Still Standing

One year ago today, after recovering sufficiently from the build-up and day of the infamous town meeting from hell (and an evening of much needed camaraderie at Mark Belanger's house in it's aftermath) I picked myself up, dusted myself off and pushed the 'publish' button on a blog post called Gladys Rising.

In that post, I brought up Article 3 - that fact that the town voted that it didn't want a casino, despite approving an agreement, and pondered:

So, will Glenn Marshall go against the wishes of the host community? Could it be possible that in his long life he somehow missed the lesson that ‘No means No?’ Or does he actually plan on date-raping the town of Middleboro?

Less than a month later, it was revealed that Glenn Marshall was a convicted date rapist .

Hey, can I pick 'em out of a crowd or what?

Well, the sun has come up on another July 30th, and Gladys is still here, still rising, and still fighting. And she wants to know what keeps you here. What keeps you fighting?

Another year of challenges waits for us. How should we use it?

Why did the chicken cross the road?

JACK HEALEY:
It needed someplace to lie low for awhile.

GLENN MARSHALL:
Not only did the chicken cross the road, but on the way there, he saved two fellow chickens, a duck, and a badly injured guinea hen and was awarded the congressional medal of poultry for his efforts. And that's the truth.

ADAM BOND:
It's not a matter of whether the chicken crosses the road. It how fast we can get the chicken to get to the other side before anyone notices.

WAYNE PERKINS:
Who cares? Chickens been crossin' the damn road before the Pilgrims set foot in this country, and they'll be crossin' the same damn road when there's flyin' cars and colonies on Mars. That's my opinion, an' I been waitin' a long time to say it, that's for sure...

PAT ROGERS:
I support the chicken's endeavor to cross the road, but I see no reason why he can't slow down, put the brakes on, as it were. But since it does behoove the chicken to cross the road, I'm not sure why he won't let me join him in doing so. Certainly, I can offer the chicken a great deal of advice and expertise in crossing the road.

MARSHA BRUNELLE: STEVEN SPATARO:
Hey - if you don't like the chicken crossing the road - you can move!

MIMI DUPHILLY:
Um... whatever Marsha says...

BRIAN GIOVANNONI:
No, you're wrong. The chicken didn't cross the road. And I know that, because I'm a chicken engineer.

SEAN HENDRICKS:
I like chicken.

PROF: CLYDE BARROWS:
If you count all the feathers, you'll notice that the majority of chicken feathers are from Massachusetts, and that Massachusetts is losing the majority of it's chickens to Across the Road, where the revenue from Tyson and Perdue are, in fact, helping to balance State budgets, offset revenue deficiencies, fund educational incentives, cure world hunger, ensure universal health care and repair that State's crumbling road's and bridges.

DEVAL PATRICK:
I've studied this question long and hard. And from what I've learned, the chicken has been granted the right, by the Federal Government to cross that road and any road it wants. And since it's inevitable that the chicken is going to cross the road, shouldn't we intercept it, while we still can, and put three of our own chickens across the road to do everything Prof. Barrows said? I'm mean, I get it! it's chickens... and a road! It's entertainment!

SAL DIMASI:
If the chicken chooses to cross the road, that's certainly his perogative. But if he ever wants to crow in this town again, he may want to rethink that effort and the effect it will have on the rest of the coop.

FLYING MONKEY #1:
It's likely in this case that the chicken fears the difference in plumage between itself and a new chicken who he encounters on his own side of the road. In this case, the chicken need not fear, but instead embrace those differences. Unfortunatley, we see here that our chicken's lingering plumage prejudice is abundantly clear - as it chooses to flee from one side of the road to the other in an attempt to escape.

FLYING MONKEY #2:
More $$ across road. Who wood blaime him thaat chikn four wanting two mayke a goode lving? LOL! He's the smart one! Lots of money across road. Number #1 on google!

FLYING MONKEY #3:
Have you asked yourself why that chicken needs to cross the road? Is it hiding from something? From the other chickens it's no doubt harmed with it's so-called sad excuse for scratching and pecking. Clearly, this chicken is running from something. Perhaps old age? Look at it's breasts - dry, frumpy, overdone. Hardly what anyone of quality would consider an appropriate meal. If anyone ever put that chicken on my table, why I'd sue, that's what I'd do! Have you ever asked yourself why anyone would serve such a poor half baked excuse for a chicken? ...When? When will any of you listen and stop that chicken before it crosses that road for good!

RICH YOUNG:
What chicken? What road?

THE BELICOSE BUMPKIN:
Why can't we all just get along on this side of the road?

MIDDLEBORO REVIEW:
Obviously, the chicken took one look at his bobbleheaded cousins on the other side of the road, scratching at crumbs, flapping around in circles, and functioning without their heads - and felt an immediate kinship...

CARVERCHICK:
If a chicken, crossing the road at approximately 4 MPH, intercepts a vehicle at, oh say, roughly 50 MHP, which is the designated speed limit on Rte. 44, said chicken would not only suffer life threatening injuries but would also more than likely cause damage to the vehicle and even lead to an accident in which the occupants might suffer bodily harm, or even death. In fact, the chicken itself could become a projectile, potentially lodging itself onto the windshield of a vehicle in the opposite lane, and causing it to swerve into oncoming traffic. Furthermore, as you can see from the graphic below, a chicken faces a particularly difficult and unlikely path in it's efforts to cross the road:

And finally, according to the Center's for Disease Control,

"Avian influenza is an infection caused by avian (bird) influenza (flu) viruses. These influenza viruses occur naturally among birds. There are only three known A subtypes of influenza viruses (H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2) currently circulating among humans. It is likely that some genetic parts of current human influenza A viruses came from birds originally. Influenza A viruses are constantly changing, and they might adapt over time to infect and spread among humans. During an outbreak of avian influenza among poultry, there is a possible risk to people who have contact with infected birds or surfaces that have been contaminated with secretions or excretions from infected birds."

And so, I have just one question for any chicken who thinks he's going to cross the road into my neck of the woods: Original or exra crispy??

CARL:

C RAC

H elps

I ndian

C asinos

K ill

E verything

N ice


GLADYS KRAVITZ:

Radio Free Gladys

As you may have heard, I was the guest on Ryan Adam's podcast yesterday! A truly great experience with two wonderful hosts and a lively hour of casino-related conversation.

You can hear it for yourself here at Left Ahead.

Selling People Dreams for Cash

For the past week I've been writing a blog post. After the second power outage, however, and watching all those words go down the digital drain (and yes, I do realize I should have hit the save button...) I decided I needed a break.

In the meantime, I submit the following very short clip from the magnificent film Casino - a movie which begins on a note of glamour and hope, and ends with about as much carnage as your average Shakespearean tragedy. But then, so many casino dreams have a way of turning into nightmares.

This clip, while short, says a lot about the gambling industry. And if you haven't seen the whole movie yet, I highly recommend it.

...And don't let the door Salamancya on the way out.

In New York, a victory, and why it's an important story for us.

The Beginning:

1988 - The Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) is passed requiring that non-reservation land acquired by Tribes after 1988 cannot be used for 'gaming' unless it meets at least one of several exceptions - one of which is that the property had been taken into trust as part of a land-claim settlement.

