Casino-Friend.com reader comments

Updated July 14, 2007

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7/17/07

Dear Casino-Friend:

This is what I think. People who are in favor of the casino are uneducated and ill informed. How can you sacrifice Middleboro on your false understanding of the monetary gains that it will bring? Those who have only lived here for ten years or so do not even realize what a beautiful community they have. Go pay for the override, an extra $50 a month, and then our schools will be okay. Have Oak Point residents pay real estate taxes, then things will be okay. Have competent selectmen and women lead our community, then we will be okay.

I recently visited Foxwoods. On the elevator I met a bellboy. I told him I was from Middleboro. He said he felt sorry for our town, and that I have know idea what my hometown was in for. It is about to be changed for the worse. He said hold on to what you got, because you will never be the same. I might add that he admitted that he was a former felon, and that Foxwoods never did a background check on him.

It sickens me to think that old timers in this town are in favor of the casino. They have no concept of what $7 million a year will bring. In 2010, it will not even be enough to cover the costs of our town treasurer's projected budget growth. Hello???? Why do you still support it with this information???

Yes, a casino has potential, but not for us. If you just moved here and think it is great for this town, then move back to where you are from. If you are from Oak Point and support it, pay real estate taxes and help out your wonderful community or else move back to where you came from. There is someone one in South Middleboro who lives in the same size ranch that pays taxes, so should you if you support the casino.

To casino-friend.com, you pose good arguments, however, you are wrong and need to get out and get hobbies to occupy your time. A casino will not benefit our community and you do not care. The deal WILL NOT KEEP UP WITH INFLATION AND PROJECTED BUDGET GROWTH. If you support the casino, you either have given up or you are completely ignorant and do not respect Middleboro. On top, you do not understand how much $7 million is. Thanks for changing our town forever, and in the meantime, move back to where you came from.

Sincerely,

James Johnson

Miller Street, Middleboro

7/17/07

(unedited)

my name. steve brown. live in middleboro. before conn. please think about what you are about to do to your town. we, conn. people didn't. those of you who think it will bring monies in to the town are wrong. what money is given does not cover the cost to have the casino here. 7 millon I heard, well out of that are town managers will give themselves a raise for all their hard work, but you won't care because there's plenty of money right. 3 millon to schools. NO, THATS NOT ENOUGH because all the new kids that will be here since their parents will want to live close to work. remember theres a lot of land to build low income housing that these indians will own, better make that 5 MILLON per year. let's not forget, more teachers, and maybe a new school. 1 millon for extra fire and police. plus the fire station will need ladder trucks now for the high rise hotel at 350 thousand each. and let's not leave out the upkeep of all these vehicles.plus the payroll and healthcare for all the new men and woman on the forces. pwd.( public works ) more people there too. the town will have to throw a lot more into road upkeep and repair too. remember, all those trucks coming into town around the clock nonstop with food, booze, and supplies for the casino, oh and the 12 to 15 thousand employes 24 hours a day. and just to throw this out to you,do you think the police might want a new station to handle all their new customers. lets see what else, oh sorry we're out of money. boy, it doesn't go as far as it used to does it? name Stephen Brown

7/14/07

Since you posted my comments on the WEB site (and they also were in the Gazette) I have had five neighbors stop by to tell me that they liked my views and agree with them. I also had another who disagreed with me but liked the way it was written. I also happen to live across the street from one of the Casino-Facts.org board members and I can tell you that there are rumblings in this neighborhood. Several people are afraid to comment on it at this time but will come out in the open for the casino after the July 28^th vote. If the town votes in favor of Casino-Facts.org on the 28^th then they should be congratulated for their victory. If however Democracy works against them then they should check their egos at the door disband and join the town in making it successful. Any protests after the 28^th will be against the people of the town Middleborough and will not benefit the town; it will only bring negative publicity.

I have never publicly said that I was for the casino but can happily say today that I am. We just came back from Hershey Park where they move over Six Thousand people through the park everyday. The highways take you through rural farms and then right onto the property. The signs are clearly marked and there is no way to wander off and get lost. The roads also take you out of the complex and put you right back onto the highway. It is a remarkable system that they have in place and if the Wampanoag Tribe uses a similar model then it will be a great success!

