A long-fought skirmish near Gettysburg National Military Park could come to an end today, with Pennsylvania's gaming board slated to vote on a plan that would add a casino to an existing hotel and conference center about two miles from the main entrance to the Civil War battlefield.
Local developer and philanthropist David LeVan's proposal to build the Mason Dixon Resort & Casino, his second bid to bring gambling to the economically struggling town in six years, has polarized residents and generated heated criticism from preservation groups and Civil War historians.
Supporters such as Susanne Stockman-Murphy, who lives a mile and a half from the proposed casino, say the addition of up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games would give the already commercialized area a much-needed boost: "It will bring a new wave of visitors and encourage new businesses in our sleepy downtown," says Stockman-Murphy. "The existing Mom and Pop shops struggle to stay open, and many are closed in the busiest section of our tourist market."
READ MORE: Themed trails spotlight Pa.'s Civil War history
But opponents - including documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson - argue that building a casino so close to the country's bloodiest battleground would be an insult to the memory of the 51,000 killed or wounded there in July of 1863.
The Gettysburg casino bid, announced early last year, "is a bitterly divisive subject. You talk about the Civil War pitting brother against brother, but this really does pit neighbor against neighbor," says Mary Koik of the Civil War Trust, a national preservation group that also fought a proposed Wal-Mart store near Virginia's Battle of the Wilderness site.
Koik says arguments that Gettysburg residents have always made money from the battle, hawking everything from ghost tours to Abe Lincoln bobbleheads, misses a larger point: "Over the course of 150 years, a lot has changed about how Americans feel about history and how it should be protected," says Koik, who notes that an amusement park once sat at the top of Gettysburg's Little Round Top. site of an unsuccessful Confederate assault. "Now, we want visitors to have an authentic and immersive experience."
Other applicants vying for a Pennsylvania gambling license at today's hearing include the Fernwood Hotel & Resort in the Pocono Mountains, Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in southwestern Pennsylvania and a Holiday Inn in suburban Harrisburg. State regulators have awarded licenses to 12 applicants since 2006 and revoked one; 10 casinos are now operating statewide.
Posted Apr 14 2011 8:19AM
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