Other counties deserve Riverboat funds, too

I am writing to point out that it seems to be the Washington County Riverboat Foundation (WCRF) is not functioning the way we were told it would when they opened the casino. They said they would support projects from different counties, and the reality is only $30,000 of grant requests have been funded from Jefferson County in 20 years!

Even though large amounts of gaming revenue comes from Jefferson County, they don’t seem to support Jefferson County grant projects.

During that same time, over $50 million of grants have been funded from Washington County. That’s crazy.

I know from personal experience. The Fairfield History Series project has been denied twice. This last time, they wouldn’t even accept our grant request.

The WCRF supported the Washington County Fire Station, yet not Fairfield’s new fire station, despite many attempts. They funded fire trucks in Washington County, but rejected lesser requests from the Packwood Fire Department, for example.

In twenty years, the Washington riverboat foundation has done good work in supporting some worthy causes. Sure, a large amount of funds should go to Washington County, but the way it is split right now is way off, and something needs to be done so that surrounding counties who support these casinos get the funding, they deserve.

Dick DeAngelis, Fairfield