An anti-casino sign near State College. Photo provided

It’s great to see College Township leadership planning to find a qualified consultant to conduct the new Local Impact Report for the Nittany Mall casino. Hopefully those elected leaders will find a consultant that has both the credibility and experience to determine sociodemographic factors involving gambling problems or addiction and trend analysis of possible gambling-related issues such as bankruptcy, alcoholism, poverty, homelessness, domestic violence and human trafficking as they relate to Category 4 casinos in Pennsylvania. Nobody has ever accomplished that yet.

Will the Nittany Mall casino open before 2027? Not likely. Before Bally’s Corporation backed away from the project last month, Bally’s anticipated that construction would begin in the first half of 2025 pending necessary approvals. If Ira Lubert doesn’t need any remaining approvals, including financial, why will the old Macy’s store sit there empty until 2025 while October through December 2024 are written off as a bridge too far?

The planned 2026 grand opening will prove to be an overly optimistic plan for Ira Lubert’s team to achieve. The delay to 2027 will be attributed to unforeseen adverse weather conditions and non-availability of both material as well as a qualified and trained 350-person workforce.

The beaming smiles anticipated at the 2027 ribbon cutting ceremony will soon fade when the Happy Valley casino begins to struggle financially. It will be a 24/7 operation that will surprise casino management when it proves to be nearly vacant at all hours except 6 p.m. until midnight daily. This isn’t a major urban area where slot machine players will sit there all day every day. Folks just don’t get rich twice.

When those savings and retirement accounts are gone, they won’t replenish themselves just in time for another try. Bally’s Corporation realized they would eventually be disappointed in Happy Valley. The handful of local Nittany Mall casino decision-makers here will not realize that until that unexpected disappointment eventually shows up. Then it will be time to sell the place, Ira!

Dan Materna
Howard

Is Borough ‘Enabling Anti-Israel Protesters’?

Last school year, the Penn State Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group organized multiple anti-Israel protests in the wake of Hamas’ brutal October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.  For the first couple of protests, the State College police handed out fliers to protesters warning them not to block the roads and advising them they’d be arrested if they tried.  At the time, SJP just exercised their free speech rights and didn’t break any laws.

However, things changed on Saturday, April 27, the day of the big Luke Combs concert at Beaver stadium that brought many visitors to town. SJP led a takeover of College Avenue, Atherton Street and Beaver Avenue, much to the frustration of those visitors. Adding insult to injury, the State College police didn’t even attempt to enforce the law. In fact, they appeared to be helping the protesters by using police vehicles to block traffic for them! This fall, on the one year anniversary of the October 7 attack, SJP took to the streets again, and again the police helped them.

I have spoken to members of the police department and I know that they are not all in favor of that response. All of the relevant local government officials are Democrats. District Attorney Bernie Cantorna and all seven State College Borough Council members are Democrats. They all have the power to direct the police as they see fit. It sure seems like local Democrats are enabling anti-Israel protesters.

Jason Maas
State College

‘Give Trustee Fenchak the Documents’

Once again, we see alumni trustee Barry Fenchak in the cross hairs of the Penn State Board of Trustees.

After losing a legal battle to immediately remove him from the board, the trustees launched a PR campaign to further sully his name.

They wrote a “dissent” as if they had a ruling voice in the courts of PA.

But here are some immutable facts:

I have a personal history with Barry from the old BWI football chat boards. I am not a fan of his. I did not vote for him.

Based on the CECO investigation, I concur he did something odious and unsettling. No one is contesting that. Not even the judge the trustees decided to publicly undermine.

But this is all a distraction from the root issue: the board continues to withhold financial information that Barry Fenchak, as a duly elected trustee, is entitled to.

FULL STOP.

The judge ruled that the board could not dismiss him while his case is pending.

The board has already banned Barry Fenchak from personally attending meetings, so he poses no immediate threat to any of the trustees, nor have any of the trustees reported behavior toward them that rises to the level of harassment.

Once again, under Matt Schuyler’s “leadership,” the Penn State Board of Trustees imagines itself an entity unto itself, that doesn’t have to follow its own rules or the rule of law.

You know what would settle this issue in a heartbeat? Give Trustee Fenchak the documents he is entitled to see.

So why won’t they do that??

Jeffrey W. Simons
Dallas, Texas