True, the Maine Indians have a right to economic development, but not at the expense of the non-Indians who far, far outnumber them. And jobs no matter what the consequence to the traditional Maine way of life? No way. Hello?

The Maine People’s Alliance has skewed the demographics to suggest that the well-to-do and not the poor are against the casino question without telling us, of course, that such special-interest manipulation is the very core and nature of the “science” of demographics itself.

I am about as low-income as one can get, yet I, and many thousands of Maine citizens like me, decry the loss of the historically unique way of life that we, and our ancestors, poor or not, have basked in for centuries.

More jobs? Perhaps, but only for those within a reasonable commute from their casino work site. What about the rest of us, rich and poor, all the way to the Canadian border, who would rather enjoy our lives as they have been without this issue from the “outside world” being thrust in our faces, like it or not?

Do we many thousands of “Old Mainers” count for nothing?

And you know, in your own secret heart, dear reader, that your life, as you have known it and enjoyed it, will change, catastrophically. And once done, your former life can never, never be resurrected. The time to kill this proposed incursion into your peace and the specialness of traditional Maine life is now, at the polls.

George Stilphen, Otisfield

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