Once and for all: this web site is not accusing anyone at CasinoFacts of being a racist.by Hal Brown 7/31/07 Read the editorial, CERA rears its ugly head, below. A member of the most well-known anti-Indian sovereignty group, Carol Kelly has made it her business to involve herself in trying to stop the casino. Check the letters to the editor this week. The vice president of a similar group in New York has also weighed in. All we ever asked was for CasinoFacts to formally issue a statement repudiating the anti-Indian rights goals of these groups. Note that CERA and similar groups are considered by Native Americans to be racist and similar to the Klan. Why haven't they done this? It seems to have been a straight forward request. Just because it came from this web site doesn't mean it should be ignored. A disavowal of any connection whatsoever with Carol Kelly or members of CERA or similar groups is not, as Mark Bellanger says, my asking him to respond to outlandish claims since I made no claims at all. Carol Kelly's letter to The Enterprise and the letter to the editor to this web site from Scott E. Peterman weren't solicited at the last minute in an attempt to ratchet up the rhetoric. Read the links. Decide for yourself what these groups are all about. Ask yourself if we want them involved in our town business whether you are for or against the casino. These groups could very well involve themselves in the next stage of fighting the casino with legal challenges. If members of CasinoFacts decide to continue this fight, as is their right, they need to seriously think about the morality and wisdom of an alliance, formal or informal, with anti-Indian rights groups. The editors of this web site do not question the sincerity and passion of those we've encountered locally who oppose the casino because they are genuinely concerned about crime, the morality of gambling as a revenue source, gambling addiction, losing the rural character of the town and similar issues. We just want those who read Casino-Friend who may be associated with CasinoFacts, and others who are trying to keep apprised of what both sides are communicating online, that outsiders with very different motivations may be trying to intrude on what should be a purely Middleboro issue. A letter from Middleboro casino study committee chair Brian Giovanoni As the chairman of the Gambling Casino Study Committee, it has given me great pleasure to work with the six other professional members, selected by the Town Moderator, who each gave 110% over the last two months.
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What's next for Casino-Friend.com?by Hal Brown, Editor 7/29/07 The short answer is that I don't know except that I don't intend to close it. I'd like to at the very least keep it as a gathering place for everyone who considered themselves to be a casino friend. Of course this really translates to having been a friend of the Mashpee Wampanoag and a supporter of an enduring partnership between their tribe and current non-Mashpee residents of Middleboro. The name of the web site was chosen the day after the Nichols Middle School meeting when everyone, supporters and detractors alike, seemed to be focusing with tunnel vision on a gaming complex coming to Middleboro. I chose the web name because it was the only one available with the word casino and the word friend that wasn't taken. In retrospect knowing what I know now, I might have selected a different name, but what's done is done and I plan to keep this one. But what I suspect many are wondering is what this web site will focus on. My hope is to simply document the smooth progress of the resort being built. I'd like to take pictures of the ground breaking and phases on construction and just be the photographer guy. But I'm not so naive as to think that there won't be continued battles to be fought as various forces try to thwart the will of the residents of Middleboro as expressed yesterday's in Town Meeting. If there is any way this web site can continue to help by continuing to seek out the truth and lay open lies for objective eyes to see, we intend to do so. The ace of hearts and a shard of ancient Mashpee history Joe Freitas (associate editor) and I aren't really superstitious. But considering the outcome of the vote, I want to share what sounds an awful lot like two omens. A few days before the Town Meeting, Joe was digging in one of his many gardens on land that had been a major home to the Wampanoag for generations. He hadn't been doing this for but a few minutes when he turned up a piece of a soapstone Indian bowl some 4,000 years old. Of course, he brought this to the meeting and I admit when I touched it I had to put it briefly to my lips, and I felt... well, I felt something. But I had an article I'd just found in my pocket that seemed to bridge the current day to the day times that bowl was being used in a symbolic way. When my father-in-law dropped me off near the high school, as I got out of the car I looked down and there on the ground, facing up, was a playing card. Of all 52 cards it could have been (and how often do you get out of your car and see a playing card?), it was an ace, not of clubs, spades, or diamonds, but of hearts. So both Joe and I each had our tokens in our pockets when the residents of Middleboro rubbed elbows with each other in an open field, voiced their opinions, and cast their votes on the most important issue ever to come before Town Meeting. For those who are afraid I know that many residents are genuinely afraid that the casino will bring, to put it bluntly, horrible things to Middleboro. Many actively fought the casino through their organization and I assume many or most of them have been totally sincere in the reasons they expressed in public. Several leaders of the anti-casino movement are members of the human service professions. I respect their opinions as being based on their experience and expertise. But even clinicians disagree. I want to state that as a clinical social worker and former mental health center director who has treated individuals and couples with psycho-social disorders for 37 years, I would never have endorsed this casino if I didn't think that the cons would be mitigated, and that it was the best thing for the people of Middleboro. I say to those who are now afraid that the dire predictions made by those activists fighting the casino will come true, that while time will tell, I truly believe your greatest fears will not be realized. Compulsive gambling will almost certainly increase, after all this is a casino, but there is already a move by organizations like the Massachusetts Commission on Compulsive Gambling to have counselors at the casino. My own viewpoint is that the best treatment for compulsive gambling is prevention through education. I think that six or seven years from now when you are enjoying the benefits of this amazing resort, whether you delight in some of its attractions, avail yourselves of employment opportunities we wouldn't have otherwise, send your children to well staffed schools, feel better about living in a town with fully funded services or any combination of these, I think you will be glad the yes voters prevailed at the Town Meeting. Just for techies Technically savvy readers will notice I already shortened the front page and moved older material onto a new archives page. Page one should open more quickly, especially for those who don't have high speed connection to the Internet. Techies may also be interested that having this web site forced me to learn to use that barest basics of the professional web site design software, Dreamweaver on my Intel iMac for most but not all of the work. I am still dependent on my ancient Dell PC, Paint Shop Pro and Front Page for photo essay pages. I intend to learn how to use Photoshop Elements to make picture pages before the Dell dies completely. It is now making horrible screeching noises even when the screen doesn't freeze. |
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