Developers want to build a casino just outside of a Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg. But many local residents and Civil War buffs say their town and nearby battlefield is the wrong place for gambling.
Developers want to build the 3,000-slot-machine Gettysburg Gaming Resort and Spa less than a mile away from East Cavalry Battlefield, where Confederate Gen. Jeb Stuart was defeated by George Custer, then a young Union officer, in 1863.
Backers of the project, who include a local business owner and six other investors, say it will create 800 new fulltime jobs and pump millions of dollars into the local economy. But critics say the project threatens to bring traffic problems and could bring problems like prostitution and crime to the region.
Preservationists already call U.S. Route 15, which runs from Gettysburg, Penn., to Monticello, Va., one of the most threatened historic roads in the country.
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