Proposed bill would block casinos near historic sites
By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HARRISBURG -- The odds are against a state-licensed slots casino being built near the Gettysburg National Military Park, but state Rep. Paul Clymer, Civil War historians and other casino opponents aren't taking any chances.
Mr. Clymer, R-Bucks, has introduced a bill that would forbid any future casinos from being built within a 10-mile "buffer zone" around the famous Civil War battlefield -- or within such a buffer zone around a new federally sanctioned memorial park in Somerset County that honors the passengers on Flight 93 who fought for control of their hijacked plane on Sept. 11, 2001. Flight 93, which the hijackers were flying toward a target in Washington, D.C., crashed near Shanksville. "We must prevent a casino from being built within 10 miles of these very important historical places," Mr. Clymer told a House committee last week during a hearing on his House Bill 2082.
"Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War," he said. "It lasted for three intense days, from July 1-3, 1863, and after it ended, the Confederate army was in retreat back to the South. The courage and bravery of those men, on both sides, is a legacy that should not be compromised by putting a gambling casino near the military park, or near the site of the Flight 93 memorial."
At the hearing was a group from No Casino Gettysburg, which helped defeat a developer's attempts to build a casino north of the battlefield in 2006 and then another plan for a casino south of the battlefield in 2010.
Casino developers, backed by many Adams County residents and business owners, had hoped to get state approval in 2010 for a Category 3, or resort hotel casino, inside an existing hotel/conference center five miles south of the center of the town of Gettysburg. But the state Gaming Control Board gave the license to Nemacolin Woodlands resort in Fayette County. It hasn't opened yet because Gettysburg casino proponents are challenging the license decision in court.
The first resort casino license was awarded to the Valley Forge Convention Center, just about a mile from the famous Valley Forge area west of Philadelphia, where George Washington encamped during the Revolutionary War. But that park hasn't been designated as a historic site by Congress, as the Gettysburg battlefield and the Flight 93 sites have been.
The Valley Forge casino license also was challenged in court but that case was thrown out, and the casino is due to open in June. A third resort casino license will be awarded in 2017.
Favoring the buffer-zone bill last week were Paul Bucha, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient speaking for the National Civil War Trust, and Mindy Crawford, executive director of Preservation Pennsylvania.
"As a combat veteran, Gettysburg matters a great deal to me," Mr. Bucha said. "All around Gettysburg is, I think, perhaps the most hallowed ground in the U.S. Visiting Gettysburg is like walking into a huge cathedral consecrated with the blood of our ancestors. ... It's not a place for games or a place for someone to try to make a buck."
Ms. Crawford said her group got "an overwhelmingly large outpouring of calls, emails and letters asking us to help keep a casino license from being awarded" near the two locations.
The three Adams County commissioners also have problems with the bill, which they said would "have a significant potential to adversely impact the county economy." They called the 10-mile buffer zone "irrational," adding it would stretch "well beyond the Mason-Dixon line, into Maryland."
The committee hasn't said when it will vote on whether to send the bill to the full House for action.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12044/1209853-454-0.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml#ixzz1mnJJZ5CH
Showing posts with label Gettysburg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gettysburg. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Working to protect Gettysburg and its legacy
Buffer zone would keep casinos from most of Adams
Locals testified on state legislation to block casinos from historic sites.
The SugarHouse Casino opened in Philadelphia with two leggy showgirls posing next to a bespectacled Benjamin Franklin re-enactor.
The mix of gambling and history has proven a point of debate as the Pennsylvania gaming industry booms. The issue was raised again Wednesday as state lawmakers considered a bill to block casinos from opening near the Gettysburg battlefield and Flight 93 National Memorial.
"I think it's a real shame to see the father of our country pushing slots," John Lawrence, R-Kemblesville, said.
But a Gettysburg businessman argued that visitation to historic sites would increase with a casino nearby. [Studies and reality prove otherwise.]
"I think history and tourism and a casino work well together," Brendan Synnamon said.
Synnamon was among those to testify during a public hearing on plans to legislate a 10-mile buffer around Gettysburg National Military Park and the Flight 93 National Memorial outside Shanksville. If passed, the bill would exclude a casino from most of Adams County.
Opponents of the legislation include two Gettysburg business owners who saw the proposed bill as an infringement on local zoning laws.
"It is unconstitutional and an affront to our state laws to draw a line around our area and exclude a legal business," said Thomas Gilbert, a member of the Pro Casino Adams County group.
Lawmakers, though, said the precedent has already been set and local zoning was trumped when casinos opened in Philadelphia.
"No offense to the taxpayers of Adams County, but I think these men that shed their blood paid the ultimate tax bill," said Rep. Mike Fleck, R-Huntingdon County. "That trumps local control for me. We should not sacrifice our focus for the almighty dollar."
Officials from Preservation Pennsylvania and the Civil War Trust attended the hearing in support of the legislation. Vietnam War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha said lawmakers have a responsibility to protect the legacy of the battlefield.
"There are things you don't get to do on certain pieces of land because they represent something far greater to others," said Bucha, who was asked by the Civil War Trust to testify in favor of the bill.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Bucks County, but it has languished for more than a year. Renewed interest came after court documents indicated Gettysburg businessman David LeVan might want to pursue a new casino opportunity in Adams County.
In response, a coalition of preservation groups increased efforts to breathe new life into the bill. The National Trust for Historic Preservation worked to push the bill through the Legislature and Preservation Pennsylvania called on its members to write lawmakers to support the bill. Similarly, historians and the local group No Casino Gettysburg pushed for its passage.
But the Adams County commissioners and the local group Pro Casino Adams County have opposed the legislation. The commissioners argued state lawmakers were interfering in an Adams County issue.
And Pro Casino Adams County said a casino would bring jobs and boost the local economy.
Buffer bill has failed before
Similar legislation was first introduced in 2006 by then-state Rep. Stephen Maitland, R-Gettysburg.
At the time, LeVan was working to build a stand-alone casino in Straban Township, within a mile of the park's eastern boundary.
Three years later, state Sen. Rich Alloway, R-Chambersburg, proposed an amendment to establish a 12-mile buffer around the park but it was overwhelmingly defeated by a state Senate committee.
Alloway's amendment was borrowed from Rep. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks County, who introduced a 15-mile buffer around the park to be attached to the 2009 table-games bill.
That was removed too.
Santarsiero, Alloway and Clymer all voted against legislation to allow table games in Pennsylvania casinos.
Rep. Curt Schroder, R-Chester County, chairs the Gaming Oversight Committee and he has questioned the wisdom of legislating buffers. He has said such laws would open a floodgate of buffers around schools and churches.
Schroder will determine when the bill will arise for a vote. He was absent at the hearing but Clymer was hopeful the law can be voted upon in March.
The latest version of the buffer bill was proposed after plans failed to establish the Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino less than a mile from the southern border of the Gettysburg battlefield.
That project failed last year to receive a license from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Now, Mason-Dixon is appealing the decision to the state Supreme Court.
OTHER PA CASINOS NEAR HISTORIC SITES:
Opponents of legislation that would block casinos from opening near the Gettysburg battlefield and the Flight 93 National Memorial are pointing to the existence of other casinos near historic sites.
Last year, the SugarHouse Casino opened about two miles from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
The Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh is about two miles from Point State Park across the Allegheny River. The park is scattered with monuments commemorating fighting during the French and Indian War.
And the Lady Luck Casino is scheduled to open at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, in Wharton Township, Fayette County. That casino will be located less than two miles from Fort Necessity National Battlefield, the site of the opening fighting of the French and Indian War in the summer of 1754.
Proponents of the buffer legislation argue that none of these sites carry the historical significance of the Gettysburg battlefield.
TO COMMENT ON THE BILL:
The House Gaming Oversight Committee is accepting public comments on legislation to block casinos from opening within 10 miles of the Gettysburg battlefield and Flight 93 National Memorial.
Comments should be sent to Rep. Curt Schroder at cschrode@pahousegop.com. The mailing address of Schroder's district office is 315 Gordon Drive, Exton, PA 19341.
Letters to his Harrisburg office should be sent to 41A East Wing, House Post Office Box 202155, Harrisburg, PA 17120-2155.
Locals testified on state legislation to block casinos from historic sites.
The SugarHouse Casino opened in Philadelphia with two leggy showgirls posing next to a bespectacled Benjamin Franklin re-enactor.
The mix of gambling and history has proven a point of debate as the Pennsylvania gaming industry booms. The issue was raised again Wednesday as state lawmakers considered a bill to block casinos from opening near the Gettysburg battlefield and Flight 93 National Memorial.
"I think it's a real shame to see the father of our country pushing slots," John Lawrence, R-Kemblesville, said.
But a Gettysburg businessman argued that visitation to historic sites would increase with a casino nearby. [Studies and reality prove otherwise.]
"I think history and tourism and a casino work well together," Brendan Synnamon said.
Synnamon was among those to testify during a public hearing on plans to legislate a 10-mile buffer around Gettysburg National Military Park and the Flight 93 National Memorial outside Shanksville. If passed, the bill would exclude a casino from most of Adams County.
Opponents of the legislation include two Gettysburg business owners who saw the proposed bill as an infringement on local zoning laws.
"It is unconstitutional and an affront to our state laws to draw a line around our area and exclude a legal business," said Thomas Gilbert, a member of the Pro Casino Adams County group.
Lawmakers, though, said the precedent has already been set and local zoning was trumped when casinos opened in Philadelphia.
"No offense to the taxpayers of Adams County, but I think these men that shed their blood paid the ultimate tax bill," said Rep. Mike Fleck, R-Huntingdon County. "That trumps local control for me. We should not sacrifice our focus for the almighty dollar."
Officials from Preservation Pennsylvania and the Civil War Trust attended the hearing in support of the legislation. Vietnam War veteran and Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha said lawmakers have a responsibility to protect the legacy of the battlefield.