1990 - Congress passes The Seneca Nation Settlement Act. This act allowed non-Indians living on Indian land in Salamanca to remain there, while compensating the Tribe $35 million dollars for it's having been underpaid for the Indian land leased for decades to non-Indians.

2001 - NY Governor Pataki approved the building of three Seneca Nation casinos - one in Salamaca, and the other two in Niagara Falls and Bufflo. They were able to build the first casino without issue since it was on reservation land. In order to build casinos in the other two cities, however, the Tribe needed to purchase off-reservation land - which they did, subsequently requiring them to satisfy one of the exceptions to IGRA in order to provide 'gaming' on the land.

However, because the Niagara project wasn't challenged, it won Federal approval and the Seneca's built a casino on the site of the former Niagara Falls Convention Center.

The Challenge:

In Buffalo, things were different. A citizens coalition filed a law suit against Philip Hogen, in his official capacity as chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Department of the Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission itself.

The Citizens for a Better Buffalo coalition was comprised of various individuals and groups including a Pastor, an Assemblyman, a County legislator, the Network of Religious Communities, the Preservation Coalition of Erie County, the Campaign for Buffalo-History, Architecture and Culture, The National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, The Coalition Against Gambling in New York, and the Citizens Against Casino Gambling in Erie County. Erie County itself had originally been a part of the coalition, but left following a change in the County Executive's office.

Still, the Seneca's went ahead and built a 'temporary casino' on the Buffalo site while making plans for a permanent one, claiming that the land in Buffalo didn't need to meet any exceptions for off-reservation 'gaming' because it had been purchased with money from the 1990 land settlement - not only making it 'Indian Country' - but also making it eligible for 'gaming' under one of the IGRA exceptions.

This week, US District Court Judge William M. Skretny, issued a 122-page decision in the case of CACGEC vs. Hagen.

The Verdict:

What's in a name? Well, apparently, a lot. It appears that the Senca's got the blessing to go ahead with a casino on the Buffalo site all because of a typo.

You see, the title of the Act, according the United States Code is “Seneca Nation (New York) Land Claims Settlement.”

But Judge Skretny pointed out to the Defendants that this title is provided by someone in the printing office. And that the actual title of the Act was provided by Congress and could be found in the Act itself.

Long title: "To provide for the renegotation of certain leases of the Seneca Nation, and for other purposes.”

Short title: "Seneca Nation Settlement Act of 1990."

As you can see, there is no mention of "land claim" anywhere in these titles.

Or even "land".

Or "claim".

Nada.

Which backed up what our friends the plaintiffs, those meddling kids, had argued. That there was no land claimed in Salamanca - the Seneca's had owned the same land before, and the same land after the Settlement act. And that the Act was simply a settlement of underpayment of leases for land they already owned - sort of like finally getting a big fat hunk of back rent - not compensation for land unfairly taken from them.

And... since the settlement act wasn't about a land claim, then it didn't meet the exception under IGRA to allow 'gaming' there.

The Seneca's are operating an illegal casino in Buffalo.

The Aftermath:

The Seneca's are in denial. They continue to allow illegal gambling on the premises of their Buffalo site and haven't yet rolled up blueprints on their new casino. Naturally, there will be an Appeal.

Still, according to the plaintiff's attorney, Richard Lippes "the Senecas have always said consistently they would follow the law...and we'll take them at their word that they're not going to act illegally." Judge Skretny did not issue an injunction to shut down the temporary casino, but the citizen's coalition has indicated that they may, if necessary, seek an order to shut it down.

The Lesson:

It makes me wonder if, back in the late 1990's, some guy in a suit stood in front of a group of some worried-looking folks from Erie County and told them point-blank that a Buffalo Indian casino 'was a done deal'.

I wonder how many times those people have heard the word 'inevitable' since then. And I can only imagine how many sneaky legal and political maneuvers, misinformation campaigns and inaccurate or misleading news reports they've survived along the way.

The threats, the intimidation, the ever never-ending crisis-du-jour and attempts at demoralization.

In the end, it amounted to nothing.

Because, as you can see, after all those battles, the folks from Erie County have, essentially, won the war.

Perseverance, truth, creativity, strength, intelligence, values, and effort took the day. And it will here, too.

Like my friend Carverchick says, "Be the change you want to see in the world".

Join CasinoFacts.org
Join CasinoFreeMass.org

It's not a done deal, unless you let it be.

Flamenco Dancing

Never mind.

Apparently, Spectrum Gaming Group, the consulting firm that our current one-term Governor hired earilier this year to conduct an in-depth financial analysis of his proposed three-casino plan has defaulted on their second deadline to produce said report.

(Incidently, in addition to conducting economic and feasibility studies, Spectrum also wins the trifecta of non-impartiality by providing services for casino operators and developers, Indian nations, and suppliers to the gaming industry.)

They probably even have a portrait of Clyde Barrows hanging in the conference room.

But according to Kofi Jones, spokeswoman for the Governor's Office of Casinos and Misinformation, the generous extension of Spectrum's orginial deadline was “to ensure that their analysis addresses comprehensively every question raised by legislators during the March casino hearing,"

Or... maybe they just couldn't find any good answers.

WEEKEND UPDATE

Jane Curtin: Weekend Update recognizes its obligation to present responsible opposing viewpoints to our editorials. Here to reply to a recent editorial, is Emily Litella.

Emily Litella: What's all this I keep hearing about bringing Flamenco Dancing to Massachusetts? Why, that's the best idea I've heard in quite some time. Can you imagine? All those clicking heels and fancy dresses. It's about time we brought back dancing to the Bay State. Can't you just imagine them on the beaches, or at Tanglewood...

Jane Curtin: Emily....

Emily Litella: Twisting and turning around like whirling dirvishes...

Jane Curtin: Emily...

Emily Litella: ...Why, we could make Charo's birthday a state holiday...

Jane Curtin: Emily...

Emily Litella: ...And people would come from miles and miles around just to watch and particpate in our Flamenco Dancing contests. I can't believe that anybody would want to stop Flamenco Dancing from coming to Massachusetts!

Jane Curtin: Emily!

Emily Litella: Yes?

Jane Curtin: It's not Flameco Dancing. It's Casino Gambling. The Governor wants to bring Casino Gambling to Massachusetts.

Emily Litella: Oh. Never mind.

A Blogger for One Year

A year ago this week, I became a blogger. Today I offer a year's worth of candid observations from the blogging battlefield:

Why did I become a blogger?
I usually credit the media for this - because they weren't printing some of my editorials or reporting the whole story. But in truth, if Middleboro's elected officials had, upon finding themselves in this peculiar situation, responded appropriately, I would never have needed to pen those first original posts.

Because, in May or early June of last year, this is what the town of Middleboro should have said to the Tribe:

"Listen, we have an awful lot of questions, and so do the citizens of Middleboro. This is a complicated issue and one which stirs much passion. And let's not forget that gambling is currently illegal in this state. There are also the issues of our town's own sovereign status here. In addition, this site and the region itself just might not be appropriate for this type of development. And so, it's just too soon to say. We've listened to some lawyers, but we're still going to take some time to study the issue. We're going to talk to a lot of experts, and we're going to listen to the people who live here and we're going to listen to the people who live in the towns around the site to get their opinion, because a project like this will effect them too. And we're going to hold educational forums so folks can become more informed about what could be in store. And most importantly, we're going to hear everybody out. Now, we realize that your tribe has waited 30 years for your federal recognition, but our town is over 300 years old, and that counts for something, too. And we were elected to do what's best for this town, not your Tribe. And so, if you still can't wait for us to handle this in the manner we see fit, and continue to pressure us or threaten to build a casino without our citizens informed consent, then we're afraid that we're going to have to oppose this project, and your land into trust application wholeheartedly."