--
Best regards,

Wally Glendye

7/12/07

At http://jamesdreynolds.blogspot.com/, he says:

Problems arising: 1.) Oak Point is ready to feed the folks dinner &
bus them in as pro-casino voters.

I'm a resident of Oak Point, and I'd guess that most folks here are pro-casino. It's hardly unanimous though: several folks right on my short little street are definitely against it and at least one is
squarely undecided.

If anything, the "Oak Point vote" might be a big fizzle. Remember, a lot of us here are older and quite a few have health problems. The prospect of standing in a hot field for hours isn't something any of us are looking forward to and folks with health problems have even more reason not to show up. Oak Point voters just might be noticeably
absent on this vote. I personally hope that's not the case, but reality suggests otherwise.

--
Tony Lawrence

7/12/07

Mr. Brown,

You are absolutely correct when you state that we are not marrying the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. These are "hardball" negotiations between the town of Middleborough and the investors who are fronting the millions of dollars to fund the construction, infrastructure and launching of the casino. The investors want to spend the least amount of money possible and the town wants to gain the most amount of money possible. This is purely contract negotiation and there isn't any room for feelings, perceptions and sensibilities on either side. As the saying goes, "there's no crying in baseball"; well, "there's no whining in contract negotiation".

Have a good day!

Leeann Bradley

7/12/07

OK, I know some folks aren't going to like this, but I have to reference that old saying about "a bird in the hand".

Seven million dollars isn't chump change. It may not be the "right" figure, but whatever the figure is, I'd personally rather have a guarantee (with inflation protection) than a percentage. Why? Because I think there are more casinos coming behind this one - it's supply and demand, and while the demand probably stays fairly constant, supply is likely to increase, and if that's true, a percentage of revenues is going to worth less and less.

Maybe we need more than 7 million. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we don't need tens of millions or hundreds of millions. Another phrase comes to mind about killing a certain goose who laid unusual eggs.

It's bad enough that Middleboro may screw up this opportunity because of the opposition of people who don't see reality; it's going to be really disgusting if it is screwed up by unbridled greed.

--
Tony Lawrence

7/12/07

Lets get this straight, I just want the first agreement as put forth as it was meant in FAITH.

From the beginning I thought having the Wampanoag resort coming here was a good fit for both the Tribe and Middleboro residents. An initial draft was proposed and put forth without the full consideration and research of the total infrastructure cost needed to develop this project. The tribe's intent from the beginning was to pay for it all with no burden to us. Now a more extensive study was done to access the cost. If the Wampanoag's think I will vote in favor of them not funding the total cost needed to develop the roads and infrastructure services needed, I changed my mind on the vote. This and the fact the 1 to 2 percent coming from the state's take negotiated in the first draft is something we cannot count on if approved. I would think a slot tax instead would be justified if the state negotiation did not pan. We were surveyed via a phone call last week. That survey is now skewed by at least our family's vote and I'm positive many others. If you think Class two gaming will attract the real money, there are plenty of other venues that offer that. The resort will suffer.

Good luck New Bedford.

Rich Gordon
Middleboro

7/11/07

The home page of CasinoFacts.com states that its purpose is ‘to bring attention to the well-documented negative effects’ of large casinos. Some may take issue with the name of the site – but its position is pretty clear once you get there. The articles, stories, studies, etc. all provide support to this viewpoint.

The home page of Casino-Friends offers ‘news and opinion plus a forthright discussion about the pros and cons of a Middleboro Casino’. At first glance, this site looks pretty unbiased and committed to showing both sides. There are resources for problem gambling, news updates, comments and questions from both sides of the issue. If you look closer, though, you may start to notice something. It appears to me that in most cases the pros and cons are discussed in the following way: 1. Statement of the negative effect (crime, traffic, etc.) 2. Brief discussion of the negative effect 3. Rebuttal or solution to the negative effect. The net effect of this is that the pro casino view always gets the last word. Problem presented, problem discussed, problem solved.

The latest news is currently the Enterprise story where the Tribe accuses CasinoFacts of being responsible for the disruption caused by Amelia Bingham at the powwow on Saturday. If you read the story, you will find no supporting evidence for this claim. If you look on Casino-Friends, accompanying this story are not one, but two (nearly identical) pictures of CasinoFacts president Jacquie Tolosko standing next to Amelia Bingham. None of the other news stories have one, let alone two pictures. What is the purpose of this except to present a case of guilt by association?

