Bellicose Bumpkin

Tonight

The next General Membership meeting of CasinoFacts.org will be Thursday, February 12 at 6:30 PM in the basement of the Middleboro Library-102 N Main St. Another reminder with the topics to be discussed will be arriving as the date draws near.

This just came in from the CFO mailing list.

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The Massachusetts Audubon Society has devoted the entire Winter issue of Sanctuary magazine to the environmental concerns surrounding a Middleboro casino.

They have graciously allowed us to host a reprint of one of the articles,"Native Footprint" This will be the first issue of Sanctuary that will also be available online.

Stay tuned to the Mass Audubon website for the online release later this month or even better, support Mass Audubon and you will receive your own copy.

http://casinofacts.org

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On a completely unrelated, or partially unrelated topic …..

It’s fascinating to watch CFO evolve and continue to operate on it’s own. As one of the founders of the group, I was sorry to leave to board of directors, but am gratified to see them carry on.

Also, I would echo CFO’s call to support the Mass Audobon Society. A membership is only $44 per year. Casino or no casino, this group does wonderful work.

Rich Young, president of CasinoFacts.org and Casino Free Mass will be a member of a panel discussion hosted by the Standard Times. The discussion takes place on Tuesday Nov. 18, from 7-9 p.m., at the Whaler Banquet and Conference Center (Days Inn), 500 Hathaway Road, New Bedford.

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Can casinos fix the Massachusetts economy, or will they make our problems worse?

Join The Standard-Times Editorial Board this Tuesday, Nov. 18, for a panel discussion featuring a host of influential voices.

A supporter of the Patrick administration casino plan, Sen. Michael Morrissey of Quincy, will speak of the economic benefits, while Rep. William M. Straus of Fairhaven and the tri-town area, a self-described casino skeptic, will share his point of view.

Hear about casino plans for SouthCoast from Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal Council member Naomi Carney and casino developer Leon Dragone.

Casino opponent Richard Young, president of Casino Free Mass, will round out the panel along with Halifax Selectman John Bruno, a member of the Regional Task Force on Casino Impacts, a board formed to respond to a potential casino in Middleboro.

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Good fun, good people, good times

If you made it to the Gala – nice seeing you. If you didn’t .. you missed a fun time.

Things kicked of on time with the band starting shortly after 7. There were speeches starting at around 7:45. Rich Young gave an overview of the year noting that it is about 18 months since Ferson first told us the casino would be here in 18 months. Oh well, some people are just always late. Rich gave an award of appreciation to Plympton BOS chairman Joe Freitas. Plympton is a town I really admire. When CFO went to speak to their BOS, they were welcomed and given an opportunity to speak – something that was denied to Middleboro residents by their BOS at that time. People in Plympton seem to really value their quality of life. When CFO went to Plympton and were being told about mitigation, Mr. Freitas aptly described mitigation as “something that is trying to alleviate a problem I don’t currently have” – or something to that effect. Joe was followed by Les Bernal, the head of Stop Predatory Gambling. Les has been a good friend to CasinoFacts.org and I wish him the best.

After all the yakking, the band resumed and played for a couple of hours after which Rich announced the winners of the silent auction. This was a fun night and reminds me of the many good people we have in this area and the quality of life that deserves our protection.

Here’s a shot of the band. I’ll leave it to someone else to post pictures of themselves or the rest of the party.

Bumpkin on CST
If you missed it, and care to hear it, my recent appearance on Adam Bond’s radio show has been posted.

I also have a zip archive of the show broken up into 3 minute chunks.

Gala reminder – again
My bluegrass band will be playing at the CFO Gala/Auction tonight. More info is on the CasinoFacts.org front page. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone. President Rich Young will have some interesting updates.

The liberal agenda
There is rally today in support of gay rights. There has been quite a reaction in the gay community to the passage of propostion 8 in California – banning gay marriage. With the recent ballot questions in Massachusetts, the liberal agenda is almost complete – a world full of pot-smoking gay greyhounds running amok in the state.

I see gay rights as an equality issue pure and simple. It amazes me how much effort and outrage we as a nation are able to muster over issues like gay rights, prayer in school, flag burning, and other low-impact issues but seem to have terminal iertia when it comes to potentially world-altering issues like fossil fuel dependence, global warming, war, hunger, and so on.

