The Cape Cod Times

Greyhound vote incites bitterness

By STEVE DeCOSTA

November 10, 2008

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081110/NEWS/811100308



It's a gray, dismal day outside Raynham Park, matching the mood inside the grandstand of the greyhound racetrack.



"It's been very somber here," said Gary Temple, general manager of the track that's been in operation for almost 80 years.



In the wake of last week's statewide referendum vote to ban greyhound racing, the track will have to shut down by Jan. 1, 2010, unless the law is changed.



"How do you tell people that you did nothing wrong but you don't have a job anymore?" he asked. "People misunderstood an issue and you're unemployed."



He's trying to explain that to his 653 full- and part-time employees, many of whom have worked there for decades.



"I'd be very scared if this was my primary job," said Bob McLaughlin of Middleboro, parking cars outside the grandstand entrance. "But it still means a lot to me. This is what put my daughter through college."



For others, it's a way of life.



"This is my family here," said Doris Rae of Taunton, who sells Keno and lottery tickets. "I have regular customers I see every day. They've been coming here for years and years and years."



From what he calls "the best seat in the house — it's right in front of the finish line," 70-year-old Bob Sly of Easton said, "I've been coming here 40, 50 years. I lost my wife to cancer six years ago. Now I come here just about every day. It's something to do."



Asked what he'll do after the track closes, he answered, "I have no idea what the [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] I'm going to be doing. I'll probably scratch some more tickets."



Asked if she'll be able to continue paying for college when she loses her job as a greyhound handler, second-year Massasoit Community College student Darlene Morse simply said, "I don't want to think about it."



Vanishing revenue



Last year, Raynham Park handled $135 million in wagers. About one-sixth of that — almost $25 million — was bet on the live greyhound racing. The rest was wagered on simulcast races at other greyhound and horse tracks across the country.



From those wagers, the track gave $2.6 million to the state and $400,000 to the host town of Raynham. Those payments don't account for property, payroll or meals taxes, nor for the $5 million in lottery tickets purchased at the track in 2007. When Raynham Park closes, all that money goes away.



"The last thing this state budget needs is the loss of revenue and the loss of more jobs," said state Sen. Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, whose district includes Raynham.



"We're talking about losing 1,000 jobs (at both Raynham and Wonderland in Revere, the state's only other greyhound racetrack), but because they're at greyhound parks, there wasn't too much discussion," Pacheco said. "If we were talking about losing 1,000 jobs at an industrial park there would be an uproar.



A day at the races



Built in 1940, the Raynham track is set back from Route 138 just a few miles from Routes 24 and I-495, in a bowl ringed by a large parking lot that gets more use from the novice tractor-trailer drivers of Parker Professional Driving School than from park patrons.



Inside the airport-hangar-size facility, the air is still and a little musty. There are remnants of ticket booths, but the track stopped charging admission four years ago and has kept no attendance figures since. Twenty minutes before post time, most in attendance are men past retirement age. They know one another, shouting greetings that echo through the cavernous building.



TV screens are located throughout the building, showing races from around the country, but there's no high definition here. These are your father's TVs, much as this might have been your father's type of place. At least eight vending machines offer lottery tickets, and two full-service lottery cashiers are at work. Nearby, at least three ATMs tempt gamblers.



In front of the tellers, the linoleum is worn in the size and shape of footprints from decades' worth of bettors. The crowd grows and gets noticeably younger as the afternoon progresses. Racing is from 12:30 to about 4 daily except Tuesdays, and at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.



The taped call of a bugle signals five minutes to post time before each race. People move toward the front window as the announcer calls, "Here comes Rusty." But plenty never leave their perches in front of the video screens showing the simulcast races. And "Rusty" is no longer a mechanical rabbit flying around the track. It's now just two pieces of cloth tied to a pole.



Bitter pill



The governor has promised retraining programs for displaced workers, but many are close to or past retirement age. Track officials and supporters are bitter about the campaign waged against them on the referendum.



The passage of Question 3 was championed by the Committee to Protect Dogs, alleging that greyhound racing was inherently "cruel and inhumane," pointing to injury rates and boarding practices.



About 56 percent of the state's voters approved the measure.



But in Raynham and nearby communities, "the places where people knew the operation and knew what the economic conditions were and could feel the consequences, the measure was defeated overwhelmingly," Pacheco said.



Indeed, on a vote of 5,409 to 1,406, Raynham opposed the question — as did voters in all nearby communities. For those across the rest of the state, "it was an animal-rights issue, not an economic issue," Pacheco said.



Track officials said the allegations of animal abuse simply aren't true.



"I've been here 17 years and never under my watch has there been any abuse of dogs," said Temple, the track manager, once an aide to former state Sen. William Q. "Biff" MacLean, D-Fairhaven. "We've been here 40 years and the MSPCA has never had a documented case of abuse.



"The average cost of a dog is $5,000 and we've got some here that cost $10,000 or $15,000," he said. "With that kind of an investment in a dog, do you think the owners are going to let them sit in a crate 20 hours a day? They need to be exercised.



"We have a 100 percent adoption rate. We keep a dog here until it is adopted out," he said.



Asked why dog racing was targeted but not horse racing, Temple said, "People don't have a horse that sleeps at the foot of their beds."



A Grey Hound is meant to run and they love the chase. I figure that a wolf doesn't sleep at the end of my bed and it is none of my business if that wolf is in someones trap or being used for Wildlife park or if a distant cousin is being raced on a track. None of my business but some folks just need to tell other folks how to live and when to burp.