Referendum would clear way for casinos in Ohio cities

Referendum would clear way for casinos in Ohio cities
EDITOR:
There has been some exposure as of late concerning the development of an Indian casino in Lordstown. If this comes to be, great. The Valley needs all the help it can get. However, I feel the reality of an Indian casino is definitely a long shot.
Most experts in Ohio feel Indian casinos are the least likely to happen because of many reasons, including: We have no federally recognized tribe in Ohio and Gov. Taft will never sign the necessary compact, which is necessary in order to allow the development of Indian Casinos anywhere in the state.
Cleveland's Mayor Jane Campbell has put together a program to get a referendum on this November's statewide ballot in Ohio. She has even retained the services of one of the country's leading public relations and consulting firms to handle all the necessary functions in order to attain the referendum.
I have written Mayor Campbell giving her my support. If the referendum issue passes in November, the people of Youngstown will be given the right to vote on allowing a full scale Las Vegas-style casino to be developed here. Based on past surveys, the people of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley are in support of developing a casino here.
This casino will definitely help our economy and financial situation here in Youngstown and the Valley. Like they did in Detroit, we can allow all casino corporations to bid on the developing of the Youngstown casino. There are casino developers that would be willing to build and operate a billion dollar casino with a 500 room hotel, 5,000 slot machines, 300 gaming tables, off track betting and sports betting. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with continuous entertainment.
Like many other residents of the Valley, I strongly believe casino development here would really help Youngstown both economically and financially. I also have many other goals I would like to see achieved that will truly help Youngstown. Goals like filling all the vacant buildings in all parts of Youngstown with new renters and owners or replacing the old building with new ones and new companies that will create the jobs we are looking for in Youngstown and the Valley.
With business expansion in Youngstown, revenue will increase and taxes on residents and owners will be lowered. Our school system will be improved and benefits for our poor and needy will be accelerated. We will be able to demolish vacant housing and build new houses. We will improve our roadways and we will reduce major crime in our city.
JOHN R. SWIERZ
Youngstown
Cartoon was nasty andoff mark regarding the war
EDITOR:
The spiteful editorial cartoon that appeared in the Feb. 5 Vindicator brought to mind the observation of the late Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Jeff MacNelly that, "Many great cartoonists, if they couldn't draw, would be hired assassins."
The drawing showed an odious character wearing a cap bearing the words, "Bush Haters Club." His lips were closed by a zipper labeled "Iraq Vote." The evident message was that the many Americans who remain upset by where the president is taking our country are just churlish dead-enders who should shut up, and that the occurrence of an election in Iraq last week somehow justifies Mr. Bush's ideology-driven decision to invade that country. The election's partial success justifies some hope, but no assurance, that the Iraq mess will be contained eventually. Even Bush sycophant Cal Thomas acknowledged that harsh reality this week, quoting Condoleezza Rice's words that, "The hard work is still ahead."
Thomas Sowell once observed that, "Policies are judged by their consequences, but crusades are judged by how good they make the crusaders feel (Cincinnati Post, 8/26/86)." Seems to me that Bush is endangering our nation by thinking like a crusader. We're in a war of attrition, and there is no alternative to staying the course, but we have the right -- perhaps even the duty -- to remember who was steering the Ship of State when the U. S. blundered into these dangerous waters.
ROBERT D. GILLETTE
Poland