"There are things you don't get to do on certain pieces of land because they represent something far greater to others," said Bucha, who was asked by the Civil War Trust to testify in favor of the bill.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Bucks County, but it has languished for more than a year. Renewed interest came after court documents indicated Gettysburg businessman David LeVan might want to pursue a new casino opportunity in Adams County.
In response, a coalition of preservation groups increased efforts to breathe new life into the bill. The National Trust for Historic Preservation worked to push the bill through the Legislature and Preservation Pennsylvania called on its members to write lawmakers to support the bill. Similarly, historians and the local group No Casino Gettysburg pushed for its passage.
But the Adams County commissioners and the local group Pro Casino Adams County have opposed the legislation. The commissioners argued state lawmakers were interfering in an Adams County issue.
And Pro Casino Adams County said a casino would bring jobs and boost the local economy.
Buffer bill has failed before
Similar legislation was first introduced in 2006 by then-state Rep. Stephen Maitland, R-Gettysburg.
At the time, LeVan was working to build a stand-alone casino in Straban Township, within a mile of the park's eastern boundary.
Three years later, state Sen. Rich Alloway, R-Chambersburg, proposed an amendment to establish a 12-mile buffer around the park but it was overwhelmingly defeated by a state Senate committee.
Alloway's amendment was borrowed from Rep. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks County, who introduced a 15-mile buffer around the park to be attached to the 2009 table-games bill.
That was removed too.
Santarsiero, Alloway and Clymer all voted against legislation to allow table games in Pennsylvania casinos.
Rep. Curt Schroder, R-Chester County, chairs the Gaming Oversight Committee and he has questioned the wisdom of legislating buffers. He has said such laws would open a floodgate of buffers around schools and churches.
Schroder will determine when the bill will arise for a vote. He was absent at the hearing but Clymer was hopeful the law can be voted upon in March.
The latest version of the buffer bill was proposed after plans failed to establish the Mason-Dixon Resort & Casino less than a mile from the southern border of the Gettysburg battlefield.
That project failed last year to receive a license from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Now, Mason-Dixon is appealing the decision to the state Supreme Court.
OTHER PA CASINOS NEAR HISTORIC SITES:
Opponents of legislation that would block casinos from opening near the Gettysburg battlefield and the Flight 93 National Memorial are pointing to the existence of other casinos near historic sites.
Last year, the SugarHouse Casino opened about two miles from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.
The Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh is about two miles from Point State Park across the Allegheny River. The park is scattered with monuments commemorating fighting during the French and Indian War.
And the Lady Luck Casino is scheduled to open at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, in Wharton Township, Fayette County. That casino will be located less than two miles from Fort Necessity National Battlefield, the site of the opening fighting of the French and Indian War in the summer of 1754.
Proponents of the buffer legislation argue that none of these sites carry the historical significance of the Gettysburg battlefield.
TO COMMENT ON THE BILL:
The House Gaming Oversight Committee is accepting public comments on legislation to block casinos from opening within 10 miles of the Gettysburg battlefield and Flight 93 National Memorial.
Comments should be sent to Rep. Curt Schroder at cschrode@pahousegop.com. The mailing address of Schroder's district office is 315 Gordon Drive, Exton, PA 19341.
Letters to his Harrisburg office should be sent to 41A East Wing, House Post Office Box 202155, Harrisburg, PA 17120-2155.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Gettysburg: Even when they're not wanted, they never give up!
There's a Massachusetts/Holyoke connection:
Casino applicant appeals
Appeal filed in Pa. Surpreme Court
BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Times Staff Writer Gettysburg Times
Gettysburg casino investors announced Monday that they are appealing a decision to award a gaming license to a competing project.
The appeal is filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and disputes the recently-awarded Category Three resort casino license, to the Nemacolin Resort in Fayette County.
Mason Dixon Resort & Casino spokesman David La Torre wrote in a press release that state gambling regulators “misapplied the Gaming Act and state law, deprived Mason Dixon of its due process rights, and disregarded or failed to consider the evidence presented” when they chose the Nemacolin Resort for the license, over the Eisenhower Inn in Cumberland Township.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board selected the Nemacolin Resort in Fayette County for the license in mid-April, over three competitors, including the Mason Dixon Resort Group, led by Gettysburg businessman David LeVan and Florida lawyer Joseph Lashinger. The vote was 6-1, with one board member supporting a competing project in the Poconos.
Investors in Mechanicsburg, Penn Harris Gaming, and the Bushkill Group in the Poconos also applied for the license, which permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games at “well-established” hotel resorts.
Based on previous gaming appeals, it could take a year before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules on the litigation. As a result, developers will not be able to break ground on the $75 million Nemacolin Resort until the legal battle is resolved.
Monday was the final day to file an appeal on the April 14 decision, and subsequent written adjudication, explaining the decision. Representatives from Penn Harris Gaming and the Bushkill Group have said that they are not filing an appeal.
Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey explained that all of the standalone Category Two casino projects have been appealed in the past, as well as the other resort casino Category Three license, that was awarded to Valley Forge. No horsetrack casinos (Category One licenses) have been appealed.
The Gaming Control Board wrote that it selected the 2,000-acre Nemacolin Resort because it was the “best fit” for the license, and that it had the best potential to generate and maximize new revenues for the state.
LeVan and Lashinger proposed converting the 300-room Eisenhower Inn and adjoining All-Star Sports Complex along Emmitsburg Road south of Gettysburg into a $75 million resort casino. The Category Three resort casino license permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games, and patrons must be guests of the resort, or obtain a membership.
Opposition was cited for a reason for denying the Cumberland Township casino. No Casino Gettysburg spokeswoman Susan Star Paddock said Monday that she was saddened to see Gettysburg casino investors “chasing their losses.” She called the appeal a “colossal waste of time and money for the investors, the state, the taxpayers and our entire community.”
Casino supporters in Adams County have touted economic benefits and new jobs, and remain hopeful that a license will be awarded here.
Two weeks ago, Mason Dixon Resort filed a “motion of reconsideration” with the Gaming Control Board, asking gambling regulators to revisit the licensing process. But the request was denied one day later, leading to Monday’s appeal.
Casino applicant appeals
Appeal filed in Pa. Surpreme Court
BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Times Staff Writer Gettysburg Times
Gettysburg casino investors announced Monday that they are appealing a decision to award a gaming license to a competing project.
The appeal is filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and disputes the recently-awarded Category Three resort casino license, to the Nemacolin Resort in Fayette County.
Mason Dixon Resort & Casino spokesman David La Torre wrote in a press release that state gambling regulators “misapplied the Gaming Act and state law, deprived Mason Dixon of its due process rights, and disregarded or failed to consider the evidence presented” when they chose the Nemacolin Resort for the license, over the Eisenhower Inn in Cumberland Township.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board selected the Nemacolin Resort in Fayette County for the license in mid-April, over three competitors, including the Mason Dixon Resort Group, led by Gettysburg businessman David LeVan and Florida lawyer Joseph Lashinger. The vote was 6-1, with one board member supporting a competing project in the Poconos.
Investors in Mechanicsburg, Penn Harris Gaming, and the Bushkill Group in the Poconos also applied for the license, which permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games at “well-established” hotel resorts.
Based on previous gaming appeals, it could take a year before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules on the litigation. As a result, developers will not be able to break ground on the $75 million Nemacolin Resort until the legal battle is resolved.
Monday was the final day to file an appeal on the April 14 decision, and subsequent written adjudication, explaining the decision. Representatives from Penn Harris Gaming and the Bushkill Group have said that they are not filing an appeal.
Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey explained that all of the standalone Category Two casino projects have been appealed in the past, as well as the other resort casino Category Three license, that was awarded to Valley Forge. No horsetrack casinos (Category One licenses) have been appealed.
The Gaming Control Board wrote that it selected the 2,000-acre Nemacolin Resort because it was the “best fit” for the license, and that it had the best potential to generate and maximize new revenues for the state.
LeVan and Lashinger proposed converting the 300-room Eisenhower Inn and adjoining All-Star Sports Complex along Emmitsburg Road south of Gettysburg into a $75 million resort casino. The Category Three resort casino license permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games, and patrons must be guests of the resort, or obtain a membership.
Opposition was cited for a reason for denying the Cumberland Township casino. No Casino Gettysburg spokeswoman Susan Star Paddock said Monday that she was saddened to see Gettysburg casino investors “chasing their losses.” She called the appeal a “colossal waste of time and money for the investors, the state, the taxpayers and our entire community.”
Casino supporters in Adams County have touted economic benefits and new jobs, and remain hopeful that a license will be awarded here.
Two weeks ago, Mason Dixon Resort filed a “motion of reconsideration” with the Gaming Control Board, asking gambling regulators to revisit the licensing process. But the request was denied one day later, leading to Monday’s appeal.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Questionable Practices Continue at PA Gaming Board
Gaming Control Board gives Gettysburg casino company fodder for appeal
By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News
It’s summertime, and the fishing is easy at Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board.
The developers behind a proposed casino outside Gettysburg asked the board on Tuesday to reconsider, in light of the recent grand jury report, their decision to award the state’s last resort casino license to another facility.
On Wednesday the board unanimously rejected that request, which surprised no one — including the people who asked.
Rather, the request offered the opportunity — like a well-cast fly — for board members to go on the record one more time about their decision.
There is little more than a week remaining for the unsuccessful casino projects to appeal their loss to the Supreme Court.
New Gaming Board member and former Speaker of the House Keith McCall rose to the bait. “I made my decision first and foremost,” said McCall, “on did they meet the definition of a well-established resort.”
The Gettysburg developers — and many others, including former Gaming Board members — have argued the law requires the primary consideration to be maximizing the revenue to the state for tax relief.
