It’s not rocket science. And you can bet the group of well-heeled friends of Governor Edward G. “Fast Eddie” Rendell don’t qualify as rocket scientists, either. A group of them has purchased land next to the Limerick Nuclear Power Generating Station in Montgomery County, and decided they want to put a casino in it. [boggle!!!]
The good folks living in the area near the Limerick reactors, have enough on their hands in dealing with a reactor that is entering its 20th year of service, and requires extra security for reasons involving terrorism, and national security.
None of these “Friends of Fast Eddie” could qualify as the brightest candle on the birthday cake.
These boys want to drag more than a thousand additional vehicles per day up and down a rebuilt Route 422, destination right next door to the Limerick Nuclear plant.
Sure, boys, we’ll just go ahead and increase the Department of Homeland Security’s operating budget, and increase security at the plant. Or maybe your buddy, “Fast Eddie” could call out the Pennsylvania National Guard to conduct random vehicle searches along Route 422, using bomb-sniffing dogs.
Now, if I was an Islamic extremist hiding somewhere in the mountainous (and nebulous) region of Waziristan, and I’d just read about this plan for Limerick, I’d signal my boys in the good old US of A, and tell them they finally have a target, one which will soon be totally beyond any reasonable level of protection.
Look, it’s really pretty simple. You have guards at the gates, and other security in a perimeter around the nuclear facility at Limerick. The place is likely wired to the hilt, too, with surveillance and security equipment. They maybe see 20 vehicles an hour during the day, and maybe 3-5 over night, going by the gate. Increase that rate by 500%, and have the traffic pulling in next door, and you could hide a dozen guys named Hassan, Omar, or Yasser in that traffic and the guards would likely never see them. So, when H-O-Y plumbing pulls up in a large truck, and begins firing RPGs into the Nuclear Power Station from the parking lot of the casino next door, the good folks living in Montgomery County will be in the dark – until they start to glow. And all of this because suddenly the security team for the reactors at Limerick have to play “Where’s Waldo” 24/7.
Jack Bauer, you are needed in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania! Bring your buds from CTU along!
These “Friends of Fast Eddie” are almost smart enough to qualify for the legislature. They’re certainly greed-blinded enough to qualify as Pennsylvania Lawmakers!
Now, I realize that scuttling this project increases the chances of Gettysburg getting a casino, and that would indeed be a travesty, as another “Friend of Fast Eddie” attempts to get his cut of the pie. Not an issue of national security, this project is an issue of moral and ethical values, and common sense. It seems pure greed has overwhelmed those values.
Former CEO of Conrail and local entrepreneur David LeVan has assumed the position as “Front Man” for a group of investors from Cumberland County (called Chance Enterprises), and Commerce Bank, which seems to be the common connection of all of them. LeVan, who is from Gettysburg, is an alumnus of Gettysburg College, and returned here after a career in high finance where he became the last CEO of Conrail, finally breaking it up. David LeVan is a long-time “Friend of Fast Eddie”.
These folks want to put a casino near the Gettysburg Battlefield. Until last week, they were going to trade on the name of Gettysburg by calling it the Gettysburg Gaming Resort and Spa. Now, after some pressure, they have decided to change the name to Crossroads Gaming Resort and Spa.
The only problem with this pseudo-step-in-the-right-direction is that no matter what you call it, the proposed casino (as of this writing) still has a Gettysburg address. This blogger detailed many of the things that are wrong with the state backed gaming law in essay 03: “A Matter of Ethics – Part 2 – The Gaming Act”.
David LeVan returned to Gettysburg when his connection with Conrail ended (about the same time Conrail ended, too!), and immediately began spreading around some of his “Golden Parachute” money from his previous employment. He gave to the most indigent organizations, historical and community based, and he gave to some of the more upscale organizations as well, such as the Majestic Theater renovation recently accomplished by new owners Gettysburg College, on the board of which LeVan sits.
You have to spend money to make money. The good will of those recipient-organizations would be needed once the casino project was announced. One of the other investors, Barbara Ernico of Camp Hill, Cumberland County, is a factor for the Hoffman Charitable Trust, and makes the recommendations to that trust as to where they will donate their money. While most certainly not illegal, these two situations certainly have the appearance of applying pressure on non-profit organizations in Adams County that have become dependent on the money of both LeVan and the Hoffman Trust. In light of a number of threats made by Mrs. Ernico, that pressure is definitely there. One historical preservation association sold its soul to David LeVan out of a misplaced sense of loyalty for financial help in the past, and continued help in the future.
Ethics. Moral values. The legislature doesn’t have them, the governor doesn’t have them, the state Supreme Court doesn’t have them, and, apparently, neither do the investment groups trying to make a go of these two locations for casinos.
As detailed in 03: “A Matter of Ethics – Part 2 – The Gaming Act”, the gaming act, Act 71 of 2004, is a bad piece of legislation, rotten to its core, and rife with avenues into its own industry that lead to graft and corruption. Indeed, in a few cases already exposed to the light of day, it already has. This irresponsible piece of legislation allows the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to install and govern an industry heretofore not found in the Commonwealth, that will expand addictive behaviors, cause an increase in crime, create a mental health risk, and create social crises in marriages, families, and their financial situations. That is how the Governor, the State Supreme Court, and the Pennsylvania General Assembly care for their constituents.
The very definition of the word weal, part of the word commonwealth, is:
weal1 (wēl) n. Prosperity;
happiness: in weal and woe.
The welfare of the community; the general good: the public weal.
[Middle English wele, from Old English wela.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Any way it can be cut, those three elective branches of state government have violated the public trust. In that single act, Act 71, they have exposed the citizenry of Pennsylvania to the great risks to life and health, and general well being (weal) that accompany gambling.
No matter how you cut it, at best that is irresponsible, at worst, it is criminally negligent. A class action suit could, conceivably, find success in Federal Court to this effect.
Also, there are two pieces of legislation recently introduced into the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, that would affect the gaming industry in Pennsylvania. Representative Steve Maitland (R-Adams County), has introduced a bill that would bar the construction of a gaming facility within 15 miles of a National Park, or National Historic Area. The proposed Gettysburg Casino is one mile from the East Cavalry Battlefield segment of the Gettysburg Battlefield National Military Park, and the proposed casino at Limerick is 10 miles from the Valley Forge National Military Park. Representative Paul Clymer (R-Bucks County)(one of the true good guys in state government) has introduced a bill to repeal Act 71.
Experts and pundits don’t give either of these two bills a chance for survival of a “Fast Eddie” veto. Still, it is another voice heard crying in the wilderness, calling for sanity in the halls of Pennsylvania government.
In the meantime, we must pray that common sense, good community participation (that goes beyond spreading money around) and honest dealing will compel Chance Enterprises to leave Adams County alone, and the other “Friends of Fast Eddie” to leave Montgomery County alone.
In 1776, Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers, and the publicist of the American Revolution, wrote in his pamphlet titled The Crisis:
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
When it happens, when this affront to the people of Pennsylvania is beaten back, when the gaming bill is no more, the triumph over the tyranny of the dollar-driven current state government, will indeed be a most glorious triumph.
THE CENTRIST
"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs. " Albert Einstein
Copyright © 2005, "THE CENTRIST" . All Rights Reserved.
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