Dear Editor:
It is immaterial to me whether you print this letter or not. I read the Reveille about twice a year and it is unlikely I’ll ever know what you choose to do with it, or what your readers’ response is if you do publish it. the letter is short enough and sufficiently concise that I do wish to stipulate that you print it verbatim if you print it at all.
My topic is the jail/courthouse expansion which your January 5th edition states was funded by “riverboat revenues.” That is simply too euphemistic to swallow whole, or even well minced. Switzerland County chose to enter a business arrangement with a gambling company. The rules were followed and the statutes were observed: fine.
It is not my purpose to comment upon the choice the county made, nor is it really any of my business. I do, however, think you have a certain responsibility to use accurate language in a front page news story. Identify the money as what it is, a kickback from a bingo barge. It’s not “riverboat revenue,” it’s a cut of gambling money, pure, straight, and simple.
Ian Patton
Bloomington