The grand jury report contends previous incarnations of the board “neglected or wholly ignored” the public policy objectives of the law.
Noting that he had a hand in writing the law, McCall said Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Fayette County fit the definition of resort “like a glove, and none of the other applicants came close.”
Both advocates and critics of the Nemacolin project have maintained the law was written with Nemacolin in mind.
The grand jury report criticized the Board’s habit of going into secret executive sessions to discuss things beyond the normally limited scope of such sessions.
The board did that with Nemacolin, and only Nemacolin.
McCall continued. “I was very concerned by the Mason-Dixon application,” he said, “because of concerns raised by the community and the battlefield.”
The board’s own legal rationale stated unequivocally that the casino would not have impacted the battlefield.
The official reasoning did however cite community opposition, specifically a casino-sponsored survey by G. Terry Madonna that showed 38 percent of Adams County residents were opposed to a casino.
That, according to the official reasoning, was “an unacceptably large portion of local residents.”
However, Madonna had submitted a memo into the official record noting that “Surveys in Pennsylvania have consistently shown that 20-25 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose gaming because they believe it is morally wrong. Additionally, it is not unusual to find that one-third oppose legalized gambling in the state.”
The grand jury report suggested the Gaming Board and its investigators do not adequately evaluate applications, and attorneys for Mason-Dixon implied there may have been similar failings in the most recent decision.
Mason-Dixon attorney Stephen Schrier told the board, “You don’t have to get new evidence; you have to go back and look at the evidence you have.”
The board’s official decision also cites a quantity of comments in opposition to the Gettysburg projects that its proponents say indicates the board accepted anonymous, unverified and multiple submissions, suggesting the board has no standard.
“What this means is in the future, it will only require a mediocre Astroturf campaign to defeat one of the applicants because that’s what happened here,” said Mason-Dixon spokesman David LaTorre.
Whether McCall’s additions to the record are trophy trout or chum would ultimately be judged by the Supreme Court, if an appeal is filed.
LaTorre said an appeal is “absolutely” under consideration.
Wednesday was the Board’s first public meeting since the grand jury report was released.
Despite the fact the report focused on actions five or six years ago and the fact the law has since been changed to address some of the concerns it outlines, the Gaming Board members did little to inspire confidence they are operating in a new, more accountable era.
Kenneth Trujillo, one of three lawyers on the board and the only member not to vote for Nemacolin, grilled the Mason-Dixon attorney with prosecutorial verve, suggesting the grand jury report was old news, one-sided and of “zero evidentiary value.”
Having read the grand jury report, Trujillo said, “My conscience is quite clear nobody is pointing fingers at me.”
He may not have read it to the end.
Fifth on the list of the grand jury’s recommendations is the suggestion the law be amended “to explicitly prohibit any person from serving as a member of the board who was an applicant” for a slot machine license.
Trujillo was one of the investors who applied — unsuccessfully — in 2006 for a license to build a casino in Philadelphia.
By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News
It’s summertime, and the fishing is easy at Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board.
The developers behind a proposed casino outside Gettysburg asked the board on Tuesday to reconsider, in light of the recent grand jury report, their decision to award the state’s last resort casino license to another facility.
On Wednesday the board unanimously rejected that request, which surprised no one — including the people who asked.
Rather, the request offered the opportunity — like a well-cast fly — for board members to go on the record one more time about their decision.
There is little more than a week remaining for the unsuccessful casino projects to appeal their loss to the Supreme Court.
New Gaming Board member and former Speaker of the House Keith McCall rose to the bait. “I made my decision first and foremost,” said McCall, “on did they meet the definition of a well-established resort.”
The Gettysburg developers — and many others, including former Gaming Board members — have argued the law requires the primary consideration to be maximizing the revenue to the state for tax relief.
The grand jury report contends previous incarnations of the board “neglected or wholly ignored” the public policy objectives of the law.
Noting that he had a hand in writing the law, McCall said Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Fayette County fit the definition of resort “like a glove, and none of the other applicants came close.”
Both advocates and critics of the Nemacolin project have maintained the law was written with Nemacolin in mind.
The grand jury report criticized the Board’s habit of going into secret executive sessions to discuss things beyond the normally limited scope of such sessions.
The board did that with Nemacolin, and only Nemacolin.
McCall continued. “I was very concerned by the Mason-Dixon application,” he said, “because of concerns raised by the community and the battlefield.”
The board’s own legal rationale stated unequivocally that the casino would not have impacted the battlefield.
The official reasoning did however cite community opposition, specifically a casino-sponsored survey by G. Terry Madonna that showed 38 percent of Adams County residents were opposed to a casino.
That, according to the official reasoning, was “an unacceptably large portion of local residents.”
However, Madonna had submitted a memo into the official record noting that “Surveys in Pennsylvania have consistently shown that 20-25 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose gaming because they believe it is morally wrong. Additionally, it is not unusual to find that one-third oppose legalized gambling in the state.”
The grand jury report suggested the Gaming Board and its investigators do not adequately evaluate applications, and attorneys for Mason-Dixon implied there may have been similar failings in the most recent decision.
Mason-Dixon attorney Stephen Schrier told the board, “You don’t have to get new evidence; you have to go back and look at the evidence you have.”
The board’s official decision also cites a quantity of comments in opposition to the Gettysburg projects that its proponents say indicates the board accepted anonymous, unverified and multiple submissions, suggesting the board has no standard.
“What this means is in the future, it will only require a mediocre Astroturf campaign to defeat one of the applicants because that’s what happened here,” said Mason-Dixon spokesman David LaTorre.
Whether McCall’s additions to the record are trophy trout or chum would ultimately be judged by the Supreme Court, if an appeal is filed.
LaTorre said an appeal is “absolutely” under consideration.
Wednesday was the Board’s first public meeting since the grand jury report was released.
Despite the fact the report focused on actions five or six years ago and the fact the law has since been changed to address some of the concerns it outlines, the Gaming Board members did little to inspire confidence they are operating in a new, more accountable era.
Kenneth Trujillo, one of three lawyers on the board and the only member not to vote for Nemacolin, grilled the Mason-Dixon attorney with prosecutorial verve, suggesting the grand jury report was old news, one-sided and of “zero evidentiary value.”
Having read the grand jury report, Trujillo said, “My conscience is quite clear nobody is pointing fingers at me.”
He may not have read it to the end.
Fifth on the list of the grand jury’s recommendations is the suggestion the law be amended “to explicitly prohibit any person from serving as a member of the board who was an applicant” for a slot machine license.
Trujillo was one of the investors who applied — unsuccessfully — in 2006 for a license to build a casino in Philadelphia.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
By Overwhelming Margins, Pennsylvania Voters Oppose Gettysburg Casino Proposal
There is an uncomfortable connection between Holyoke, MA and the proposed Gettysburg monstrosity - the backer, Joseph A. Lashinger Jr., just another wealthy slot barn vulture, content to suck discretionary income from the local economy from a distance and destroy communities to which he has no commitment.
Accepting the false statements and fantasies doesn't conceal what the facts prove --
Solid data show that when casinos come to heritage tourism towns, visitation to the historic resource plummets as it did in Vicksburg, Miss., where 40 percent of the historic downtown is now shuttered.
Beacon Hill hasn't noticed, but Faneuil Hall attracts more visitors than Disney World, yet the KoolAid consumers would convince you that a Slot Barn would attract tourists.
By Overwhelming Margins, Pennsylvania Voters Oppose Gettysburg Casino Proposal
New poll finds that two-thirds of Pennsylvanians oppose plans for a casino just one-half mile from America's most famous battleground GETTYSBURG, Pa.
PRNewswire-USNewswire
On the eve of the sesquicentennial commemoration of the American Civil War, a public opinion poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research reveals that Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly oppose plans for a casino 1/2 mile from the historic Gettysburg Battlefield. According to the poll, fully two-thirds of Pennsylvania voters actively oppose the idea of a casino at Gettysburg and nearly 60 percent favor pending legislation that would block future attempts at similar proposals. Further, 57 percent state that, if approved, such a Gettysburg casino would be an embarrassment to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The poll illustrates that resistance to a Gettysburg casino is strong in all regions of the state, although most pronounced in Central and Western Pennsylvania, where nearly 74 percent of all voters expressed opposition. Statewide, just 17 percent of Pennsylvanians indicated they support the idea.
Contrary to the claims of casino proponents, a separate, specific sampling of Adams County voters illustrates that the community is deeply divided on the issue, with 45 percent opposing the casino and only 41 percent supporting it. Opposition, however, is based on proximity to the battlefield rather than hostility toward gaming; were the chosen location further from the battlefield and national park, stated opposition falls to 35 percent of county voters.
Investors with Mason-Dixon Gaming, a company unrelated to the nationally recognized polling firm, are seeking a license on April 14, 2011 from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to operate a Category 3 resort casino. If approved, their project would bring hundreds of slot machines and table games just 1/2 mile from the boundaries of Gettysburg National Military Park.
Since it was announced last year, the proposal has drawn immense opposition. Tens of thousands of Americans signed petitions against the project and nearly 300 prominent historians wrote to the gaming board, urging its rejection, as did the national leadership of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the American Legion.
Rep. Paul Clymer (R-Bucks County), a member of the Pennsylvania Gaming Oversight Committee, last month introduced House Bill 1179, which would amend the state's Gaming Act to create a 10-mile buffer around Gettysburg national Military Park. Upon introduction, the legislation had gathered 23 bipartisan cosponsors from districts across the state. According to the poll, 59 percent of Pennsylvanians and 64 percent of central Pennsylvania voters expressed support for the bill.
The independent poll was commissioned by the Civil War Trust, an historic land preservation group, which also opposed a similar, unsuccessful proposal to bring gambling to Gettysburg in 2006. Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, well known as one of the most credible and accurate independent polling firms in the nation, conducted the poll from April 4–6, 2011. For the statewide sampling, a total of 625 registered voters were interviewed by telephone, with an additional sample of 400 registered voters in Adams County. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points on statewide questions and +/- 5 percentage points for Adams County.
