If you vote “no” on Question 1, as the Sunday Telegram recommended on Oct. 10, let me tell you what you’ll get. Close your eyes. What do you see? Nothing!

I’ve been a Mainer all my life and I’ve seen what this kind of negative thinking has done to our state. We’ve had a net gain of 56 jobs here in Maine in the last 10 years! More than 2,700 jobs would be created by a casino and that sounds real good to most Mainers I’ve talked to.

In 1983 when I took over the Ford dealership in Saco, Ford Motor Company said we should sell about 300 Fords a year. Two years later we were the largest Ford/Mercury dual dealer in America, selling 300 vehicles a month and bringing customers from as far as Burlington, Vt., and Boston.

In the 1960s Bob Bahre was laughed at when he said he would bring large racing crowds to Oxford. His Oxford 250 drew over 30,000 race fans from all over New England.

Trust me on this one, folks. The Maine business people proposing this have done their homework. It will be much easier to keep most of that 140 million dollars going to Connecticut casinos right here in Maine with a resort and casino in Oxford. That means more money circulated in Maine to buy cars, furniture, clothing right here in Maine. It would be owned by Maine business people keeping profits in Maine, too.

If you go with the premise in the Maine Sunday Telegram’s assertion, then we shouldn’t open any new restaurants in Maine. It would just take away from other restaurants. And why in the world did Cabela’s come to town? Didn’t they know L.L. Bean was just up the road?

I know some of the people behind this proposal, good solid Maine business people who have already created a lot of jobs. I trust them to do exactly what they say they will.

Take it from the Jolly one, this is a sure bet for Maine.