Going To Tulalip Casino In Marysville Via Microsoft & Fort Worth

This showed up in my email Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day. I think it was August of 2004, so clearly not a memory from this current June day.

I do not remember when last I was in Washington in June, since moving to Texas. Likely I have not been in Washington, in June, since moving to Texas.

The above is part of the large Pacific Northwest Native American themed installation in front of the Tulalip Casino in Marysville, Washington. Including a large statue of a Tulalip Indian, trying to catch salmon. Not visible in the photo is an oversized Orca leaping out of the water.

The entire Tulalip Casino is ocean themed, inside and out. Inside the decor makes one feel as if you are under water.

Near to the Tulalip Casino is the Tulalip Cabela's sporting goods store.

Long time readers of this blog may remember way back when Fort Worth became the first Texas town to get a Cabela's. Much fuss was made in the local purveyor of misinformation, known as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, touting that this Cabela's was to be the top tourist attraction in all of Texas. This was repeated repeatedly.

It was not long after the Fort Worth Cabela's opened that it was no longer the only Cabela's in Texas. One opened to the south, near Austin. And then another opened in Texas, on the Dallas side of the DFW Metroplex.

Cabela's used the con job touting that their store would become a top tourist attraction to extract tax concessions from the city it was wanting to open in. Apparently Cabela's was known for using this con on towns susceptible to being rubes. Thus Fort Worth was an easy mark.

The Cabela's top tourist attraction con was attempted when Cabela's built a store in Lacey, a town near Olympia, or after that when they built the Tulalip store.

Cabela's tried the con in Lacey, but was told if it did not make economic sense to build the store without concessions, then do not build it. Same with the Tulalip Cabela's.

Clearly not a Fort Worth level of rubes in Washington.

Fort Worth has such a long history of getting conned into doing dumb things.

Ever heard of the Trinity River Vision? An embarrassing boondoggle which has been limping along since the start of this century, with the Vision's main accomplishment, so far, being the building of three little bridges over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

One day it is hoped  a cement lined ditch will be built under those three little bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, creating the imaginary island.

You can only have imaginary islands in a town where the majority of the people are rubes. Seems clearly obvious...

A Second Cabela's Opens In Allen In The Dallas Metroplex

You are looking at a picture of the Grand Opening of the latest Cabela's, on April 14, in Allen, Texas.

From the Cabela's press release issued on February 15, 2011...

Cabela's Incorporated, the World's Foremost Outfitter of hunting, fishing and outdoor gear, will open its newest store in Allen, Texas. Allen is Cabela's third Texas location and the second in the Dallas Metroplex. The company currently operates stores in Fort Worth and Buda.

The Dallas Metroplex?

A few years back, when Cabela's was coming to town, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and its minions, repeated repeatedly Cabela's propaganda along the lines that the store would be the #1 Tourist Attraction in Texas. That it would attract (this number varied depending on the Star-Telegram writer) between 4 and 8 million visitors.

When Bud Kennedy went with the 8 million visitors number and repeated the #1 Tourist Attraction in Texas malarkey, I emailed him, pointing out the illogical absurdity. Bud Kennedy replied that I "must be against business."

No. I like business. I am against fraud. And wanton stupidity.

Turns out, I was right. Cabela's did not attract anywhere near the number of visitors it told Fort Worth it would attract, or generate the number of jobs Cabelea's claimed would be generated. So, Cabela's had to pay back some of the tax break goodies Fort Worth gave them.

Cabela's tries the same scam pretty much wherever they try and open a store. If it is in a desperate, unsophisticated, rube zone, without a real newspaper, they try the #1 Tourist Attraction, millions of visitors con.

When Cabela's tried the con in Boise, Cabela's was told if it was not economically viable to open your store, without subsidies, then don't build it.

I don't believe Cabela's tried either of its propaganda ploys when it built a store in Lacey, Washington, near Olympia. It would have caused giggling among the locals.

But, in Fort Worth, the locals bought the ruse and did Cabela's bidding, so that Fort Worth could have the #1 Tourist Attraction in Texas. In a sporting goods store attracting up to 8 million visitors a year.

Yes, Fort Worth is sort of a desperate kind of town. Anyone heard of the Trinity River Vision? That's another ruse, breathlessly sold, with lies frequently told.

When the second Texas Cabela's, quickly opened in Buda, Texas, down by Austin, did the Star-Telegram do any investigating in to how this could happen? And now that the Fort Worth Cabela's is not even the only Cabela's in the Dallas Metroplex, has the Star-Telegram had a look back at all that loony propaganda it printed, back when Cabela's first came courting?

Like I have said, more than once, Fort Worth lacks a real newspaper. Was it a real newspaper back when Amon Carter brought it to town? Or has it always acted as a shill for the Fort Worth Way and its Ruling Oligarchy?