Town Hall, local lawmakers oppose New Haven casino
Nov 18, 2024
NEW HAVEN, Ind. (WANE) — State Representative Dave Heine joined State Senator Tyler Johnson and Liz Brown at a barn in New Haven on Monday night.
The normally sleepy farming equipment was sharing floor space with hundreds of people - all talking about a casino.
"It will ruin families, it will bankrupt people. It's a bad idea," said Denny Stuerzenverger who attended the meeting.
"I don't think government should be involved in business... I'm a business owner who supports business," said Mike Ackels, a local business owner who doesn't get the fuss over the casino. "If you don't like it, don't go."
The proposed casino that would be built in rural New Haven is a result of the Rising Star Casino trying to leave Rising Sun, Indiana.
The move needs lawmakers' approval, and when Heine, Johnson and Brown spoke on the casino Tuesday, they were clear that they don't want it.
"I have not supported any gambling legislation in the legislature," Johnson said.
"I don't give a flying fig what unicorns and rainbows they're promising," Brown said. "I don't think the amount of money they're promising is worth it to this community."
That means a lawmaker who doesn't live in the district will have to bring the bill to the table come January when the next legislative session starts in Indianapolis.
"This bill will be authored by someone that doesn't live in the district on the Senate side," Heine said. "We'll see what happens. But I've never seen that happen before."
The event was hosted by The Coalition for a Better Allen County, who has been running a campaign against the new casino. They even run saynotocasino.org.
The domain name, saynotocasino.org, was created on Oct. 24 of this year - that bears a potential monthly cost and an initial startup of buying the domain name which could cost very little, or thousands of dollars depending on demand.
Signs opposing the casino were also given out with a recommended donation at the event.
WANE 15 was told all the funding to run the campaign against the casino is from local donors.