Update – I’m cheating a little here by reposting an earlier blog.

A friendly reminder of the upcoming CFO Gala and auction. Hope to see you there

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Notification of the CFO gala and auction just came in. Although the email doesn’t mention it, this will be held at the Fireside Grille function room. Last year’s event was a lot of fun and I really recommend attending. Also not mentioned is the entertainment – a bluegrass band temporarily named CFO Speedwagon.

Beyond the goal of raising money, this is just a great time in a great room with great people. After all the stressful stuff like the BIA hearing and the base attacks of anonymous cowards on various internet sites, a party like this really hits the spot. At the end of this post is a couple of pictures of last year’s party.

Here is the notification:

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Dear Friends,

This year’s CasinoFacts end of year Gala/Auction will be held at the Fireside Grille on Saturday night, November 15th. Our annual event will feature awards, food, friendship, and most importantly fun! We hope that you will be able to join us and please know that your contribution will help us fight the proposed casino in Middleboro.

Last year we were able to raise close to $7000 with this event. We hope that your continued participation will make this year’s event an even greater success!

Tickets are $25.00 and we are also seeking auction items.

To reserve your ticket, to make a donation, or for more information contact: rich@casinofacts.org.

Watch your email for more details about entertainment, speakers, and auction items.

Thank you,

CasinoFacts.org Directors

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Here are a couple of pics from last year of the room and the band:

Update: CasinoFacts.org will be holding a fund-raising yard sale at the old town hall on Sept. 27, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The group will have use of the property from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. to allow for setting up and closing down the event.

From the Enterprise:

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The selectmen Monday night granted CasinoFacts.org the use of the old town hall for a fundraiser on the advice of town counsel, who said the board needs a good reason to turn down a nonprofit group with a political agenda.

A week after the board expressed concern that granting the use would mean the town endorsed the group’s anti-casino political agenda, Selectmen Chairman Charles Evirs said town counsel’s advice leaves the board no choice.

“According to town counsel we can’t say no,” Evirs said.

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I think what happened here is clear. We had a very pro-casino chairman threaten to ban all groups from using town property if CFO was allowed to have a yard sale. The ill-conceived threat blew up in his face when all the other groups in town caught wind of it, and in the end, the sensible thing was done.

Now instead of making decisions based on a personal agenda, Lakeville can take thoughtful and deliberate action to change their policy for the future.

As far as the board’s concern that “granting the use would mean the town endorsed the group’s anti-casino political agenda” ….. I’ll interpret permission for the yard sale as the town’s endorsement of the group’s anti-casino political agenda.

Hooray! – another town in our corner.

The controversy over the CFO yard sale led to this conversation on Adam Bond’s Coffee Shop Talk radio show. It includes a surprising offer from Bill Marzelli – who’s taken a few lumps in the blogosphere and press recently. Mr. Marzelli is a prominent local casino proponent.

Here is the audio. Click the mustache to play.

From the Gazette:

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The Board of Selectmen plan to take up a discussion next week on whether to allow CasinoFacts.org to use the historic Town Hall to hold a yard sale, after receiving an opinion from town counsel that has one board member ready to shut down all community use of the property.

“We have received a letter here from Kopelman and Paige, our town counsel,” Chairman of Selectmen Charles Evirs said. “The long and short of it says, essentially, if we let organizations use it, then we have to continue to let organizations use it, no matter what they’re up to…I still have a problem with it, personally, using town property for raising funds for what I consider a political agenda.”

Mr. Evirs said he felt that CFO was different than the Scouts, Apponequet Boosters, and other organizations that have been allowed to use the property for fund raising.

“I don’t think we should do it. Town counsel says if we allow any to, we cannot pick and choose who we let use it, then I say we stop letting them use it. We don’t let anyone use it,” he said.

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The seemingly simple request to have this yard sale has created quite a firestorm. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. It seems to me that the town is making a big deal out of nothing and should probably just approve the request. CFO certainly doesn’t want the boyscouts to be denied using town property for fundraisers.

