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Fired State Trooper Turns to State Supreme Court

INDIANAPOLIS -- A state trooper fired for refusing to work at a casino asked the Indiana Supreme Court to order him reinstated -- weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.

Ben Endres, now a St. Joseph County sheriff's deputy, wants the court to force the state agency to accommodate his religious beliefs, which he says would be compromised by the gambling assignment.

Attorney David Kolbe of Warsaw acknowledged that the state appeal was Endres' last chance at getting his old job back.

"This is it," Kolbe said Thursday.

Endres, who is Baptist, said he was not opposed to general casino crime-fighting, but could not go along when the state designated him a full-time gaming officer and ordered him to report to the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Ind. He was fired in April 2000 after being a trooper since 1991.

A federal law protects people from discrimination based on religion. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said the law, however, did not require police and fire departments to assign workers to duties compatible with their principles.

Copyright © Las Vegas Sun. Inc. Republished with permission.

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