Opinion: If only we had…

Very “tongue-in-cheek” moment here.  I’ve been reading about the Wal-Mart worker who absconded to the Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona, Iowa, with $135,932.76  in Wal-Mart funds.  Gee, if we’d had a casino here in town, we might have caught him sooner.  And, we’d have saved the money we’re going to spend expediting him back to Fort Wayne.  Plus, the money he lost, approximately $20,000 would have stayed here locally, for the most part anyway.  

This brings up a point, however that was made in the press conference held last week by the Coalition for a Better Fort Wayne.  The point was that the casinos take money from a community, yet when crimes, such as this one occur, the casino doesn’t return the money, it doesn’t help to defray the costs of prosecution, or of housing an offender or his rehabilitation.  Something to consider.

And please understand.  We don’t know the entire story behind the headlines in this case – not that it would excuse the behavior.  But I’m sure this isn’t the first time a situation like this has happened occurred.

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