The Civil War Trust is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation's endangered Civil War battlefields and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds through education and heritage tourism. To date, the Trust has preserved more than 30,000 acres of battlefield land in 20 states, including 800 acres at Gettysburg. Learn more at www.civilwar.org.
SOURCE Civil War Trust
By Overwhelming Margins, Pennsylvania Voters Oppose Gettysburg Casino Proposal
New poll finds that two-thirds of Pennsylvanians oppose plans for a casino just one-half mile from America's most famous battleground GETTYSBURG, Pa.
PRNewswire-USNewswire
On the eve of the sesquicentennial commemoration of the American Civil War, a public opinion poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research reveals that Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly oppose plans for a casino 1/2 mile from the historic Gettysburg Battlefield. According to the poll, fully two-thirds of Pennsylvania voters actively oppose the idea of a casino at Gettysburg and nearly 60 percent favor pending legislation that would block future attempts at similar proposals. Further, 57 percent state that, if approved, such a Gettysburg casino would be an embarrassment to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The poll illustrates that resistance to a Gettysburg casino is strong in all regions of the state, although most pronounced in Central and Western Pennsylvania, where nearly 74 percent of all voters expressed opposition. Statewide, just 17 percent of Pennsylvanians indicated they support the idea.
Contrary to the claims of casino proponents, a separate, specific sampling of Adams County voters illustrates that the community is deeply divided on the issue, with 45 percent opposing the casino and only 41 percent supporting it. Opposition, however, is based on proximity to the battlefield rather than hostility toward gaming; were the chosen location further from the battlefield and national park, stated opposition falls to 35 percent of county voters.
Investors with Mason-Dixon Gaming, a company unrelated to the nationally recognized polling firm, are seeking a license on April 14, 2011 from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to operate a Category 3 resort casino. If approved, their project would bring hundreds of slot machines and table games just 1/2 mile from the boundaries of Gettysburg National Military Park.
Since it was announced last year, the proposal has drawn immense opposition. Tens of thousands of Americans signed petitions against the project and nearly 300 prominent historians wrote to the gaming board, urging its rejection, as did the national leadership of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the American Legion.
Rep. Paul Clymer (R-Bucks County), a member of the Pennsylvania Gaming Oversight Committee, last month introduced House Bill 1179, which would amend the state's Gaming Act to create a 10-mile buffer around Gettysburg national Military Park. Upon introduction, the legislation had gathered 23 bipartisan cosponsors from districts across the state. According to the poll, 59 percent of Pennsylvanians and 64 percent of central Pennsylvania voters expressed support for the bill.
The independent poll was commissioned by the Civil War Trust, an historic land preservation group, which also opposed a similar, unsuccessful proposal to bring gambling to Gettysburg in 2006. Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, well known as one of the most credible and accurate independent polling firms in the nation, conducted the poll from April 4–6, 2011. For the statewide sampling, a total of 625 registered voters were interviewed by telephone, with an additional sample of 400 registered voters in Adams County. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points on statewide questions and +/- 5 percentage points for Adams County.
The Civil War Trust is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation's endangered Civil War battlefields and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds through education and heritage tourism. To date, the Trust has preserved more than 30,000 acres of battlefield land in 20 states, including 800 acres at Gettysburg. Learn more at www.civilwar.org.
SOURCE Civil War Trust
Monday, February 14, 2011
A message from Gettysburg
No Casino Gettysburg Network
Opposition to a proposed casino 1/2 mile from the Gettysburg NMP
A message to all members of No Casino Gettysburg Network
Friends,
Thank you for participating in our online network!
We are still working to save Gettysburg with your help.
Recently we've all had cause to celebrate. Preservationists in Virginia turned back the tide and forced Wal-Mart to abandon its plans to build a supercenter on the Wilderness battlefield. A Wal-Mart spokesperson explained they made the decision because it was simply, “the right thing to do.”
On 2/11/2011, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an Opinion Editorial (reproduced below) from the presidents of the Civil War Trust and the National Parks Conservation Association, two of our staunchest allies, calling on Mason-Dixon, LLC to similarly do the “right thing.”
No Casino Gettysburg couldn’t agree more – now is the time for Mason-Dixon to drop their ill-advised plans. But, until they do – everyone here at No Casino Gettysburg will continue working hard to persuade the Gaming Board to reject this proposal.
That’s where we need your help.
Since this all-volunteer, grassroots organization started 6 years ago, we’ve advertised on television, billboards, radio, newspapers, t-shirts, signs and every other way to make the point: Gettysburg is no place for a casino. But, we can’t stop now. With the decision on Mason-Dixon casino still looming, and legislative talk of more casino licenses coming available, we need to continue moving forward.
(Yes, you read that right – HB65, now in committee, would allow 3-4 more licenses to be sold to the highest bidder anywhere in PA, even though experts say the casino market is saturated. This bill would not effect the current Gettysburg casino application, but would supply future opportunities for casino licenses near Gettysburg even if/when Mason-Dixon is rejected by the Gaming Board. That would extend our battle beyond 2017! If you live in PA please tell your legislator "enough!" and ask your legislator to extinguish un-awarded licenses, or buffer Gettysburg from further attempts.)
Your help is essential. $20 funds our website for a month, $200 pays for nearly a quarter of a major advertisement, $500 puts us on the radio – no matter what you can give – we will make it count and its impact will be long lasting.
You can donate securely on the internet via PAYPAL using your credit card by visiting our site http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com or simply send a check to No Casino Gettysburg, PO Box 4235, Gettysburg PA 17325.
**We are a PA registered non-profit corporation, but we are not yet a formal 501(c)3 organization, so your donations are not tax deductible. However, if you would like a tax deduction for your donation, please visit www.civilwar.org/nocasino, the website of our trusted partner, the Civil War Trust, where you can designate your donation for “Gettysburg casino grassroots fight” and assure both a deduction – and – support for our efforts.
Together, we will save this special place.
Yours for History and Community, Susan Star Paddock, Chair, No Casino Gettysburg
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20110211_For_Pa__casino__a_civics_lesson_from_Wal-Mart.html
For Pa. casino, a civics lesson from Wal-Mart
The mega-retailer has ceded a Civil War battlefield.
By James Lighthizer and Tom Kiernan
Wal-Mart recently made the responsible and welcome decision to abandon its plan to build a supercenter on the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, Va. Just as its permit to build on the Civil War site was about to go to trial, and after enduring what one media outlet called "withering opposition," the nation's largest retailer explained that it "just felt it was the right thing to do."
Wal-Mart thereby gave credence to the notion that we as a people have a duty to preserve, defend, and honor the legacy of those who came before us. Today, the fields and woodlots of the Wilderness Battlefield are safe from this particular threat to their sanctity.
But other historic sites are not so lucky. As well-intentioned as it may be, the proposed Mason-Dixon Casino near Pennsylvania's Gettysburg Battlefield could similarly compromise the integrity of some of the most hallowed ground in our country - ground soaked with the blood of tens of thousands of our ancestors, and further consecrated by the words of Abraham Lincoln as he set the nation on a path toward "a new birth of freedom." If approved, the proposal would allow a casino to operate at the battlefield's edge, just a half-mile from the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park.
Four years ago, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board decided that an application for a gaming hall twice as far from the battlefield was inappropriate. But the controversy continues as another proposal is considered.
America is poised to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War this year. From coast to coast, communities are preparing to pay tribute to its staggering consequences and its role in shaping the country we know today. Now is not the time for division. Rather, let us use this occasion to put controversies behind us.
As the newly inaugurated president of a nation on the brink of a mass fratricide, Abraham Lincoln told his fellow citizens, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot's grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when touched again, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
Today, too, we must remember that we are not enemies, but fellow citizens of a country shaped by the men who fell at Gettysburg, Wilderness, and thousands of other battlefields before, during, and since the Civil War. Though our debates may grow heated, we all share this noble heritage. Divided we can accomplish little, but together we can honor the memory of those who laid down their lives that our nation might thrive, and we can cement for ourselves a legacy worthy of their sacrifices.
If Wal-Mart can change its mind and subjugate financial gain to respect for our national heritage in the case of Wilderness, will Mason-Dixon's investors not consider a similar act of corporate and social responsibility for Gettysburg? The historic preservation community stands ready to welcome them, alongside Wal-Mart, as partners in our ongoing efforts to protect America's sacred Civil War battlefields and other irreplaceable historic sites.
The world may little note what we say here in defense of Gettysburg. But if casino investors rise to the occasion, it may long remember what they do there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Lighthizer and Tom Kiernan are the presidents, respectively, of the Civil War Trust and the National Parks Conservation Association, both of which are members of the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition and have worked in opposition to the current and previous Gettysburg casino proposals.
Visit No Casino Gettysburg Network at: http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
Opposition to a proposed casino 1/2 mile from the Gettysburg NMP
A message to all members of No Casino Gettysburg Network
Friends,
Thank you for participating in our online network!
We are still working to save Gettysburg with your help.
Recently we've all had cause to celebrate. Preservationists in Virginia turned back the tide and forced Wal-Mart to abandon its plans to build a supercenter on the Wilderness battlefield. A Wal-Mart spokesperson explained they made the decision because it was simply, “the right thing to do.”
On 2/11/2011, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an Opinion Editorial (reproduced below) from the presidents of the Civil War Trust and the National Parks Conservation Association, two of our staunchest allies, calling on Mason-Dixon, LLC to similarly do the “right thing.”
No Casino Gettysburg couldn’t agree more – now is the time for Mason-Dixon to drop their ill-advised plans. But, until they do – everyone here at No Casino Gettysburg will continue working hard to persuade the Gaming Board to reject this proposal.
