Gettysburg may be the closest thing we have in America to sacred ground…and somebody wants to put a casino on it? This is obscene.
America has a lot of historical sites under threat from the developer’s bulldozer. You wouldn’t expect Gettysburg, PA to be one of them. But oddly enough, thanks to a retired railroad boss, it is.
Every American schoolchild is taught what happened here. In our Civil War, two massive Union and Confederate armies slaughtered each other for three days to decide the fate of this nation — not to mention the fate of folks who look like me.
The battle was fought not just near the town, but in it. Abraham Lincoln would later give his famed Gettysburg Address here. The battlefield officially is a national park, but the entire Gettysburg area is viewed as something of a shrine.
David LeVan, onetime CEO of CONRAIL, thinks this would be just the coolest place to put a casino.
Is this guy on crack?
I’d love to tell you that America is being punked and Mr. LeVan is just kidding. Unfortunately, he’s dead serious, and this is how serious he is: The authorities in Pennsylvania shot down this idea when he first proposed it five years ago. Now, he’s back, pushing it again.
Gettysburg may be the closest thing we have in this country to sacred ground. Even more than Pearl Harbor. Even more than Arlington National Cemetery. And yes, even more than Ground Zero in Manhattan.
I’ve never met David LeVan. He’s probably a decent guy who genuinely would like to do something profitable for the town of Gettysburg, as well as for himself. In the midst of a lingering recession, it’s hard not to sympathize with that.
But if he thinks that a casino is an appropriate venue for this place, then David LeVan has lost his damned mind.