[StBernard] truck stop

[Westley Annis]

As you read in the TP article, the proposes of the truck stop seem to
believe that a buck is a buck and St. Bernard's government and citizens
cannot afford to be concerned with community planning, public safety, and
the welfare of its citizens compared to easy parish revenue. Somehow the
statement of "nothing is going on down there" sounds inflammatory to me.
Sometimes somebody's nothing is someone else's peaceful paradise, or a
quaint historic plantation, or a high school full of teenagers.  I'm not
against business, I'm not anti-gambling, it's just the wrong location for
truck stop/casino. And there must be people who after years of experience
with these operations had enough evidence to convince the LA legislature to
increase the distance between a truck stop/casino and other activities such
that the new law in January 2008  increases the distance from 500 ft. to
2500 ft.  Once I became aware that experts believe that 2500 ft. is the
right distance, it doesn't matter to me personally when it becomes law. It's
like knowing that a smoke detector belongs in every bedroom, but trying to
get the house built weeks before the new law went into effect that required
a smoke detector in every bedroom. It's in the hands of the parish council
now for a vote on Dec. 18th. ddk