Raynham dog track personnel hope for delay in closing

Voters across Massachusetts approved a ballot question, called the Greyhound Protection Act, last November that shuts down the state's two dog racing operations by next January. Raynham town leaders hope to delay closure of the local track until January 2012 through a home rule petition to the Legislature.

The home rule petition, which must first be approved by annual Town Meeting voters on May 18, would not affect the closure of Wonderland Park in Revere, the other greyhound race track in the state. The measure is separate from a bill filed shortly after November's vote by state Senator Marc Pacheco, whose district includes Raynham, that seeks a two-year delay on the racing ban for both tracks.

"It's just unfathomable that people are going to lose their jobs and even their homes," track worker Laraine Nickerson, a Raynham resident, said last week. "It's devastating. I don't think people know what they've started with this vote."

Nickerson and fellow track worker Carolyn Rogers had written to Raynham's selectmen asking them to place a home rule petition article on the Town Meeting warrant. Selectmen unanimously agreed to do so.

But ban advocate Christine Dorchak, president and general counsel for Grey2K USA and cochairwoman of the Committee to Protect Dogs, said the Massachusetts public knew exactly what their votes meant last November.

"It's disappointing that dog racing supporters are trying to undermine the vote on Question 3," Dorchak said. "This is just a distraction."

Raynham Town Administrator Randall Buckner said his office will act according to the Town Meeting vote.

"If the article passes in May, we'll send a petition for home rule to the Legislature immediately," he said. "The closing of the local track is a big hit to the town financially. There will be a reduction in revenue in fiscal 2010, then it will drop to zero. Also, a lot of jobs of Raynham residents will be lost."

Nickerson has worked at the track for the past 30 years and says she has no idea what she'll do come January.

"We're four months into 2009, and the economic climate is just getting worse," she said. "Even if we get training, I'm 57 years old and don't have a college degree. The competition in the workforce is huge. Many of us here won't even have health insurance."

Track general manager Gary Temple said the feeling of unease over the future pervades the atmosphere at the greyhound park.

"Obviously, there is a great deal of concern here over whether the governor is going to allow them to be put out on the street without health insurance or give us an extension," he said.

Whatever the Legislature approves for Raynham would be reviewed by Governor Deval Patrick.

Raynham selectmen chairman Joseph Pacheco said his board has been disappointed by the silence from the corner office at the State House.

"One of the biggest concerns we had and still have is that the governor took no position on the greyhound racing ballot question," he said. "My board felt the governor should have taken a position."

More than 56 percent of Massachusetts voters in November approved the measure to end greyhound racing by Jan. 1, 2010. But Raynham officials argue that most of the voters who supported the ban don't live in Southeastern Massachusetts.

"The people who live around the track voted overwhelmingly against the question," Joseph Pacheco said. "And they know what goes on there."

Dorchak said Patrick did take action following last November's vote, instructing a rapid response team from the state Division of Career Services to help track workers ease into other jobs.

"Rather than rehash the debate, this is the time for us to join hands and work toward a successful transition for both the track workers and the greyhounds," she said.

Alison Harris, spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, said training funds will be available for the workers.

"The state's Rapid Response team will work in partnership with One Stop Career Centers to identify job services, assessing and working with affected workers," she said. Such services will include interview and resume workshops and job fairs.

Senator Pacheco, a Taunton Democrat, said various legislative measures, including his seeking to extend the deadline for closing the state's dog racing tracks, are being assigned to committees and should come up for action soon.

"Of course I'm supportive of it," he said of delaying the ban. "Voters in the southeast area of the state were overwhelmingly against the question. Now we're in an economic downturn, and this is just going to add to the economic hardship."

The senator said he also supports allowing slot machines at the tracks.

If Raynham voters agree to move forward with a home rule petition, he said he and the town's other legislative representatives would carry it to the Legislature - although he said he believes it might be difficult to get support for an extension just at the Raynham-Taunton track.

"Either way, I must say it's going to be an uphill battle, since it's something the voters across the state voted on," he said. "But the last thing we need now is to put another 800 people out of work" from the Raynham and Revere dog tracks.

Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com.