That’s where we need your help.
Since this all-volunteer, grassroots organization started 6 years ago, we’ve advertised on television, billboards, radio, newspapers, t-shirts, signs and every other way to make the point: Gettysburg is no place for a casino. But, we can’t stop now. With the decision on Mason-Dixon casino still looming, and legislative talk of more casino licenses coming available, we need to continue moving forward.
(Yes, you read that right – HB65, now in committee, would allow 3-4 more licenses to be sold to the highest bidder anywhere in PA, even though experts say the casino market is saturated. This bill would not effect the current Gettysburg casino application, but would supply future opportunities for casino licenses near Gettysburg even if/when Mason-Dixon is rejected by the Gaming Board. That would extend our battle beyond 2017! If you live in PA please tell your legislator "enough!" and ask your legislator to extinguish un-awarded licenses, or buffer Gettysburg from further attempts.)
Your help is essential. $20 funds our website for a month, $200 pays for nearly a quarter of a major advertisement, $500 puts us on the radio – no matter what you can give – we will make it count and its impact will be long lasting.
You can donate securely on the internet via PAYPAL using your credit card by visiting our site http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com or simply send a check to No Casino Gettysburg, PO Box 4235, Gettysburg PA 17325.
**We are a PA registered non-profit corporation, but we are not yet a formal 501(c)3 organization, so your donations are not tax deductible. However, if you would like a tax deduction for your donation, please visit www.civilwar.org/nocasino, the website of our trusted partner, the Civil War Trust, where you can designate your donation for “Gettysburg casino grassroots fight” and assure both a deduction – and – support for our efforts.
Together, we will save this special place.
Yours for History and Community, Susan Star Paddock, Chair, No Casino Gettysburg
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20110211_For_Pa__casino__a_civics_lesson_from_Wal-Mart.html
For Pa. casino, a civics lesson from Wal-Mart
The mega-retailer has ceded a Civil War battlefield.
By James Lighthizer and Tom Kiernan
Wal-Mart recently made the responsible and welcome decision to abandon its plan to build a supercenter on the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County, Va. Just as its permit to build on the Civil War site was about to go to trial, and after enduring what one media outlet called "withering opposition," the nation's largest retailer explained that it "just felt it was the right thing to do."
Wal-Mart thereby gave credence to the notion that we as a people have a duty to preserve, defend, and honor the legacy of those who came before us. Today, the fields and woodlots of the Wilderness Battlefield are safe from this particular threat to their sanctity.
But other historic sites are not so lucky. As well-intentioned as it may be, the proposed Mason-Dixon Casino near Pennsylvania's Gettysburg Battlefield could similarly compromise the integrity of some of the most hallowed ground in our country - ground soaked with the blood of tens of thousands of our ancestors, and further consecrated by the words of Abraham Lincoln as he set the nation on a path toward "a new birth of freedom." If approved, the proposal would allow a casino to operate at the battlefield's edge, just a half-mile from the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park.
Four years ago, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board decided that an application for a gaming hall twice as far from the battlefield was inappropriate. But the controversy continues as another proposal is considered.
America is poised to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War this year. From coast to coast, communities are preparing to pay tribute to its staggering consequences and its role in shaping the country we know today. Now is not the time for division. Rather, let us use this occasion to put controversies behind us.
As the newly inaugurated president of a nation on the brink of a mass fratricide, Abraham Lincoln told his fellow citizens, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot's grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when touched again, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
Today, too, we must remember that we are not enemies, but fellow citizens of a country shaped by the men who fell at Gettysburg, Wilderness, and thousands of other battlefields before, during, and since the Civil War. Though our debates may grow heated, we all share this noble heritage. Divided we can accomplish little, but together we can honor the memory of those who laid down their lives that our nation might thrive, and we can cement for ourselves a legacy worthy of their sacrifices.
If Wal-Mart can change its mind and subjugate financial gain to respect for our national heritage in the case of Wilderness, will Mason-Dixon's investors not consider a similar act of corporate and social responsibility for Gettysburg? The historic preservation community stands ready to welcome them, alongside Wal-Mart, as partners in our ongoing efforts to protect America's sacred Civil War battlefields and other irreplaceable historic sites.
The world may little note what we say here in defense of Gettysburg. But if casino investors rise to the occasion, it may long remember what they do there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Lighthizer and Tom Kiernan are the presidents, respectively, of the Civil War Trust and the National Parks Conservation Association, both of which are members of the Wilderness Battlefield Coalition and have worked in opposition to the current and previous Gettysburg casino proposals.
Visit No Casino Gettysburg Network at: http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Another Flawed Argument: Tourism
Faneuil Hall attracts more visitors than Disney World, yet the KoolAid consumers would convince you that a Slot Barn would attract tourists.
It requires a willingness to accept facts, lacking among too many so-called leaders to present the truth --
Solid data show that when casinos come to heritage tourism towns, visitation to the historic resource plummets as it did in Vicksburg, Miss., where 40 percent of the historic downtown is now shuttered.
The developers of the Gettysburg Slot Barn have the curious distinction of salivating for a Holyoke location.
Gettysburg casino plan fails on many levels
BY SUSAN STAR PADDOCK
Gettysburg casino promoters are doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Their attempts were rejected by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in 2006, by the Harness Racing Commission in 2007 and 2008, and should be denied this time.
Mason-Dixon’s shocking location sparks the most controversy, but it also has a weak business plan, will damage Gettysburg’s economy and is legally ineligible for a resort casino license.
Mason-Dixon has targeted Cumberland Twp., which surrounds the borough of Gettysburg and is home to most of Gettysburg National Military Park. In 2005, the investors tried to locate one mile from GNMP’s boundary, creating overwhelming opposition. Now they are closer in the Eisenhower Inn, a half-mile from the political boundary of the GNMP.
The Eisenhower does not meet the state’s legal requirement that the Category III license be awarded to a “well-established resort ... having substantial year-round recreational guest amenities.” This license requires gamblers to be hotel guests or buy at least $10 of a resort’s amenities. Seeing little to offer at the Eisenhower, and a plan showing no revenue for resort amenities, the board questioned whether Mason-Dixon wants to circumvent the legislation to create a “mini Class II casino.”
Even Penn National, Mason-Dixon’s own operating partner, feels no loyalty to the plan. Its vice president testified that another applicant would bring more revenue to the state and added that Mason-Dixon’s proposal for 50 table games was “unrealistic.” Mason-Dixon projects that its table games will earn 80 percent more than the state average.
In 2006, the board said there was no “credible evidence” a Gettysburg casino could compete for gamblers and that’s still true. Surrounded by large casinos an hour away, Mason-Dixon is forecasting a locals’ casino with 87 percent of the revenues from rural day-trippers. Investors predict that 30 percent of Adams County adults will lose $1,200 a year. As one board member said, these inflated numbers “don’t add up.”
Mason-Dixon says it’ll produce more battlefield tourists, a claim greeted with skepticism by the board and contradicted by its own data showing little traffic going from the casino to other attractions. A casino is unlike any other business in that it redefines the area it occupies as a casino town. Solid data show that when casinos come to heritage tourism towns, visitation to the historic resource plummets as it did in Vicksburg, Miss., where 40 percent of the historic downtown is now shuttered.
Heritage tourists have been the backbone of Gettysburg’s economy for 147 years. Studies show these customers differ from recreational tourists because they travel for meaning, learning and authenticity and avoid places marred by incompatible development. Casino proponents argue that these customers are being unreasonable to object to a casino near the GNMP, but vacation choices are based on feelings. Heritage tourist avoidance would cost Adams County hundreds of jobs, so while the casino would hire, dozens of mom-and-pop restaurants and tourist shops would be hurt. Because Gettysburg is an anchor for PA tourism, the negative economic impact would extend statewide.
Even unlicensed, this proposal and its predecessors have made locals less trusting and more contentious. The wounds of casino-related skirmishes in community groups were barely healing when this new proposal was uncovered. The Legislature could prevent this with a buffer zone incorporating more of the actual battlefield.
Gettysburg has a long history of exploitive development approved and later removed because of local and national opposition. Since investors’ plans were discovered by a Patriot-News reporter, the board has received more than 41,000 opposition petitions and a deluge of correspondence.
Locally, it’s opposed by the faculty of Gettysburg College and 16 community groups ranging from the Adams County Medical Association to the Adams County Farm Bureau. Statewide, Gov. Rendell, Gov.-elect Corbett, Sen. Casey and Congressman Platts have joined four Pennsylvania newspapers in opposing it.
Nationally, dissent is voiced by the US News and World Report, seven of the most-respected preservation and veterans groups, 275 top historians and 8,870-plus Facebook members. No Casino Gettysburg’s volunteers, inspired by Gettysburg itself, include Ken Burns, David McCullough, Susan Eisenhower and others appearing in our filmed PGCB testimony.
Though their reasons for opposing the project are many, most agree that a casino a half-mile from the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park would forever change the meaning of this place by exploiting these now silent killing fields.
The Battle of Gettysburg left 51,000 American casualties in three days, and in the most memorized speech in the world, President Lincoln asked us to “never forget what they did here.” It was a fight over principles, and the Gettysburg Address forever defined our nation as a union free of slavery. The state should never diminish the context of this monument to national sacrifice or change the identity of Gettysburg. The board should just say no casino Gettysburg.
SUSAN STAR PADDOCK is chair of No Casino Gettysburg.
It requires a willingness to accept facts, lacking among too many so-called leaders to present the truth --
Solid data show that when casinos come to heritage tourism towns, visitation to the historic resource plummets as it did in Vicksburg, Miss., where 40 percent of the historic downtown is now shuttered.
The developers of the Gettysburg Slot Barn have the curious distinction of salivating for a Holyoke location.
