Anderson letter: Horse racing
I love Idaho and the western way of life. Horses have been a great part of my life and my family has always been engaged in horse activities. We live in Emmett where we raise horses and have trained and raced horses the past 50 years. The closure of Les Bois Park and resulting closure of the Emmett track has created a huge hardship on me and my family. Breeding, training and racing horses is a wonderful way of life for our family, our friends and many people in our state.
People from all over the Northwest and California always came to Idaho to buy horses and race in our state. This brought a lot of money to our state and gave us a big market for our horses. Today there is no market for our horses because there is no place for people to come and race. Thousands of people came to the races and enjoyed the experience.
Our industry is being unfairly treated. You can buy lottery tickets any place and play their machines in grocery stores and gas stations. You do gaming on the internet.
Patty Anderson, Emmett
This story was originally published March 7, 2017 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Anderson letter: Horse racing."