When Guy Richardson called his fellow supervisors in 2013 about possibly bringing a casino to Greene County, Dawn Rudolph of Scranton supported the idea right away, but thought it was a long shot.
“I thought, ‘Well, that would be great if we can really do it,’” she recalls.
Fast forward to 2021, Rudolph meets friends to plant flowers and grasses outside the Scranton Community Center. Once the town’s public school, the community center is now the gathering place in Scranton for everything from catching the school bus and pancake suppers to fundraisers and family reunions. In addition, the Scranton Community Center will host the Scranton all school reunion on June 18, 2022.
Rudolph voted yes in the first referendum and is voting yes again for gaming on Tuesday, Nov. 2. As Greene Countians go to the polls for vote in municipality and school board elections, they will also find the following referendum on gaming.
“I voted ‘no’ the last time,” says Gale Zellweger, a resident of Scranton and long-time friend of Rudolph. “At the time, I didn’t really understand it, and I’m not a gambler myself. Now, I don’t know what we would do without it. [The casino] has meant so much to the county.”
Zellweger says he is “definitely” voting yes and so is his wife, Lorrie, who grew up in Scranton.
On a sunny fall Saturday morning, Lorrie Zellweger brings several perennial grasses and flowers from her own gardens to plant outside the front of the Scranton Community Center. She has conscripted Rudolph and Gale Zellweger as recruits in the beautification landscaping project. As she lays out the placement for each pot, the former high school cheerleader moves around garden area with the enthusiasm of a teenager.
Looking up from her digging, she points to the community center, formerly the local school, and says, “This is big for us.”
In fact, the Scranton Community Center, new fire truck and playground are prime examples of the kind of projects funded from proceeds generated by Wild Rose Casino & Hotel-Jefferson and paid to Grow Greene County Gaming Corp. for distribution to municipalities and nonprofits across the county.
Scranton received approximately $107,000 in grants for repairs and upgrades to the city hall, community center and playground. The community center work included tuck pointing the brick and replacing the roof. The building’s old bricks are being recycled for an art project.
“Once you lose your school, you don’t have anything that brings people together,” Gale Zellweger adds. “We have this [building] and it can be used for so many things.”
In addition to pointing out the economic and community benefits including jobs and growth, the Zellwegers enjoy the concerts and events held at Wild Rose Jefferson.
“We used to have to travel at least an hour to see a concert,” Lorrie Zellweger noted. “I love the shows [at Wild Rose]. I saw Charlie Daniels at Wild Rose and only had to drive 10 minutes. I never thought that would be possible in Greene County.”
From Gale Zellweger’s perspective, the casino has proven itself as a positive contributor to the community while none of the ills that had been predicted came to fruition, including increased crime and traffic.
“We really don’t see any problems with traffic because of the casino,” he said. “[Congestion] is worse after a high school basketball game.” ~story provided by enQ Strategies for Wild Rose Casino
