-395 in Montville, on her way back to help needy children in Uganda.
 
Governor Jodi Rell is rethinking her proposal to extend drinking hours at the state's two casinos, after a colelge student was killed in a crash with a drunk driver on I-395 in Montville on Saturday.

Right now you can only drink until 1:00 a.m. during the week at casinos. Rell had proposed removing that limit, so you could guzzle 24 hours a day, all week long.

That was until a drunk driver slammed into the van carrying Elizabeth Durante, 20, of West Islip, New York.  The Connecticut College student was headed to Africa on a humanitarian mission.

State police have not confirmed where the driver was coming from but the accident happened on I-395 in Montville, just one exit away from Mohegan Sun Casino and minutes from Foxwoods.

The plan would have raised millions of dollars for the casinos but Rell says she is thinking about lives and not money with this decision.

Bernard McLoughlin, Connecticut's chairperson for Mothers Against Drunk Driving says 101 people were killed by drunk drivers in the state in 2007.  He backs Rell's change of heart, saying the alternative could lead to more deaths.
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"I think we're going to put a lot more people on the roads who are intoxicated if we're going to open up the law in the casinos to [allow drinking] 24 hours a day," said McLoughlin.