LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: RIVERBOAT WILL BENEFIT CITY

To the Editor:

SEMO professor Peter Gordon, speaking at the recent pro-riverboat rally, noted that the arguments of the opponents continue to focus on four bits of hyperbole -- that a boat will increase crime, increase traffic, take money from the community and maybe vacate the premises within 10 years. And he correctly pointed out that all these complaints could be made about any large retail business moving into the community, including chain stores such as Wal-Mart, whose corporate headquarters are located elsewhere. Is anybody worrying about all the millions and millions that Wal-Mart takes out of the community, or all the locally owned businesses that it impacts? (All such developments produce traffic, crime -- shoplifting etc. -- take their profits out of the community and none of them has offered a guarantee to stay indefinitely.)

What Mr. Gordon did not cite is the fact that a casino boat is required to pay a head tax, $1 for each person who decides to visit the boat, to the city of Cape Girardeau. Does any other business or new industry pay a guaranteed return like that?

The casino boat debate is about economics and entertainment, and very little else. The community -- and the nation -- is still reeling from the recession (I understand that more than 136 businesses in the city have closed their doors this year). Most industries have to be enticed to a community. Often they require concessions and tax breaks. Here we have a major industry offering wanting to locate in Cape without incentives and offering 800 well-paying direct jobs -- average about $27,500 -- to boot, and half the community is worried sick that people might think for themselves and vote to allow it.

Have the opponents actually considered what impact a $22 million annual payroll turning over within the community will have?

All right, you can argue that some of the new jobs will go to residents of Southeast Missouri or Southern Illinois. But many of those residents return to the immediate Cape area to shop and play and spend .... And to those who argue that a casino boat would bring in their own employees, what nonsense. Somebody is going to leave a good job in Las Vegas to work a boat at Cape? If you have doubts, take a look at the personnel working the boat at Metropolis, listen to the accents ... those employees are regional, and a number of them hail from Cape. Other Cape residents work on the boats in the East St. Louis, Alton, Ill., area.

And by the way, large numbers of Cape residents already play on casino boats ... don't we have daily bus service to Metropolis? Which means, of course, that a lot of recreation money is being spent outside Cape. There is so much traffic to Metropolis, in fact, that the Players group would also like to locate a boat in Cape. Has the Players boat been a bad thing in Metropolis? Ask the civic leaders there, or across the river in Paducah.

Somehow the opponents continue to forget what a million dollars a year paid to the city of Cape will do for capital improvements here (and presumably the city will work a final contract that will pay it much more than that), as well as a half million to the school systems. Yes, traffic will increase, which is probably the only incentive we have for getting Independence and Broadway widened and repaved. Both desperately need improvement, as do most of the other of the rough, broken-down concrete streets throughout the city.

But if the city can handle 8,000 visitors at a single event at the Show Me Center, it can certainly handle 4,000 visitors scattered out through a 12-hour day, most of whom will arrive by tour bus.

Which brings us to the kinds of people who ride tour buses to visit casino boats (or Lambert's or shopping malls or historic downtowns or many other entertainments) for entertainment and relaxation. Most are couples ranging in age from 40 to 60, and they expect to spend a little money on their outings. (For example, one of the local banks, which sponsors an over-50 club for customers, recently took club members on a bus trip to the Metropolis boat -- and to a winery at Washington, Mo., a Cardinals ballgame in St. Louis, etc. etc. My, my, such debauchery!)

Well, yes, middle-aged people who visit a casino boat might have a drink or two. But when they arrive by bus, at least they have a designated driver .... And why are the opponents suddenly worrying about alcohol consumption in a community with maybe 130 eateries where alcohol flows freely in most?

Now let's see, another argument is that a casino boat will somehow increase drug abuse in Cape .... Yes, that over-50 crowd is hell on marijuana. You might as well argue that attending a Cardinals game with friends and neighbors will increase drug abuse. Amazing the arguments the opponents put forth. Any bad thing they can think of, suddenly a casino boat is responsible. Next they'll be saying casino boats cause more ... three-legged dogs.

The casino boat has the potential of producing the greatest economic expansion Cape Girardeau has ever seen, as other cities -- even placid Jefferson City -- up and down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers have had the foresight to recognize. If Cape turns this down again, you can bet that Scott County will not. The Yes Group has the right idea -- ignore the hysteria, get the facts before Nov. 2.

Bill Zellmer

Cape Girardeau