Opponents of Casino Gear Up for Hearing Plan April 29 March

By Deborah Fitts

April 2006

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — A proposal to build a casino near the Gettysburg battlefield will get an airing April 5, when members of the public will be invited to testify at a public hearing scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. in the Student Union ballroom at Gettysburg College.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which will decide the locations of the first-ever state-sanctioned casi-nos, will run the hearing. The board reportedly hopes to weigh local sentiment pro and con.

Susan Star Paddock, head of the anti-casino grassroots group dubbed No Casino Gettysburg, noted that Gettys-burg is the first location to host a hearing by the Control Board.

New gambling opportunities under state law provide for two available licenses statewide for stand-alone casinos. A group of investors doing business as Chance Enterprises is proposing to build the Gettysburg facility on a 42-acre tract at the U.S. 30-U.S. 15 Bypass.

Competitors are proposing casinos in the Poconos as well as in Allentown, Bethlehem and near Valley Forge.

Paddock said she suspected that with all the fuss raised by No Casino Gettysburg, the Gaming Control Board may be eager to hold the Gettysburg hearing and then “get rid of this proposal.”

“We’re making too much noise,” said Paddock. “Every time we make noise, it brings attention to the fact that these casinos are being pushed down local people’s throats.”

Paddock joked that critics of the Chance Enterprises proposal are beginning to call the investor group “No Chance Enterprises.”

The casino applicants, who dropped “Gettysburg” from their name and are now going by Crossroads Gaming Re-sort and Spa, are likewise encouraging their supporters to attend the hearing. They share projections of impacts and benefits of the casino at their Web site at www.crossroadsgaming.com.

No Casino and its supporters, including the Civil War Preservation Trust, have garnered about 50,000 anti-casino signatures, according to Paddock. The group will also hold a “heritage march” at the state capitol in Harrisburg April 29, and a Civil War encampment at the National Civil War Museum April 28-30. (See notice on page 13.)

If the Gaming Control Board acts in the interim to reject the Gettysburg location, Paddock said, “It can be a cele-bration march.”

Information on the march and encampment is available on the group’s Web site at www.NoCasinoGettysburg.com.

Those wishing to testify at the April 5 hearing were required to register by March 6, but Paddock said the hearing will be open to the public who wish to listen.