I've been at selectman's meetings in towns all around the South Shore, and have attended most of the Regional Task Force Meetings - and think I can say with some assurance that this is how officials from towns abutting Middleboro would have responded had they found themselves facing this same situation.

And, the thing is, if Middleboro's "leadership" had taken this stance, I'd have figured the town and the region were in good hands and probably have spent the summer and probably the whole last year catching up on Wife Swap reruns.

But no. Because, essentially, Middleboro's response was:

Yikes! Let's just do what the fancy expensive lawyer says, and just for show, we'll appoint a lame duck citizen panel to study impacts and give them six weeks to study it. We don't have to look any deeper than that. Then we'll gavel and strong arm anyone who doesn't do what the lawyer tells us to. And if the Tribe gets upset at anything, by all means let's cave and do whatever they say so they won't leave because all that casino money will fix the mistakes we've made with the budget and then we'll all look like conquering heroes. Why even bother reading the agreement or listening to any other opinions? And we'd better do it fast or the Tribe will go to New Bedford even though it's pretty obvious they won't. And sovereignty? We thought that was just for Indians. Oh, we mean, Native Americans. We wouldn't want anyone to think we're racists. That's what we'll call casino opponents if they give us too much trouble.

The board of selectmen and certain town departments were the perfect storm of ego, apathy, gullibility, condescension, cowardice and greed. And that's why the interests of the Tribe and it's investors came before the best interests of the town and it's people, the entire region and all it's future generations.

And I didn't vote for any of them.

So, if they ever have cause to wonder why I blog about them, I wish they would ask themselves if they think I would have felt moved to make a video about a 22 minute dog complaint if Middleboro's stellar "leadership" had spent over a year studying the casino issue. No. The answer is No. I didn't start this blog because it was something I wanted to do. It was something I felt I needed to do.

Why do I keep blogging?
Because people like Brian Giovannoni of the Casino Resort Advisory Committee (CRAC) go to places like Raynham and tell the Board of Selectmen that there will only be 20,000 additional cars and that no one lives anywhere near the proposed site. That's why.

What's my favorite blog post?
It's always the last one I write. But a post I wrote last July called "Melvin" was and still is particularly meaningful to me. Unfortunately, the comments ended up hijacking the blog almost completely off the subject - which is the human carnage that comes with gambling - and so I've always felt it was a bit neglected.

What's my favorite video?
If you ask locally, people like Dogstock. Statewide or nationally, folks are partial to Slots for Tots - Part 1. But I will always have a soft spot for "The Courtship of Massachusetts". When you painstakingly animate that many little cartoon people over the course of a week and can still laugh... it's a keeper.

What's my most 'important' blog post?
I think Founding Father Knows Best is really important because is goes to the heart and intent of Indian Gaming Law and gambling in general. It says it all.

High points?
For one... Former CFO president Jacquie Tolosko asked me to join her in heading up the procession from our rally last July at the Town Hall lawn to the Elks Club. While there, Rich Young asked me to get up and speak - and I was so nervous - but when he introduced "Gladys Kravitz" there was this completely surprising amount of applause - and I realized that this was the result of A BLOG (that hadn't even existed two months earlier) - and that blogs had the potential to really be so much more than anyone envisioned.

Another... It's December. I'm coming down with the flu. I missed my train out of Boston and had to take a later one. It's dark, cold and it's starting to snow. Then I get this text message from my friend John. "From Dan Kennedy's blog: The inimitable Gladys Kravitz with a link to Earmuffs"

When I got home I looked up inimitable just to make sure I got it right. Definitely a high point.

There have been others. Many others, actually and they result from discovering that my blog has somehow made a difference.

Low points?
Where do I start?

Actually, a lot of what people think 'gets' to me just makes me angry. And anger is essentially blogger fuel. No, it's things like - when someone I've made every attempt to avoid and be fair to, posts that I want him dead on the front page of his web site. Because then it's not about a casino, it's about someones fragile and potentially dangerous mental health.

Other low points would include those episodes of despicably poor reporting, and those times when I have to listen to that same tired empathy-deprived mantra of 'jobs over lives', of how mitigation solves everything, of that money just fleeing from our pockets to CT, of the complete lack of appreciation for the unquantifiable gifts we are already blessed with in our region of the world.

On criticism...
I covered a lot of this ground in a post called "The Blog is a Harsh Mistress" - which garnered 27 comments and a death threat. But my stance has always been that if you're going to run a Mickey Mouse style of local government based on a Looney Tunes agenda - don't be surprised if the resulting criticism is a bit animated.

As far as criticism directed toward me - oh you mean "the Blogging Bitch of Bridgewater". Yes, it's very eloquent.

Best things about blogging?
The amazing people I've been able to meet. Finding out I might have made a difference here or there. New experiences. Stronger skills. More confidence.

Worst things?
The time involved. From reading and meetings and research to mixing sound, rendering video to photoshopping things like the Governor's head onto a big Walmart sign - it's time consuming. What's worse is that I really don't like sitting behind a desk all that much. And frankly, I miss my garden, my workouts, my social life, my skinny pants...

Where do I get my ideas?
From everybody. From everything. I save stuff sometimes. My friend Bumpkin calls that stuff "blog gold". I hold on to it, work on it, then post it when the right time comes around.

For instance, my slots for tots videos resulted from an e-mail from a friend who sent me the article about the Mass Teachers association. But before that I'd been looking into casino jobs with the intention of blogging about them - or at least knowing more about them. I'd asked friends who'd been to casinos what they thought about those jobs, and I did research on casino job sites. A lot of people are under the assumption that the blackjack dealer is a 'glory job' at a casino, but one casino job site actually mentions that a person in that position usually makes the majority of their money in tips - and that they need to be the kind of person who can stomach watching people lose large sums of money that they might really need. It's that sort of stuff. Blog gold.

Something people don't know about me?
I have been to a casino. A big one. I was booked for three days in Vegas. I thought it was boring and sleazy. People had to walk, with their kids, right by rows of noisey slot machines. It was loud and smokey. I tried to gamble. Someone brought me a big fancy free drink I would have paid ten bucks for back in Massachusetts. But I realized I liked my money, and what it could do for me way too much and left town exactly 25 cents richer and one day early. I drove down to the Grand Canyon and truly discovered the wonder of it all.

Oh and here's another one - this Spring, Bridgewater officially apologized for gaveling me last year and for telling me the wrong time to show up. I think they might have realized, after the BIA hearing, that I really do care about this town.

Favorite comments?
Any good comment is my favorite comment. Getting those are like the first days of summer after a really long hard winter (which writing a blog post often seems like!) But especially close to my heart are:

Gladys, a number of Middleboro residents have stepped forward to ask me to express their appreciation to you for keeping 'certain others' off the streets of Middleboro, some lurking in corners waiting to snap pretend photos (with anempty camera), others .... well just 'lurking.' You have 'lurk-proofed' the street of Middleboro, for which they are forever grateful! Please keep up the good work of cleaning up our streets! And otherwise occupying the riff-raff!

