In response to DW, I have a few points to make: first of all, MEDCO is a public agency, like it or not. You can call it a quasi-private, quasi-public, quasi-whatever, but the fact remains that it was created by the General Assembly and is the economic development arm for the state. It is a state agency. Period. They pull any bonehead moves and guess who picks up the tab? We do.
 
 Second, the state essentially floated junk bonds to build Rocky Gap since they couldn’t find any investors willing to sink their own money into the project. Should the thing fail, MEDCO - and the state of Maryland, which means TAXPAYERS - will have to pay off the bond holders.
 
 Third, taxpayer dollars have indeed been used to pay off the Allegany County portion of the Rocky Gap debt through the use of our Project Open Space money. POS funds come through the state back to our communities. Those are our tax dollars being tapped. (Do we pay state and federal taxes as well as local? Yep.)
 
 As the County Commissioners wean that payment from POS money, we’re still paying down the Rocky Gap debt. They’re just transferring that payment to another pot of money. Another pot of OUR money.
 
 And don’t lecture anyone on this site about where government money comes from, and how you can’t use money from the DNR to fund a project in the Department of Education. No kidding. The question we’ve been asking is this: why are we going after the money we’re going after? Mr. Taylor gets funding for things that make no sense. Rocky Gap is the perfect example. If the state was going to invest $60 million up here, ostensibly for economic development, why not invest it in something that would benefit the area? What could we have done with that money if we were applying it to REAL economic development, improving our infrastructure or providing the technological infrastructure necessary to attract companies in the field of information technology? What, you’re trying to claim that Rocky Gap came from a big slush fund just for building hotels?
 
 The Governor, by the way, sticks all sorts of goodies in his supplemental budget every year, and that is where the ampitheatre money came from. We could have asked the Governor for money for our schools, which the Governor can grant in his supplemental budget. But no. Mr. Taylor wants an ampitheatre. And that’s the problem - our Delegation rakes it in, but there’s no substance there. We get fluff funds that take us nowhere. An amphitheater would be great - IF we had decent jobs, IF we had a middle and upper-middle class that could afford to take advantage of such a facility, IF we had a viable community. Tourism is a good thing to concentrate on building if you have a good base in place. We do not.
 
 Our community is wasting away. Our middle classs - what’s left of it - is fleeing, our tax base is shrinking, we have the highest poverty rates in the state and among the highest unemployment. We are sitting on the remains of a collapsed economy, and no amphitheater is going to do much to address that problem.
 
 And one more thing - to imply that the state isn’t subsidizing Rocky Gap is ridiculous. Ask any local hotel/motel owner how many state employees/conferences they’re hosting these days. The answer is none. State employees on business up here stay at Rocky Gap, and state agencies are directed to use Rocky Gap for conferences and seminars. Sounds like a state subsidy to me. State employees stay at that facility and hold their conferences there even though it’s cheaper to do so elsewhere. And even with that, last year the Associated Press reported that Rocky Gap was $2 million in the red for the previous year (that would be two years ago, in case you’re not good at math).
 
 No new numbers have been forthcoming, though they keep talking about how well they’re doing. I think most people want them to do well - we’re stuck with the facility, whether we like how it was built or not. I have asked for a copy of the financial report the hotel supplies the County Commissioners each year. The county’s attorney is reviewing that request. We’ll see if I get, and, if I get it, what it says.
 
 Our money IS involved in that hotel; we have a right to know how it’s faring financially.
 
 Sincerely,
 Kimi-Scott McGreevy