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Gettysburg Casino Gets New Support from Local Veterans

Posted on October 19th, 2010

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The casino proposal in Gettysburg has recently been taking a backseat from all other casino issues across the country. This few weeks has seen a drastic decline in this casino issue, after the public town hall meetings. A number of high-profile projects in neighboring states, including Maryland’ s, Maine’s and even New York’shave been hugging the spotlight in the Northeastern US. The start of the week, however, saw brand new action in Pennsylvania. Local veterans of the military who have fought in the most recent wars held a rally last Monday to express their support of the casino project. This may come as a surprise because most people would think war veterans would want to preserve the historical heritage of any battlefield or site. But in this case, it appears that the local veterans are looking at the huge benefits that the casino may bring to their area. These benefits would of course, come in the form of employment opportunities and economic benefits like increased revenues for the town and an increase in the residents’ purchasing power.

The unemployment rate in Gettysburg these days is said to be at its all-time low. More or less 40 veterans staged the rally at exactly noontime at Fairfield Road, where the Cumberland Township administrative complex is located. According to Richard Kitner, spokesman for the group Veterans for Mason Dixon, the assembly is an effort to show the support of the local veterans for the planned casino in the area. He added, “We, as a voice united representing soldiers of all of America’s conflicts, state that so long as the resort or gaming facility is not on or immediately adjacent to any recognized place of final repose, there is no justification for denying that facility. ” In Adams County alone, he says there are more or less 9,000 veterans. The plan to convert the Eisenhower Hotel located along Emmitsburg Road in Cumberland Township, which is currently a low-profile property with 300 rooms, have gathered flak from different organizations. National veterans’ organizations, most especially the president of the National Legion, have protested the project because it is only half a mile away from the historic Gettysburg National Military Park.

Meanwhile, those in agreement to the plan claim that there is really nothing more to desecrate about the site because some portions of land near the battlefield have already been developed for mixed commercial and residential use. Kitner, also a veteran from the Vietnam War, commented, “It is shameful that the outside veterans’ groups did not seek the opinions of its local membership before taking what he described as “an uninformed stance.” David La Torre, a spokesman for the Mason Dixon area said that the veterans have an understanding about the project. The project, according to him, which is estimated to cost around $75 million, will bring more jobs to the residents and will not actually be located on the battlefield itself. Aside from Kitner and the veterans, the event also saw other prominent personalities who lent their support to the action, including Adams County co-spokesmen Jeff Klein who happens to be a veteran of the Iraq War as well. Another personality lending his support to the pro-casino veterans is local hobby shop owner Tommy Gilbert, whose business specializes in war reconstruction paraphernalia.

He thinks that a casino will increase the perfromance of his hobby shop, and will be a huge stimulus for the economy of Gettysburg in general. He added that if his great-great grandfather, who was a drummer boy in the Wheatfield skirmish, were still alive today, he’d be eager to play Black Jack in the planned casino. Klein said that the local veterans who support the casino have fought from Korea, Vietnam to Desert Storm. He thinks that when national groups claim that veterans under their wing disagree with the casino plans without really doing through research, it gives their organization a poor reputation. The Gaming Control Board of the state is in the process of reviewing four applications for the only available Category Three slots facility license. Among the four applications is the Mason Dixon Resort application, which was submitted by David LeVan, a locally-based businessman and Joseph Lashinger, a former administrator of Penn National Gaming. The board’s decision is expected to drop before the year ends.