In a year or two, the biggest sharks in Baltimore won’t be at the National Aquarium. They will be the operators of the slots casinos that are coming to Maryland, says Dave Thompson.
Earlier this year, Dave, a retired aerospace engineer from Elkton, Maryland, was trying to figure out how to alert his fellow citizens to the predatory nature of slot machine gambling – the so called “crack cocaine of gambling addiction.”
He had been active in anti-gambling advocacy for more than ten years, ever since his pastor at Wesley United Methodist Church invited him to take an interest in protecting Maryland’s poor from the dangers of state sponsored gambling.
Dave says he remains deeply troubled at the thought of the inevitable increases in bankruptcy, domestic violence and suicide that come with the casino industry.
As the fight over Question 2 began to take shape, Dave knew he could never match the millions of dollars that would eventually pour into the state from the corporate coffers of out of state gambling interests. He knew that he would never be able to match the media spin of professional political operatives who worked for the Governor and the Senate President.
But, Dave did have a tool shop and an idea. So, after several weeks of trial and error, the SHARKMOBILE was born. Using several sheets of plywood, some bungee cords, and a variety of other bits and pieces from the hardware store, Dave created a larger than life shark that could ride atop his mini-van. With beady eyes, sharp teeth, and even a wagging tail, the roof top shark became the state-wide symbol for the predatory nature of slot machine gambling.
For the last six months, Dave and his wife Ann, have driven the SHARKMOBILE in parades all over Maryland. Parade fans in Charles Village, Reistertown, Laurel, and Pasadena and many other small towns have seen the SHARKMOBILE passing by. The shark appeared at the State Fair, and at county fairs and shopping malls and anywhere else they could gather an audience.
Eventually, Dave built two other SHARKMOBILE displays: One for a van driven by the Webber family of Silver Spring, and a smaller version for his own Honda hybrid. Over the months, Dave used his aerospace engineering principles to perfect his “shark technology” so that the shark could ride atop his vehicles at highway speeds rather than having to be reassembled at each parade.
With the help of some friends, including a volunteer professional graphics artist, “shark cards” were printed to provide hard data on the dangers of allowing a predatory industry to come to Maryland. More than 20,000 of the cards were handed out along Main Street parade routes in communities throughout the state.
As we all know, slots won on Tuesday. With roughly four million dollars in funds almost exclusively from large corporate donors, mostly from outside of Maryland, the pro-slots forces convinced a majority of Marylanders that slots were needed in this time of economic crisis.
The news was heartbreaking, but Dave and Ann have vowed to continue to preach with words from the scriptures that so many pastors used in the last few months. They have a word of warning to the “sharks” whose casinos will soon be plucking millions of dollars from the pockets of their neighbors, “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” (Proverbs 14:31)
