To Whom It May Concern:

Letter to the Editor Park City Post December 2004

Did you know that Mr. Bob Knight is the mouthpiece for the Iowa Indians? I personally don't think trusting the enemy is a good policy! When we became a city my husband and I helped get us off the ground, we wrote or contributed to many of the ordinances and policies we began with. Wichita, Mayor Bob Knight, did not take us to court to fight our incorporation like he did with Bel Aire, because we were to far outside their area of influence at that time. What did come out of his administration was "just wait 20 years or so and we will annex you and you will have the police protection you need".

We had drug deals blatantly going down in our parks and shopping centers day and night. We had one sheriff's officer who patrolled a 50 square mile area, including our 4,000 residents. I don't think many of us would be here now if we had waited until now to get the protection we needed! This area would have been a terrible area to live in.

My husband sat on the city council for several years, during that time we needed to widen 61st St.. The county and state allocated us funds for this project, but Wichita decided they needed the money. We were the only city besides Wichita to receive any funds that year, and we had to fight to keep those for the necessary widening of one of our main streets. There again this is during Mayor Knight's administration.

Ask any council member who has been involved in this city, Mr. Knight has no respect or use for any of the 19 cities outside Wichita in Sedgwick County. For this reason Park City is a member of a group called A.L.A.R.M., an organization of those small communities, which watches for laws and changes that Wichita tries to get through the State Legislature that could adversely affect our towns. It also keeps track of Wichita's activities for the same reason.

Mr. Knight now comes to our town and is suddenly our best friend with a "great proposition for our benefit"! Leopards do not change their spots, and Mr. Knight is no exception. This is money in his pocket, no matter what it does to our town or area. He is giving us a Trojan Horse! Our council should have looked this gift horse in the mouth, checked it's teeth and given it a thorough exam! Enemies bearing gifts is not a good thing!

Mr. Knight has certainly NOT changed his spots! In the early 1990's Wichita, with Mr. Knight as Mayor, did their job and researched the impact of a Casino in their town. They found that the money received would not pay for the infrastructure, roads, signals, police, police cars, etc.

Wichita will receive 70 times more money than we will from a casino in our town, because of their size. Mr. Knight doesn't care what happens here now any more than he ever has, we will receive less money and have the same costs Wichita would have incurred, and Wichita will receive their money without those costs. Mr. Knight has the same stand as he always has had Wichita, Wichita, Wichita.

Where is the research our City Council should have done? They would have found the same information. Do the research yourself, honestly and you will find the same information, many of us already have!

The council members in our ward have lost the votes of my household. We elected them to protect and SERVE our community, to research any decisions made thoroughly. My husband has been a council member so we know their responsibilities.

Many of our residents say, "This will help us live up to 'Park City, that's entertainment"'. Instead of looking at towns that use gambling, which is a risky way to maybe raise revenue, why not look at a successful town that refuses to let gambling in?

Branson is a town that could rightfully use our city motto!

Did you know that most of the theaters built in Branson were built so they could put in slot machines and gambling? The owners of these theaters have been pushing Branson residents to allow gambling for years. Wayne Newton built one of them years ago with that intention; Branson refused to allow it. Branson let him leave rather than bring in gambling!

Branson is a community of about 3 to 4 thousand residents. They have a family based community, which brings in thousands of tourists a month, and they want to keep it that way. They believe, rightfully and after research, that to change and let gambling into their community would change the kind of tourists they get and damage their reputation as a family oriented tourist attraction.

They receive heavy pressure from the theaters to change this and they stand their ground, as we should. They have in the last 2 or 3 months again had the question of gambling raised, and the community once again said NO in big resounding letters!

A Casino raises millions of dollars a year, about 75% of that money is disposable dollars from a 50 to 100 mile radius and only 25% comes from people you could really classify as tourist.

Branson brings in tourists from hundreds of miles away, with their disposable dollars. Residents of Branson who work in town, and people who live in Hollister and communities that surround Branson, but work in Branson are able to go to most of the theaters and main attractions like Silver Dollar City and The Passion Play at NO COST! Branson's money actually is divided about 75% from outside their area and 25% from local disposable dollars!

Which sounds like the better deal to you? If a casino brings in so much money from outside the area, why are the Indian tribes not building them on the land they already own, on their reservations, and making their own communities better?  Why come to ours?

Because their communities do not have the disposable dollars to support a Casino and 25% is not enough to operate on!

If the Iowa's want to come and build a nice amusement park, hotel and dinner theater I'm all for it! But take a leaf out of Branson's book and leave the gambling in communities that don't want the quality of life we have built up and hope to maintain.

Respectfully yours, David and Carol Oldham

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