Middleboro Mashpee Wampanoag Resort Casino
|
Editor's Note: We are starting to receive letters that are not only repetitious, but verge on libel towards town officials. They also present unsubstantiated data to back their allegations. A few are published below but no more will be. Only letters that are civil and will be published. Letters with statistics must be backed with academic documentation not speculation. Furthermore, letters that are sarcastic will not be published. As a basic guideline, we adhere to the same standards as a print newspaper. Please check your spelling, punctuation and grammar before sending your letter. (It takes me enought time to correct my own.) 8/15/07 I have four questions. Did the town of Lakeville consider the traffic which would be going through Middleboro when they agreed to have a Target store built in their town? Did Raynham consider the traffic that would be coming down Rt.44 when they got their auto mile? How much of the tax dollars going to these towns is going to come to Middleboro? Why should any town around Middleboro expect any money from the casino deal when none of these towns wanted it in their town. 8/9/07 Be careful what you wish for. Individuals that are with the "Anti-Casino" group have suggested that Mr Bond be "-- -- -- -- -- The " anti-casino people" say they are worried that the casino will bring in crime. I would like to Mr Bond and his family should not have been threatened. This is a CRIMINAL ACT. Name calling is A child would receive severe punishment or perhaps be suspended from school if he/she threatened a As far as I am concerned this is a spineless TERRORIST ATTACK on Mr. Bond and his family. Anti-casino John Ferguson 8/8/07 This letter, which was about Adam Bond's OpEd, was removed at the author's request. The allegation was made that Casino-Friend was playing the "race card" and knows full well that opponents of the casino are not racists. I am leaving my response to that on. RESPONSE: How many times and in how many ways do I have to state that I have never said members of the organized casino oposition were racists? The challenge is simple: go over the Casino-Friend archives and find one example of this. This is what I wrote on July 31:
There were a few instances of crude racial epithets being used against pro-casino demonstrators but no suggestion was ever made these were anything but isolated incidents and these people were anything but a part of a small minority. What I have asked was for CasinoFacts.org to disavow any formal or informal association with a member of CERA, Carol Kelly, and repudiate the message of CERA and other anti-Indian sovereignty groups. They have never responded to this. Instead the notion that I and others are playing the so-called race card is used. This is is a CERA tactic used to put critics on the defensive when they call their so-called "equality" message hidden racism. The idea is that when people call you racist, you accuse them of playing the race card. Members of CERA go out of their way to demonstrate that they are not racist, including finding Native Americans to join their cause, but all this is an attempt to undermine critics. 8/8/07 Responding to an individual's comments in a letter to the editor of the Enterprise, I believe, that he was not permitted to speak at the town meeting, it seems to me that the Moderator set the ground rules firmly at the beginning of the meeting that repetitious comments or argument positions would not be entertained. Obviously, individuals such as the one cited here simply wanted to put a "two cents" into the debate, but he failed to recognize that the VOTERS were not interested in a prolonged debate- re-hashing the same old arguments- and rightly so, the Moderator employed his duly appointed power to restrict such a thing. "Sour Grapes" is an adequate description for those individuals. What is needed now is an oversight committee to work with the tribe and our town officials to ensure that the priorities of the Town will be reflected in the overall development of the project. If the opponents place their energies toward this end, then their concerns can certainly be addr essed. And everyone wins! Joe Yeskewicz 8/6/07 How about bringing the community back together and come up with some ideas on how to balance a budget or preserve the historical sites that we have. Don’t hate me because my opinion is different than yours, we all have our own personal reason for why we voted one way or the other. Let’s put our differences aside and become neighbors again and work together! Wally Glendy 8/2/07 I certainly don't have all the answers and I appreciate open minded people who are capable of listening and reasoning with intelligent discourse. I'm not so much a worst case scenario person as a human being truly saddened by the lack of concern for those who could suffer the brunt of the social ills that could happen with a Casino in Middleboro or the area. The context I'll use is our motto for education, "No child left behind", we could argue numbers all day long and only God knows the true impact, however what must be said is that if one child is hurt or dies from compulsive gambling or a traffic accident, that is far too great a price to pay! What we ought to be able to agree on is that far too many families and their children will be put at risk, even if we get to use the best scenario of $11,000,000.00 a year for improvements to the town. Think about this, if any family in the area had even one child lost out in the woods, we'd all drop what we were doing and would be out there with flashlights all night long and for as many days as it would take to find them. Please think for just a couple minutes of the impact to any family of not finding that child alive for what ever reason, you must admit it would be devastating. I had a baby sister die of meningitis while growing up here in town, she was originally diagnosed with the mumps and by the time an ambulance got her to Children's Hospital it was too late. Good intentions and hopes and prayers don't keep bad things from happening to good people, I hope you'll open your heart to possibly reconsider your position. I've come to the conclusion the only good Casino is the one that never opens, and I plan to work diligently to that end. If Middleboro has a soul it's our children, our greatest asset is our future as well, I've decided as have many other people that putting even one of them at risk would be wrong! Bob Kinney RESPONSE Your arguments about social costs, that is the harm of gambling addiction to individuals and families, is