GETTYSBURG -- The town of Gettysburg and the adjacent historic Civil War battlefield, which draws up to 1 million visitors a year, are a local treasure, and the decision about whether to build a $75 million casino within a hotel just south of the national military park should be based on what's best for Gettysburg and surrounding areas in Adams County, says state Rep. Dan Moul, who represents the area.

"These are the people who will reap the rewards or pay the consequences," he said Tuesday.

But it's not just a local matter, insisted Susan Starr Paddock, head of No Casino Gettysburg.

"This is a national issue as well as a local issue. Gettysburg belongs to all Americans," she told the state Gaming Control Board, which must decide whether Gettysburg or one of three other candidates, including Nemacolin Woodlands resort in Fayette County, gets the state's second and final resort hotel casino license.

Both sides presented dozens of witnesses and strong arguments at an often-emotional hearing that went all day and may continue today. More than 400 individuals, community groups, elected officials and casino developers were signed up to testify.

The hearing room at a Comfort Suites Hotel, just down Baltimore Pike from the military park's new visitors center, could hold only 200 people, and a long line of speakers stretched out the door of the hearing room and the front door of the hotel.

Many of the casino advocates wore "Pro Casino" T-shirts and said the casino would employ several hundred full- and part-time workers in a county that had lost two major employers in the past two years and needed the jobs.

County commissioners Lisa M. Woodward and Glenn Snyder support the casino, in part because casino developer David LeVan, a local motorcycle dealer, has agreed to give the county $1 million a year regardless of how business is at the casino.

David Waybright, chairman of the board of supervisors in Cumberland, the municipality where the casino would actually be located (about half a mile south of the national military park), said nearly one quarter of the property in the township is tax exempt because of the historically designated buildings and land in the park. The township also would receive $1 million a year from the casino, money that Mr. Waybright said is needed to avert property tax increases.

Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Carrick, submitted a letter of support for the casino, praising Mr. LeVan for fund-raising help each year for a motorcycle ride from Harrisburg to Gettysburg. Mr. Readshaw uses the funds raised to restore battlefield monuments, an effort he began in 1997.

Mr. LeVan is "a person of integrity and possesses a deep desire to protect the local historical areas for generations to come," Mr. Readshaw wrote.

But opponents of the casino didn't see it that way. Mrs. Paddock, a county resident, presented a video where well-known people, including author David McCullough, filmmaker Ken Burns, actors Sam Waterston and Matthew Broderick, and Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Dwight Eisenhower, who owned a farm near here, all said it would be a disgrace to allow gambling so close to "hallowed ground.'' Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers died or were wounded in the decisive battle on July 1-3, 1863.

Nicholas Redding of the Washington, D.C.-based Civil War Preservation Trust urged the board to "preserve Gettysburg and save the hallowed nature of this ground for future citizens." He gave the board about 20 boxes containing petitions with signatures of more than 30,000 people who oppose the casino. "The opposition isn't opposed to gaming -- we're opposed to gaming with a Gettysburg address," he added.

There were locals opposed also. Kristin Rice, who said she has lived her whole life in Cumberland, said, "We must honor those who served and fell here, and preserve as much as we can of the integrity of this town, so that what happened here in 1863 will never be forgotten."

She then told the board, "I know it's your duty to award this casino license but please not here. Please give Gettysburg the reverence it is due."

Al Ferranto of the Concerned Citizens of Cumberland Township said he was "sad" about having "the national spotlight" focused on the town. The whole world is watching the community and the county having its own civil war," he said. "We will feel anger, bitterness and polarization for years to come."

The board hopes to decide by the end of the year who gets the final resort hotel license -- Gettysburg, Nemacolin, a Holiday Inn five miles west of Harrisburg or the Fernwoods resort in the Poconos.

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