I got an email from a reader today

"what about maines harness racing scratch tickets and megabucks who are their customers? is your view one sided?"

this is what I wrote back

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. And thank you very much for taking the time to respond. It means a lot to me.

I love gambling. I play megabucks when it's more than four times the cash lotto and cash lotto when it's not. I've played blackjack in the Caribbean, roulette at sea, and poker with my friends.

My one trip through Reno I found it to be a little dead though. By that I do not mean not a happening town, I mean soulless. The people I met there were unhappy for the most part and completely focused on gambling and nothing else.

I don't think that the casino will give the state a big enough piece of the pie. There will be other costs, roads and other services to support the area around the casino, that will need to be covered with the 100 mil before it can go to lower taxes and aid education. It may be enough or it may not.

I can't really talk about the jobs because I was given no information about them. The time and place of the job fairs was not published on the think about it website and while I did fill out their form I was not contacted as to where they were. I was called and asked if I supported the Casino when I said I was undecided the person hung up. I don't know if that was Think about it, but I suspect it was. They only wanted casino supporters at their job fair. I realize that if I was really interested I probably could have gone to Sanford and found out more about it. I also realize that if they were truly interested in informing Maine about the choices they would have made the information more accessible. I build websites it's not hard to add information to them.

If a group is not giving us the information we need to make good decisions, that group doesn't want us to make good decisions.

My point is that it comes down to who do you trust. I don't trust the casino developers.

You may be interested in reading what else I wrote on the casino issue at http://skartdo.blogspot.com/2003_04_01_skartdo_archive.html

Anyway thank you again for your email and be sure to think of me when you need a website.

tcahf


Schuyler Meyers