Gettysburg casino plan fails on many levels
BY SUSAN STAR PADDOCK
Gettysburg casino promoters are doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Their attempts were rejected by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in 2006, by the Harness Racing Commission in 2007 and 2008, and should be denied this time.
Mason-Dixon’s shocking location sparks the most controversy, but it also has a weak business plan, will damage Gettysburg’s economy and is legally ineligible for a resort casino license.
Mason-Dixon has targeted Cumberland Twp., which surrounds the borough of Gettysburg and is home to most of Gettysburg National Military Park. In 2005, the investors tried to locate one mile from GNMP’s boundary, creating overwhelming opposition. Now they are closer in the Eisenhower Inn, a half-mile from the political boundary of the GNMP.
The Eisenhower does not meet the state’s legal requirement that the Category III license be awarded to a “well-established resort ... having substantial year-round recreational guest amenities.” This license requires gamblers to be hotel guests or buy at least $10 of a resort’s amenities. Seeing little to offer at the Eisenhower, and a plan showing no revenue for resort amenities, the board questioned whether Mason-Dixon wants to circumvent the legislation to create a “mini Class II casino.”
Even Penn National, Mason-Dixon’s own operating partner, feels no loyalty to the plan. Its vice president testified that another applicant would bring more revenue to the state and added that Mason-Dixon’s proposal for 50 table games was “unrealistic.” Mason-Dixon projects that its table games will earn 80 percent more than the state average.
In 2006, the board said there was no “credible evidence” a Gettysburg casino could compete for gamblers and that’s still true. Surrounded by large casinos an hour away, Mason-Dixon is forecasting a locals’ casino with 87 percent of the revenues from rural day-trippers. Investors predict that 30 percent of Adams County adults will lose $1,200 a year. As one board member said, these inflated numbers “don’t add up.”
Mason-Dixon says it’ll produce more battlefield tourists, a claim greeted with skepticism by the board and contradicted by its own data showing little traffic going from the casino to other attractions. A casino is unlike any other business in that it redefines the area it occupies as a casino town. Solid data show that when casinos come to heritage tourism towns, visitation to the historic resource plummets as it did in Vicksburg, Miss., where 40 percent of the historic downtown is now shuttered.
Heritage tourists have been the backbone of Gettysburg’s economy for 147 years. Studies show these customers differ from recreational tourists because they travel for meaning, learning and authenticity and avoid places marred by incompatible development. Casino proponents argue that these customers are being unreasonable to object to a casino near the GNMP, but vacation choices are based on feelings. Heritage tourist avoidance would cost Adams County hundreds of jobs, so while the casino would hire, dozens of mom-and-pop restaurants and tourist shops would be hurt. Because Gettysburg is an anchor for PA tourism, the negative economic impact would extend statewide.
Even unlicensed, this proposal and its predecessors have made locals less trusting and more contentious. The wounds of casino-related skirmishes in community groups were barely healing when this new proposal was uncovered. The Legislature could prevent this with a buffer zone incorporating more of the actual battlefield.
Gettysburg has a long history of exploitive development approved and later removed because of local and national opposition. Since investors’ plans were discovered by a Patriot-News reporter, the board has received more than 41,000 opposition petitions and a deluge of correspondence.
Locally, it’s opposed by the faculty of Gettysburg College and 16 community groups ranging from the Adams County Medical Association to the Adams County Farm Bureau. Statewide, Gov. Rendell, Gov.-elect Corbett, Sen. Casey and Congressman Platts have joined four Pennsylvania newspapers in opposing it.
Nationally, dissent is voiced by the US News and World Report, seven of the most-respected preservation and veterans groups, 275 top historians and 8,870-plus Facebook members. No Casino Gettysburg’s volunteers, inspired by Gettysburg itself, include Ken Burns, David McCullough, Susan Eisenhower and others appearing in our filmed PGCB testimony.
Though their reasons for opposing the project are many, most agree that a casino a half-mile from the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park would forever change the meaning of this place by exploiting these now silent killing fields.
The Battle of Gettysburg left 51,000 American casualties in three days, and in the most memorized speech in the world, President Lincoln asked us to “never forget what they did here.” It was a fight over principles, and the Gettysburg Address forever defined our nation as a union free of slavery. The state should never diminish the context of this monument to national sacrifice or change the identity of Gettysburg. The board should just say no casino Gettysburg.
SUSAN STAR PADDOCK is chair of No Casino Gettysburg.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Lashinger and Penn National: Greed trumps Respect
The Casino Vultures salivating to prey on Holyoke would also hope to desecrate Gettysburg to confirm that greed trumps respect and common sense.
If those Casino Vultures would so easily insult the national character for self-enrichment, what hope Holyoke?
Veterans Unite to Prevent a Casino at Gettysburg
Veterans are again riding to the sound of the guns—to prevent the sound of slot machines echoing across the battlefield at Gettysburg.
For months, historians, preservationists and others have been fighting the proposed construction of a gambling casino near the hallowed ground where the largest battle of the Civil War was fought and President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the most memorable speeches in America’s history. Author and journalist John A. Farrell added his voice in a U.S. News & World Reports opinion piece.
Now a group of American veterans has formed to join the fight against the Gettysburg casino. See the media release below from the Civil War Preservation Trust. The president of the CWPT, James Lighthizer, is a member of Armchair General’s advisory board.
A similar attempt to build a casino at Gettysburg was defeated in 2005.
Click here to watch a video in which Ken Burns, David McCullough, Sam Watterson, Matthew Broderick, Medal of Honor recipient Paul W. Bucha and others make appeals to prevent the casino from being built at Gettysburg.
To view a map showing the proposed location of the Gettysburg casino, click here.
MEDIA RELEASE
(Harrisburg, Pa.) – At a press conference September 21st in the rotunda of the Pennsylvania capital, leading American veterans opposed to a proposal to build a casino near some of America’s most hallowed ground announced the formation of Veterans for Gettysburg. James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT), issued the following statement in support of the new effort:
“Gettysburg holds a special place in the hearts of all Americans, but it is particularly dear to those who have felt the heat of battle. The call to military service is a tie that stretches across the generations and makes all of our nation’s veterans truly one ‘band of brothers.’
“The soldiers who fought our Civil War — the veterans who helped establish the Gettysburg Battlefield as we know it today, erecting profound monuments to their fallen comrades and returning time and again to reflect on the meaning of that hallowed ground — are no longer with us, leaving it to our generation to remember their sacrifices and, when necessary, speak on their behalf. And who better to take up the standard of respect and decency in their name but those who also know what it means to serve their country in uniform.
“Today in Harrisburg, some of our country’s leading former servicemen joined together under the banner of Veterans for Gettysburg and announced an open letter from America’s veterans to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. In asking that this inappropriate proposal be rejected, they write: ‘As you would honor our service, we ask that you remember theirs.’
“I commend these brave men and women for answering the call to defend Gettysburg, just as they answered the call to protect their nation. Further, I encourage all members of the Civil War Preservation Trust and all those who respect America’s past who served in the armed services to join the effort. Military veterans — regardless of era or branch of service — are
invited to sign the open letter by visiting www.ipetitions.com/petition/veteransforgettysburg."
With 55,000 members, CWPT is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation’s remaining Civil War battlefields and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds through education and heritage tourism. Since 1987, the organization has helped save more than 29,000 acres of battlefield land in 20 states, including 700 at Gettysburg. The CWPT website is located at www.civilwar.org.
Don’t Build a Casino at Gettysburg
By John Aloysius Farrell
Filmmaker Ken Burns, author David McCullough, and actors Sam Waterston and Matthew Broderick joined Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha in a 10-minute protest film that was played by Gettysburg preservationists this morning, as the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board opened hearings on whether the state should grant a license for a casino at the historic Civil War battlefield.
Hundreds of individuals and dozens of community groups waiting to speak were treated to the cinematic presentation by Susan Star Paddock, the chair of the grassroots group, No Casino Gettysburg.
"People wonder how a small-town nonprofit could persuade celebrities to appear free," she said. "These … individuals were simply asked. It is Gettysburg itself, and the reverence America feels for this hallowed ground that persuaded them to join our cause."
It is the second attempt for local developer David LeVan, whose initial venture was defeated by a coalition of activists in 2006. He wants to run his gambling resort at the site of the current Eisenhower Inn, a few hundred yards from Gettysburg National Military Park. (Which is misleading, since battlefield boundaries are drawn very narrowly, and generally don't include all the sites of encampments, field hospitals, and fighting.) The American Legion calls the idea "a national disgrace," and it is opposed by hundreds of historians, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and my pals at the Civil War Preservation Trust, who alerted me to the controversy.
Surely, even in these tough economic times, Pennsylvania will recognize that glitzy commercial development on the battlefield's borders can spoil the character of the town and the battleground which, in its carefully preserved condition, lures thousands of tourists to Gettysburg. Do the people of south central Pennsylvania want to kill the goose that lays golden eggs? For a few hundred busboy, waitress, and croupier jobs?
And though I'm sure that the soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg knew their way around a deck of cards, I cannot imagine, after seeing their comrades slaughtered in the Wheat Field, or charging up Cemetery Ridge, that they'd want the neon and clang, and the legalized thievery of a casino, on the grounds on which they marched and fought and died that day.
Build it in Harrisburg. Or York.
With 55,000 members, CWPT is the largest nonprofit battlefield preservation organization in the United States. Its mission is to preserve our nation’s remaining Civil War battlefields and to promote appreciation of these hallowed grounds through education and heritage tourism. Since 1987, the organization has helped save more than 29,000 acres of battlefield land in 20 states, including 700 at Gettysburg. The CWPT website is located at www.civilwar.org.
