College Students Work For Casino Development

The hubbub over the proposed Hardeeville casino has only intensified over the last couple of weeks, but now a group of local college students is leading the charge in bringing this economic juggernaut to the lowcountry.

"When I heard the words casino and 278 my ears perked up and I said 'wow this is big,' and I immediately went home and started researching it. I talked to my friend Juan and Thomas, and at first we were like 'it's never going to happen,' and then we got the idea, 'well we're in the community too we have a voice we want to be heard, and we think this is great,' so we started the campaign," said Ryan Baggott of USCB.

Both boys say "let us work" started because of the huge economic impact the casino would have on their community- and an estimated 4,000 jobs can't be ignored.

"It's going to effect everyone in the immediate community far and wide. It's going to establish businesses on 278 , right now if you drive on 278 the first few miles are very barren, that will change. When that changes you get tax benefits, you get a lot of people, you increase tourism, and tourism is the number one industry here. They project that to double and with that, the whole area succeeds," said Baggott.

And they've hit the ground running with almost 350 signatures so far--they have an online petition, a facebook page, and are doing the actual leg work.

"We're going to the local businesses trying to get local businesses involved, offering them advertising on our web page if they allow us to leave a petition to get signatures. And we're personally going around talking to people on the streets, gas stations, and anywhere we can find people to get signatures," said Thomas Kersey, AASU Senior.

So what is the ultimate goal in all of this?)

"We actually wanna go to Columbia with signatures in-hand, with as many people that support us and this cause as possible. And really be the face of this project, and the economic growth of the lowcountry, we want to present this to (Governor) NikKi Haley in a way that she can appreciate and so she'll say okay the community really does want this, let's give it to them," said Baggott.

Supporters are saying the casino might attract as many as 4.3 million visitors and pump $92 million into the economy.

For more information on the "Let Us Work" intitiative go to www.facebook.com/letuswork