An environmental disaster confronts Maine unless we get out and vote no on Question 3. I do not want my beautiful state to become Casinoland.

Maine is a special place. We need to fight to protect it from becoming like Atlantic City or Las Vegas – paved over open spaces, contaminated water, filthy air, a strip mall of neon lights, congested traffic, sprawled out communities – in short, a wasteland.

Unless we stand up against a casino, the southern megalopolis will overwhelm us, and Maine will become like every other state on the Eastern Seaboard.

Ask yourself, if you want a 4th lane on the Maine Turnpike? Do you want 20,000 more cars a day spewing out tons of toxic fumes and greenhouse gases into Maine’s air? Do you want millions of gallons of runoff going into our streams without being soil purified?

If Question 3 passes, we will have no way of stopping casinos from sprouting up all over the state.

In fact, in every state where casinos have gained entry, they have mushroomed and spread out, gobbling up open space and draining dollars out of local communities and depositing them in the pockets of out of state corporate interests.

Don’t be fooled by Question 3. It is deceptive. It will not provide funds for education and revenue sharing. It will not lower property taxes. Experts, who have studied the impact, all agree the costs will far exceed any revenues.

We must not let Las Vegas dupe us.

Jonathan Carter, former Green candidate for governor,

North New Portland