Don’t Build a Casino at Gettysburg
By John Aloysius Farrell
Filmmaker Ken Burns, author David McCullough, and actors Sam Waterston and Matthew Broderick joined Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha in a 10-minute protest film that was played by Gettysburg preservationists this morning, as the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board opened hearings on whether the state should grant a license for a casino at the historic Civil War battlefield.
Hundreds of individuals and dozens of community groups waiting to speak were treated to the cinematic presentation by Susan Star Paddock, the chair of the grassroots group, No Casino Gettysburg.
"People wonder how a small-town nonprofit could persuade celebrities to appear free," she said. "These … individuals were simply asked. It is Gettysburg itself, and the reverence America feels for this hallowed ground that persuaded them to join our cause."
It is the second attempt for local developer David LeVan, whose initial venture was defeated by a coalition of activists in 2006. He wants to run his gambling resort at the site of the current Eisenhower Inn, a few hundred yards from Gettysburg National Military Park. (Which is misleading, since battlefield boundaries are drawn very narrowly, and generally don't include all the sites of encampments, field hospitals, and fighting.) The American Legion calls the idea "a national disgrace," and it is opposed by hundreds of historians, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and my pals at the Civil War Preservation Trust, who alerted me to the controversy.
Surely, even in these tough economic times, Pennsylvania will recognize that glitzy commercial development on the battlefield's borders can spoil the character of the town and the battleground which, in its carefully preserved condition, lures thousands of tourists to Gettysburg. Do the people of south central Pennsylvania want to kill the goose that lays golden eggs? For a few hundred busboy, waitress, and croupier jobs?
And though I'm sure that the soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg knew their way around a deck of cards, I cannot imagine, after seeing their comrades slaughtered in the Wheat Field, or charging up Cemetery Ridge, that they'd want the neon and clang, and the legalized thievery of a casino, on the grounds on which they marched and fought and died that day.
Build it in Harrisburg. Or York.
Here's a report that well worth reading --
Comparative Analysis of Mason-Dixon’s Local Impact Report
Posted on 08 May 2010 by getty
Mason-Dixon’s Local Impact Report [LIR] proves their proposed casino is a “locals” casino that will take more from Adams County than it returns. This is a significant change from Crossroads’ 2006 proposal. In that proposal, Crossroads claimed that Adams would provide 17% of the casino’s revenue – 6% from residents and 11% from existing overnight hotel guests. At the time, we debated Crossroad’s projection for Adams as too low.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Gettysburg: A video & a vision
Gettysburg: A video & a vision
Saturday, October 2, 2010
This film will be our legacy to future generations that will come to Gettysburg.
On Aug. 31, a hearing was held by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Gettysburg to determine public opinion on a proposed gambling casino one-half mile from the boundary of the Gettysburg National Military Park and Battlefield. One of the presentations during that hearing was a video shown by a volunteer group, No-Casino Gettysburg, titled "Our Gettysburg Legacy."
A statement made after the showing of the video attested to the fact that everything connected with this project was donated, including everyone who appeared on screen, the musical scoring, all those who worked behind the scenes, all of the equipment necessary to make the video, and the time and effort of every person listed in the credits.
Not one cent was paid to produce this most beautiful and touching commentary about what Gettysburg means to America and her citizens and why it should be protected forever. The video can be viewed at www.civilwar.org/video/our-gettysburg-legacy.html.
This film will be our legacy to future generations that will come to Gettysburg. They will be generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them by brave men, both North and South.
The battlefield will still be here, waiting like an open book, and they will walk these deathless fields with the now silent cannon, the monuments and the graves, and it will be their turn to ponder and dream.
Dan Siderio
Gettysburg
Saturday, October 2, 2010
This film will be our legacy to future generations that will come to Gettysburg.
On Aug. 31, a hearing was held by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Gettysburg to determine public opinion on a proposed gambling casino one-half mile from the boundary of the Gettysburg National Military Park and Battlefield. One of the presentations during that hearing was a video shown by a volunteer group, No-Casino Gettysburg, titled "Our Gettysburg Legacy."
A statement made after the showing of the video attested to the fact that everything connected with this project was donated, including everyone who appeared on screen, the musical scoring, all those who worked behind the scenes, all of the equipment necessary to make the video, and the time and effort of every person listed in the credits.
Not one cent was paid to produce this most beautiful and touching commentary about what Gettysburg means to America and her citizens and why it should be protected forever. The video can be viewed at www.civilwar.org/video/our-gettysburg-legacy.html.
This film will be our legacy to future generations that will come to Gettysburg. They will be generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them by brave men, both North and South.
The battlefield will still be here, waiting like an open book, and they will walk these deathless fields with the now silent cannon, the monuments and the graves, and it will be their turn to ponder and dream.
Dan Siderio
Gettysburg
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Vets' group opposes casino
Vets' group opposes casino
BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER Times Staff Writer
A group of veterans formed a new anti-casino group Tuesday morning in Harrisburg, in opposition to the proposed Mason Dixon Resort & Casino in Cumberland Township.
The group, calling itself Veterans for Gettysburg, includes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the American Legion, and the Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service. Veterans for Gettysburg describes itself as a “collection of service veterans from around the nation who believe that the presence of a casino operation so close to the scene of some of the nation’s most blood-soaked ground would disrespect the sacrifices made by previous generations of American soldiers.”
“If Gettysburg is truly hallowed ground, then it should be treated as such,” Vietnam Memorial Fund President Jan Scruggs wrote in a press release. “It should be a place for study, reflection and contemplation. It should not be a place for gambling.”
In a prepared statement, the veterans alliance specifically objected to the project “that would transform an existing, family-friendly hotel complex just one half-mile from the edge of Gettysburg National Military Park into a gambling resort.” The Emmitsburg Road property is zoned for commercial development, and is already home to a 35-year-old hotel with 300 rooms, a sports complex, and privately owned residences.
“We need to be sensitive to the fact that this is a hallowed resting place for our brothers-in-arms, and protect it from such inappropriate development,” American Legion Executive Director Peter Gaytan wrote in a statement.
The Gettysburg Times was not invited to Tuesday's press conference, hosted by Preservation Pennsylvania and the Civil War Preservation Trust. The national American Legion organization, which represents 2.5 million veterans, announced opposition to the Mason Dixon project Aug. 13, without consulting area organizations.
The veterans’ alliance also announced that it was launching a letter-writing campaign, aimed at generating opposition to the Mason Dixon project. State gambling regulators are accepting written testimony on the project through late October.
The seven-member gaming board is expected to award the license by the end of the year. There are four applicants, including LeVan and Lashinger, vying for the license, which permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games.
BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER Times Staff Writer
A group of veterans formed a new anti-casino group Tuesday morning in Harrisburg, in opposition to the proposed Mason Dixon Resort & Casino in Cumberland Township.
The group, calling itself Veterans for Gettysburg, includes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the American Legion, and the Chief Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service. Veterans for Gettysburg describes itself as a “collection of service veterans from around the nation who believe that the presence of a casino operation so close to the scene of some of the nation’s most blood-soaked ground would disrespect the sacrifices made by previous generations of American soldiers.”
“If Gettysburg is truly hallowed ground, then it should be treated as such,” Vietnam Memorial Fund President Jan Scruggs wrote in a press release. “It should be a place for study, reflection and contemplation. It should not be a place for gambling.”
In a prepared statement, the veterans alliance specifically objected to the project “that would transform an existing, family-friendly hotel complex just one half-mile from the edge of Gettysburg National Military Park into a gambling resort.” The Emmitsburg Road property is zoned for commercial development, and is already home to a 35-year-old hotel with 300 rooms, a sports complex, and privately owned residences.
“We need to be sensitive to the fact that this is a hallowed resting place for our brothers-in-arms, and protect it from such inappropriate development,” American Legion Executive Director Peter Gaytan wrote in a statement.
The Gettysburg Times was not invited to Tuesday's press conference, hosted by Preservation Pennsylvania and the Civil War Preservation Trust. The national American Legion organization, which represents 2.5 million veterans, announced opposition to the Mason Dixon project Aug. 13, without consulting area organizations.
The veterans’ alliance also announced that it was launching a letter-writing campaign, aimed at generating opposition to the Mason Dixon project. State gambling regulators are accepting written testimony on the project through late October.
The seven-member gaming board is expected to award the license by the end of the year. There are four applicants, including LeVan and Lashinger, vying for the license, which permits up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Keep casino off hallowed ground
Keep casino off hallowed ground
WE HAVE nothing against gambling, per se.
Except, well, the obvious things.
Too many people become addicted to it.
Too many of those addicts are people who can ill afford to lose the money they have.
Recent stories have not painted a pretty picture of the whole “gaming” culture.
• A York woman created a stir among readers when she wrote a letter to the editor thanking a good Samaritan for returning her food stamp card that she lost at the Hollywood Casino. She later said she gambled only about $5, but that did little to temper taxpayer outrage.
• A recent editorial noted the case of a former York Police officer trying to get into the ARD program to wipe away a record for stealing more than $25,000 from the police evidence room to support a gambling addiction.
We could go on.
The proper role for the state is to regulate and tax the activity to make sure it gives something back to the community.
And so, the state allowed a number of slots parlors that are now morphing into casinos – and the state is considering proposals for new casino sites.
So be it.
But please not in Gettysburg, just a short hike from the site of one of the most bloody battles ever waged on American soil.
As many respected historians have argued, it’s just not an appropriate place for a casino.
David LeVan, the Gettysburg businessman behind the proposal, is a good guy who has done a lot for his community. But we must respectfully oppose his proposal.
But considering all the bad things that come with gambling, it’s just not worth it.
And we must look at the wider picture – the grand scope of history. Gettysburg holds a pivotal place in this nation. It is, arguably, the place where America was saved. It is hallowed ground. That’s the message. Let’s not mix it.
What a shame it would be to tarnish that, turning it into a “gaming” destination, for the sake of a few jobs.
York Daily Record, Pa.
