Rumford abuzz over casino proposal

RUMFORD – A Rumford man’s plan to bring casino gambling to Oxford County has caused a stir in this paper mill town.

A Web site for Evergreen Mountain Enterprises displayed a call for volunteers to help collect thousands of petition signatures needed to force a state referendum on the casino project.

Evergreen’s founder, Seth Thomas Carey, 31, did not return a phone call seeking comment on the plan. A spokeswoman for Carey said he was not ready to publicly discuss it.

The Web site identifies the casino’s backers as a group of energetic young Mainers “who believe a responsible, environmentally sensitive, well-planned, rustic-looking gaming facility located in Oxford County will do wonderful things for our state and its future.”

The site said 39 percent of gambling profits would be given to the state, to be apportioned for various environmental and social programs.

Rumford Town Manager Stephen Eldridge said the town office has been flooded with calls about the casino proposal.

“I think it’s very grass-roots. Nobody has come to the town to talk about it. I’m not sure this town would support this,” Eldridge told the Sun Journal of Lewiston.

But Angela Howitt of Mexico, who has worked for 15 years at NewPage Corp., said most employees at the paper mill “want this to pass.” She suggested that Black Mountain, the ski resort in Rumford, might be a good site for a casino that could boost the economy of a town hit by a recent series of business closings.

“I’ve been here 40 years, and this town is dying, and this would really be a good thing. This would put Rumford back on the map,” Howitt said.

Maine voters in 2003 rejected a proposed casino in Sanford but gave the green light to a slot machine parlor in Bangor, which began operating last fall.

Dennis Bailey of the anti-gambling group CasinosNo! said he expects to see more casino proposals now that Maine has opened the door to slots.

“This proposal raises far more questions than it answers. It’s interesting that while their proposal lists in detail where 39 percent of the proceeds from the casino would go, it doesn’t say in whose pockets the remaining 61 percent would end up,” Bailey said.

Bailey said casinos promote what he called “a nothing for something” economy, and can only succeed when “hundreds of people lose hundreds of dollars every day.”