Thank you so much, Gladys ! Your last post gave me goose pimples!You and other bloggers are like the "Paul Revere" of this era.

The blogs have been the lifeline of CFO.

There was this one time though, when a regular named "Steve" from Dan Kennedy's blog came over and made this sort of snarky comment about my research for Hope Floats. It took a few days to respond to his comment, and I knew that he'd never see it, but I did it anyway, complete with relevant links, and felt very proud of myself when I knew exactly what the Mass Wildlife guy was talking about when he mentioned "disjunct population". So there, Steve.

Oh yes, and back when I allowed unmoderated comments on this blog (since they weren't being allowed at town hall) someone showed up and wrote that they'd wasted minutes of their 'precious life' looking for factual information and only found my blog. I was so concerned that someone had clicked away upset that I checked my stats and the CasinoFacts.org web site stats and (aha!) discovered that 'Precious' had simply clicked onto the site, directly to the blogs page, to my blog, to the comment section, did their business and fled - all within moments. I reported this back to my readers and a conversation about "Precious" ensued. To this day, I'll sometimes still see a comment about how certain terrible "fill in the blank" anti-casino people follow the IP tracks of their visitors.

This is actually common practice! Too funny. There were a lot of comments like that from my unmoderated comment days. Ah, good times. Good times...

What's my favorite blog post by another blogger?
Now that's tough. Because there as SO many and they're all so good. But for me, the very best posts are the ones that tell me something I didn't know before.

You have newer bloggers like Fiferstone who doesn't write often but when she does - it's a doozey. She had a great post about how we all got here, but my favorite would have to be The Loophole Narrows - which shows how little ties (with graphics!) the Mashpee Wamapanoag have to the land in Middleboro.

Cranberry Cynic is short on words but is nevertheless educational and entertaining with his one liners and updates on the trials and travails of the Mashpee Tribal leadership. But his post about Bob Massie who was so inspirational and forceful at the Statehouse Hearings was terrific and I really appreciated it - especially since I eventually was able to meet Massie in person. (Hey - isn't it amazing how many smart people there are on our side.)

Kathy Norbut's Truth to Power is always great. Power is the operative word. Her open letter to Governor Patrick during his casino crusade gave me chills. But my favorite would have to be her "Do They Work Harder in Kansas", which eloquently exposed the disparity between reality and fiction when it comes to casino jobs.

I can't figure out how to link to particular posts on Ryan's Take - but the whole month of June is a blockbuster of enlightening information, including most notably "The Casino Job Mythos". Ryan also has a special place in my heart because of his many posts on the tireless exploits of our good buddy, Prof. Clyde Barrows. But one of Ryan's best posts, in my opinion was on December 24, 2008, when he revealed the connection Patrick has to the casino industry with a post about Ropes and Gray. Hmmm...

And what can I say about CasinoFacts blood brother Dan Kennedy at Media Nation. Thanks to him, the Middleboro casino issue stays alive amongst those who wouldn't bother with it. Like with Ryan, I can't link to Dan's posts, but "Deval Patrick's gambling addiction" from June 2008, "Casino gambling's 'Energizer Bunny'" from May 2008, and "Not quite dead enough" from March 2008 rank among my particular favorites. I also love the way Dan defended Peter Kenney's investigative blogging, and Sal DiMassi's leadership style during the casino wars (which I completely agree with) and how so completely he has Adam Bond's number. And honestly, you cannot get a better 'wide angle view' of the events leading up to and after the Town Meeting from Hell than Dan's posts from last July and August. Maybe the majority of Dan's readers didn't understand his emphasis on the Yes vote on Article 3, but there were a lot of exhausted people who'd worked really hard and spent all day in that hot sun trying to protect their quality of life who definitely appreciated it.

Middleboro Review - a force of nature. What an amazing resource for all of Middleboro and even beyond. I tried to find this really memorable post she wrote about casinos and the Tribe and gambling in general but I think it was back when the blog was still called Middleboro Recall. That post was the begin all - end all of anti-casino sentiment. It was hell-fire on a stick! And I remember thinking - this lady is fearless. She sets a good example for the rest of us! She does her homework and she does the legwork. Her critics call her names. (Eyes rolling...)

My friend Carl has a really interesting blog where he combines quotes and commentary. He's another firebrand. I don't know where he digs some of those quotes up but they're great! In particular, a post from this April entitled "Why are there Indian Casinos" revealed some amazing insights from Joseph Kennedy from Citizen's Energy - and is one of my all time favorite blog posts. But notable mentions are Pocahontas, the cat up the tree, and from March, his post "Stupid Questions Answered - It saves time" - which still CRACs me up.

Carverchick, it probably goes without saying, is one of my favorite bloggers. She, like Carl is very supportive and motivational in her posts - which I adore. I also know that Carverchick puts in A LOT OF TIME studying agreements and dissecting research reports. I used a lot of the information on her blog to construct my BIA letter. From wiping the floor with a certain "factfinder" to letting us know why we should be so concerned about eminent domain to reaching out to our hearts in Collateral Damage, Carverchick always does an outstanding job at shedding light on murky subjects. Which is probably why her post Blinded by the Light is one of my absolute favorites. In fact, if you haven't read it in awhile, you may want to go back and check it out - there is a VERY interesting new comment on it.

And then there's the Bumpkin. One of the most valuable things about Bumpkin's blog isn't just that it's full of important information often painstakinly distilled and commented upon - it's that he keeps writing it - almost every single day, providing our movement with a strong continuous heartbeat. In fact, Bumpkin's body of work is too daunting for me to pinpoint just one favorite. But there will always be a special place in my heart for Davy Jones Attacks Middleboro, and even his recent Requiem for Racinos. You gotta love the stuff that makes you laugh in the midst of all this... But for me, his Atlantic City Article and Mashpee Wampanoags Oppose Cape Wind were particular eye openers. And the self-effacing photo accompanying Heil Bumpkin just gave me new respect for him! Furthermore, because of all Bumpkins herculean efforts, I wince when I think of how typical it's become of Middleboro's "leadership" that they continue to dismiss Bumpkin's offer of a free web site because they STILL can't separate themselves from the casino issue long enough to do something good for their own community. Once again... working for the Tribe and it's investors instead of the town.

I've had the priviledge of meeting each and every one of these fine bloggers. A few have become friends. Some of them have even mentioned that my own blog has inspired, educated or motivated them at one time or another. And so, I'd just like them to know that they have, and continue to inspire educate and motivate me every single day. We are the Blogfathers. Hear us roar!

After this whole year, is there anyone I would like to thank for the success of this blog?
Everyone! But most especially my patient and supportive family who've held signs, put up with fast food and my repeated abscenes and who've been witness to more than their share of monkeyshines.

I'd also like to thank my regular readers and those readers who offer their ideas for new posts and who take the time to comment - those are a bloggers lifeblood and fuel.

And I'd like to thank my fellow bloggers for their continued support, especially when we are being bombarded on all sides by Flying Monkeys.

I'd like to thank Dan Kennedy for bringing my blog to a wider audience (and giving me some more cred with the one I already had...)

And, there is one person who people tell me I'm not appreciative enough of. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to rectify that right now.

The Sky is Falling

The other day I opened up the Yahoo front page only to find this news headline...