WE HAVE nothing against gambling, per se.
Except, well, the obvious things.
Too many people become addicted to it.
Too many of those addicts are people who can ill afford to lose the money they have.
Recent stories have not painted a pretty picture of the whole “gaming” culture.
• A York woman created a stir among readers when she wrote a letter to the editor thanking a good Samaritan for returning her food stamp card that she lost at the Hollywood Casino. She later said she gambled only about $5, but that did little to temper taxpayer outrage.
• A recent editorial noted the case of a former York Police officer trying to get into the ARD program to wipe away a record for stealing more than $25,000 from the police evidence room to support a gambling addiction.
We could go on.
The proper role for the state is to regulate and tax the activity to make sure it gives something back to the community.
And so, the state allowed a number of slots parlors that are now morphing into casinos – and the state is considering proposals for new casino sites.
So be it.
But please not in Gettysburg, just a short hike from the site of one of the most bloody battles ever waged on American soil.
As many respected historians have argued, it’s just not an appropriate place for a casino.
David LeVan, the Gettysburg businessman behind the proposal, is a good guy who has done a lot for his community. But we must respectfully oppose his proposal.
But considering all the bad things that come with gambling, it’s just not worth it.
And we must look at the wider picture – the grand scope of history. Gettysburg holds a pivotal place in this nation. It is, arguably, the place where America was saved. It is hallowed ground. That’s the message. Let’s not mix it.
What a shame it would be to tarnish that, turning it into a “gaming” destination, for the sake of a few jobs.
York Daily Record, Pa.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Say no to Gettysburg casino
Say no to Gettysburg casino
We have nothing against gambling, per se.
Except, well, the obvious things.
Too many people become addicted to it.
Too many of those addicts are people who can ill afford to lose what little money they have.
Even among people who might not be addicted to gambling, many are low-income folks who probably should spend their money on wiser things than "gaming."
Recent stories have not painted a pretty picture of the whole "gaming" culture.
State lawmakers recently proposed legislation outlawing leaving kids under 13 alone in a car - prompted, they said, by recent reports of children being left alone in casino parking lots while their parents "gamed." Parenting is not a game (though that legislation does seem a bit extreme).
Closer to home, a York woman created a stir among readers when she wrote a letter to the editor thanking a good Samaritan for returning her food stamp card that she lost at the Hollywood Casino. She later said she gambled only about $5, but that did little to temper taxpayer outrage.
Speaking of taxes, the slots parlors haven't exactly eliminated property taxes in Pennsylvania - though admittedly that was a million-to-one long shot that no one ever promised.
A recent special editorial noted the case of a former York Police officer trying to get into the ARD program to wipe away a record for stealing more than $25,000 from the police evidence room to support a gambling addiction.
We could go on.
So yes, "gaming" has some baggage - a trunk full of social ills.
That said, we're not so naive as to think that people are going to stop gambling because it can be bad for them and their family.
It's been going on for millennia - and no doubt will continue until doomsday.
The proper role for the state is to regulate and tax the activity to make sure it gives something back to the community.
And so, the state allowed a number of slots parlors that are now morphing into casinos - and the state is considering proposals for new casino sites.
So be it.
But please not in Gettysburg, just a short hike from the site of one of the most bloody battles ever waged on American soil.
As many respected historians have argued, it's just not an appropriate place for a casino.
David LeVan, the Gettysburg businessman behind the proposal, is a good guy who has done a lot for his community. But we must respectfully oppose his proposal.
Yes, the casino would bring jobs - and that's tempting in this dreadful economy. Many in Adams County support the proposal on that rationale alone - and that's understandable.
But considering all the bad things that come with gambling, it's just not worth it.
And we must look at the wider picture - the grand scope of history. Gettysburg holds a pivotal place in this nation. It is, arguably, the place where America was saved. It is hallowed ground. That's the message. Let's not mix it.
What a shame it would be to tarnish that, turning it into a "gaming" destination, for the sake of a few jobs.
We have nothing against gambling, per se.
Except, well, the obvious things.
Too many people become addicted to it.
Too many of those addicts are people who can ill afford to lose what little money they have.
Even among people who might not be addicted to gambling, many are low-income folks who probably should spend their money on wiser things than "gaming."
Recent stories have not painted a pretty picture of the whole "gaming" culture.
State lawmakers recently proposed legislation outlawing leaving kids under 13 alone in a car - prompted, they said, by recent reports of children being left alone in casino parking lots while their parents "gamed." Parenting is not a game (though that legislation does seem a bit extreme).
Closer to home, a York woman created a stir among readers when she wrote a letter to the editor thanking a good Samaritan for returning her food stamp card that she lost at the Hollywood Casino. She later said she gambled only about $5, but that did little to temper taxpayer outrage.
Speaking of taxes, the slots parlors haven't exactly eliminated property taxes in Pennsylvania - though admittedly that was a million-to-one long shot that no one ever promised.
A recent special editorial noted the case of a former York Police officer trying to get into the ARD program to wipe away a record for stealing more than $25,000 from the police evidence room to support a gambling addiction.
We could go on.
So yes, "gaming" has some baggage - a trunk full of social ills.
That said, we're not so naive as to think that people are going to stop gambling because it can be bad for them and their family.
It's been going on for millennia - and no doubt will continue until doomsday.
The proper role for the state is to regulate and tax the activity to make sure it gives something back to the community.
And so, the state allowed a number of slots parlors that are now morphing into casinos - and the state is considering proposals for new casino sites.
So be it.
But please not in Gettysburg, just a short hike from the site of one of the most bloody battles ever waged on American soil.
As many respected historians have argued, it's just not an appropriate place for a casino.
David LeVan, the Gettysburg businessman behind the proposal, is a good guy who has done a lot for his community. But we must respectfully oppose his proposal.
Yes, the casino would bring jobs - and that's tempting in this dreadful economy. Many in Adams County support the proposal on that rationale alone - and that's understandable.
But considering all the bad things that come with gambling, it's just not worth it.
And we must look at the wider picture - the grand scope of history. Gettysburg holds a pivotal place in this nation. It is, arguably, the place where America was saved. It is hallowed ground. That's the message. Let's not mix it.
What a shame it would be to tarnish that, turning it into a "gaming" destination, for the sake of a few jobs.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
No Casino Gettysburg Network
No Casino Gettysburg Network
Opposition to a proposed casino 1/2 mile from the Gettysburg NMP
A message to all members of No Casino Gettysburg Network
Friends,
We feel great!!! Thanks to you all we are in a very good position in our fight against a casino 1/2 mile from the boundary of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
The PGCB public hearing went 1.5 days but has finished.
No Casino Gettysburg's community group testimony by Susan Star Paddock was a film created and done entirely by volunteers, with locals and 8 well known individuals:
http://www.civilwar.org/video/our-gettysburg-legacy.html
A second, 2 minute film of the Gettysburg Address is similarly moving: http://www.civilwar.org/video/the-gettysburg-address.html
The story has generated hundreds of stories nationwide. Many are posted on Facebook
Here's an editorial in the US NEWs and World Report
http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/john-farrell/2010/09/01/dont-build-a-casino-at-gettysburg
What to DO NOW
If you are willing to take 5 minutes, please do the following:
Please send the link to this outstanding film to everyone you know.
Send your own message, in your own words, to the Gaming Board that you oppose a license to Mason Dixon Casino in Gettysburg PA.
All public comments FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD will be included in their considerations.
It doesn't matter where you live. It matters that you are heard and that you are counted.
This link will take you directly to the Gaming Board Web site form to enter your comments into the official records:
www.speakforthefallen.org The deadline for written comments is October 31, but don't wait!
More? Please sign our petition at http://nocasinogettysburg.org/sign-the-petition
If you are on Facebook, follow our adventures and become part of the story at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=353665810098&ref=ts
Yours for history and community,
Susan Star Paddock, Chair, No Casino Gettysburg
http://nocasinogettysburg.org/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=353665810098&ref=ts
Discussions at http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com
e-mail nocasinogettysburg@live.com
Visit No Casino Gettysburg Network at: http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
Opposition to a proposed casino 1/2 mile from the Gettysburg NMP
A message to all members of No Casino Gettysburg Network
Friends,
We feel great!!! Thanks to you all we are in a very good position in our fight against a casino 1/2 mile from the boundary of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
The PGCB public hearing went 1.5 days but has finished.
No Casino Gettysburg's community group testimony by Susan Star Paddock was a film created and done entirely by volunteers, with locals and 8 well known individuals:
http://www.civilwar.org/video/our-gettysburg-legacy.html
A second, 2 minute film of the Gettysburg Address is similarly moving: http://www.civilwar.org/video/the-gettysburg-address.html
The story has generated hundreds of stories nationwide. Many are posted on Facebook
Here's an editorial in the US NEWs and World Report
http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/john-farrell/2010/09/01/dont-build-a-casino-at-gettysburg
What to DO NOW
If you are willing to take 5 minutes, please do the following:
Please send the link to this outstanding film to everyone you know.
Send your own message, in your own words, to the Gaming Board that you oppose a license to Mason Dixon Casino in Gettysburg PA.
All public comments FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD will be included in their considerations.
It doesn't matter where you live. It matters that you are heard and that you are counted.
This link will take you directly to the Gaming Board Web site form to enter your comments into the official records:
www.speakforthefallen.org The deadline for written comments is October 31, but don't wait!
More? Please sign our petition at http://nocasinogettysburg.org/sign-the-petition
If you are on Facebook, follow our adventures and become part of the story at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=353665810098&ref=ts
Yours for history and community,
Susan Star Paddock, Chair, No Casino Gettysburg
http://nocasinogettysburg.org/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=353665810098&ref=ts
Discussions at http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com
e-mail nocasinogettysburg@live.com
Visit No Casino Gettysburg Network at: http://nocasinogettysburg.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network
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