Our executive director, Nicole Arciello, presents the following. Please take action…
Can you take two minutes to help stop a new horseracing track in Massachusetts?
The Board of Selectmen in the Town of Hardwick, MA, are considering a proposal for a new horseracing facility. This is the most recent attempt to bring thoroughbred racing back to the state – all in an effort to grab the lucrative “Sports Betting” subsidy. These proposals have recently been shot down by residents in communities like Great Barrington and Sturbridge, with ongoing public opposition and protest right now in Plymouth. While there are many large questions about traffic, disrupted neighborhoods and the possible seedier element – there is, of course, another cost to all this – one measured in lives!
Please take action and sign the petition to urge the Board of Selectmen to vote NO on the Horseracing Facility Proposal.
You can also take direct action now by using the scripts below.
Contact the Board of Selectman in the Town of Hardwick, Massachusetts, and ask that they vote NO on the new horseracing-facility proposal.
Sample Email:
Please vote no on the horseracing facility in Hardwick. With no thoroughbred racing in New England, and dog racing banned in Massachusetts and 41 other states, keep Massachusetts moving forward in 2022 and beyond. Do not let animal cruelty into the town!
Sample Phone Script:
Please vote no on the horseracing-facility proposal in Hardwick. Keep Massachusetts moving forward and do not allow this cruel and deadly industry into the town!
Board of Selectmen, Contact Information:
Robert Ruggles: hr.ruggles76@gmail.com – 413-813-5741
Julie Quink: jquink@earthlink.net – 413-530-4313
Kelly Kemp: kellykemp111@gmail.com – 508-942-0627
We believe in the power of the people, and the horses need our voices. Grassroots action works! Every day we will forward new signatures and comments to the petition target so the horses’ voices will be heard!
Together, we can end this cruelty. Sign and share the petition and take two minutes to be a voice for the horses who need us so desperately.
For the horses,
The Horseracing Wrongs Action Team
I signed this petition yesterday after receiving the email.. Thank you for sharing it again here.
#HorseracingisAnimalCruelty
#EndHorseracingNOW
Thank you, Wanda.
Have signed the petition, have emailed the Board and have talked to some Board members.
Most of the local residents oppose the track, but it seems to be a done deal because they talk about it like the decision has been made and is now in the past.
“It’s not up to the public to decide, but our board members will decide and if the public doesn’t like our decision than they can appeal it.”
In order to cover up the brutal and grueling facts about horse racing, that most people are now aware of, they are proposing an “agritourisim” destination that does not focus on horse racing alone according to the leader of the project John Stefanini.
Yet, the majority of the 360 acres will be occupied with a racetrack, horse racing stables to intensely confine the racehorses and racehorse/track related operations.
John Stefanini who is heading up this proposal for passage is an attorney and District City Councillor because horse racing always finds their mark deep within the political offices of government in order to gain access to the millions in state subsidies.
Mr. Stefanini chairs the 5 person “compliance committee” called the Racing Oversight Board
“this can be a significant economic catalyst for investment and job creation throughout the Commonwealth.”
NEVER HAS and only temporary if it does because they will be back at the public water trough looking for more money most likely like all the tracks do.
Oh, and they have also included a “retirement farm” for the racehorses of course just another public ruse because we’ve known and the industry has known, for years, that there will never be enough homes/farms to accommodate their unwanted racehorse mess.
This business project will be a disaster and money pit for the public, but will be a winning one for the board members gaining access to the money and a small group of people at the expense of many racehorse lives including the environment.
The political system is as corrupt as the racing industry.