Pokies? ‘I smell a fight …’

Dear CI,

There is something missing in the Mail’s front page story, “Pokies Floodgate,” where it is alleged that the Maryborough Highland Society is looking to establish a second pokie venue for Castlemaine.
There is no mention of contacting the Maryborough Highland Society.

So I have done that with emails to the president, Dennis Turner and to the general manager, Don Hester requesting more information like where, when and hopefully they might provide an answer to the how question; how is the socirty to get this project through council (if the project is in fact real).
Looking at the group photo of the board of the Maryborough Highland Society (MHS), for me there was an immediate evocation to David Lynch (think Twin Peaks).
Nine men and two woman all bonded by tartan, heritage, pokies and god knows what else. Greed?
What do they care for the evils poker machine wreak on small communities?
What motivates these highlanders then if compassion and empathy do not?
If you read MHS’s member newsletter, Tartan Chatter, the society is in an expansionary mode because they do not want to be “…solely dependent on the economy of Maryborough.”
Obviously they want to suck the life blood from other communities.
I smell a fight.

Chris Hosking