If you go to the comments section, where both pro and con statements are welcomed, the letters in support certainly outnumber those opposed. But really, would you expect a website called Casino-Friends to be visited more by people with pro or anti casino views?

Please feel free to draw your own conclusions as to the impartiality of this website.

Thank you for printing my letter,

Christopher Ricco

Middleboro, MA

Response:

To address your last point about putting the pictures of Amelia Bingham and Jacquie Tolosko online along with the story: these aren't just pictures of these individuals sitting or conversing with each other. They show them standing side-by-side while Amelia Bingham makes comments at a town meeting on the casino. I wanted to enable readers to enlarge them and judge for themselves whether Ms. Tolosko's assertion (as follows) tells the entire story:

Do I know her? Yes. Do I think she's wonderful? Yes. Her agenda is to make sure the tribe has a voice. My agenda is to make sure the residents have a voice.

Next It appears to Mr. Ricco that in most cases the pros and cons are discussed in the following way:

1. Statement of the negative effect (crime, traffic, etc.) 2. Brief discussion of the negative effect 3. Rebuttal or solution to the negative effect. The net effect of this is that the pro casino view always gets the last word. Problem presented, problem discussed, problem solved."

It is up to CasinoFacts to rebut my rebuttal if they choose to do so on their own site, or for they or others to send in their counter-arguments for publication on this page or both. For example, I wrote a rebuttal (READ HERE) to Mark Belanger's rebuttal of Wayne Perkin's address given at the selectman's meeting.

I'm not going to rebut myself.

Lastly, as for the number of pro letters outweighing the number of con letters being a function of the name and orientation of the website indicating anything in particular, I have no way of determining this. I've never claimed that the opinions expressed in the letters represent any kind of poll.

7/10/07

I have lived in the town of Middleborough all my life. My father was born in this town. I have tried to instill the love of this community to my son.

What bothers me, is that my son may not be able to afford the taxes in this town while raising three children.This is a problem that many people have here.

The estimated median household income in Middleborough for 2005, was $59,700.00

The average wages paid for an employee at the Connecticut casino's was $38,420 in 2006. A household could make twice that much by having two members at a casino or resort in this town. As of June 14, 2007, 10,020 employees were employed at Foxwoods.

$208 million dollars came from Massachusetts residents, $696 million came from Connecticut residents and $18 million came from Rhode Island residents in expenditures. In Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, in the year 2006, $838 million dollars was the annual payroll. These fiqures come from the June 14, 2007 , Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. from the Economic Impact Summit.

As an individual, I look at what the Wampanoag's are proposing to this town as a business. Since when, do people try to keep business's out of towns in this day and age? What we need to look at is the financial package being offered to the town and state. Most businesses come in looking at what Tax Incentive Funding (TIF) we will give them for the privilege of building here. Eleven businesses have these TIF's right now in our town.The Tribe has offered us money to build here.

This financial package offers an opportunity to the town for betterment in services, education, infrastructure, culture, entertainment, help to take care of elderly needs and help to enrich our childrens lives. It, also, brings diversity to a town that has had very little exposure to over the years. But times are changing and diversity is now the norm.

The town has really grown over the years and will continue to grow with or without a casino.

This business of a museum, golf course, resort, theater, fine restaurants, fine stores, tourism packages, soccer fields, educational seminars, conference center, water park and casino with thousands of jobs with good wages and good benefits, good tips, good opportunities for all the people that want jobs to provide a circle of revenue to live the "American Dream" in this area is a reality that we need and should attempt to negotiate for the betterment of this town. The casino is just one tiny portion of the business being offered.

Change is going to come, whether we like it or not. We have the land and the rural setting that people have been moving to for a number of years now. From 1996 to 1999 there were 325 single family homes built here. From 2000 to 2006 there were 611 single family permits taken out to build in this town. These new homes represent larger expenses. The children in these new homes cost approximateley $ 6,000 a year to educate in the public school system, per child and the taxes from these new homes run approximately $3,400.00 per year. This business can offset the larger expenses.

The community needs to look at what will happen if the business does not come here.

We will still have housing that requires services, infrastructure improvements, town expenses, new schools and many other expenses. Where is the money going to come from these? The answer is higher taxes and many more layoffs and services being cut.

