By LORNA COLQUHOUN
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
April 12, 2010
NORTHUMBERLAND – Tom Leduc owns the convenience store where Brian Bresnahan buys the paper every morning.
Over the past year or so, after the Wausau paper mill shut down for good, and especially since Emerson Outfitters closed, the two men have pondered the future of their town.
So while the Legislature debates and decides the gambling issue, Leduc and Bresnahan are putting the finishing touches on a packet of material they'll be sending to well-known casino operators -- Donald Trump and Steve Wynn for starters, as well as others -- to lure them to the North Country.
Two gaming plans being considered by the House call for at least one, and possibly two, North Country licenses. "We could have something up and going in six months," said Leduc, who owns the Groveton Market.
The centerpiece would be the 5-year-old Emerson Outfitters building, constructed to look like a North Woods lodge. At 30,000 square feet, it would be a perfect size to develop a casino.
The vision doesn't stop at the casino. A mountain that rises over Groveton village could be turned into a ski area, Leduc said. The Upper Ammonoosuc and Connecticut Rivers could attract canoeists and kayakers and businesses to serve them. The Riverside Speedway is already a popular destination for car-racing enthusiasts and the town's location on Route 3 would bring in Canadian visitors.
"It would be about the only casinos snowmobilers could ride to," Leduc said. "We're right on the snowmobile corridor."
The city of Berlin has expressed an interest in being the North Country location for gaming. Last year, officials with New Hampshire Charitable Gaming unveiled a $75 million gaming and entertainment center in the city, which calls for slot machines, gaming tables, a restaurant and conference center that could bring millions into state and local coffers.
"I think we're better situated for Coos County," Bresnahan said. "We're on Route 3, we're close to the east-west road, Route 2, as well as (Interstates) 93 and 91."
The two were buoyed last month when Town Meeting voters passed by a voice vote a non-binding referendum asking whether they would consider a casino. If the town could land a casino at the commercial building, Leduc said there is enough land to put up a hotel. He said containing the activity would be easy.
"The atmosphere can be controlled -- it's all right there," he said. "If you've ever been to Atlantic City (N.J.), you know when you step off the boardwalk, you're taking your life in your hands."
When the information packets are sent out around the country, those whose hands they land in won't have a lot of market research, just photographs from a town that needs someone on which to place a bet.
"We're deadly serious," Leduc said. Bresnahan concedes that "chances are slim," but that Groveton deserves a chance to make a pitch. "It kind of upsets me that without any discussion, Berlin got pushed to the head of the pack," he said.
On a day when a bull calf moose scampering around Groveton was the talk of the town, Bresnahan used it as an analogy. "We want to be the moose that roared," he said.
The former Emerson Outfitters building sits vacant in
Groveton, where two residents think it
would make a good location for a casino. (LORNA COLQUHOUN)