Nov. 29, 2001
 
 
 So now the Maryland Racing Commission has granted William Rickman, slot king of Delaware, a license to build a horse track in Allegany County. Well, we should say five of the nine Racing Commission members granted Mr. Rickman his license - the other four didn’t bother to show up for the hearings. That’s how committed they were to the whole idea of a new track in Maryland.
 
 Maybe those four commissioners were puzzled as to why anyone would build a horse track guaranteed - by the owner, no less - to lose money. Maybe they were too embarrassed by the stupidity of the whole thing.
 
 But not everyone sees the stupidity. Take Cas Taylor. Mr. Taylor was delighted with the Racing Commission decision, according to both the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun. But then he did shove the legislation allowing this track to be built through the General Assembly, inserting language insisting that the track be built in Allegany County, or not at all.
 
 That Cas Taylor, he’s always looking out for us, isn’t he? Well, maybe not us, exactly. Maybe he’s looking out for gambling interests in Maryland, and using us in the process.
 
 After Mr. Rickman’s license was granted following two days of testimony in Frederick, supporters of expanded gambling in Maryland were ecstatic. They were doing handsprings and cartwheels in the halls of the General Assembly. Ok, that’s not true, since most are too chubby from feeding at the special interest trough to do much more than wave an arm. But they would have been doing handsprings and cartwheels if they could.
 
 Take Senator Thomas Bromwell, a Democrat from Baltimore County. Mr. Bromwell was so excited about this track he could hardly stand it.
 
 “It’s the first step for slots in Western Maryland,” he told the Washington Post. “Would you build a track in Western Maryland without slot machines?”
 
 Ha! Of course not, you silly boy! We know we don’t have the demographics to make a horse track profitable! We know this is all about slots, because Cas Taylor has been trying to shove slots down our throats for at least a decade, if not longer!
 
 Senator Bromwell went on to predict to the Washington Post that slots would just be the beginning, that full blown casinos are just around the corner.
 
 Of course, Cas Taylor has recently made it known - up here, anyway - that he only likes slots and not those nasty “table games,” like black jack or craps. We wonder how long that will last - until his friend, Mr. Rickman wants a few crap tables at his “horse track?”
 
 Cas Taylor is in this up to his eyeballs. He actually sees slots as an economic development tool, which would be pretty funny if he weren’t in office. Unfortunately for us, he is in office. And he’s the voice of Western Maryland in the General Assembly.
 
 Well, he has been to date. What they haven’t heard in the General Assembly is OUR voice - the voice of the people who live here. The voice of the people who are struggling to make a living here, and trying hard to raise their families. What they haven’t heard is the voice of the people in this community who OPPOSE slot machines and casinos. The voice of the people who want REAL economic development, with real jobs paying real wages.
 
 In other words, they haven’t heard from the majority of people who live here. That’s going to change. We would urge all of our readers to speak to their ministers, rabbis or spiritual leaders about the Tri-State Ministerial Alliance. The Alliance was created recently to oppose the expansion of gambling in Western Maryland, and throughout the state as well.
 
 After reading a recent letter to the editor published in our local paper earlier this month, it’s clear that members of the Tri-State Ministerial Alliance understand the devastation slots bring to communities. As the founding ministers stated in that letter, communities that are home to casinos have bankruptcy rates 18% higher than communities without casinos. And in Mississippi, communities with casinos saw a 69% increase in domestic violence after their casinos opened.
 
 That doesn’t sound like economic development to us. We hope it doesn’t to you, either.