an almost unassailable argument against a casino located anywhere. Residents of some towns, perhaps New Bedford as an example, would readily trade these negative impacts for the rejuvenation of its downtown and the economic boost of a share of the revenue. Middleboro is more complex because while it has been struggling economically it isn't a town suffering from urban blight. It isn't even a small town like the towns out west which became ghost towns when highway interchanges passed them by. Middleboro almost ready for life economic support, which is sorely in need of an economic transfusion. Putting your argument in the terms of a trade-off between jobs and money and the loss of one child who is hurt or dies, or any person for that matter so harmed, puts the decision we made in bold relief. A child, a teenager, a young mother, a father, a grandparent... what difference does it make? The soul of a community is collective and notably includes its most vulnerable, its innocents, who need adults with wisdom and good judgment to protect them. But it includes all good people. But here's where the debate becomes almost too philosophical. Welcoming a casino involves the trade-offs decision makers often have to make about what is the greater good and reminds me of parables like Sophie's Choice. Presidents make such decisions, town selectmen makes them, and voters make them. People are already being hurt because families suffer when parents can't find jobs, when schools are losing teachers, and so on. These are arugments we all heard not only during the casino debate, but prior to the Proposition 2 1/2 override vote. Revenue from the casino can lessen, if not eliminate these problems. Consider the lost child in the woods because Middleboro has tens of thousands of acres of woods and wetlands. No doubt scores, if not hundreds of volunteers would rally to look for the child. But the first on the scene would be local law enforcement, police and fire fighters from Middleboro and adjacent towns including the tirbal police and fire departments would be the first to arrive. The agreement with the tribe will assure more public safety personnel. Consider just for one similar example, a house on fire where minutes count. Having fully manned fire stations could save that one child's life, or an entire family's life. It's not simple. I wish it was. But your arguments are stated clearly and I must say that they were just about the most diffiult to respond to. P.S. Your point about a traffic accident caused by the casino being here is somewhat of a different kind of argument. While there will be an increase in town traffic, and traffic on 495 and 44, there will also be road improvement. Just getting rid of the lights on the intersections of 44 will probably save lives. 7/30/07 Those in favor of having an Indian casino in their community have no idea what they are asking for. I live within 10 miles of the Oneida Indian tribe's Turning Stone Casino. They cannibalize the surrounding businesses. They refuse to collect sales tax from nonmember customers as demanded by law, and refuse to pay property taxes. They are now trying to have 17,000 acres of land (in properties dispersed all over Madison and Oneida Counties) taken into federal trust so they can continue to evade all taxes and flout all laws. The only people prospering is the tribe. Oneida County (the county in which the casino is located) had a 10% sales tax. It is now down to 9.75% and is the highest in the state. RESPONSE: I completely disagree with your assessment of the lack of financial benefits which you describe. I am familiar with your group. Like CERA, another group with equal in its name, it is one of several so-called grass roots organizations with the same anti-sovereignty goal. This is what Bruce Johnson had to say about United Citizens for Equality in The New Terminators: A Guide to the Anti-Sovereignty Movement in 2000.
I believe all the citizens of Middleboro will soundly reject involvement by groups such as yours in our affairs. Published at the author's request: Dear Middleborough Board of Selectmen; I am making a formal request that Mr. Perkins publicly withdraw his statement that was published in the Enterprise on July 30, 2007 in the article titled "Middleboro begins cleaning up loose ends", written by Alice C. Elwell, Enterprise correspondent. The statement is as follows: "Perkins said residents have until today to get the signs out of their yards or they'll risk incurring a zoning violation." I called the Middleborough Police Dept. and I was told that his statement is not valid. If the police dept. is incorrect, please advise me and the Middleborough Police so we know the zoning law to which he is referring. If no zoning law exists, then I am requesting that his withdrawal be in the Enterprise, and in any other media to which he has made this statement. Sincerely, RESPONSE: Your letter was read at the Selectman's Meeting by Wayne Perkins who explained that what he said to The Enterpise reporters was misquoted. He said that it has been past practice after elections for people to remove lawn signs within 48 hours. He said he would ask the newspaper to print a correction and appologized to anyone effected by this error. 7/30/07 At 4:00 today a silver sedan with a casino-friends bumper sticker stopped at my house, came onto private property and stole my sign. This was right after I had taken my 3 children in the house from the car. My sign has been run over twice in the middle of the day and now finally stolen. Please tell me how I explain this to my children? Should I just simply say that those that want the casino in this town are a bunch of crooks? RESPONSE: See what I wrote to Don Gendon below. 7/30/07 Dear Mr. Brown, It is sad that the course of Middleboro has been decided by 3,722 out of almost 20,000. It's also regretable to think of all the time and money both sides invested in their beliefs about the casino when you think of what you all could have accomplished for the schools and services with that money and effort. With that said I believe everyone who took up the cause did so for their love of their town. One side will eventually be proved right let's just hope that it's the side that won this battle. Regards, Trav Charron RESPONSE: There are around 14,000 registered voters in Middleboro. I agree with your last statement. 7/30/07 They stole my yes signs fri. night. but they couldn't steal my yes vote on Sat. Don Gendron RESPONSE: Unfortunately there have been similar reports all along from both sides.
Previous letters to the editor >>>
|
|---|