(Gettysburg, Pa.) – During a public hearing Wednesday on the proposed Gettysburg slots parlor, Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Executive Director Ann LeCoeur Neeb testified that opponents to the Gettysburg casino had submitted just 1,434 signatures before the June 2, 2006 cutoff date. The remark was greeted with incredulity by the local, state and national groups that compose the Stop the Gettysburg Slots Coalition.

“This is an incomprehensible oversight,” remarked Civil War Preservation Trust spokesperson Jim Campi. “By the June cutoff date, casino opponents had delivered more than 60,000 signatures against the Gettysburg casino. Such remarks beg the question -- is the Gaming Control Board trying to downplay the opposition?”

Campi noted a March 17, 2006 Hanover Evening Sun article about the delivery of nearly 55,000 signatures on Thursday, March 16, 2006. According to the story, “Stacked on a handcart, the boxes of petitions were rolled into the offices of the state Gaming Control Board in the Strawberry Square mall.”

Cinda Waldbuesser of the National Parks Conservation Association, another Coalition group, also weighed in on the controversy: “This should be a fair unbiased process that equally takes into account all public input. We are concerned this gross oversight indicates otherwise.”

Adrian Scott Fine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation was dismayed by the Board remarks. He noted that National Trust members are still submitting letters to the Gaming Control Board, expressing opposition at the possibility of a Gettysburg slots parlor. “Is the Gaming Control Board ignoring these legitimate public comments?”

Ironically, Susan Paddock, the Chairwoman of No Casino Gettysburg, exchanged e-mails with Neeb and other Gaming Control Board officials in March about the cost of copying the unprecedented number of petitions against the Gettysburg slots parlor. Eventually, the petitions were submitted in quadruplicate, as the board’s regulations required. According to Paddock, “it is hard to believe they could forget about such an enormous pile of petitions.”

It is unfortunate that the Gaming Control Board is denying opponents of the Gettysburg slots parlor and other casinos around the state from having one last opportunity to rebut such incorrect statements. According to Campi, “such mistakes could be easily corrected if the Control Board would allow the public one more chance to voice their concerns.”

For more information about the Stop the Gettysburg Slots Coalition, visit their website at www.stopthegettysburgslots.org.