Dog Racing Banned

I was for keeping the dog tracks open. I wasn’t against the dogs because I knew that there had never been one charge of abuse brought forward in all the years they had been opened. I certainly wasn’t worried about owner George Carney because he has plenty of other businesses from owning hotels, restaurants, the Brockton Fair to name a few. I was worried about the fact that voters could put a business out of business, and that still bothers me. I was also worried about all the people who would loss their jobs and would be unable to get another one. I was also worried about the town of Raynham and all the surrounding towns. Shutting down the track was going to have a profound affect on these communities. I was not alone in this fear because all of the surrounding towns voted to keep the tracks open. The people of those towns felt that the vote should not have been state wide but rather it should have stayed in the communities affected. They have a point since the voters who aren’t affected voted to close them down. But now that the votes have been counted, I’m not so sure it was the worst thing that could have happened. The tracks won’t close until 2010 so at least that gives the workers and towns a little bit of time to works things out. More importantly, Carney has been trying to get slot machines into the track for years but has been shut down. Now this ideas has been brought back up again and maybe it will be passed so people will keep their jobs and the towns won’t be so hurt. Slot machines will bring even more money to the towns and even millions to the whole state. Governor Deval Patrick has been trying to bring gambling to Massachusetts so wouldn’t this be the perfect solution. The site is already there and the surrounding communities would welcome it and the rest of the state would benefit. It is a win-win situation, especially for the dogs.