Space Shuttle Screeching Toward Earth

Holy Hard Hat, Batman! Believing that my family, and possibly Mother Earth herself could be in imminent danger, I clicked on the headline to read the rest of the article...

...only to learn that all was well. The Shuttle had apparently screeched toward earth as part of an orderly, controlled landing, and put down with the same ease as your basic 747. And so, as it turned out, no jagged burning space shrapnel was screeching it's way through the atmosphere on it's way to Bridgewater after all.

But the key point here is that the headline made me look.

I’ve been involved in the casino issue for over a year now, and along the way have seen more than my share of “The Sky is Falling” headlines. They warn of the imminent appearance of that glass casino tower rising out of the Middleboro forest, of sovereign nations on the move, and of the gambling industry's dire and inevitable encroachment into our lives, as if it were some sort of unstoppable flesh eating bacteria.

But those flesh eating bacteria stories – they make you look, don’t they? And making you look, getting you to change the channel or buy a newspaper or click on a sponsored link, is starting to seem more important these days than the truth. Which is why, I’m pretty sure, that casino inevitability bushwah always seems to snag the headline and at least the first paragraph.

But it didn't always seem that way. Back when I was a kid, I was always writing something. And so one day, my mom suggested that I become a reporter when I grew up. And I remember thinking about that, turning the possibility over in my head for about a week. To me, reporters were Woodwards and Bernsteins. They asked the hard questions and did the real research. They pulled the shining scepter of truth from layers of muck and deception. And their words – their words could collapse a corrupt empire, pave the way for change and even save lives.

And me? I just liked to make people laugh. Hard questions seemed... well... hard. And so, suffice it to say Gladys did not pursue a career in journalism.

Fast forward to the 21st century, and all those casino Chicken Little stories compelled me to begin writing this blog (which, yes, I do still sometimes use to make people laugh.)

But I mean, someone had to start telling the truth about casinos. And that task appears to be falling on the shoulders of bloggers - which is why, more and more, people searching for the whole story are wandering over to the blogs for their daily dose of reality. (Even if it sometimes does include a Yorkie with a cell phone.)

And yet, despite my amateur status with the muck and the hard questions, I've still faced pressure, at times, from a few elected officials who'd like me to change my blogging ways. A politically savvy friend I made in the course of this battle once told me that politicians often try to control the media for their own purposes. Which totally ticked me off.

So I wondered… does it tick off the traditional media that our Governor and the Tribe’s investors and spokespeople are capitalizing on their quest for sensational headlines to sell casinos to the people of the Commonwealth?

Because it should.

Yesterday I’m out having dinner with my Dad when he tells me he’s heard the casino is coming. He even provides a date. Heard it on the news, he says.

I explain that it’s not and why. But still he insists – it was on the news….

It's not the truth, I continue to explain to Dad. It's just more of ‘the sky is falling.’

I know I’m not alone in my disappointment at the coverage this issue has received. From the failure of much of the media to report on Article 3, to the perpetuation of the inevitabilty myth, to the wholesale under-reporting about what's involved in taking land-into-trust, to the continued insistence that the Tribe and the Governor are sitting down to sign a compact at any moment.

Not unlike reading that the space shuttle is screeching toward the Earth, this subject is very stressful for many of us - and one hyped-up headline after another is the last thing we need. There are many people whose lives will likely be personally impacted by a casino due to it's proximity to their home or business. And some of these people have gratefully expressed their relief when learning, from one of our blogs, that the sky isn't actually falling, after the media has once again reported that it is.

Because let's face it, most people still think they're getting the whole truth with their news. And so, I really wish the traditional media would not only look deeper at this issue, but also actually report on it. Yeah, I realize that telling people that the sky isn't falling may not sound very exciting. But that’s where the real story is.

For instance, why is our Governor continuing to push casinos and so seemingly willing to sacrifice his own State's sovereignty when he doesn’t have to - despite raising the almost universal ire of his supporters? And why are some people lying to the public about the inevitability of legalized gambling in Massachusetts, or that a casino can be build on any Federally recognized land - when there is ample proof that it isn't? What's motivating this deception? And why was the Intergovernmental Agreement with the Tribe rushed so quickly? And what's up with that Section 22 B, anyway? And why weren't educational forums about potential casino impacts held for Middleboro residents? And while we're at it, why did the Middleboro Board of Selectmen spend more time considering dog complaints than a researching whether a casino was really a done deal (like some of us.) Those things and about a million more little things that don’t add up.

Look, I don't think anyone expects Woodward or Bernstein anymore... but c'mon, no one deserves Chicken Little, either.

The Top Ten

10.) New regulations. No more casinos beyond a 25 miles radius from tribal government! And guess what? The Mashpee tribe's government is 39 miles away from the property in Middleboro.

9.) No ties that bind. The new regs also require that the Tribe prove it has historical ties to the land.

8.) No Trespassing signs. Other Tribes are making what appears to be legitimate claims to the property in Middleboro.

7.) Don't Tread on Us. The Supreme Court will be reviewing the case of Carcieri v. Kempthorne this Fall or next Spring. If the court rules for Carcieri, there will be no Land into Trust in Massachusetts, further making it extremely premature for the Governor to proceed with any compacts or negotiations with the Tribe.

6.) The wagons are circling. Surrounding communities have a voice in the decision to take the land into trust and they're using it. 18 towns have formed a task force. Plympton even formed it's own task force and seven towns around Middleboro have already voted to oppose a casino there.

5.) Article 3. Middleboro doesn't want a casino.

4.) The Governor doesn't want a Middleboro casino. Which is why he had his people compile a 70+ page document opposing the Tribe's application to take the land in Middleboro into trust.

3.) The Truth Will Set Us Free. The legislature must approve any Class III gambling compact. If the governor goes around the legislature, they will sue him. Hell, I will sue him. And if the legislature has to decide, there will be hearings at which they're going to find out this whole 'gambling is inevitable' thing is nothing but a big fat crock of Boston baked beans.

2.) Bond, Adam Bond. The only thing that is inevitable about this whole casino business is that Adam will eventually say or do something to make casino opponents fight even harder.

And now, the number one reason why a casino isn't coming to Middleboro...

1.) This ain't Connecticut.

This is Massa-freakin-chusetts. And the year is 2008 not 1990. It's the digital age. We have e-mail, the Internet and yes... even BLOGS to instantly spread the word, to expose shady shenanigans, to motivate, educate and inspire, as well as to share information, resources and talents. And from my work with the folks of CasinoFacts.org and Casino Free Mass, I can personally attest to the amazing resources and talents at work to keep our great State casino-free.

All of us - you, me, us, them - we form a powerful network that didn't exist back when Skip Hayward and his merry band of lawyers had their way with the State of Connecticut and ushered in an era of the world's largest Casinos to a State once best known for Yale, shipbuilding and people who wore shirts with little aligators on them.

This ain't then, and they aren't us.

NO CASINO!

Outraged Nation

Sorry folks to have gone missing from the blogosphere for so long! Miss me?

Well, I've been working on another blog, but last night I followed a link someone had e-mailed me to a local news site’s comment forum. The extraordinary thing about this site was that, in only three days, 280 comments were posted – most of which were apparently written by the same few people.

