The editorial comments about River Valley gambling (Jan. 19) are frustrating to me. I don’t get it. Why is everyone so willing to object to how others choose to spend their own money?

If individuals choose to invest in what some choose to call a dubious venture, it is their money. Because the government always knows best, the law states that these investors must have approval to squander their own cash.

The proponents for a gambling venue in Oxford County are not asking for one single solitary tax dollar. If it fails, as some predict, it will cost the taxpayers nothing.

I suspect that the naysayers had plenty to say when places such as Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun were first proposed. Everyone can see what failures those places became.

What really amazes me is the hypocrisy of elected or appointed officials. They claim that gambling is wrong, but enlarge the state’s commitment to the lottery to include Powerball.

The citizens of Oxford County are in dire straits economically. The list of laidoff workers grows longer with each passing month, yet the Sun Journal and a few others elect to vilify those who propose a possible solution.

Something needs to be done, and I’m not hearing any alternatives – just criticism.

Those opposed to the gaming concept need to go from just saying “No,” to “No, but what about this idea?”

Individual freedom should include the right to be wrong.

Ted Hotham, Rumford

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