CUMBERLAND TOWNSHIP, ADAMS COUNTY -
More than 100 people came to a Gettysburg-area restaurant Thursday night to support a plan to build a so-called "resort casino" near the site of the pivotal Civil War battle.
The group Pro Casino Adams County met in the banquet room of The Pike Restaurant, along Baltimore Pike in Gettysburg, to discuss support for a slots and table games operation in the Eisenhower Hotel and Convention Center in Cumberland Township, just south of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
The meeting's organizer, Jeff Klein, says the group is the "silent majority" in the battle over a casino in the Gettysburg area, a battle that frequently invokes the historic event that made the town famous.
"It is still an inappropriate business in a family friendly small town, a half mile from the most significant historic site in America," Susan Star Paddock, chair of the group No Casino Gettysburg said.
"I don't think anybody would be in favor of a casino that close to the World Trade Center or Arlington Cemetery," she added.
Klein, a veteran of the Iraq War, disagrees. He says the casino project does not dishonor the veterans who fought and died at Gettysburg in 1863. He says the most important thing the casino will do is bring jobs to the area.
"Many of my brothers and sisters in the military came home, and guess what they didn't have? They didn't have jobs," Klein said. "That's important."
The casino's developer, Gettysburg businessman David LeVan, says the casino could create 200 to 300 jobs. He says he expects fierce competition to win the state's lone remaining resort casino license.
"I knew there was a lot of support for this project in Adams County, and it's good to see the people out here demonstrating their support," LeVan said.
The group Pro Casino Adams County met in the banquet room of The Pike Restaurant, along Baltimore Pike in Gettysburg, to discuss support for a slots and table games operation in the Eisenhower Hotel and Convention Center in Cumberland Township, just south of the Gettysburg National Military Park.
The meeting's organizer, Jeff Klein, says the group is the "silent majority" in the battle over a casino in the Gettysburg area, a battle that frequently invokes the historic event that made the town famous.
"It is still an inappropriate business in a family friendly small town, a half mile from the most significant historic site in America," Susan Star Paddock, chair of the group No Casino Gettysburg said.
"I don't think anybody would be in favor of a casino that close to the World Trade Center or Arlington Cemetery," she added.
Klein, a veteran of the Iraq War, disagrees. He says the casino project does not dishonor the veterans who fought and died at Gettysburg in 1863. He says the most important thing the casino will do is bring jobs to the area.
"Many of my brothers and sisters in the military came home, and guess what they didn't have? They didn't have jobs," Klein said. "That's important."
The casino's developer, Gettysburg businessman David LeVan, says the casino could create 200 to 300 jobs. He says he expects fierce competition to win the state's lone remaining resort casino license.
"I knew there was a lot of support for this project in Adams County, and it's good to see the people out here demonstrating their support," LeVan said.
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