Mr. Ferrick-

I am now calling you out in front of your editor. I hope this letter provides you with journalistic opportunities.

Prove the validity of your beliefs on the economic benefits of casinos. Prove it with research. Create a balance sheet, backed up with research, that shows how the +'s and -'s add up. Your opinion on casinos seems like it comes from 'the gut'. For checks and balances - do this research with a journalist whose 'gut' says casinos have no economic benefit for the City. Maybe an editor (Vernon?) could be the arbiter of the final balance sheet entry per item.

Of the $26.3MM dollars the city will receive in revenue per year from casinos - I estimate a minimum of $8.6MM (1/3 of the revenue) will immediately go to policing (see my email below). You can start the accounting debate right there.

Poor Tommy, you just can't figure out why people got so mean and rude to you. No one believes you actually care how we feel about you anyway - and that's only one of the many reasons why your lopsided attack riled up so many anti-casino riverward residents.

It's also your unsubstantiated opinions on casinos that created much of the dustup. The residents of Fishtown and Pennport lashed out at you because you couldn't care less about our quality of life. The thousands of people who live within 1500 feet of the these casinos and the 70,000+ who live within 1 mile - don't want to hear your moral rationalization re: city-wide 'absorption' of casinos.

Another reason that people lashed out at you is because you called anti-casino folk "nuts" and "crazy". Sunday's follow-up article tried to cover this up by saying you were referring to the protesters who want to break the law and participate in work stoppages. Too little , too late, Tom. We know how you look down on us. 99.5% of us will never break a law to stop the casinos. Nice try.

Finally - do you believe every job statistic the casino industry and the PGCB regurgitates in their press releases? Or, as a journalist - do you research the validity of those statistics? SugarHouse's website itself cites an NGISC study on gambling and crime. If one looks a little closer, the study says that in 1995 the casinos industry employed 300,000 people and an associated 400,000 indirect jobs in the U.S. If you use the NGISC's ratio of direct to indirect jobs - the total number of jobs you, the PGCB, and Foxwoods/SugarHouse cite is much, much lower in reality.

Only a lazy or inept journalist would accept the job numbers cited by the casino industry and the PA Gaming Control Board (which, at the time of licensing, was run by Tad Decker - whose law firm now represents 2 of the 5 stand-alone PA casinos).

In the meanwhile, Tom, change the name of your 'civic project' to "Low Expectations"...this new moniker suits the quality of your journalism and your view on the future of your City.

Prove me wrong, Tom. Back up your claptrap.

Bob Sola