If approving it is untenable, Lakeville should probably deny the request and rewrite their rules to exclude non-profit groups that are connected to a political group. Another option would be for CFO to withdraw the request and let Lakeville off the hook.

Hmm – I’m listening to Adam’s show and Bill Marzelli just offered to use his property on South Main Street for the CFO yard sale. Nice offer.

One of my favorite ‘net jokes, is Scott Pakin’s complaint letter generator. I ran “CasinoFacts.org” through it and am starting to wonder if this is where CFO critcs get their material.

At a minimum, we’ve found the “wisdom” behind the Topix posts … or at least one that makes more cogent arguments.

Here is a link so you can criticize CasinoFacts.Org for yourself. This is what I got when I ran “CasinoFacts.Org” through the “complaint letter generator”:

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CasinoFacts.Org’s doctrines are totally disgusting — so much so, that if there are any children or sensitive people reading this letter, I suggest that they stop now and not read what I am about to describe. For openers, CasinoFacts.Org extricates itself from difficulty by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. My point may be made clearer by use of an allegorical tale. Suppose a hypothetical group of three people is standing in a room. One of those people realizes that CasinoFacts.Org was warned by its own cultists not to show a clear lack of respect not just for those brave souls who fought and died for what they believed in but also for you, the readers of this letter. Another goes on and on about its bilious recommendations. But the third can’t understand why it publishes magazines that feature the disrespect, degradation, dehumanization, and exploitation of women and their bodies. In this hypothetical situation, it should be obvious that it does not merely usher in the rule of the Antichrist and the apocalyptic end times. It does so consciously, deliberately, willfully, and methodically.

Wanting to inculcate hate-filled exegeses is one thing but why would anybody possibly want to ignite a maelstrom of racism? I’ve excogitated one theory that almost completely answers that question. Unfortunately, it fails to take into account that CasinoFacts.Org’s occasional demonstrations of benevolence are not genuine. Nor are its promises. In fact, I am a law-and-order kind of person. I hate to see crimes go unpunished. That’s why I decidedly hope that CasinoFacts.Org serves a long prison term for its illegal attempts to teach mindless concepts to children.

I aver that we should work beyond the predatory plasticity of CasinoFacts.Org’s hatchet jobs, and I have formalized my commitment to this high ideal by ensuring that I always call people to their highest and best, not accommodate them at their lowest and least. We must show you, as dispassionately as possible, what kind of scummy thoughts CasinoFacts.Org is thinking about these days. Only then can a society free of its pesky, amoral expedients blossom forth from the roots of the past. And only then will people come to understand that it says that it is a paragon of morality and wisdom. What it means by this, of course, is that it wants free reign to make my stomach turn. How on earth these ideologues can think of themselves as anything but larcenous, destructive philosophasters is beyond me. It is certainly the height of ironies that CasinoFacts.Org is utterly versipellous. When it’s among plebeians, CasinoFacts.Org warms the cockles of their hearts by remonstrating against neopaganism. But when CasinoFacts.Org’s safely surrounded by its sycophants, it instructs them to damage the self esteem and physical health of millions of young men and women. That type of cunning two-sidedness tells us that I have a problem with CasinoFacts.Org’s use of the phrase, “We all know that…”. With this phrase, it doesn’t need to prove its claim that my bitterness at it is merely the latent projection of libidinal energy stemming from self-induced anguish; it merely accepts it as fact. To put it another way, if five years ago I had described an organization like CasinoFacts.Org to you and told you that in five years it’d bombard me with insults, you’d have thought me noisome. You’d have laughed at me and told me it couldn’t happen. So it is useful now to note that, first, it has happened and, second, to try to understand how it happened and how there isn’t a man, woman, or child alive today who thinks that we should be grateful for the precious freedom to be robbed and kicked in the face by such a noble creature as it, so let’s toss out that ridiculous argument of CasinoFacts.Org’s from the get-go. Now that I’ve told you what I think, let me end this letter by stating that I fully intend to direct our efforts toward clearly defined goals and measure progress toward those goals as frequently and as objectively as possible. Let CasinoFacts.Org tremble. And though the heavens fall, let there be justice.

