Casino proposal is talk of the town

MIDDLEBOROUGH -- This is a town of 22,340 people, 700 horses, at least 40 dairy cows, about a dozen working vegetable farms, a number of cranberry bogs, and an Indian tribe's dream to raise one of the world's largest gambling casinos out of a swath of scrub pine.

The dream belongs to the Mashpee Wampanoags, a group of 1,450 descendants of the Indians who met and befriended the arriving Pilgrims nearly 400 years ago and who in February gained official federal recognition. That designation opened the door for the tribe to operate a casino in Massachusetts like those of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes in Connecticut, both billion-dollar-a year operations.

In the past week, the Mashpee Wampanoags have made a huge play for Middleborough, in Southeastern Massachusetts, by taking control of 353 acres of thickly wooded land. Last Friday the tribe and its financial backers plunked down $1.7 million at a town auction for about 128 acres. This week, it followed up by purchasing an option to buy 225 acres of abutting land.

As a result, the casino is the talk of the town along Center Street, in the heart of downtown.

"We pride ourselves on being a small rural town with a lot of farms," said Carol Lucas, 64, who grew up in Middleborough and returned five years ago to open an antiques store.

In Lucas's view, a casino is a better alternative to new tracts of housing being carved into the landscape. The town has added more than 500 units of housing in the last three years, town figures show.

Having the Mashpee Wampanoags in town would be a kind of poetic justice, Lucas said, since the tribe treated these hills and bogs as their own for thousands of years before the Pilgrims arrived.

"This is a good place for the tribe to come back to," she said.

Businessman John Rea, 62, a lifelong resident, said he's "all for helping the Indians," but counseled caution. A casino might change the character of the town, while putting pressure on town services, especially schools, and aggravating the traffic congestion on Route 44.

Town officials are asking residents next month to approve a tax override to boost school funding by $2 million a year.

"If it's coming, it's got to be done right," Rea said.

John Healey, town manager for the past 22 years, said he is busy trying to make sure that such concerns about the casino would be addressed.

"What we have to do as a town is figure out what we want to get out of it," Healey said.

At a minimum, he said, the town wants Route 44 widened and divided, and it wants three cross streets to be placed either under or over the thoroughfare.

Town officials also want a solution for the notoriously clogged traffic rotary where Routes 44, 28, and 18 meet.

On Monday, the Board of Selectmen voted to establish a committee to negotiate an agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoags that would allow the tribe to pay for such improvements in lieu of paying taxes.

Even as they pursue plans in Middleborough, tribal leaders say they are considering sites for a casino, including locations in New Bedford, Revere, and Brockton.

Tribal leaders have declined to provide specifics of their proposal, but Healey said the tribe has outlined a concept that, in addition to hundreds of slot machines and gambling tables, would include a hotel, restaurants, entertainment venues, and a golf course.

The Middleborough site is about 3 miles from Interstate 495. It is 38 miles from Boston, 22 miles from New Bedford, and 30 miles from Providence.

In order to open a casino, the tribe needs approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take the Middleborough land, a process Healey said could take 18 months. In addition, the tribe needs an agreement with the state.

At EJ's barber shop on Center Street, opinions about the proposed casino were mixed. Barber Mike Couto, 37, said: "Let it happen. It would be a lot closer to get to than Foxwoods."

Lisa Sullivan, 41, disagreed, saying she was worried about the possible social reper cussions of a casino. In fact, she said, she has heard about marriages breaking up over casino gambling.

"You can't be a barber for 23 years without hearing things," she said. "And I've heard about divorces because of gambling. My husband loves to gamble."