Amendment 1 change will help workers make a livable wage

I am so sick of hearing about how crime will increase if gambling comes to the area. One person quoted in the paper actually said with large crowds comes crime, well where has he been?, obviously not in Branson, we have large crowds all the time, Veterans Day, Independence Day, Christmas most any given day during peak season and the town is full of tourists, yet none of the business owners complain about that and if it’s true that crime comes with large crowds then someone isn’t telling us something.

If you truly believe an increase in tourists will in some way increase crime then I would suggest the business owners in downtown Branson do something to halt the Branson Landing project.

Maybe I’m wrong but I always thought that a tourist area wanted to attract tourists, but after living here for so long I’ve come to realize that Branson may be the exception, Branson seems to want only to attract those tourists that fit a certain profile. A certain age range, income and status, yet those are the same group of people who flock to Casinos on tour busses and spend their money on the so called evil of gambling and then when they arrive in Branson, have a miraculous metamorphosis and become this sought after family crowd that Branson keeps shoving down everyone’s throat.

Yes, I am a proponent not necessarily of gambling but of change, a change that will help the workers in this area be able to make a livable wage and finally get benefits for their families and no longer be the price that is paid for this so called family environment.

If gambling can do that then bring it on, and one last thing to all the business owners, had you treated your workers well over the years instead of like second class citizens who are only there to serve your beckon call for slave wages, maybe just maybe, this issue of gambling would never have come up. Ray, Branson