'Gambling' raid was botched mess

If the state of Montana wanted to protect its people from the ills of gambling, we think it could find a more constructive means to do so than to try to put an antique store out of business.

It's almost unbelievable what happened to "Cowboy Ron" and Eila Turner on Jan. 31 when the Montana Department of Justice raided their Whitefish antique store - Cowboy Cabin - and seized two decades-old roulette wheels, punchboards and a chuck-a-luck in order to protect the unwary citizens of Montana from the "evils" of gambling.

But what most of the citizens of Montana want to know is who is going to protect them from the "evils" of government bureaucrats and busybodies who can't tell the difference between illegal gambling and plain old collecting.

Moreover, the particular bureaucrats who made their daring raid on Cowboy Cabin apparently can't tell the difference between being responsible lawmen and self-important thugs. By all accounts they were rude and insufferable to the Turners, who had recently moved their business to Whitefish from California and had no idea the state's laws were as antiquated as the inventory in their store.

"Welcome to Montana," said one of the Department of Justice agents in a sarcastic tone. Another agent reportedly yelled at Whitefish Police, who had come by to make sure that the disrespectful men with badges were not really con men out to rob the Turners illegally instead of state agents there to do it legally.

Then in the ultimate act of arrogance, one of the agents demanded that Turner delete a picture of the agents from his camera, as if they had a right to do their dirty work by stealth and in secret.

This whole episode was an embarrassment for the state of Montana and should be rectified immediately. Cowboy Ron doesn't have a lot of money for lawyers, so we hope common sense will prevail.

Title 23, Chapter 5, of the Montana Code Annotated regulates gambling, and it should be noted that according to MCA 23-5-180-2: "Personal property is not subject to forfeiture unless the owner of the property had actual or constructive knowledge of and was a consenting party to the illegal act."

Plainly, any reasonable person would agree that the Turners did not knowingly commit an illegal act; moreover, many of the items seized or waiting to be seized (the larger craps and blackjack tables, for instance) were only being sold on consignment, and their owners should not be penalized.

Fortunately, the law allows an easy solution, which we hope the Turners will avail themselves of, and which the state in its infinite wisdom will respect.

Section 152 of the gambling code discusses exceptions to the general ban on possessing illegal gambling devices. Most of these are irrelevant, but the last one is not.

MCA 23-5-152-5 specifically notes that "an illegal gambling device may be possessed or located for display purposes only and not for operation… in a public or private museum."

It thus occurs to us that Cowboy Ron ought to get out his woodworking tools and fashion a simple sign to tack on to his business's name. From now on, it should be known in full as "Cowboy Cabin (and Museum of Old Western Historical Oddities)."

And beneath that Ron might consider adding another sign, perhaps in bigger letters so even a Department of Justice agent will get the message: "Busybodies NOT welcome!"