If you haven’t visited this site yet, I really wish you would. It’s pretty interesting. No, not for what it says, but mostly because of the fact that, over the course of a steamy summer weekend, several people sat in front of their computers making the world a more blistering place to be by fanning the flames of conflict - some of whom are the same people who blame me for doing this all the time!

It seems that the comment sections of those on-line news sites are quickly evolving into the hottest new place to to cry foul, spew venom or grind your axe. Which is unfortunate, because comment sections are a wonderful new resource to hear what your fellow readers are thinking.

But as far as the Middleboro casino issue goes, what with local forums cracking down on flame wars, you can almost count on these comment sections becoming the combat zones du jour. And even becoming quite the place for um... "creative expression"... like when some people cleverly pretend to be our fellow anti-casino comrades simply brimming with outrage over our "innappropriate", anti-community, down-with-people blogs. While other folks clearly enjoy the challenge of coming up with new and ironic screen names. And, not so long ago I discovered that some of these gentle joksters had even been posting their comments under my name and that of some of my friends. Wow, pretty classy stuff, I'm sure you'll agree...

And in that venue, it all seems less like a debate over casinos, their impacts and the people behind them - and more like a perverse form of self-entertainment or bunch of creepy personal vendettas against the people who talk about casinos, their impacts and the people behind them.

So I thought I’d mention that, just in the past weeks, a couple of good blog posts have been written about this phenomenon over at Media Nation and Ryan’s Take, not to mention by my wise friend Carverchick.

Recently, I spoke with the on-line editor over at the Enterprise who assured me (after removing comments by me that were not actually written... by me) that his publication will soon be transitioning to a format which will require posters to register - and which should, at the very least, make it somewhat more time consuming for those people with IPs in Middleboro and West Bridgewater to amuse themselves by coming up with new screen names.

So, I suppose that’s a step in the right direction.

But the thing I mostly want to talk about today is a manufactured controversy over a place called “Clark, CT” which has been eviscerated six ways to Sunday in the aforementioned on-line forum.

Evidently somewhere, someone who is anti-casino once wrote that a casino caused a need for 100+ ESL teachers in a place called Clark, CT. And apparently, there is no such town. And therefore all anti-casino people, and all anti-casinio blogs - especially those associated in any way with CasinoFacts.org, are evil.

Well, obviously.

So, anyway... I hadn’t heard of Clark, either, but I had, at the beginning of my research into casinos, read about some really high second-language teacher requirements as a result of a sudden influx of immigrant casino workers and their families. And so, I spoke with another blogger who also remembers seeing this high number somewhere in the course of their own research.

Now, like I said, I don’t know about Clark CT – it doesn’t ring a bell – but I do know about Norwich, CT thanks to this article from the Cape Cod Times:

Though Norwich does not host either of the two Indian-owned casinos, the city of 37,000 has experienced an enormous impact from them.

More than 20,000 people work at the casinos, many on wages that can pay for housing only in the "affordable" range. Of the five towns surrounding the casinos, Norwich rents are the least expensive.

Even at that, "hot-bunking" has been an issue, as several tenants squeeze into crowded homes to save money.

Thousands of immigrants were lured to the area to work in the casinos.

And...

In the past six years, the number of non-English-speaking students in public schools has quadrupled, from 100 to 400.

Now, if you read the whole article, you will see that Norwich managed to turn this frown upside down. The city had been suffering, since the early 90’s, when cuts in defense industry spending, caused all the good-paying jobs local jobs to dry up. When casino workers looked for the only housing their paychecks could buy them – they went to Norwich. Small business sprouted up as a result. “And in the schools, resources were shifted to deal with the mushrooming number of non-English-speaking children of casino workers.”

Which is lovely. But what concerns me personally is that, what with gas prices racing toward $5.00 a gallon, places like Bridgewater, Middleboro, Lakeville and other area small towns would provide the most affordable commuter distances for low-wage earners. And our towns are not the once economically depressed city of Norwich. We are predominantly bedroom communities blessed with high employment. But we don’t have a lot of affordable housing, nor are we financially equipped to handle dramatic increases in teaching staff. As for Bridgewater, with it’s library currently open only a handful of hours a week, and constantly struggling with prop. 2 ½ overrides, we are hardly rich in resources to shift.

Additionally, though I don’t specifically remember a mention of Clark, CT – I do remember reading about “The Foxwoods Experience” on another anti-casino web site:

Speaking some 32 different languages at home, these immigrants have created a burden for the schools required to provide English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)courses, remedial work, tutors, free lunches, nursing, and other special education services, while receiving no additional property taxes to offset the costs. The influx of this cheap labor has also affected the school district's ability to qualify for federal funding, which is now tied to test results under the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

So what of Clark, CT? I mean… could it be possible that someone made a mistake about the name of the town? Heavens to Murgatroid! Call the gendarmes!

Because we know that all pro-casino people are perfect. Not one of them has ever erred in his or her lifetime. Not one typo, not one blunder, poor choice or single oversight. I’ll bet not even one of them ever forgot to use the Blind Carbon Copy feature on a private e-mail. Nope. Not a chance. How awesome it must be to be so perfect.

So, you’ll have to excuse me and my less then perfect memory if we can’t summon a line item regarding a place called Clark, CT and it's number of ESL teachers.

However, I do remember that a few weeks ago, at least one of those people claiming outrage over Clark, CT signed his name to a letter to editor of the Middleboro Gazette, ever so not-so-subtlety insinuating I was a racist for questioning issues of immigration that arise as a result of a mega resort casino on my town’s border. Issues which, as you can see from the Norwich experience, are quite real.

I also remember how another member of Outraged Nation once called me a liar at a public hearing for quoting, on my blog, from a well-known and widely read independent study on casinos and crime. And a month or so later, posted on the front page of his website that I wanted him killed.

And so, as I read those 280 comments, many from those self-same morally-superior, high-minded, value-laden, indignant souls who walk among us without so much as a blemish, it wasn’t the mystery of Clark, CT, that had me scratching my head.

No, it was wondering if, on sunny summer weekends in the Middleboro area, (especially after such a long dreary winter) there are no lakes or rivers teaming with fish or boating opportunities? Are there no paperback best-sellers waiting on store shelves clamoring to be read? Are there no beaches where one can dig one’s toes in the sand? Is there nothing showing at the theatres? No ball games? No old friends to visit? No children to toss the old ball around with? Weeds to pull? Dogs to walk? Perhaps even an actual blog to write under one's own name?

If not, then I give up. Because, in their case, perhaps sitting like a mindless drone in front of a slot machine truly is a more productive pursuit – at least when you compare it to participating in a cyberspace schoolyard spitting contest where a person can, time and time again, reveal how outraged and utterly perfect they are – as a perfect ass.

But then, where better on a sunny summer day, to stick one's outraged perfect head.

Release the Cooters!

Hey everyone - we just got back from MassWildlife's cooter release in South Middleboro. What a great time! There were several groups of students from colleges and high schools in Worcester, Dorchester and Bourne. Some of them had participated in raising the cooters. One of the students proved adept at catching water snakes while we waited for the cooters to arrive - which my kids thought was pretty amazing. (Okay... I did, too.)

