Casino and other stuff

The casino issue continues on - much like a feline with nine lives or a vampire that cannot be killed. The latest in this lengthy saga is that Taunton will finally get a Native American/Indian/Indigenous People casino that will be a remarkable 500M addition to a city that is essentially dead in the water.

The plan is to place it on route 140 and that is, no doubt, a former Indian/Native American/Indigenous People trail that has some type of historical significance.

Cedric Cromwell - not to be confused with Oliver Cromwell - is the tribal spokesperson or is it leader? I’m sure there is a term somewhere to describe his skill set among this faux tribe. Anyways, Cromwell spoke at a love fest in Taunton recently with assorted pols in attendance to describe the wonders of it all.

Cromwell dismissed or minimized any potential lawsuits that will certainly hover around this latest resurrected effort by the faux tribe. They have claimed ancestral home over just about any open space in North America in an attempt to cash in. I’m sure Cromwell would even claim the Wamps are a lost tribe of Israel to get the coin.

One item of contention is Brockton. The citizens of Brockton are in favor (barely) of a casino. This will be at the site of the Brockton-Middleborough Agricultural Fair - or Brockton Fair Grounds.

Brockton actually makes Taunton resemble Manchester By The Sea. If you need cash just swept up shell casings after a night of random havoc in the former Shoe City and the scrap will make a mortgage payment.

I for one will miss the fair. Where else can I witness obese women in spandex outfits accompanied by their toothless and well tattooed biker “significant others.” Just the thrill of watching the assorted grifters that come into Brockton for the festival will be missed. Once this fair was actually a splendid event with freak shows, Kelly the Candyman, strip shows and rides that in this day and age would not pass inspection even if GM and VW were involved.

The fairgrounds - like most of Brockton - is now a seedy dump and that is being insulting to dumps everywhere. The casino is supposed to negate the morass Brockton has embraced and that is a pipe (not peace type) dream. Just let the city die its death with a few remaining enclaves of normalcy while those with any fiscal resources and sanity take flight.

The solution to this quagmire is to simply have Taunton and Brockton have their destination casinos. Forget the saturation as that has already happened. Let both build and both fail - which they will - and have someplace besides downtown Middleboro will haVE a passel of empty storefronts

Meanwhile Middleboro will examine the possibility of extracting cash from the “tribe” for long ago agreements. Good luck with that as the “tribe” would have difficulty finding two wooden nickels to rub together.

The latest in a list of proposed expenditures is a new or renovated high school. The current one is a bit shy of what standards are supposed to be for such an edifice. Science labs are outdated and mechanical and structural issues exist. That is just the beginning of all the needed high school infrastructure and, of course, I am sure the committee that is investigating this will show all the necessary data that will link a new building to improved student performance.

The drama continues with the BOS taking various pot shots - both public and private - at each other.

The Middleboro ladder truck cost one million dollars and I propose that now be the new unit of cost measurement for the town. If a new school cots 40M then the cost is 40 ladder trucks

The Red Sox have finished a miserable season with back-to-back last places seasons. The additions of Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval clearly show it is not how much money you spent, but how you spend it.