When spindly Ken Dixon became managing editor of the daily Lake Charles, La. American Press 2½ years ago, the gambling dens of Lake Charles (pop. 41,202) were thriving as mightily as its mushrooming oil and chemical plants. Far into the night, the slot machines clanked and roulette wheels whirred at the Green Frog,
Tommy's Oasis, many another neon-lit saloon along Highway 90. Somehow, the political powers who ran Calcasieu Parish longtime Judge Mark Pickrel, Sheriff Henry ("Ham") Reid, District Attorney Griffin Hawkinsdid not seem to notice what was going on. But Editor Dixon,...