Opposition is mounting to plans for a casino near one of the country’s best known historical sites, Gettysburg National Military Park.
The park preserves most of the Gettysburg battlefield where the Union and Confederacy clashed in the summer of 1863 in a pivotal civil war battle.
“It was a turning point in the nation to end slavery,” says Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. “To put a gambling casino there would be wrong.”
Adams County, Pa. businessman David LeVan, owner of Battlefield Harley Davidson, wants to convert the Eisenhower Inn and Conference Center into a casino with gaming tables and slots. The hotel is along Emmitsburg Road, very close to the former president’s farm and a half mile from the battlefield.
It is not the first time the battlefield has been threatened. Mary Koik, spokeswoman for the Civil War Preservation Trust, says a similar proposal by LeVan was beaten back four years ago.
Back in the 19th century there was an amusement park near Little Round Top that included a railroad. It was eventually removed under public pressure.
“Over time, the general sort of prevailing sentiment of Americans is that’s not an appropriate use for this special, special place,” says Koik.
She says there also are questions about the economic viability of a casino so close to the Maryland border when that state has approved slot machine gambling. She says the proposed site is near private homes and several farms. The location is within the Journey Through Hallowed Ground preservation area, which Wolf pushed to create.
The CWPT, the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, have teamed up to oppose the plan.
In a letter to LeVan, the groups write: “We appreciate that significant effort has been expended to formulate aproject you consider to have little negative impact upon Gettysburg’s unique atmosphere and historic character. However, the concerns and objections our organizations raised to the 2006 Crossroads proposal remain valid and unresolved, and are raised by this project as well.
“Locating and marketing a gambling facility at Gettysburg unavoidably conflicts with the essential meaning of this place in American history.”
LeVan needs to apply for a operating license by April 7. The Pennsylvania Gaming Commission would then hold public hearings to consider the proposal.
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