The public meeting of the Tioga County Legislature on June 14, 2005, was unusual in two respects. The first of these was the degree of public participation. Mr. Bonner and I often speak on various subjects at the public meetings under the "privilege of the floor." But this time, we were joined by several others who spoke in favor of the proposed gambling terminals at the new race track.

 The second unusual thing was that the legislators actually discussed some of the issues at this meeting instead of merely voting "yes" after having discussed them at an earlier work shop. It was obvious that they were unaccustomed to this new way of doing things. At one point, they began the discussion again after the voting had already begun. But this shows progress.