The cooters themselves were adorable, and actually very friendly, though they were much bigger than I'd thought they'd be. I guess I was expecting them to be the size of those little turtles we used to bring home from the pet store a million years ago, but these guys were pretty darn beefy. In fact, it would take a normal red bellied cooter 5 years in the wild to grow to the same size as the ones we released today, which were kept warm and fed extremely well over the winter in captivity.

Update: If you check out the comments on my original cooter blog post, Hope Floats, you'll see that I was trying to explain to someone why I thought that this particular cooter was different and more rare than others. Turns out I was right! Cooters range from New Jersey to the Carolinas, but what we have in our neck of the woods is an isolated disjunct population of the cooter.

And guess what... before we released the little guys, chief Windsong from the Assonet branch of the Wampanoag Tribe said a prayer for them! It was all very cool and I'm so glad we participated.

Toward the end I met up with Christine Walgren from the Boston Globe and I told her how her original story about the Cooters and the proposed casino property had inspired me to learn and blog about them.

The kids found the whole morning very exciting - from being in a new and beautiful place, to meeting college students who study the environment, to touching water snakes, to witnessing a Native American prayer service, to putting the cooters in the water and finally even wading in themselves.

But for me the best part, aside from the smiles on the kid's faces, was looking out over Great Quittacus Pond and seeing about a hundred little cooter heads poking up out of the water as they swam off to their new lives.

We took a zillion photos and got lots of videos - which the kids and I hope to turn into our own video to share with their classmates and of course you, my delightful readers.

Driving home past lakes and meadows and woodlands, unsullied by a soaring glass edifice to greed, we all felt very good about our part of the world - and the little part we'd just played in making it better.

Catch and Release

On the morning of January 19th I read a news story about a creature known as the Northern Red Bellied Cooter - which was purportedly inhabiting the site of the proposed casino in Middleboro.

Intrigued, I spent the rest of the morning reading up on, then blogging about the cooter, whose northernmost habitat stretches up into Bridgewater - my neck of the woods!

After the article, the blog and the cooter controversy which followed, the entire family became interested in the endangered little turtle with the funny name. And in the months that followed we learned of several local headstarting programs which remove cooter eggs from the nest, raise them until they are just large enough not to make for an easy snack for fellow forest-dwellers, then release them back into the wild. My son even chose to do a school project on the NRBC!

Yesterday my friend Frank sent me a heads-up from Mass-Wildlife that this Monday there will be a cooter release, open to the public, in Middleboro! For anyone who also has become enamored of the NRBC, this would be a great opportunity to see the rare species up close and to help it get gain a stronger foothold in our region. Hey, maybe we'll even see you there!

Here's the details:

MassWildlife Advisory

Monday, June 2, 2008—Turtle Release in Middleboro 10:30 AM. Media and interested citizens invited to assist biologists release turtles.

BACKGROUND: Hatchling Northern Red-bellied Cooters (turtles) were removed from the wild last fall and placed with partnering educational and scientific facilities from across the state to accelerate growth and reduce mortality during a turtle’s first year of life. Raised in warm aquarium environments with unlimited food, these turtles grow quickly and are no longer as vulnerable to predation when released the following year. The process is called “Headstarting” . Cooperating partners will be bringing approximately 150 headstarted turtles to MassWildlife’ s Field Headquarters in Westboro for final weighing, measuring and shell marking. Release will take place at Great Quittacas and Pocksha Ponds in Middleboro on Monday, June 2 at 10:30 AM.

Originally, known as the Plymouth Red-belly turtle, Northern Red-bellied Cooters are classified as endangered species at both the state and federal level. These turtles are Massachusett’s second largest freshwater turtle, behind the snapper, measuring up to 12 inches in shell length and reaching weights of up to 10 pounds. They are only found in the Plymouth County region of southeastern Massachusetts, completely isolated from other populations found in the mid-Atlantic states. They are named for their coral-red plastron (underbelly of shell).

Only a few hundred adult red-bellied cooters were believed to exist in the Commonwealth in 1984. Low survival rates of eggs and hatchlings are a factor limiting the species’ population. Turtle nests are plundered by scavenging raccoons and skunks, while quarter-sized hatchlings emerging in late summer face a gauntlet of predators such as fish, frogs and wading birds, not to mention ever-encroaching residential development complete with kids, pets and cars, all of which spell death for the tiny reptiles.

Habitat management efforts have been initiated with area landowners on lakes and ponds where turtle nests have been located and protected. Over 2,000 turtles have been released through the Headstart program since it’s inception since the mid-1980’s. At least three headstarted turtles are known to have nested in this time period.

DIRECTIONS TO RELEASE SITE IN MIDDLEBOROUGH

Long Point Road, Middleborough: From Rte 495 take Exit 4 for Rte 105 south. Follow 105 through Lakeville center and past Assawompsett Pond on left and stay straight when Rte. 18 turns to the right. Take left on Long Point Road and follow across causeway between Pocksha and Great Quittacas ponds to meeting/release site.

It’s a Blog’s Life.

I’ve been away from my blog for 15 days. And It's making me crazy.

It hasn't always been this way.

I don’t remember the first time I ever heard the word ‘weblog’ – a personal digital journal available for free and accessible to all - but I do remember thinking, ‘Why would anyone want to read someone else’s weblog of daily musings about themselves, let alone write one?’

And then, in 2005, I experienced (and somehow survived) a freak accident which sent me on a nightmare journey through our emergency health care system.

Once back home, in excruciating pain and confined unwillingly to bed, I found myself consumed with the need to tell somebody about my experience. So I picked up the laptop and, over the course of several days, worked nearly non-stop to put the whole story, the entire epic black comedy, into something I then could share with my family and friends. And for lack of a better term, I decided to call it my ‘blog’.

Knowing that the finished product was out there - out of my hands and into the world - was a relief. Sort of like the cathartic feeling one might experience after a long walk, or returning home refreshed and renewed from a much-needed vacation.
The astonishing part though, was that, despite it’s marathon length, everybody I sent my ‘blog’ to, actually took the time to read it. More interesting was that everyone had a different take on it – and even something different to say about it! And hey, if nothing else, it sure beat having to have to tell the same story 100 times.

So, I toyed briefly with the idea of continuing my ‘blog’, but in the days after sending out my original epic, I no longer found myself consumed with the need to share my personal experiences.

…Until May of 2007, a little over a year ago, when a lawyer named Jon Whitten stood in front of an assembled group of concerned citizens in the Middleboro Town Hall and told us that, well… life as we knew it, was over. That a casino was a ‘done deal’.

I far as I was concerned, however, this was still America. I’d worked hard for my quality of life and knew I should have a voice, and a choice, in what happened to it.

And so I did something I’ve never done before - I wrote an editorial.

I called it “What Happens in Middleboro Won’t Stay in Middleboro' and spent a whole week agonizing over it. Then I asked a reporter friend of mine to help get it published. The Brockton Enterprise thought it was good - but too long. Still, I kept hoping that someone out there at any newspaper would read my editorial about casinos and sovereign nations and 'done deals' and think - 'Hey this is a good story - maybe I'll investigate!"

But Glenn Marshall just seemed to get all the press.

I was disappointed - until a few friends mentioned reading my editorial in a couple of the Bridgewater newspapers - one of which I hadn't even submitted it to! So I kept writing, though condensing my words into the more palatable editorial snacks the Enterprise seemed to prefer.

