March 2, 2005

Television star and real estate mogul Donald Trump’s company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts Inc., announced Monday that they could not proceed with a $108 million plan to build and operate a casino in southeastern Indiana’s Orange County.

Officials for the state cited a recent state tax court decision that the company owed $18 million in back taxes for its Gary casino and the potential expansion of gambling elsewhere in the state as the reason for the pullout, but the Donald himself says this is not solely the reason.

“All my casino’s ooze with class,” said Trump in a Wednesday afternoon phone conversation, “After visiting Orange County on a few occasions, I realized that this project would never take off with the pool of workers in the area—they wouldn’t know class if they tripped over it.  Just paying for the dental plan for most of the staff would eliminate most of our profits.”

Orange County residents who had been optimistic about the jobs and economic growth Trump’s casino would have brought to the region were extremely disappointed upon hearing the news and disagreed with Trump’s synopsis about the community.

“We ain’t particularly clean or pleasant to look at, but we would have been great workers for Mr. Trump if things would have worked out,” said French Lick resident Carl Waters, “People around here know the virtues of hard work.”

Many residents like Waters were hoping the new casino would give them the opportunity for a better life.  “I was hoping to get a job as a black jack dealer.  I am sick and tired of pumping out septic tanks for a living.”

Luckily, representatives of the two other bidders for the casino license -- one of which was a group that included Indiana Pacers President Larry Bird, a French Lick native—said Tuesday they were still interested in the project so it could still get off the ground. 

Now it is up to the state’s gaming commission to this time CAREFULLY find a replacement to give back hope to a community desperate for economic relief.