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Calter: pro-casino but also pro-listening
MA State Representative Tom Calter addressed the CFO meeting of 1/17/2008. This post is written from my notes of the meeting. As such the content is bound to be brief, incomplete, and not perfectly accurate. Corrections welcome. I also apologize for the clumsy wording in this post – it is mostly notes that were taken live along with some of my own observations and opinions. It’s a rather clumsy read that still manages to convey the substance of Mr. Calters appearance.

If I was to summarize the main points I would say.

• Everyone get along and stop hammering each other
• The deal stinks – it provides a fixed revenue stream for costs that are unknown and variable
• Casino support will die when the numbers come in
• Commercial casino good, Indian casino bad.

Don’t blame the BOS
Mr. Calter made the point that the BOS had very little choice and that they did the best job they could. The IGRA and the process is flawed and the BOS felt trapped and cut the best deal they could. Mr. Calter said that even with his business experience of having acquired a dozen companies, he couldn’t have done better.

He made the point that the Casino Resort Advisory Committee is a good group of people doing very in depth work and running spreadsheets on the effect of the casino on various town departments.

The deal stinks
He said that the deal is upside down – it has a fixed revenue stream and variable cost structure. In short – we don’t know what the costs are, but are stuck with a fixed compensation rate. He said that what happened in Middleboro last summer was a disgrace that was the fault of the federal government and the developers – not the fault of the BOS. The BOS aren’t driving the bus – the developers are driving the bus. Those developers gave you 60 days to evaluate the plan and they should be ashamed of themselves.

He said that his opposition is based on a monetary analysis based on:

• Long term economic value
• What sort of jobs, pay benefits
• What is the impact on the host town
• What is the impact on the host region

He went on to enumerate some of the problems with the agreement.

• Region is not included
• Doesn’t take care of the town of Middleboro
• Pro people can’t point to any real $$ benefit

He pointed out the $2M prepayment winds up as cost for cops/EMS

School effect is unknown and potentially severe
He then ran some theoretical numbers that up to 1000 school aged children could enter area school systems. This would cost $8.5M or so. The pro-casino people are unable to give a number for this or any other impact.

Any increase in schools will push our near-capacity schools over the edge. There is no enough lead time to get new schools built. This is a very good point that I hadn’t thought of. Tom was saying that when you have predictable growth, you can plan for new schools and get some state aid – which takes years. With the casino, growth will be sudden and unpredictable and may wind up with us footing the bill for new schools

This is it – no more money will come
He pointed out that this agreement represents the sum total of our compensation – which will be used against us when the state compact is signed. Essentially we’ve said that this agreement is giving us all the money we need.

Jobs
Despite all the promises to use/hire union labor, there is absolutely nothing codified in the agreement to make sure that happens. Job preference goes to indians and Middleboro residents only.

Property taxes
The deal should have included a variable for increase in school children. This goes back to the concept that the deal is providing a fixed payment when the costs are unknown and variable.

Can’t we all just get along
Tom made the point the CFO, CRAC, the Regional Task Force, and the Middleboro BOS need to stop bashing one another and get on the same page. The enemy is not each other, it’s the developers. That as long as we are bickering together – everyone for the state and elsewhere will stay away and do harm to the effort.

I have given some thought to this and I for one am going to take this advice to heart – and be a kinder, gentler, hammer wielder.

Bad, bad deal
Tom then made the point that – $7M if you do a bottom up analysis is not going to put a dent in the costs to Middleboro – it’s a bad deal. Financially, it’s a bad deal.

Questions
Tom was asked how anybody could work with the BOS – they are so single minded and unreasonable about this. His answer was basically to forget the BOS if they won’t play nicely – that instead we should engage CRAC and the Regional Task Force.

Mr. Calter was asked how property taxes would be effected. He said he didn’t know – that some studies showed both positive and negative effect depending on the facility.

He said that as far as strategy went, the low hanging fruit was education, property taxes, infrastructure.

He reiterated that the agreement promises nothing to the unions.
No union promises

Hal Brown asked if he could you accept a commercial casino at that location. Calter replied “Absolutely not”. He went on to reiterate his support for casinos in general – just not for this one in particular.