But it didn’t take long before I realized that some things, some TRUE and IMPORTANT things, were just never going to be printed in the newspapers. Like an actor, I often found that some of my best work had only made it as far as the cutting room floor.

Suddenly, it seemed, I had another story that needed to be told. And so in June I said, “Mark, I think we need to add blogs to the (CasinoFacts.org) web site.” Mark agreed.

I didn’t know much about blogging back then, but bloggers, as far as I could tell, always seemed to have catchy names. So Mary Tufts became Gladys Kravitz, Middleboro’s Nosy Neighbor.

And because I didn’t know much about blogging, except that it seemed to be right thing to do when you needed to tell your story, those first editorials became my first posts. Eventually I'd come to realize what a truly individual and powerful medium a blog could be.

Over the course of the next year I would discover that blogs could educate and inspire, that they could document a journey, expose shady shenanigans, and even give people a laugh when they really needed one.

Some other observations about blogging for a cause…

Enjoy your anonymity while it lasts. It won't.

You can’t always hit one out of the park. No matter how hard we try, there will always be the blogs that people remember. And there always seems to be pressure to live up to them. That pressure either gets in the way, or makes you try harder. You can respond accordingly. But you still can't always hit one out of the park.

You will find your detractors. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mommy blogger, a hobby blogger or you blog for a cause, like I do. Your presence on the web will attract attention, both good and bad. And how you deal with the bad, doesn’t always translate into how you will be treated by them. You can ignore them, or try to reason with them, or even offer them sympathy. It often won’t matter. Some people are just going to latch on to a blog and the blogger as an outlet to fill some psychological need. These people run the gamut from trolls to cyberbullies to cyberstalkers.

I recently caught a Nightline episode about a well-known ‘mommy blogger’ who has been on the receiving end of many disturbing comments and e-mails. This woman merely writes a on-line journal about her day to day life as a wife and mother, and yet, people still manage to take personal offense.

And then there is Rachel North, a woman who survived a violent rape and not long after, became a victim of London’s 7/7/05 subway bombings. She started a blog to offer emotional support to fellow bombing survivors and to remember the those who died – only to find herself the object of a vicious cyberstalker, who once accused Ms. North of "making a living on the backs of the dead", and who also published insinuations that her father, a canon in the church, was a pedophile. Ms. North's cyberstalker - a serial cyberstalker who'd turned her venom on many as it turned out - was later sentenced to prison.

Really, it just doesn’t matter what you blog about. So, support your local bloggers. Chances are they put up with a lot just by putting themselves out there.

(Trust me, your kind comments sustain us.)

Blogging is hard. Committing to a blog is time consuming. It's a job. I’ve seen bloggers come and go. People have things to do after all. Some blog posts require a week or more of research or work to create something that their readers will probably absorb in under 3 minutes. This can be entirely demotivating to a person! ...unless the blogger knows that their visitors walk away knowing more or feeling better than they did when they first stopped by.

So, as far as I can tell, blogging is a lifestyle choice. I've lost sleep, gained weight, pulled out hair and argued until I am hoarse for my blog. I've blogged through the stomach flu and blogged on vacation and blogged when I really should have been exercising or doing laundry or gardening or enjoying the weather or any of the millions of things I used to do with some regularity before I became a blogger.

And I think I speak for many other bloggers when I say that for every moment of satisfaction that comes from finally publishing that arduous or problematic post, there are usually days of inner turmoil, conflicting priorities, and persistent detractors behind it. Blogging is hard.

But as hard as blogging can be, it can also be immensely satisfying - or why would we do it? Blogging has forced me to learn more, dig deeper and to keep going when it would have been so much easier to quit. I've developed new skills, met some really interesting people and gone to places I never would have had it not been for the desire to make my blog better, more meaningful, as accurate as possible, and just a place people want to visit.

Blogging can be powerful. I have heard people say things in front of large audiences that first appeared on my blog. I know this is true for my fellow bloggers, as well.

My blog has been read across the country, by newspaper reporters, and even by a few legislators. But in my opinion, a blog isn’t about how many people you reach. It’s about who you reach. An editorial can appear in a newspaper and be read by 20,000 people, but an anti-casino blog, read by a comparatively much smaller number of focused individuals who are more likely to be receptive to, or actually act on it’s message, can be endlessly more effective.

A single blog post can be like a crate of tea tossed into the harbor. It doesn't look like much in the beginning, but the ripple effect might turn out to be really something.

Listen to your instincts. People may have a lot of good advice, but they're generally applying it to themselves, not to you. In the end, you have to do what's best for you and your sanity as far as your blog is concerned.

A blog is a journey. Individual blog postings can be taken at face value, but the most remarkable and enduring aspect of the blog is that it is a diary. From point a, that first post, to point b, whichever is the most recent, a blog is a record of what has transpired, the feelings, the mood, the times, the people, the places and the writer. It is all of those things which tend to fade in our mortal memory banks. It is the whole story.

And the whole story is what, last year, I set out to tell.

The Dilemma Zone

The light turns yellow as the intersection approaches. If you hit the breaks, you could get rear ended. If you go through the light, you could get hit. What do you do?

It’s a dilemma. And apparently, it’s one of the main causes of accidents on Rte. 44 that was discussed at the Mass Highway meeting last night in Middleboro.

...Where we learned that in the last three years there have been 100 accidents on the Middleboro stretch of 44 alone. Which was a little surprising even to those who’ve lived along the problematic highway for many years.

What is more surprising is that finally someone's going to do something about it.

Mass Highway is putting in turning lanes at the four Middleboro intersections with Rte. 44.

Rejoice!

I could never understand why Middleboro seemed so resistant to the concept of the turning lane, especially since, for years, they’ve been cropping up pretty much everywhere else in efforts to reduce accidents and ease congestion. But once those turning lanes at the horrible intersection of Rtes. 28 and 105 showed up, I knew my old hometown had stepped into a new century.

And last night, an enormously grateful group of people showed up to listen to the presentation by Mass. Highway. We at CasinoFacts.org even found ourselves on the same page as Town Planner Ruth Geoffroy and CRAC Chairman Brian Giovannoni. It was all good - the public good.

The COMMON GOOD.

(wait for it...............)

Adam Bond raises his hand. Yes?

"Um... say a casino or… or… the new Plymouth Movie Studio comes into the picture..."

No kidding. First words out of his mouth. CASINO.

"…is there some way… in other words… what could STOP this project?"

The highway guy, not being from the Land of Oz, looks confused. Apparently, no one has ever done this.

This is Adam’s dilemma zone: After installing these turning lanes, Mass. Highway isn’t going to touch Rte. 44 for at least another 5 years. And that means no double barreled highway or other infrastructure improvements to the road which would make life easier (and cheaper) for casino investors. It could potentially even (gasp!) delay The Project.

But by all means, let’s see if we can’t delay the turning lanes instead. I mean, what’s another 100 accidents more or less if it saves some billionaires a little coin.

Adam regroups. “Well, ok, then how long after a Notice to Proceed will it start?”

“Immediately”

I watch as Adam mentally adjusts his casino timeline.

The highway guy continues, “If you stop it, you will have to pay a penalty.”

Ooops. There goes someone’s year-end bonus.

A few minutes later, another hand is raised. “Nothing should stop it! How long have we waited for it? Why would anyone even mention stopping it?”

With casino interests at the wheel, that isn't much of a dilemma.