Letter: No to racino (Printed Nov. 2, 2007)
Editor:
I’m fearful. I’m fearful that many Scarborough voters are going to do just what the Blethen newspapers recently did. They came out in support of a racino for Washington County. They did this not because they think racinos are a good idea, but more to show support for the Indians.
I hope Scarborough voters think this through a little more than the editors at the "Press Herald" did. At first glance, it does seem rather easy to support. There’s no question that the Indians need lots of help. They have scarcely a penny left of the $80 million they got in the Land Claims Settlement (in which, by the way, they legally gave up their rights to operate a casino.) And their multi-million PIN mail-order drug business just recently self-destructed.
So, now they say they “need” a racino. If only they could get a racino, all their problems would then go away. But it doesn’t have to be a very big racino. They can get by with just a few hundred machines, no where near the 1500 Bangor will eventually be saddled with. And they are to be confined to such a remote area, how can that possibly affect anything going on down here? And, of course, all the promoters are making all the usual promises about wanting to be good, corporate citizens, and about bringing in lots of good paying jobs, economic development, etc.
It all has a familiar ring to it – sort of like the “Promises Made, Promises Kept.” slogan we hear from Penn National from time to time. Yet, how did those promises work out?
Let’s look and see. Scarborough – and Bangor, too – were promised that there would be only a “limited number” of slots and that they be confined to the particular locations “where gambling already exists.” As I recall, the promoters back then never once said they’d be 1,500 machines. That doesn’t sound at all like a “limited number.” And what twisted strain of logic do you use to say that gambling already existed at the present site of Hollywood Slots? Or in Brewer, where Penn National threatened to move when city officials in Bangor weren’t moving fast enough for them.
Whether we ended up with 400, 600 or 1,500 machines doesn’t really matter that much. Whether the operation is located six inches or six miles away from the original site doesn’t matter that much either. But what does matter is the concept of being a good, above-board corporate citizen or business, one who respects the wishes and intentions of his neighbor. It’s truly amazing how quickly that can be thrown out. In Scarborough, it literally was overnight! When it became apparent that their “opportunity” to help Scarborough was not going to pass in November 2003, Shawn Scott and representatives from the Downs were already out the next morning scouring the countryside to find some town-any town-to take them in. It turns out “Scarborough” really didn’t have to mean “Scarborough.” We learned, after the vote, that Scarborough could mean nearly any one of the surrounding communities. Apparently, the promoters saw no need to draw our attention to this little detail beforehand.
A complete list of the broken “promises” and unforeseen developments that have taken place since 2003 is too long to state here. Nevertheless, if a racino was wrong in 2000 and wrong again in 2003 – and it was! – it’s just as wrong today for all the same reasons. I’m just afraid that many voters may loose sight of that in a misguided effort to help the Indians.
Fred Kilfoil
Portland
I’m fearful. I’m fearful that many Scarborough voters are going to do just what the Blethen newspapers recently did. They came out in support of a racino for Washington County. They did this not because they think racinos are a good idea, but more to show support for the Indians.
I hope Scarborough voters think this through a little more than the editors at the "Press Herald" did. At first glance, it does seem rather easy to support. There’s no question that the Indians need lots of help. They have scarcely a penny left of the $80 million they got in the Land Claims Settlement (in which, by the way, they legally gave up their rights to operate a casino.) And their multi-million PIN mail-order drug business just recently self-destructed.
So, now they say they “need” a racino. If only they could get a racino, all their problems would then go away. But it doesn’t have to be a very big racino. They can get by with just a few hundred machines, no where near the 1500 Bangor will eventually be saddled with. And they are to be confined to such a remote area, how can that possibly affect anything going on down here? And, of course, all the promoters are making all the usual promises about wanting to be good, corporate citizens, and about bringing in lots of good paying jobs, economic development, etc.
It all has a familiar ring to it – sort of like the “Promises Made, Promises Kept.” slogan we hear from Penn National from time to time. Yet, how did those promises work out?
Let’s look and see. Scarborough – and Bangor, too – were promised that there would be only a “limited number” of slots and that they be confined to the particular locations “where gambling already exists.” As I recall, the promoters back then never once said they’d be 1,500 machines. That doesn’t sound at all like a “limited number.” And what twisted strain of logic do you use to say that gambling already existed at the present site of Hollywood Slots? Or in Brewer, where Penn National threatened to move when city officials in Bangor weren’t moving fast enough for them.
Whether we ended up with 400, 600 or 1,500 machines doesn’t really matter that much. Whether the operation is located six inches or six miles away from the original site doesn’t matter that much either. But what does matter is the concept of being a good, above-board corporate citizen or business, one who respects the wishes and intentions of his neighbor. It’s truly amazing how quickly that can be thrown out. In Scarborough, it literally was overnight! When it became apparent that their “opportunity” to help Scarborough was not going to pass in November 2003, Shawn Scott and representatives from the Downs were already out the next morning scouring the countryside to find some town-any town-to take them in. It turns out “Scarborough” really didn’t have to mean “Scarborough.” We learned, after the vote, that Scarborough could mean nearly any one of the surrounding communities. Apparently, the promoters saw no need to draw our attention to this little detail beforehand.
A complete list of the broken “promises” and unforeseen developments that have taken place since 2003 is too long to state here. Nevertheless, if a racino was wrong in 2000 and wrong again in 2003 – and it was! – it’s just as wrong today for all the same reasons. I’m just afraid that many voters may loose sight of that in a misguided effort to help the Indians.
Fred Kilfoil
Portland
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