operating
Illinois operator persuades
council to lift pinball ban
When Orma Johnson Mohr in -
herited Johnson Vending Service
after the death of her husband in
1958, the city of Rock Island, III.,
had just recently outlawed pinball
machines, primarily because of an
Illinois Supreme Court ruling that
labeled the games as gambling
devices .
In mid -January, Ms . Mohr, now a
veteran vending and music and
games operator, spearheaded a
drive that resulted in the Rock Island
City Council lifting its 18-year ban
against pingames.
" Of course," Ms . Mohr demurrs,
" pinball's a lot different today ." The
machines prevalent in Illinois at the
time Rock Island banned pinball,
she explains, were "bingo" type,
while today most people enjoy
playing the skill -oriented flipper
games .
Shortly before the end of Decem-
ber, Ms. Mohr asked the city council
to eliminate the pinball ban from tha
city code, causing the immediate
opposition to the proposal from the
city' s police chief .
The chief strongly recommended
rejection of Ms . Mohr's proposal on
grounds that pinball is a form of
gambling , but Ms . Mohr successful -
ly countered his arguments by
contending that pinball is a game of
skill. On the night she made her
strongest pitch to the council, she
brought a game into the council
chambers to prove her point.
Public support, Ms . Mohr said,
was fast in coming and overwhelm -
ingly in her favor . The city's two
newspapers carried front page arti-
cles about the proposal and editori-
als favoring a lift of the ban, citing
the amusement aspects of the
game . The papers also disputed the
claims of opponents that installing
pingames in local amusement cen -
ters would create gathering spots
for troublesome youths .
As debate on the issue progres-
sed, the city council made it
apparent it favored elimination of
the anti-pinball ordinance with the
provision that the machines be
registered and licensed in the same
way as pool tables and jukeboxes.
Ms . Mohr said she did not object to
such a proposal, noting that other
cities in the same area of the state
that permitted pinball were reaping
revenue increases because of it.
When the council voted to lift the
ban in mid -January, Ms . Mohr was
not overly surprised. " After all,
what can you do?" she remarked .
Although she knew nothing about
the coin machine business when her
first husband died, Ms. Mohr has
gone on to become a successful
operator and active state and na-
tional association member. She is
presently married to Leo Mohr,
proprietor of the Bring 'Er In restau -
rant and nightclub located just
outside Rock Island .
MANHA TTAN BOROUGH Presi-
dent Percy Sutton (left) swears in
the 1976 officers of the Music and
Amusement Association of New
York, from left, President Irving
Holzman, Dolene Industries Inc.,
Hicksville; Vice Presiden t Sam
Schwartz, Lincoln Amusement,
Brooklyn; and Treasurer Stanley
Leibowitz, Lido Vending Corp .,
Bayside. After the installation, the
officers and Sutton discussed legal-
izing pingames in NYC, revising the
Uniform Commercial Code, giving
the amusement industry in NYC an
economic boost and changing the
public 's conception of the industry
image.
(Cosmopolitan Concepts)
PlAt' ItfETER
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