Cancellation of fund-raiser

I would like to offer the following correspondence with Texas Lottery Commission officials as explanation for the recent cancellation of Project Graduation's Cow Patty Bingo. I hope this will help explain why the actions were taken.

Jan Butts

Project Graduation 2008

Fund-raising chairman

* October 26, 2007 Texas Lottery Commission Attn: Rick Frysinger

Dear Mr. Frysinger:

Thank you for responding so quickly to my open records request. As I expressed during our phone call this morning, I am requesting a written statement from the Texas Lottery Commission regarding the misinformation I was given on Oct. 24 by Alice Banks. During that telephone conversation with Ms. Banks, she informed me that Project Graduation could not hold the Cow Patty Bingo due to laws and regulations, etc. She also informed me that it would be a third-degree felony if the function were going and officials would be on site. I asked her how the Texas Lottery Commission got this information. She specifically told me that the commission does not go out looking for this [bingo activity], but if they get a report that it is going on they have no choice, they must act upon it.

We have canceled this event and would not take the chance of breaking the law, however what I have a problem with is that I shared with the town of Lampasas what Ms. Banks told me, and it has caused quite an uproar. It would have been much easier to digest if we had been told all along that the commission does searches sporadically and found it [notice of the local bingo event]. Instead, the city of Lampasas has been furious trying to find out what kind of person would turn in Project Graduation. There have been lots of accusations circulating unnecessarily.

This is my formal request for the Texas Lottery Commission to write me a statement explaining that even though I was told an outside source reported this, it was actually the Texas Lottery Commission that found it through a Google search.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Jan Butts

* October 29, 2007 Ms. Jan Butts Re: Project Graduation 2008 Cow Patty Bingo Notification

Dear Ms. Butts:

Per our conversation last Friday morning, this letter is to confirm to you that the Charitable Bingo Operations Division of the Texas Lottery Commission became aware of the proposed cow patty bingo event through use of the Google search function available on the Internet.

Members of the Charitable Bingo staff routinely use Google or other Internet search engines several times a week to locate bingo stories of interest to our licensees and the general public. If you will go to our website (www.txbingo.org) you will see a "Headlines" section with headlines and interactive links to such bingo stories.

When our staff becomes aware of a bingo game event that may not meet the regulatory and statutory requirements, we are required by law to act. Sometimes the Charitable Bingo Division will be notified of a suspect bingo activity by phone call, or having a flyer faxed into our office, or as in this case, the bingo event being advertised in the Lampasas Dispatch Record and the story headline being picked up by Google. This is why Ms. Alice Banks, a Charitable Bingo Division licensing examiner, contacted you, explained the situation and advised you against conducting the event.

We regret the inconvenience to your Project Graduation 2008 organization. If we may assist you in obtaining a bingo license, please do not hesitate to contact our staff.

Sincerely,

Richard B. Frysinger

Special Projects Assistant Charitable Bingo Operations Division

Austin