Environmental impacts, financial impacts, infrastructure impacts and other situations are all being studied and negotiated into the financial contract being negotiated.

My research has given me the opportunity to open my mind to the positive influences this business can provide to the entire community.

The positive impact of this business far out weigh the negative.

Sincerely, as an individual

Judith Bigelow-Costa

7/9/07

Folks,

I want you to notice something about the articles and letters on this site: you'll find BOTH sides of the issue here. Hal Brown (the webmaster) publishes letters from people who don't want the casino as well as those that do. Hal himself is pro-casino, but he publishes email from those who are not.

Try to find the "pro-casino" view at the mis-named "casinofacts" site. I tried to find anything and failed - it's all one sided and all negative as far as I can tell. Maybe I missed something - if I did, please correct me and point it out. If I did, it can't be much, and some folks here have stated that the "facts" site has refused their pro-casino comments - what does that tell you about their real agenda?

Is it really facts?

So which website deserves your support, no matter which side you are on?

--
Tony Lawrence

Hello,

I have called and left messages at Middleborough’s state senator and representatives offices requesting there assistance in handling the Casino Contract vote question. Currently there is no place in Middleboro that can accommodate the quantity of voters anticipated to attend the town meeting scheduled for the 28^th of this month. I have requested that they look into a law that would allow casino related questions to be raised at town meeting to be placed on a special ballot. This would allow a maximum of voters to the opportunity to vote on a question that will change Middleborough. Those who wish to be heard on the subject could be heard at informational and discussion meeting broadcast on cable. I encourage others to do the same. This is not pro or anti casino, it is for the voters of Middleboro.

Thank you,

Bob Dunphy - (508) 819-3000 (Please note the phone numbers are from http://www.mass.gov/legis/citytown.htm) Senator Marc R. Pacheco (617) 722-1551 Representative Thomas J. Calter :- precincts one and five 617-722-2425 Representative William M. Straus:- precincts three and six 617-722-2320 Representative Stephen R. Canessa:- precincts two and four 617-722-2460

7/9/07

I hope that the people of Middleborough realize that the resort casino may come if we want it or not and that the vote that is about to take place can truly make or break our town.

I support the resort casino and the main reason is to bring forward a steady revenue source. As a public school teacher in this town, I am sickened by the fact that our community does not want to properly support our children by providing them with the best education possible. The school department has been forced to make cuts for many years and now we are at our wits end. We have lost supplies, equipment and now staff. This is a crucial time considering that the Massachusetts Department of Education is upping the ante for MCAS.

I went through Middleborough High School (MHS) is the early nineties when our budget was in a similar circumstance and I know that I was deprived of opportunities because of that. My family could not afford the $100/sport since they had three student-athletes in the high school and one in elementary school.

MHS has lost so much over the years. As we fight to provide our students with the best education possible we are cut short by a lack of funding from the town and state. The failed override has hurt us in many ways. I see the financial opportunity of the resort casino as a way for the citizens of Middleborough to right the wrong of not passing the override. If they fail to accept the offer of the Wampanoag Tribe then they are yet again saying that we are not going to support the students in this town. One question I am curious about, do the anti-casino folk send their children to Middleborough Public Schools and will continue to do so? If not, then WHY??

I’d like to close by stating that not supporting the override or the resort casino is going leaving our students without the tools to make ALL our students successful.

Thank you for your time and effort to present the FACTS to the citizens of Middleborough!

Respectfully,

Melanie R. Furlong

7/9/07

To the person who says there was little or no reaction to the Pro-Casino float:

Perhaps you were standing in a group of anti-casino folks.

You couldn't have been walking with the float as I was.

I heard people shout "Casino yes" and similar sentiments.

Many people returned our "thumbs up" gestures (and yes, there were "thumbs down" people too).

I agree that some simply said "Happy Fourth" or just clapped as they did for every float, but there was undeniable support and pro-casino sentiment also.

There are people opposed, and people in favor.

I don't know what the real percentages are, but I do know from the parade and my experiences at rotary rallies that there is real and genuine support here.

A lot of people recognize that there are benefits to be gained and don't have their head in the sand hoping that Middleboro's fiscal problems will go away by themselves.

--
Tony Lawrence

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